Ranking The Sections: Class A

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We give you our listing of the best sections 1-8 in Class A as we are one day away from kicking off the 2024-25 season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One. <strong>Section 6A</strong>. This looks to be the easy choice. You have Ada Borup West, Henning and West Central Area as title contenders and top ten teams plus Park Christian brings everything back and is right there, BBE will be good, Brandon-Evansville will be good, and there are others as well. This might be the most interesting come sub section title/class A section semi-finals time across the state.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Two. <strong>Section 7A</strong>. Cherry brings back four starters from a state title team and those four are all preseason All State caliber players. Despite Isaac Asuma being at Minnesota now - notice how quickly the "he won't be ready because he played at a small school" narrative got lost by the way! - Cherry is still a big favorite. But along with them, Deer River and Mt. Iron-Buhl return a good amount of players from top ten level teams. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Three. <strong>Section 1A</strong>. Goodhue and Rushford-Peterson are teams that play mostly Class AA competition throughout the year and then come playoff time they are often battle tested in a different way. Both return the majority of their talent and they are top ten teams. Spring Grove and Blooming Prairie will still be solid but graduated important seniors. Several other solid programs in this section.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Four. <strong>Section 2A</strong>. I feel like 2A has traditionally been one of the toughest two sections in Class A year by year as they often are the group with the most individual talent. That has not changed much, there is still a lot of individual talent here, but I think it's more spread out than in past years as the teams aren't quite as strong as they have been, but still solid. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Five.<strong> Section 3A</strong>. There are no doubt a handful of contenders in Section 3A this year but I do not believe any of them have near the talent that Dawson-Boyd does. With a number of the traditional top teams in 3A losing players to graduation and not entering the year with the same level of returning experience, talent, the Jacks are a big favorite. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Six. <strong>Section 8A</strong>. I feel like Kittson County Central is an up and comer, Fertile-Beltrami, Cass Lake-Bena, and Sacred Heart lost strong players but will be solid, and a few others will be good programs. But Red Lake County has the most back. The uncertainty of the long time powers has me not sure on how strong 8A will be. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seven. <strong>Section 5A</strong>. Nevis is going for their 6th straight trip to state. It's a definite nod to how strong that program is. Some will say they don't have the same caliber of contenders as some other sections but it could simply be that Nevis is that good of a program. We don't have the answer to that but we know East Central, Braham and some others have the players back to try and end the Nevis run. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eight. <strong>Section 4A</strong>. Heritage Christian is very good. They are a legit contender for the Class A state title and will likely be in the top five all season (or close to it). That said, the rest of the section is not very good this year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->