Sports

Braves, Sioux to face stiff competiton

By Matthew Semisch

08/05/2014

If you’re wondering where the North Dakota summer went, you’re certainly not alone.

August is already here, which means schools around Bottineau County are only a few weeks away from opening their doors and starting the 2014-15 academic year.

The arrival of August also means we’re mere weeks away from the start of the 2014 high school football season. The first day of practice for Bottineau High’s and Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn’s (WNG) teams will be here before the Braves and Sioux know it, and so too will the first games of the season.

Bottineau High opens its 2014 season Tuesday, Aug. 26 on the road in Rolla against North Prairie. NDHSAA Class A Region 3 play will then start for the Braves the following Friday, Sept. 5, at home against Velva.

The rest of Bottineau’s 2014 regular season schedule is all against Region 3 competition.

The Braves head to Berthold Sept. 11 to face Lewis and Clark-Our Redeemer’s. The remainder of Bottineau’s September slate includes a home game against Rugby on Sept. 19 and a visit to Surrey on Sept. 26.

The Braves then close out the regular season at home against Des Lacs-Burlington on Oct. 3, on the road at Williams County on Oct. 10 and at home against Harvey-Wells County on Oct. 15.

Bottineau will look to improve upon its 2-6 record from last year. W-N-G had a much better 2013 season, finishing with a 10-3 record and an appearance in the nine-man Dakota Bowl state title game last Nov. 15 in Fargo.

The Sioux dropped a disappointing 54-6 decision that day against undefeated Cavalier. W-N-G had pride to take, though, in having gotten to Fargo the hard way by playing each of the Sioux’s previous three state playoff games on the road.

W-N-G’s 2014 campaign will begin away from home, too, when the Sioux visit nine-man Region 3 rival Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood on Aug. 26.

The Sioux’s first home game of the new season falls only four days after the visit to Mohall. Kenmare-Bowbells-Burke Central visits Westhope on Aug. 30, and W-N-G is again at home - this time in Glenburn - on Sept. 5 against New Town.

A third consecutive home game for W-N-G will take place Sept. 12 against Divide County before the Sioux visit Dunseith on Sept. 19. The September slate is then closed out with a road game Sept. 26 against Towner-Granville-Upham.

W-N-G welcomes St. John to Westhope on Oct. 3 before closing out its home schedule Oct. 10 against Drake-Anamoose. The Sioux’s regular season then ends on Oct. 18 on the road against Parshall.

This year’s Dakota Bowl state title games are set to take place Nov. 14 at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. Dakota Bowl games from 2015 to 2020 will then take place back in Fargo.