Section 8AAA: First Look

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sartell and Sauk Rapids-Rice join Section 8AAA and give it a new look for the next couple years!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Super Summary</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When I get a look at 8AAA I think.... that is up for grabs AND I think..... this is going to be a great opportunity for some of these teams. But who? First of all, I don't think any team is so intimidating that dreams are instantly crushed before fall workouts. This isn't 6AAAA where St. Louis Park and Minneapolis Washburn have Wayzata and Hopkins in their section crushing dreams before the head lays down on the pillow. Anybody here can dream about state. That said....</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sauk Rapids-Rice is going to look waaaaay different. Lots of rotation changes there. Fergus Falls was hit pretty good by graduation, St. Cloud Tech seems like they are in the second year of building something back up, Rocori is in a reset, and Little Falls looks like they are in a bit of a rut. Detroit Lakes was 14-13, and based on what they will face and what they have back, they might be in the same spot. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The door is open the widest I think for Sartell, St. Cloud Apollo, and Willmar. Keep things in perspective here, these teams were 12-15, 15-13, and 9-18 last year. Sartell was 1-10 against teams in Section 8AAAA! Hardly the type of teams that should force kids at Detroit Lakes and Little Falls to go out for hockey or wrestling. But Sartell, Willmar, and Apollo have a lot of players back and they have some real hope of earning that section title plaque/trophy (it really is a combo isn't it?).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Willmar returns five of their top seven including Northern State committed [player_tooltip player_id='2119642' first='Avery' last='Christensen'] (who had an incredible 17u season) and sophomore Cooper Schichels. Apollo returns five of their top seven including double figure scorers Namarion Fields and [player_tooltip player_id='2560535' first='Trevor' last='Terfehr'] plus [player_tooltip player_id='1874853' first='Ikenna' last='Nwachukwu'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1874917' first='Micah' last='Nwachukwu'] transferred to the Eagles. And then you have Sartell who returns their best two players in [player_tooltip player_id='1560795' first='Maddox' last='Lewis'] and Bennett Bommersback and have a big in [player_tooltip player_id='2910350' first='Isaac' last='Bergstrom'] at 6'6/6'7 who I think will play his role well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Top 3 8AAA Players</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2119642' first='Avery' last='Christensen'] of Willmar</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560795' first='Maddox' last='Lewis'] of Sartell-St. Stephen</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1874917' first='Micah' last='Nwachukwu'] of St. Cloud Apollo</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Teams That Should Improve Their Record</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sartell (12-15 last season)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Willmar (9-18 last year)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Apollo (15-13 a season ago)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three Teams That Might Not Match Last Year's Win Total</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sauk Rapids-Rice (21-6 last year)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fergus Falls (21-8 last season)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rocori (9-18 last season)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->