MINOT, ND – Our Friday night football game renews the rivalry between the Aggies and Lions. Velva-Garrison-Drake/Anamoose will host Bishop Ryan in a Class 11B Region 3 football game tonight. The Aggies are undefeated at 7-0, while the Lions are 3-4 on the season. The last time these two met was in the State playoffs last year when Bishop Ryan won in triple overtime. Pregame is set for 6:40 pm on 106.9 K-Heart and online at khrt.com.
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MINOT, ND – Grand Forks Red River won the team dual portion of the State Boys Tennis Tournament. The individual tournament is today and Saturday.

 

 

First Round
(1E) Grand Forks Red River def. (4W) Mandan, 5-0
(3E) West Fargo Sheyenne def. (2W) Bismarck Legacy, 3-2
(1W) Minot High def. (4E) Fargo Davies, 4-1
(2E) Fargo South def. (3W) Bismarck Century, 3-2

Loser Out
(2W) Bismarck Legacy def. (4W) Mandan, 3-2
(4E) Fargo Davies def. (3W) Bismarck Century, 4-1
Semifinal
(1E) Grand Forks Red River def. (3E) West Fargo Sheyenne, 4-1
(1W) Minot High def. (2E) Fargo South, 4-1
5th Place
(2W) Bismarck Legacy def. (4E) Fargo Davies, 3-2
3rd Place
(3E) West Fargo Sheyenne def. (2E) Fargo South, 4-1
Championship
(1E) Grand Forks Red River def. (1W) Minot High, 4-1
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MINOT, ND – Today is day two of the Boys State Soccer Tournament in West Fargo. Minot High extended their winning streak to nine. Bismarck Legacy made history with their first state tournament win in boys soccer.

 

 

First Round
(1E) Fargo Davis def. (4W) Bismarck Century, 6-0
(2W) Bismarck Legacy def. (3E) Fargo Shanley, 4-1
(1W) Minot High def. (4E) Grand Forks Red River, 1-0 SO
(2E) West Fargo def. (3W) Bismarck High, 1-0

 

 

Loser Out
(4W) Bismarck Century vs (3E) Fargo Shanley, 12 pm
(4E) Grand Forks Red River vs. (3W) Bismarck High, 2 pm
Semifinals
(1E) Fargo Davies vs. (2W) Bismarck Legacy, 4:30 pm
(1W) Minot High vs. (2E) West Fargo, 6:45 pm

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MINOT, ND – Other scores from the area:

 

High School Girls Swimming & Diving
Minot High 153, Mandan 32

 

 

Class A
#2 Bismarck Century def. Bismarck St. Mary’s (3-0) 25-16, 25-14, 25-13
#3 Jamestown def. Mandan (3-0) 25-8, 25-9, 25-15
Dickinson def. Minot High (3-2) 20-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-23, 15-10
Williston def Watford City (3-2) 25-20, 24-26, 25-16, 22-25, 15-10

 

Class B
#3 Kenmare-Bowbells def. Stanley (3-0) 25-13, 25-21, 25-11
#6 Langdon Area-Edmore-Munich def. St. John (3-0) 25-3, 25-8, 25-8
Bishop Ryan def. Berthold (3-0) 25-10, 25-14, 25-18
Des Lacs-Burlington def. Surrey (3-2) 23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 24-26, 15-8
Our Redeemer’s def. Glenburn (3-0) 25-12, 25-11, 25-5
South Prairie-Max def. Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood (3-0) 25-17, 25-15, 25-16
Newburg-Westhope def. Velva (3-1) 25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 25-15
Bottineau def. Rugby (3-1) 25-17, 25-22, 20-25, 26-24
Washburn def. Drake-Anamoose (3-1) 26-28, 25-22, 26-24, 25-23
Harvey-Wells County def. Nelson County (3-1) 25-13, 23-25, 25-17, 25-19
New Rockford-Sheyenne def. Dunseith (3-0)
Hazen def. Center-Stanton (3-2) 25-21, 23-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-12
Beulah def. Heart River (3-0) 25-16, 25-19, 25-11
Trenton def. Mandaree (3-0) 25-5, 25-7, 25-9
Divide County def. Tioga (3-0) 25-16, 25-6, 25-20

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VIKINGS-OFFENSE

 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings have staked out a favorable position through the first quarter of their season by winning three of four games amid predictable growing pains with new playbooks and play callers on both sides of the ball. Just because Kirk Cousins worked with coach Kevin O’Connell before didn’t mean the offense was going to instantly click, even with Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and Dalvin Cook at its disposal. “You have to turn over every stone as best as you can no matter how little time we’ve had on the task, so there’s no excuse,” Cousins said. “Now that being said, after 40 games are you going to be at a different level of this offense? Yes, you will.”

 

O’Connell was the position coach for Cousins with Washington in 2017, a former NFL quarterback himself who is just 3 years older than Cousins. Relatability is only part of the equation, though. The alignment of in-game decision-making with big-picture strategy about where and when to pass the ball is not an overnight process, particularly when the Vikings have tested the new system against few opposing defenses to date. “I feel great about where Kirk’s headed, and obviously there’s some things we can really coach hard,” O’Connell said. “I can coach better to help him be at his best and truly start maximizing what we’re going to become as an offense.”

 

The Vikings, who host Chicago on Sunday, are fifth in the league in first downs per game but just 15th in scoring and 25th in red-zone touchdowns. When facing pressure, as defined by Sportradar, Cousins (8 for 35 for 87 yards with two interceptions) is 30th in the NFL in completion percentage among qualifying quarterbacks. The Bears, who are 2-2, have been experiencing even more pronounced growing pains. They’re second-to-last in the league in scoring in quarterback Justin Fields’ second season, the first under new coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. Fields (4 for 19 for 117 yards with two interceptions) is 31st in the NFL in completion percentage under pressure. He has been sacked 16 times, one short of the league high. Leaning on his running ability and feeling the rush in the pocket, Fields sometimes has missed open receivers and taken off instead. “You’re not going to make the perfect decision every time,” Fields said. “You’ve just got to live by that and just move on to the next play.” Said Eberflus: “More experience on the job, and he’s going to get better at it.”

 

DARRI-SAWING LOGS

 

Vikings left tackle Christian Darrisaw has been blossoming in his second season. He’ll face a dangerous defensive end in Robert Quinn, who has 3 1/2 sacks and two forced fumbles in his last three games against Minnesota. “From a pass game perspective, I feel like last year that was one of my weaknesses,” Darrisaw said. “I really took it hard on myself, breaking down my film and watching my footwork and things like that, just trying to break bad habits that I had in college and the type of stuff that I used to get away with. Now you get exposed on those types of things.” He was exposed on the team flight to London last week for the game against the Saints. The lay-flat seats that Vikings players had to rest well and keep their body clocks on track worked so well the 6-foot-5, 315-pound Darrisaw started snoring — loudly. Outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith thought the plane was making the noise. Cook thought it was a prank. “He was sawing logs,” Cousins said. On the return trip, Darrisaw slept on his side instead of his back — and made his teammates happy. “He got good sleep. That was good for him. We got our sleep. That was good for us,” Cook said, laughing. “Everything worked out.”

 

RUN DOWN

 

The Bears were torched by Saquon Barkley for 146 rushing yards last week against the Giants and are allowing a league-worst 183.3 rushing yards per game. “If you can’t stop the run, then it’s kind of demoralizing,” Quinn said. The offense’s lack of production could be plenty discouraging, too, but the leaders of the defense have been trying to prevent that. “Pressure does two things: It can bust pipes and make diamonds,” Quinn said. “I think we’re just trying to make diamonds of the situation and not trying to point fingers.”

 

LEG UP

 

Minnesota’s Greg Joseph was named NFC special teams player of the week after making all five of his field-goal attempts, including the tiebreaking 47-yarder with 24 seconds left. He’s the only one in the league this season with five-plus makes. “It’s a team award,” Joseph said. “Credit to Kirk and the offense for getting us down there. Credit to the big boys up front helping me make kicks and the snap and the hold.” Chicago’s Cairo Santos will be back this week after missing the last game because of a personal matter. Michael Badgley went 4 for 4 on field goals in his place.

 

REMEMBER ME?

 

The Bears have a significant number of recent former Vikings. Defensive tackle Armon Watts, who got his first start of the season last week, was cut in late August along with wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette and practice squad cornerback Harrison Hand. Guard Dakota Dozier, who is on injured reserve, was also with the Vikings as late as 2021. So was quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. Backup tackle Riley Reiff started for the Vikings from 2017-20.

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TWINS-CORREA

 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins came quickly out of the gate after the lockout this spring by making three bold trades and becoming the surprise landing spot for star shortstop Carlos Correa. Their momentum lasted deep into the summer, with 108 of the 182 days in the regular season spent in first place. After their tumble down the stretch pushed them out of contention in the AL Central and stuck them with an 78-84 record, a mere five-game improvement from 2021, the Twins trudge toward winter facing one of the same big questions as last year. Should they go shopping for Correa?

 

“When I go to the mall and I go to the Dior store, when I want something, I get it. I ask how much it costs, and I buy it. If you really want something, you just go get it,” Correa said last week. “I’m the product here. If they want my product, they’ve just got to come get it.” Correa, whose $35.1 million salary this season was the third-highest in baseball for a position player, has an opt-out clause that can make him a free agent — again. Speaking to reporters after the Twins finished their schedule in Chicago on Wednesday, the 28-year-old two-time All-Star strongly hinted he would exercise his option and test the market — again. “The decision, it’s very simple. I’m going to have some conversations with the front office here and see where their headspace is at and where they are,” Correa said. “I talked about marriage in terms of building a long-term relationship and then we go from there, but we all know — you know — the game enough to know what my decision is going to be like.”

 

Despite the fact that the Twins finished 14 games out of first place after being tied at the top with eventual winner Cleveland as late as Sept. 4, Correa raved from start to finish this season about the organization, the ballpark and the community. That doesn’t mean Correa and his agent, Scott Boras, will cut the Twins a discount. “He’s in a unique situation. We knew that when we signed that contract and we’ll have to see how this plays out, but we certainly have an interest in seeing him as a Twin in 2023 and beyond,” club president and chief executive officer Dave St. Peter said. “I can assure you that.”

 

Correa was everything the Twins were counting on at the plate, in the field and in the clubhouse. The problem is they had so many other players unavailable or underperforming that his impact on winning was ultimately muted. Luis Arraez’s batting title was one of the few other positives. “We got ourselves to a good spot going into September,” manager Rocco Baldelli said, “and then a lot of things went the wrong way.”

 

STAYING THE COURSE

 

President of baseball operations Derek Falvey confirmed recently that Baldelli will return for a fifth season. The Twins won the division in each of his first two years while going 137-85. They’re 151-173 since then. “Rocco’s a big part of our future. Not just next year, but beyond,” Falvey said. St. Peter also publicly stated the organization’s commitment to Falvey.

 

PICK A NUMBER

 

The Twins used a club-record 61 players this season. They drew up 152 different batting orders. They used the injured list 48 times. The Twins concluded that most of the injuries were unpreventable, but nonetheless their medical staff and strategy will receive a fresh round of scrutiny this winter. “I’m hopeful for a lot of reasons that this is our spike-up year and that there’s some regression built in going forward,” Falvey said.

 

FIXING BUXTON

 

The bright side for the Twins was they got 92 games out of All-Star center fielder Byron Buxton, who signed a seven-year, $100 million contract right before the lockout. That was his highest total since 2017, when he played in a career-most 140 games. He blew away his previous personal best by hitting 28 home runs. Still, the patellar tendinitis and accompanying hip strain he dealt with deprived the Twins of their best all-around for player for nearly half of the schedule. “He still found a way to go out there and be absolutely one of the best players in the game,” Baldelli said. “I think that tells you a lot about his fight and who he is as a person.”

 

ROTATION ROULETTE

 

Joe Ryan’s strong rookie season was one of the few positive developments among the starting pitchers. The Twins acquired Sonny Gray and Chris Paddack in separate trades in March and added Tyler Mahle in a deal in August, but Gray was the only one who stayed relatively healthy by making 24 starts and posting a solid 3.08 ERA. Paddack joined Kenta Maeda in elbow surgery recovery. Mahle was waylaid by shoulder trouble. Rookies Bailey Ober and Josh Winder also spent more time rehabbing than pitching.