The Park Region Preview

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Henning didn't have their best player for most of the season and they still swept the league with a three game cushion. What about this winter?</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 in State:</strong> Henning</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>If somebody is going to be top ten in state it's Henning. They likely have too many players to replace to put them in there to start but then again, they have the preseason Class A player of the year in [player_tooltip player_id='1560827' first='Kale' last='Misegades'] which means a ton. That said, it's one starter back, one reserve and that is it. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>League Title Contenders</strong>: Pillager, Wadena-Deer Creek, New York Mills</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Can Pillager push Henning for the title? Maybe. Last year they took losses by eight and 15 to the Hornets so they were competitive enough to make you think about it. Pillager also returns three of their top four players. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wadena-Deer Creek played a ton of juniors and sophomores last season leading to a third place finish in league, but a 12-15 record overall. They should be able to flip that record around at least based on so much returning talent. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>New York Mills was 8-19 last year but they bring almost every thing back and should take a step forward. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Compete with Most:</strong> Verndale, Bertha-Hewitt, Sebeka</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Pirates lost three starters from a .500 level team but should have enough talent to maintain the middle of the pack this season. Bertha-Hewitt is interesting. They split with New York Mills last year but lost more than NYM did. The Bears were close in the games with Verndale and return more experience. Sebeka returns their top eight guys so there should be good improvement here. Sebeka lost a number of close games last year that they should be able to turn around. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebuilding</strong>: Menahga</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Menahga won just one game last year but they have some starters back and an all league player back so they should be able to take step this year as there are some teams that were hurt more by graduation.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>25-26 Conference Predictions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Park Region Power Rankings</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(1) Henning</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(2) Pillager</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(3) New York Mills</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(4) Wadena-Deer Creek</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(5) Sebeka</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(6) Bertha-Hewitt</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(7) Verndale</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>(8) Menahga</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Preseason All Park Region</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>First Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1560827' first='Kale' last='Misegades'] of Henning (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2126157' first='Max' last='Lake'] of Sebeka (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alexander Brandt of Pillager (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gabriel Parrish of Pillager (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gage Brasel of New York Mills (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Second Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brady Rach of Bertha-Hewitt (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Henry Erickson of Sebeka (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Samuel Church of Wadena-Deer Creek (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jacob Thorsrud of New York Mills (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Braylin Deleon of Verndale (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Third Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chance Burttonen of Menahga (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jalen Hinzmann of Berth-Hewitt (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parker Kiser of Sebeka (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gunnar Ament of Sebeka (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bergen Roder of New York Mills (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fourth Team</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Elliott Imdieke of Pillager (Jr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2371602' first='Kolston' last='Lofgren'] of New York Mills (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ryan Despard of Henning (Sr)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2846698' first='Kenyatta' last='Bell'] of Sebeka (Soph)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->