October 18, 2012
Duluth
News Tribune
Realignment ends up hurting Northland
prep football rivalry
By Rick Weegman
Grand Rapids coach Tim Botsford left Public Schools
Stadium with bittersweet feelings Wednesday night.
On one hand, the Thunderhawks broke through for
their first victory of the high school football season — 32-6
over Duluth Denfeld — but on the other hand, it likely was
the last time Botsford’s team will play in Duluth.
Due to more conference realignment starting next
season, Grand Rapids’ annual games against Denfeld and Duluth
East are on permanent hold. Instead, the Thunderhawks will pick
up games against Willmar and Alexandria.
“Instead of traveling to Duluth 80 miles
one way, we’re going to travel 240 miles to play a game,”
Botsford said. “It’s just not right. It doesn’t
make a lot of sense and it’s disheartening that we lost our
rivals.”
Officials of all three schools were frustrated
where they ended up in 2012 — Denfeld and East as members
of the tough Mississippi 8 Conference and Grand Rapids as an affiliate
of the equally tough Central Lakes Conference.
Denfeld closed the regular season 0-8, including
losses to three teams ranked in the current Class AAAAA top 10 poll
and another to a team receiving votes; Rapids was 1-7, including
losses to unbeaten Moorhead and defending state runners-up Bemidji;
and East ended up 2-6, beating only Denfeld and Rapids.
“The Buffalo coach was telling me that within
the last 10 years, this was the toughest the conference has been
by far,” Denfeld coach Frank Huie said. “I’m not
an excuse guy so I’ll just say, ‘It’s a tough
conference.’ But I think it’s our job to be tough, too.”
The Hunters found that difficult against Mississippi
8 superpowers, getting outscored 43-5 on average and being shut
out three times. The playing field should level off next season
when the Mississippi 8 adds up to six teams and splits into large
and small divisions. Denfeld is expected to play in the smaller
division with schools such as Chisago Lakes Area, North Branch and
St. Francis and will lose Moorhead and Bemidji from its nonconference
schedule.
“That’s where we belong, with those
size schools,” Denfeld activities director Tom Pearson said.
The Greyhounds will remain with the larger schools
in the conference, such as a Rogers team that blasted them 56-21
last week.
Grand Rapids will stay with its Central Lakes
brethren, which includes defending state champion Rocori and highly
regarded Brainerd.
“It’s a tough conference,” Botsford
said. “It’s made us a better football team by playing
against that type of competition, with the speed, size and strength
that we see out there.”
Still, Botsford says it’s not the ideal
situation.
“I’m in favor of section scheduling,”
he said of a plan that the Minnesota State High School League has
mulled over. “If we’re going to get seeded, let’s
go head-to-head and play everybody in the section. I wish the State
High School League would go ahead and make that decision.”
Austin Wiberg ran for a touchdown and caught another
from quarterback Jackson Gessell, but the key play came moments
before halftime when Stephen McGee stepped in front of a Matt Klang
pass and ran it back for a touchdown to give Grand Rapids a 20-0
lead. Gessell was 11-for-19 passing for 189 yards.
Grand Rapids ................. 6-14-6-6—32
Duluth Denfeld ............... 0-0-6-0—6
GR — Jamison Evans 5 run (kick blocked)
GR — Jackson Gessell 16 run (pass failed)
GR — Stephen McGee Jr. 45 interception return (Evans run)
DD — Connor Behm 24 pass from Matt Klang (run failed)
GR — Austin Wiberg 4 run (run failed)
GR — Wiberg 38 pass from Gessell (kick failed)
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