Mike Kraft/MDN Minot High junior Tariq Bell is among a plethora of Magicians looking to play a pivotal role this season, beginning this week in their season opener at second-ranked Fargo Davies.

Minot High’s Chauncey Hendershot and Fargo Davies’ Wayne Werremeyer both took over head coaching duties at their respective schools in 2020, but their relationship dates back well before constructing two of the more consistent programs over the past five years.

Hendershot and Werremeyer shared the same sideline at Moorhead High School under coach Kevin Feeney when the Minot signal caller was just a young assistant and the Eagles’ leader was the defensive coordinator.

On Friday night, the two will once again find themselves on opposite sidelines in search of the same thing: a victory. But win or lose, their friendship will remain as strong as it has always been, as the two have a tremendous amount of respect for one another, both as coaches and individuals.

“We go back,” Hendershot said. “He’s a really good friend of mine. It was really cool getting to see his kids grow up and hear the Werremeyer name called for Davies. He’s a great coach, a great family man and they are a great family. He’s one of the individuals I consider a great friend in the coaching profession.”

Head to head, Werremeyer has gotten the better of Hendershot and the Magicians, sporting a 4-1 record, including a pair of victories last season, the second of which ended Minot’s season in the Class AAA semifinals. Hendershot does have a state title to his resume, winning the program’s first championship since 1980 two years ago, snapping a seven-game losing streak in championship games.

The Magicians and Eagles have met every season since 2021 and regardless of what the rosters look like, both teams know to expect a hard-nosed, physical and well-coached game.

“One thing I know about a Minot team under coach Hendershot and coach (Rick) Philion is they are going to be a well-coached team,” Werremeyer said. “I’ve had the chance to coach with both of those individuals in my past and have a ton of respect for those two guys. They’re going to be fundamentally sound. I know they are going to be putting a lot of guys on the field that might not have a lot of varsity experience, but I also know they played a ton of freshmen and JV ball, so those guys are going to be ready to roll.”

Davies enters Friday night’s game ranked No. 2 in the preseason media poll following one of its most successful seasons in program history. The Eagles finished 10-2, their most victories in a single season since 2014, when they finished 11-1 and won their lone state title. It was the only other season Davies eclipsed the 10-win mark. Davies has not had a losing season under Werremeyer and has advanced to the postseason in four of his first five seasons.

“Fargo Davies is a very physical football team,” Hendershot said. “They graduated some very good football players, but they are returning a large chunk of their team that we faced last year. Their style of offense they play that they’ve gone through the last couple of years requires you to be very disciplined, very patient, very physical. They’re willing to take three yards every play and ground and pound it, try and break one when you’re not paying attention. We have to set our mind to that and defensively they’ll give us some different looks. They have great athletes on that side of the ball and we just have to be smart, play physical and execute our stuff one play at a time.”

Among the players returning for the Eagles are four of their offensive linemen, including first-team all-state and first-team all-West Region Jason Hunter and Gus Werremeyer. The Eagles have five senior linemen on the roster, two of which provide plenty of size at 6-foot-4 and 300-plus pounds. Davies’ offensive identity in years past has been on the ground, as the Eagles only threw the ball 63 times all last season.

The Magicians find themselves in the complete opposite scenario. Their roster looks unrecognizable from the one that last played Davies nine months ago. They return just four starters from last year – two offensive lineman, an outside linebacker and Blake Anderson, who will be the primary running back this season. Anderson is one player in particular that Werremeyer is stressing his defense over.

“We have to have 11 guys on defense running to the football and that’s something we’ve been stressing at practice,” Werremeyer said. “If the ball goes in the air, we have to have our defensive line turn and run. If the ball is handed off, we have to have our defensive backs run to the football. I’m assuming it’s going to be Anderson getting the majority of the carries and he’s a very explosive individual. He’s going to break a tackle of two. I don’t know if he’s going to break 11.”

With such a young team lacking the experience of playing under the bright lights of varsity football on a Friday night, Hendershot stressed the importance of fundamentals.

“We’re bringing in a handful of guys that have varsity experience,” Hendershot said. “We have to adapt to the Friday night speed, adapt to the physicality and execute what we’ve been executing and what’s been taught against a really good opponent. The stats like turnovers, time of possession has always been something Davies has done a really good job of. They are going to get the ball and try to weather you with time of possession. We have to take care of the ball and execute our style of football. We have to find a rhythm.”

The Eagles also have a luxury most high school football teams lack: a kicking game. Werremeyer highlighted junior Colby Nelson as someone who has the ability to be a difference-maker, whether it’s kicking field goals from over 40 yards or pinning teams back on kickoffs and forcing them to drive the length of the field on their defense.

“Right now our kicking game is very strong,” Werremeyer said. “We have an extremely good kicker. I think he was one of the kids who changed the game when we played Minot in the semis, hitting a 42- or 43-yarder into the wind right at the end of the first half. This year he continues to improve and went to a ton of kicker camps over the summer. Really looking forward to having that weapon where we feel like if we get inside the red zone we should come away with points, whether it’s a touchdown or a field goal and then kickoffs where we can hopefully pin other teams back on the 20 so they have to go 80 yards and we can hopefully give up a couple first downs and still be in sound position.”

One thing’s for sure, regardless of the outcome to Friday’s game, Hendershot and Werremeyer will be rooting for one another the rest of the way, perhaps hoping to see each other one more time in Fargo in November.

“One thing that is cool in the coaching profession is it’s cyclical,” Hendershot said. “We want to compete and when we’re playing each other, we’re going to compete and we’re going to put the work in having the best plan and having our players ready. If we’re not playing, I’m always rooting for coach Werremeyer and I think it’s vice versa. He’s been a great friend, great mentor to me.”

Werremeyer said, “Every time I get to see him it’s fun visiting with him before the game and after the game. Obviously, we both want to win and that’s our goal when we play each other, but at the end of the game and the end of the day we can put a win or a loss aside and continue our friendship.”