Matthew Semisch/Bottineau Courant The Bottineau Braves working through drills during their first day of fall camp on Aug. 4.

It was a successful season for the Bottineau Braves football team in 2021. The team held onto a perfect record in the regular season and made it all the way to the nine-man semifinals before their season would come to an end with a loss to eventual state champion LaMoure-Litchville/Marion.

This year, however, will be a different look as the Braves have lost talented seniors, as well as moving up to 11-man football in 2022. “We want to make the playoffs and win the region. If we can make strides, that would be great,” head coach Zach Keller tells The Minot Daily News when discussing the team’s goals.

Even though the team is losing a lot of seniors, Keller is excited about the players returning to the team. He believes that while they ran the ball well last year, the team can be more balanced and working on the passing game will be a strong point of emphasis leading into the regular season.

In addition to shifting the focus of 2022 on developing a more balanced attack on offense, Keller shares that he expects the team to be more than just that and to bring toughness to the gridiron.

“We like to be a grind it out, physical football team. We want to try to control the clock and help our defense out. We want to be balanced, but run physically as well,” he said.

Jacob Shriver, a two-way running back and linebacker, is coming off an All-State season and Keller expects the team to lean heavily on him. In addition to Shriver, Gabe Nero, an All-Region tight end and defensive end, Ryder Pollman the team’s returning starting quarterback, Carson Haerer who impacts the game on multiple levels, and Gabe Glasner and Joss Olson as anchors up front are all expected to be impact players for the Braves this season.

With a move back to 11-man football, Keller explained that there isn’t one game in particular that the Braves are looking forward to, but all of them ring echoes of past matchups and the team will be ready to go.

“There isn’t one game we circle. We are bouncing back up to 11-man and we know a lot of these teams that we’ve played in years past. We have a determined group of kids who are ready to go.”

Bottineau began its 2022 campaign on Aug. 19 against Carrington.

SCHEDULE

Friday, Aug. 19

Carrington 7 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 26

@ Grafton 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 2

Langdon 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 9

@ Harvey/Wells County 7 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 17

Ellendale/Edgeley/Kulm 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 23

@ Rugby 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 30

@ Hillsboro/Central Valley 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 8

Thompson 2 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 14

Park River Area 7 p.m.

ROSTER

No. Name Gr. Position

3 Carson Haerer 11 WR-CB

4 Eli Bristol 12 WR-CB

5 Ryder Pollman 12 QB-S

7 Khaliel Abdurrahman 10 WR-CB

10 Landen Solberg 9 QB-S

17 Carson Coleman 9 WR-CB

21 Gabriel Deschamp 12 RB-LB

22 Wyatt Campbell 9 RB-LB

23 Tye Marum 11 WR-CB

24 Tukker Fedje 10 RB-S

30 Will Demontigny 10 FB-LB

31 Easton Freeman 11 RB-S

32 Gabriel Nero 12 WR-DE

41 Jacob Shriver 12 RB-LB

50 Travis Pederson 10 OL-DL

51 Bud Wilkie 10 OL-DE

52 Karson Hiatt 12 OL-DL

53 Gabe Glasner 12 OL-LB

54 Joss Olson 12 OL-DL

55 Cooper Beckman 9 OL-DL

56 Nicholas Barbot 11 OL-DL

57 Gage Hallada-Ellis 9 OL-DL

59 Owen Wilmot 9 OL-DL

60 Jake Hennings 11 OL-DL

70 Dakota Corley 11 OL-DL

75 Noah Bedlion 10 OL-DL

75 Adam Stute 10 OL-DL

77 Breckin Bohl 9 OL-DL

80 Alex Pomarleau 9 WR-DE

83 Conner Guss 9 WR-CB

88 Toby George 9 RB-CB