Mike Kraft/MDN Sophomore Cullen Sisco and the Magicians host Mandan on Thursday, Oct. 16, at Duane Carlson Stadium in a game with major playoff implications for both teams.

The Class AAA football schedule may say that the playoffs don’t start for another two weeks on the night of Halloween, but for the Minot High football team, they begin on Thursday, Oct. 16, against Mandan at Duane Carlson Stadium.

A win against the Braves – which would be their first of the season – would give the Magicians the inside track on the fourth and final playoff spot out of the West Region amid a season of growing pains and tough losses. A loss officially eliminates them from playoff contention and sends Mandan to the postseason, rendering Minot High’s season finale at Williston nothing more than a glorified exhibition game.

“Playoffs essentially start this week,” Minot High coach Chauncy Hendershot said. “That being said, we still have to scale back to how we play and just putting it all together. Leaving the field on Friday and talking to the team, we feel like adversity is going to show true character and we have a lot of bounce back this week. Even on Friday, we didn’t quit. We kept fighting in that game until the end. We’re still looking for a complete football game and looking to put it all together and see what we really can be.”

The Magicians (0-7 overall, 0-3 WDA) are just happy to be playing a team without the word “Bismarck” in the name, even if Mandan is still part of the Bismarck metropolitan area. Minot High played three consecutive games against Bismarck schools, dropping each by a combined score of 115-25.

“Playing those teams, there’s great depth and they execute their schemes,” Hendershot said. “They also have some experienced classes that are deep. Some of the guys we’ve been playing the last couple of weeks were out there as sophomores two years ago. From a depth perspective, they don’t have to play many guys two ways and then they execute what they do really well. A physical run game and defenses that get off the field on third down, that’s good football.”

Minot High is coming off a 31-6 loss at Bismarck Century in a game where offensive drives were at a premium. The Magicians had just 40 plays from scrimmage against the Patriots and were held scoreless until the fourth quarter. They had just three total drives in the opening half and finished the game with just 184 yards of total offense. The Magi never got their running game going unlike the previous week in which Jalen Gunville rushed for 123 yards against Bismarck Legacy. Gunville had just 25 yards against Century and the team combined for only 75 yards on 23 carries.

The Braves (1-6, 1-2) stroll into Minot fresh off their first win of the season and best offensive showcasing dating back to 1975. Their 69 points against Williston topped a 63-point performance against Bismarck High in 2022. Cole Carlson completed 13 of 15 passes for 209 yards and four touchdowns and Nunpa Kirkie rushed for 85 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.

Carlson entered the season with the difficult task of replacing first-team all-state quarterback Hudsen Sheldon. Making things more difficult for the junior quarterback was the graduation of all-state wide receiver Jensen Schulz. In three conference games against Bismarck High, Century and Williston, Carlson has gone 43-for-68 for 536 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s spread the ball out to several wide receivers, including Daniel Wentz, Jackson Drengson and Casper Holkup. Kirkie is the primary running back.

“They are a really aggressive team,” Hendershot said. “They are more athletic. They’ve hit some explosive plays and their quarterback does a good job of getting the ball distributed. They have really good athletes. They are going to be big as well. They play really aggressive and they are a physical team.”

The Braves have big-play potential. They hit on an 81-yard touchdown pass against Bismarck High, a 78- and 62-yard pass against Williston and returned a kickoff 79 yards for a touchdown in the same game.

Despite the win against Williston last week, it’s been a difficult season for the Braves as they find themselves in a similar situation as the Magicians with a roster filled with inexperience at the varsity level. They have the fewest wins in a single season since 2016, when they finished 2-7.

The Magicians have had the upper hand in the series. They have won the last four meetings, including the Class AAA quarterfinal in 2023 and lead the all-time series 41-11.

Both have lengthy playoff streaks on the line, with one team’s streak guaranteed to end. The Braves have made the postseason each of the last seven years, and the Magicians have been in the playoffs the last four years. A win for Mandan against Minot High assures it its eighth straight trip to the postseason and eliminates both the Magicians and the Coyotes in the process. A win by Minot High means the final playoff spot will be determined on the final week of the regular season, with a Magicians victory over Williston sending them to the playoffs. A Minot High loss coupled with a Mandan win puts the Braves into the No. 4 seed. A Minot High loss and a Mandan loss creates a three-team tie with tiebreakers set to decide who gets in.

While the Magicians are far from healthy, Hendershot said that Blake Anderson will be on the field more than he has throughout most of the season. An ankle injury has had him in and out of the lineup since August, but he is expected to play a bigger role in Thursday’s game against Mandan. As a result, Anderson’s been limited to 286 yards and a touchdown on 50 carries this season. He’s also caught four passes out of the back field for 37 yards.

“You’ll see more Blake than you’ve seen since Week 3,” Hendershot said. “Given the situation, he’s looked good at practice and we knew that these last few weeks. We expect Blake to be healthy, but still certain areas where we’re really thin. Up front we’re still without our starting right tackle and we now have our starting center moved to tackle, so some shuffling with injuries and depth.”

While always critical, winning the battle along the line will be even more important on Thursday, as Mother Nature threatens to make an appearance in a major way for the first time all season. The current forecast for kickoff calls for a 90 percent chance of rain that will continue throughout the game.

“One of the areas we want to win is in the trenches and at the line of scrimmage and that’s something that will be determined early and weather can sometimes force that issue and that can be a good thing,” Hendershot said. “Whatever the weather is, we want to make it our advantage. We’ll adjust accordingly when we see what it is because that forecast can change.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.