The Minot North Sentinels were placed first in the North Dakota Associated Press Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association preseason poll for Division AA football.

The polls were released Monday, August 25 ahead of the Division AA and Division AAA football seasons. Minot North received eleven of the votes for first place, putting them ahead in the polls of Kindred High School in second, Grand Forks Red River in third, Central Cass in fourth and Bismarck St. Mary’s in fifth.

“From the coaching perspective, we’re just worried for our upcoming game,” said Sentinels football head coach Jacob Holmen. “Our mantra has kind of been ‘its us versus us.’ Everyday when we show up to practice, we’re just going to try and get each other better and we believe that if we play to the best of our abilities, then we are the team that can beat ourselves. So we just have to be sharp and prepared to the best of our ability each week and let the fans worry about the media poll.”

While Coach Holmen and the other coaching staff over at Minot North don’t put a lot of stock into the preseason polls, it does show that the public is confident in the Sentinels’ ability to do well this season.

Coach Holmen says that he feels good about the team in the upcoming season. He says that they were lucky enough to not lose too many players to graduation last year. He says the nucleus of the team is still largely intact.

“We still feel like we have some things to prove,” Coach Holmen said. “We have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder from how things ended last year and it was a great season, but we would have liked it to end a little bit better.”

Last season, the Sentinels lost in the semifinals of the 2024 NDHSAA Division AA Football State Playoffs to West Fargo Horace 42-20, just missing their chance at a championship spot. Coach Holmen says that they will attack each week like they did in the past, continue to try and get better day by day, and compete their tails off.

Minot High ranked fifth in the Division AAA preseason football poll with West Fargo Sheyenne taking the top spot.

Second ranked Kindred High School and fourth ranked Central Cass are moving up to Division AA after competing in Division A last season. Kindred was runner up in the 2024 NDHSAA Division A Football State Playoffs after being bested by the Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison Lakers in the finals 14-12.