Week 1 of the high school football season is typically a time where teams are shaking off the rust from a long offseason.

If Minot North was rusty in its convincing 41-0 victory over Williston in its season opener last week, it certainly wasn’t apparent on the stat sheet. And if it’s the worst the Sentinels are going to look all season, that could spell bad news for the rest of Class AA.

“We played fairly well for our first game,” Minot North coach Jacob Holmen said. “Obviously, there are a lot of things we need to fix when you go back and watch the film. We’re pretty pleased with our kids’ effort and their physicality. You can compare it to last year when we were playing our first varsity season, that first varsity game was a lot to handle for some of our kids, but Year 2 they knew what to expect a little bit more than in the past and I think the maturity of our team has gone over the course of the last year or so. It was a fun time to be on the field again and we look forward to hopefully making a good jump from Week 1 to Week 2.”

After taking on a Class AAA team to begin the year, the top-ranked Sentinels (1-0) kick off the Class AA portion of their schedule, once again heading on the road to battle Fargo South (1-0) on Friday, Sept. 5. The Bruins are coming off a 34-21 victory at Dickinson and received votes in the latest Class AA state media poll. This will be the first meeting between the two schools.

The Sentinels won the battle in the trenches against the Coyotes, racking up 305 yards on the ground on 35 carries. Cole Richeson led the way with 141 yards on nine attempts as 11 different players carried the ball for Minot North. Brayden Blikre wasn’t called on to do much with his arm, throwing just 10 passes in the game. He completed four attempts for 43 yards and two touchdowns.

Josia Jaquinet had himself a career day in all three phases of the game. He caught a 9-yard pass for a touchdown, ran for a 14-yard touchdown on his only carry, intercepted two passes on defense, taking the first one back 17 yards for a score and converted 5 of 6 extra points, filling in for their regular kicker, who was with the soccer team that night.

“He’s a very talented player for sure,” Holmen said of Jaquinet. “He actually didn’t play a ton of defense last year. We lost a cornerback who was an all-conference kid, so he’s stepping into that role. He has done a good job of getting in the classroom and learning some things. The defensive side wasn’t his best thing last year and he’s seeing the value he can add on both sides of the ball and he actually kicked for us too because our normal kicker was at a soccer game. He did a nice job of kicking the ball.”

Minot North’s defense limited Williston to just 13 yards rushing and 129 total yards.

Holmen said that Fargo South likes to air it out on offense and wouldn’t be surprised to see them attempt close to 40 passes from sophomore quarterback Sylas Johnson. He has several viable options to throw to on the outside, led by first-team all-state receiver Amari Taylor, who caught 61 passes for 918 yards and four touchdowns a year ago. Jayvon Anderson provides a solid No. 2 option after hauling in 38 passes for 404 yards and two touchdowns. The Bruins’ tight end is tough to miss as he stands at 6-foot-7. Drew Kessel provides a massive target in the middle of the field with his size and used it last year to catch 48 passes for 573 yards and eight touchdowns.

“Their deep ball threats are a concern,” Holmen said. “If we can handle them and make them run the football, maybe dink and dunk a little bit, I think we’ll have a good chance.”

The Sentinels are only a week into their schedule, but they already have experience with long bus rides. But the 2-hour trip to Williston pales in comparison to the 4.5-hour excursion that awaits them this week. The Sentinels had their first taste of a bus trip to Fargo last year when they played at West Fargo Horace after not having to endure such a long trip at the JV level. The results weren’t favorable, as they fell behind early and lost 33-7. Now, they feel more prepared.

“There’s always concerns with that, but last year when we went through it, it was the very first time we had a bus trip to Fargo,” Holmen said. “We didn’t do that when we were playing JV football and we were sluggish and kind of got punched in the mouth right away. We know what it feels like now to sit on a bus for 4.5 hours. Hopefully that experience last year helps us, but on a long bus trip there are some concerns there, but I don’t mind getting out of town the first two weeks just to get away from some distractions. We’re treating it like a business trip and we’re looking forward to playing again.”

The Bruins have already surpassed their win total from a year ago, having snapped a 10-game losing streak that dated back to the 2023 Class AA quarterfinal. After a 6-4 season in 2023, Fargo South went winless in 2024 for the first time in program history. Prior to last season, the Bruins had never won fewer than three games. It was also the first time in program history the Bruins had allowed more than 300 points in a season.

The game film against Dickinson would indicate that the Bruins’ defense has already shown signs of marked improvement.

“Defensively, they bring a lot of pressure, so we have our hands full with some of their stunts that we have to pick up,” Holmen said. “They have some guys that are big and physical up front, so it will be another good test for us.”

As evident in their win against Williston, the Sentinels are plenty physical themselves, and Holmen credits a dedication to the weight room during the offseason as well as the last few years in general for that physicality. Along with the physical growth, Holmen also sees the mental growth and expects that to continue throughout the season.

“Our guys are fairly confident in what we’re trying to do,” Holmen said. “They have a good understanding that it’s so early still that there is a lot of improvement we can still make. They’ve done a really good job of taking coaching and taking that stuff to heart. They want to be very good and I think that they are realizing more and more what it takes to be a really good football team. So hopefully that trend can continue.”