MINOT, ND – We have Class 11B football on the air tonight as #2 Velva-Garrison-Drake/Anamoose will host Nedrose in a Region 3 battle. The Aggies are undefeated at 3-0, while the Cardinals are 1-1. Pregame is set for 6:40 pm on 106.9 K-Heart and online at khrt.com.

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MINOT, ND – Scores from Thursday:

 

 

Class 9B
Alexander def. Lewis & Clark, 14-8
New Rockford-Sheyenne def. Four Winds, 42-14

 

 

Dickinson Invite – Heart River Golf Course
1. Bismarck Century, 315
2. Bismarck Legacy, 330
3. Mandan, 331
4. Minot High, 350
5. Jamestown, 355
6. Williston, 374
7. Bismarck St. Mary’s, 378
8. Dickinson, 379
9. Minot North, 409
10. Bismarck High, 437
11. Watford City, 439

 

Medalist: Hannah Herbel of Bismarck Century, 72

 

High School Boys Soccer
Minot High 2, Jamestown 1
Bismarck High 10, Dickinson 0
Bismarck Legacy 5, Mandan 2
Williston 3, Bismarck Century 2

 

High School Boys Tennis
Minot High 9, Jamestown 0
Bismarck Legacy 5, Williston 0 (rain shortened)
Bismarck Century 8, Bismarck High 1

 

 

Class A
#4 Bismarck High def. Mandan (3-0) 25-15, 25-19, 25-16
#5 Jamestown def. Bismarck St. Mary’s (3-1) 25-18, 25-22, 18-25, 25-12
Bismarck Legacy def. Minot High (3-1) 25-19, 18-25, 25-21, 25-13
Watford City def. Turtle Mountain (3-1)

 

Class B
#3 Kenmare-Bowbells def. South Prairie-Max (3-0) 25-5, 25-14, 25-11
Central McLean def. #8 Grant County (3-0) 25-20, 25-17, 25-12
#9 Our Redeemer’s def. Velva (3-0) 25-9, 25-16, 25-23
#10 Beulah def. Hettinger-Scranton (3-0) 25-22, 25-23, 25-21
Des Lacs-Burlington def. Rugby (3-0) 25-23, 25-23, 25-23
Bishop Ryan def. Bottineau (3-0) 25-23, 25-15, 25-17
Nedrose def. TGU (3-0) 25-22, 31-29, 28-26
Newburg-Westhope def. Glenburn (3-0) 25-12, 25-17, 25-20
Drake-Anamoose def. Surrey (3-1)
Stanley def. Berthold (3-1)
Ray def. Divide County (3-0) 25-22, 25-21, 25-20
Glen Ullin-Hebron def. Hazen (3-1) 16-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-14
Shiloh Christian def. Center-Stanton (3-0) 25-20, 25-19, 25-21
New Salem-Almont def. Washburn (3-1) 12-25, 26-24, 25-21, 25-5
North Prairie def. St. John (3-0) 25-12, 25-11, 25-9

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TWINS-YANKEES

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Correa responded to booing Yankees fans with a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Minnesota Twins beat New York 4-3 on Thursday night to avoid a four-game sweep. Correa’s two-out drive off former Fordham pitcher Greg Weissert followed an unsuccessful video review called by the Yankees after what New York thought should have been the third out. The Yankees maintained Wandy Peralta (2-4) got to first in time on the flip from first baseman Marwin Gonzalez on Jake Cave’s grounder, but replays showed Peralta trapped the ball with his glove against his body. Yankees manager Aaron Boone bounded from the dugout to argue with crew chief Larry Vanover and threw his hands up in frustration before leaving the field. One out later, Correa connected on a 1-2 slider for his 18th homer, his second in two days. It gave Minnesota a 4-2 lead and he pounded his chest in the direction of his dugout while rounding third base. Since the start of 2017, the Twins are just 2-16 in regular season games at Yankee Stadium. The Twins closed within 1 1/2 games of first-place Cleveland in the AL Central ahead of a weekend series against the Guardians in Minnesota.

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VIKINGS-O’CONNELL

 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When Kevin O’Connell takes the field with the Minnesota Vikings for his first game as a head coach, the 37-year-old will carry with him the blank slate that’s one of the benefits of being a rookie in this high-pressure, much-coveted job. O’Connell needn’t be concerned for now about being booed at home by impatient or inebriated fans. His play calls and game management will be closely scrutinized in the media, at the stadium and on the couch, sure, but even with a ready-made roster full of proven starters and more than a couple of stars, the heat won’t turn up every week he doesn’t win for a while. Matt LaFleur hasn’t helped his cause.

 

No head coach in NFL history has fared better over his first three seasons than LaFleur, who will take his staggering 39-10 record with the Green Bay Packers and three NFC North titles to U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday. The last two of those first-place finishes came in a runaway, one reason why O’Connell is here as the successor to Mike Zimmer in this attempt by the Vikings to reset without rebuilding and retake the division they haven’t won since 2017. “I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t going to be a little extra excited, a little bit more than just any other game,” said O’Connell, who was offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams last season. “This isn’t just any other game.”

 

LaFleur was also a first-timer when he was hired by the Packers at age 39, bringing a similar background of playing and coaching quarterback and serving as an offensive coordinator on the way up. He and O’Connell both held that role under Rams head coach Sean McVay (LaFleur in 2017 and O’Connell from 2020-21), and they have the same agent (Trace Armstrong). “Just being around him at the owners’ meetings and knowing what Sean had to say about him, he’s a guy that I definitely respect,” LaFleur said. “He’s a guy that definitely carries himself the right way. He’s worked at it, and he’s deserving of this opportunity.”

 

NEW TARGETS

In his 18th season with Green Bay, his 15th as the starting quarterback, Aaron Rodgers will be without his trusty go-to wide receiver following the departure of All-Pro Davante Adams. Allen Lazard, the leading returner at that position, is uncertain to play due to an ankle injury. The possibilities for filling that production include two well-regarded rookies: Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs. Watson was drafted in the second round out of North Dakota State with the pick (No. 34 overall) traded to the Packers by the Vikings as they moved down to net another selection. “I definitely feel like there’ll be a little bit of nerves, it being my first one,” said Watson, who was limited by a knee injury in training camp but fully participated in practice this week. “I’m confident in myself and confident in the playbook. If I do get the chance I feel like I’ll be ready to go.” Doubs was a fourth-rounder out of Nevada. “Our confidence is still high,” Doubs said. “Allen Lazard, regardless of if he plays or not, he’ll still push us the same way as he would if he was playing.”

 

NEW DIRECTIONS

The Vikings have an almost entirely new staff, with O’Connell bringing a new scheme with offensive coordinator Wes Phillips from the Rams. Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell has a 3-4-based system in place on the other side of the ball. Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels has supplied fresh energy and strategy as well. This will also be Adam Stenavich’s first game as offensive coordinator for Green Bay and Rich Bisaccia’s debut as special teams coordinator. Bisaccia, who served as interim head coach for Las Vegas last season, was brought in to help fix a facet of the game that has lagged badly for the Packers in recent years. New Vikings punt returner Jalen Reagor, who was acquired in a trade last week with Philadelphia, can attest to that. He had a 73-yard punt return touchdown as a rookie in 2020 against Green Bay. “I’m salivating over this guy,” Daniels said. “This guy’s got some weight to him. He’s really hard to tackle. He has the ability to make you miss. He’s elusive, and obviously he has the home run speed to take it the distance. That’s what makes him so spooky.”

 

LEG UP

By all accounts, Vikings kicker Greg Joseph — whose 29-yard field goal as time expired gave Minnesota a 34-31 victory over Green Bay last season at U.S. Bank Stadium — had a strong training camp. Strong enough, actually, that O’Connell sounded open to extending Joseph’s range in games. The 28-year-old’s career long is 55 yards, one of seven 50-plus yarders he made in 2021. “I have so much confidence in him. Our team does. I think it’s just a matter of that particular drive: Do we want to go for it in that area of the field? Do we want to try and pin our opponent deep and try to flip the field and get the ball back and play the field position game?” O’Connell said. Packers kicker Mason Crosby, who spent training camp on the physically unable to perform list following arthroscopic knee surgery, has appeared in 241 consecutive regular season games.

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PACKERS-DEFENSE

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers should get an immediate indication of whether their defense is as stingy as its preseason billing suggests. “I think our defense, at least on paper, is as good as it’s ever been,” defensive lineman Dean Lowry said. “Paper doesn’t mean anything, though, and we’ve got to go out and prove it for 17 weeks and then go and do it in the playoffs.” The chance to prove it starts Sunday at Minnesota.

 

The Packers romped 37-10 at home the last time these teams faced each other, but the Vikings played that game with Sean Mannion as their starting quarterback after placing Kirk Cousins on the reserve/COVID-19 list two days beforehand. When Cousins has been available, the Vikings have moved the ball quite well against the Packers. The Vikings had scored at least 28 points in three straight matchups with the Packers before the Mannion game. “They have given us some problems,” defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. “They have a lot of weapons. They have really good players over there. They present a lot of challenges for us.” Complicating matters is the uncertainty of facing a new staff with former Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell making his head coaching debut for Minnesota.

 

“We’ve kind of got a blueprint of what we think they’re going to come out and do,” outside linebacker Rashan Gary said. “But at the end of the day, once that ball is snapped, we’ve got to go play. It could be un-scouted looks. It could be looks we think we were going to get.”

Green Bay’s defense enters this season brimming with confidence after outperforming the Packers’ offense for much of training camp. The Packers’ 2021 rankings don’t jump off the page — they tied for 13th in scoring defense and were ninth in total defense — but they closed the season by not allowing a single offensive touchdown in a 13-10 NFC divisional playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Green Bay then signed All-Pro linebacker De’Vondre Campbell and cornerback Rasul Douglas to new deals following their breakthrough seasons. They added two first-round picks by selecting linebacker Quay Walker and defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt, who both helped Georgia win a 2021 national title. They also get back star cornerback Jaire Alexander after he missed most of the 2021 season with a shoulder injury. That has the Packers believing their defense could help give them a fourth straight NFC North title and the Super Bowl bid that has eluded this franchise since its 2010 championship season.

 

“I don’t care how many wins we have, we’re not going to be satisfied until that end goal of winning a Super Bowl,” safety Darnell Savage said. “And if we get to that goal, we’re going to keep striving for another and another and another.”

 

The mission starts in Minnesota as the Packers contend with a Vikings playmaking trio that has given Green Bay problems in the past. Dalvin Cook was limited to 13 yards on nine carries in the 37-10 loss last season, but he led Minnesota to a 28-22 victory at Green Bay in 2020 by becoming the first Viking since Ahmad Rashad in 1979 to score four touchdowns in a game. Cook had 163 yards rushing and 63 yards receiving that day. That has the Packers believing their defense could help give them a fourth straight NFC North title and the Super Bowl bid that has eluded this franchise since its 2010 championship season. “Me personally, I think he’s probably the best back in the league,” Clark said. “He’s as talented as any running back I’ve ever played.”

 

Cousins threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns without an interception to lead the Vikings to a 34-31 triumph when the Packers visited Minnesota last year. Justin Jefferson had 10 catches for 169 yards and two touchdowns that day, though he’s failed to score in his other three career matchups with the Packers. “When we give Dalvin the respect to stop the run, we’ve got to hold up in the back end,” defensive coordinator Joe Barry said. “That’s what makes an offense like this, when they have two elite weapons, so unique. Because very few times do you play an offense that has top-three players at a position that is a wideout and a back.

 

“There’s challenges every week, but that’s definitely the challenge this week. You’ve got to deal with 18 (Jefferson) on the outside and you’ve got to deal with No. 4 (Cook) in the backfield.” The Packers can’t wait to discover how well they meet this challenge. “As far as a measuring stick, it’s definitely a big one for us, for this defense to go against those guys,” Clark said.

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NFL-SEASON OPENER

 

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills have fallen short in enough playoff games in recent years to know the season is long and the opener doesn’t mean much in January. They still felt justified in their championship aspirations after going into the Super Bowl winners’ home stadium and completely wrecking their banner-raising party on the NFL’s opening night. Josh Allen passed for 297 yards while accounting for four touchdowns, Miller had two of Buffalo’s seven sacks, and the Bills stamped themselves as a clear contender for the Rams’ crown with a 31-10 victory over Los Angeles on Thursday night.

 

Gabe Davis, Isaiah McKenzie and Stefon Diggs caught TD passes as the two-time defending AFC East champions began the NFL’s 103rd season by overcoming four turnovers and running away with a blowout win in the same arena where the Rams won it all nearly seven months ago. Allen went 26 for 31 despite two interceptions. He also rushed for 56 yards, scrambling for a 4-yard TD when he stretched the ball over the line with 13:27 to play. Matthew Stafford passed for 240 yards with one TD and three interceptions on a bruising night for the Rams, who lost a season opener and fell below .500 for the first time in coach Sean McVay’s six seasons in charge.