The Heart O Lakes Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It appears that the Heart O Lakes Conference - which was a three way tie last year - has added Park Rapids and Staples-Motley expanding to nine teams. That means the trio of defending champs (Pelican Rapids, Barnesville, and DGF) will have more teams to compete with as they try and repeat. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Conference Commentary</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top Ten Potential</strong>: Barnesville, Park Rapids, Pelican Rapids</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Barnesville lost two of their three all league players but it appears as if they will return three of their five starters which should put them in the top ten in state potential as they won 20 games last season. Park Rapids won 20 games last season. They lost a pair of all league players from the Mid State Conference but they return two of them as well plus two bench players. They should have the talent to make a run at the Heart O Lakes title. Park Rapids seems to be in the best position of anybody in the league. They had the best record last year (24 wins), they won a share of the league title, and they have seven guys back from last year's rotation. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most</strong>: DGF, Frazee, Hawley, Perham, Staples-Motley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>DGF won a share of the league title at 10-2 last season but they were 6-10 in non league play. They also lost three all conference players although they do have two starters back. Frazee should be able to take a step forward. It's a team with their top three scorers back which includes three starters and two all league players. They were an eight win team a season ago but should be closer to .500 at least. Hawley seems to be a bit ahead of the others in this category as they have the best combination of returning players (four) with an all league guy (one) from a solid team (.500 in league player, 14-12 overall). Perham has three starters back plus some reserves from a 10-win team. They should take a step forward this season. Staples Motley returns their entire line-up from a 16-win team a season ago. That said the Cards lost to Park Rapids and Pelican Rapids last year and those weren't close games. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Breckenridge</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Cowboys won only three games last season. Very little information is available about them so we have to just assume that they are still rebuilding after a 3-25 season with no listed all league players graduated or returning. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>24-25 Conference Prediction</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Pelican Rapids</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Park Rapids</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) Barnesville</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Staples-Motley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Hawley</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Perham</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) DGF</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) Frazee</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(9) Breckenridge</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Heart O Lakes</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2495108' first='Miguel' last='Torres'] of Pelican Rapids (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Charlie Larson of Pelican Rapids (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1948328' first='Gannon' last='Bolgrean'] of Barnesville (Sr) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2446777' first='Noah' last='Nelson'] of Hawley (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ryan Carroll of Park Rapids (Sr) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eli Rutten of Staples-Motley (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2575625' first='Avandre' last='Brandt'] of Staples-Motley (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109857' first='Ashton' last='Detloff'] of Perham (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2124227' first='Adam' last='Vigen'] of Frazee (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Landon Strasberg of Park Rapids (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2446770' first='Alex' last='Schultz'] of Staples-Motley (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2109850' first='Carter' last='Sonnenberg'] of Frazee (Sr) all conference</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brady Nosal of Barnesville (Sr) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2446774' first='Grant' last='Andersen'] of DGF (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Grady Larson of Pelican Rapids (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jack Welch of Pelican Rapids (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Levi Lelm of Hawley (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2447414' first='Maddux' last='Swentik'] of Perham (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Asher Blaine of Frazee (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nick Robideau of Barnesville (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>HM</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2418561' first='Will' last='Baker'] of Hawley (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2617559' first='Cole' last='Reuter'] of Perham (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2447446' first='Mason' last='Bjerken'] of DGF (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->