Mike Kraft/MDN Minot North senior quarterback Brayden Blikre and the top-ranked Sentinels open the season on the road against Class AAA Williston.

What a difference a year makes.

When the Minot North football team took the field for the first time as a varsity program last season against the Bismarck Century JV squad, they were a relative unknown with no real expectations attached to them.

This season, however, the narrative has completely shifted. The Sentinels enter their season opener at Class AAA Williston on Friday, Aug. 29, as the top-ranked team in Class AA with many from outside the program expecting them to be playing at the Fargodome in early November.

“That’s something you have to be open with your kids about and talk to them about it,” Minot North coach Jacob Holmen said. “If you don’t address it, it will snowball on them. That’s something we talked about and the ‘us versus us’ mantra is pretty thick on our team. They were on board right when I brought it up. We honestly don’t care what people outside of our program say, we’re going to worry about the people that are in our program and know what we go through and the work we put in every single week. That’s obviously a concern, but we address it each and every week if we feel like we need to.”

The Sentinels finished their inaugural varsity season 8-3 and advanced to the state semifinal. They bring back a plethora of key pieces from that team, including 19 seniors. Starting quarterback Brayden Blikre is back for his senior campaign after throwing for 1,087 yards and 10 touchdowns while rushing for another 385 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. Senior Christian Deadmond will again be in the backfield after carrying the ball 117 times for 872 yards and 10 touchdowns for an offense that averaged 31.6 points per game and amassed 35+ points six times last year.

Minot North is kicking off its season against one of the big boys in the state, electing to spar with a Class AAA program before beginning its Class AA slate of games. While the Sentinels are a program on the rise, the Coyotes have been in a period of disarray, coming off a winless season in which they were outscored 391-97. They’ve lost 10 straight games dating back to the 2023 season. Williston’s last victory came on Oct. 6, 2023, a 12-0 victory against Watford City. The Coyotes haven’t had a winning season since 2008, which was also the last time they advanced to the playoffs and won more than three contests in a single year.

“I don’t think we ever compare records at any level,” Holmen said. “Anyone could beat anyone on any given week. It’s a bunch of 15- to 18-year-old kids playing a game. Anything can happen. We don’t look at last year’s results by any means. We attack every opponent just the same regardless of what the record says.”

Steve Powell takes over as head coach, replacing Mark Kennedy after two seasons. The Coyotes have just four seniors on the roster, two along the offensive and defensive line in Jordan Murillo and Hunter Evans, and two wide receivers/defensive backs in Jaxon Tamaz and Chance Riveland. Despite the lack of seniors, Holmen believes the Coyotes have plenty of athleticism and size to pose problems.

“They are athletic in the back half,” Holmen said. “I think their best players are their skill positions. They run very well. They have some speed on the track in the spring and a lot of those kids play football and I’ve watched them play basketball, too. So they are very athletic and they do have some big guys up front. They play both ways I believe so hopefully as we can go we’re going to lean on our depth up front and hopefully we’re in good enough shape to wear them down a little bit.”

While the speed and the physicality might be a step up in Class AAA compared to Class AA, Holmen is confident his team can compete at any level. The Sentinels have already gotten a taste for what Class AAA competition looks like when they scrimmaged Minot High earlier in the preseason.

“That helps for sure,” Holmen said. “They have some very talented kids across town. They’re big and physical and they know what it takes to play at the triple-A level, where our kids have never had that experience. To get a taste of it – it was a very small taste – when we played them, but it will help having played a really good opponent.”

Minot North has its fair share of talent as well. The Sentinels may not know exactly what the Coyotes are going to throw at them with new players and a new coaching staff, but they are confident in the talent they have in their own huddle. All-state defenders William Bentley and Evan Berg will look to make life difficult for junior quarterback Collin McCuistion. Bentley registered a sack and three quarterback pressures last season and Berg had 69 total tackles – five coming in the backfield – and four quarterback pressures. Junior all-region lineman Ethan Howley can also get to the quarterback, recording seven tackles for loss and three pressures a year ago.

“It’s a unique challenge for sure, but we tell our kids that every single week we’re going to worry about our own preparation,” Holmen said. “So whether we get to practice against exactly what we’re going to see we’re still playing a football game and a lot of things carry over from game to game. Teams run similar schemes, so having played a full season last year at the varsity level, our guys have been exposed to a lot of offenses and defenses. Hopefully we can lean on that experience and whatever we see, whether we know if it’s coming or not, we’ll be ready for it.”

Holmen is hoping the preseason scrimmage will help kick off some of the rust a bit earlier in the season than usual, as he said the biggest jump in play typically comes from Week 1 to Week 2. More than anything, the Sentinels are ready to get the season started.

“We’re ready to play,” Holmen said. “We’ve been practicing for a long time now. You have your eyes set out on Week 1 from the time you were done last season. There’s a lot of excitement to play against someone other than ourselves and we’ll go give it our best shot Friday night.”