Easier said than done, as the road gets more and more difficult with each victory from here on out. The Class A defending state champions – Velva/Drake-Anamoose/Garrison – is once again among the final 16 teams playing postseason football, but unlike in past years, the Aggies aren’t seen as the favorite based on the seeding.

The Aggies (8-1) are making their 11th straight postseason appearance and have won at least one playoff game each year and advanced to the state semifinals in seven of the last 10 seasons. Velva hasn’t lost an opening round playoff game since 2012, when the Aggies were knocked off by Killdeer.

Velva enters this year’s postseason as the No. 4 overall seed and will host Southern McLean (5-4) at 2 p.m. A win would give the Aggies another home contest in the quarterfinal round against either No. 5 seed Park River Area or Lisbon. Langdon Area/Munich, Killdeer and Ellendale/Edgeley Kulm – the region champions over the other three divisions – are the top three seeds. Park River Area, Bottineau, Dickinson Trinity and Hillsboro-Central Valley are seeds 5-8.

There were growing pains early for coach Matt Weidler’s team as new starting quarterback Cooper Kittleson had the difficult task of replacing Ben Schepp, who will most likely go down as one of the greatest football players in the Velva program, being named all-state three times, winning two state titles, being named the Class A Senior Athlete of the Year and throwing for 8,805 yards and 112 touchdowns and rushing for 2,148 yards and 37 touchdowns during his four-year career.

Nathan Beitler/MDN Des Lacs-Burlington quarterback Kyler Fisher helped guide the Lakers to a 7-2 season, finishing third in Region 3. DL-B travels to play No. 7 seed Dickinson Trinity in the first round of the Class A playoffs on Saturday, Oct. 25.

The Aggies opened the season 1-1, scoring just 24 total points in those two contests. But the offense and Kittleson found their rhythm from there and closed the season with seven consecutive victories to grab the No. 1 seed out of a difficult Region 3 that also featured Bottineau and Des Lacs-Burlington. Velva averaged 38.3 points over their final six games before closing out the season with a win via forfeit against South Prairie-Max. The defense has been stout since Week 1, limited opponents to 6.75 points per game. The Aggies have pitched three shutouts and haven’t allowed an opponent to score more than 18 points.

Velva will match up with a familiar opening round opponent in Southern McLean. The two teams met in the first round last season as well, with the Aggies easily advancing with a 71-0 victory. The Aggies have had the upper hand in their games against Southern McLean in their history, sporting an all-time record of 15-2. Velva has not lost to Southern McLean since the Class A quarterfinal in 1999.

While the Aggies might not be the odds-on favorite to repeat as Class A state champions, New Rockford-Sheyenne-Maddock appears to be in 9-man. The Rockets spent the last eight weeks as the No. 1 ranked team in the state in the media polls after opening the preseason poll at No. 2 behind LaMoure-Litchville-Marion and has done nothing to dissuade the voters since Week 1.

The Rockets (9-0) have been a juggernaut for the past two seasons, decimating any team that lines up against them. They entered the postseason having won 21 straight games and 31 of their last 32. NR-S-M was barely challenged at any point during its title run last season, outscoring opponents by an average margin of 49.7 points per game. The Rockets’ closest game that year was a 44-14 victory over Cavalier in the second week of the season.

This year has been more of the same. The Rockets are coming off their closest game of the season, which was a 30-point victory against Four Winds. They haven’t scored fewer than 46 points all season and have amassed at least 58 points in six of their eight games (they won via forfeit against North Star for their ninth victory of the season). They are averaging 61 points per game in eight games this season.

They do have competition waiting for them deep in the playoffs with LaMoure-Litchville-Marion and Linton-HMB, the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively. Those three programs, along with fourth-seeded Alexander all enter the postseason without a loss on their record. Of the three challengers to the Rockets’ crown, L-M-M boasts the top offense at 59.1 points per game and Linton-HMB has the stingiest defense at 6.7 points allowed per game. Alexander is no slouch in either category, scoring 42.7 points per game and allowing 14.7, completing its first undefeated regular season in program history. The Comets are 24-5 over their last three seasons following a three-year stretch in which they were 6-17 and missed the playoffs each year.

The Loboes will be out for revenge if they were to meet NR-S-M in the state championship game after losing to the Rockets 62-26 in last year’s title game. The Rockets also ended their season in the quarterfinal round in 2023 by a much closer 24-18 margin.

Bottineau, Des Lacs-Burlington hope to make playoff runs

The Region 3 crown went to Velva with head-to-head victories over both Bottineau and Des Lacs-Burlington, but both the Braves and Lakers put together great seasons and are in a position to potentially make some noise in the postseason.

Langdon Area/Munich is the No. 1 seed and enter the postseason as the only remaining undefeated team in Class A, but there are six 1-loss teams in the field. That includes Bottineau (8-1), whose lone loss came against Velva in a nailbiting 24-18 contest. It was the only time all season the Braves were held to fewer than 28 points.

Making the move from Class A Region 2 to Class A Region 3 at the beginning of the season, Bottineau adjusted right away to its new home and finished second in the region and secured the No. 6 seed. The Braves will host Central McLean in the first round, a team they have never played before. Not being familiar with their opponent is nothing new for the Braves this season, as their schedule featured four teams new to them. And they won all four contests.

The Braves have never won a postseason game as a member of Class A, going 0-5 since 1975. They won a pair of postseason contests in 2021 in their one year in 9-man. A win against Central McLean on Saturday, Oct. 25, would set a program record for total wins in a season at nine as a member of Class A. They have won eight games in two other seasons (2022, 2011).

The path for Des Lacs-Burlington (7-2) will be a difficult one from the onslaught, going on the road to face No. 7 seed Dickinson Trinity in the opening round. The Lakers have struggled against the runners-up from Region 4, losing 14 of 15 career matchups. They have met in their season openers each of the last three years and Dickinson Trinity has won them all by a combined score of 86-22.

The Lakers’ lone two losses came against the top-two finishers in Region 3, but ran the table against the rest of its regional opponents to secure the third spot in the standings. DL-B has shown it can win close games as they were 4-0 in one-score contests this season.

The Titans have played in just two one-possession games this year, going 1-1. They went toe-to-toe with Killdeer – the No. 2 seed – before ultimately losing 27-23. But they can put up points in bunches, averaging 33.6 points per game.