D1 HIGH FIVE

There were seven teams in action on Saturday.

*Tessa Johnson, South Carolina, St. Michael-Albertville 14-W

*Amber Scalia, Miami OH, Stillwater 14-L

*Kierra Wheeler, West Virginia, Cooper 14-W

*Gianna Kneepkens, UCLA, Duluth Marshall 7-W

Trinity Wilson, Vanderbilt, Lakeville North 1-W

Totals: 50 points, 4-1

This is the first time on the D1 HF list for Wilson. That brings the total to 74 for the year.

Three of the players were AAAA based. One each for AAA and AA.

All five players made the state tournament. Johnson, Wheeler and Kneepkens were state champs or finalists (virus year).

HIGH SCHOOL COMPETITION, RELEGATION AND A BETTER SYSTEM

The competitive level in the state is out of whack using the current system. The scoring gaps and victory margins between the haves and the nots are increasing. The result is accelerating. What used to be an average gap of 8.89 in AAAA during the 2006 season jumped to 21.5 in 2016 and even more to 28.0 in 2026. This is disastorous for the game. What is the point of playing or attending if the field is so slanted. It is ridiculous to think student bodies in seats should be the way to divide the schools. Clearly students with ample resources need to be grouped together. What is needed is a European style system where relegation occurs. If not, the trends will continue, numbers will continue to decline  and schools will be dropping the sport.

So how would this work? You can not do relegation based on last year’s results because students graduate. And then players shift schools or (unfortunately) players get injured. November and December games would shift the schools. By January 1 the top 64 schools, regardless of student bodies in seats, would be divided into eight groups of eight schools. There would be no more conferences. All selections would be based on skill or production. Schools would then face the seven schools in their section/region/conference for home and away matches. This would continue down the line. Teams 65-128 would be division 2, 129-192 would be division 3 and so on down the line. There would be limited running time contests (I would hope) not the 34% of the games now happening. There still could be RT games, but I would hope it would shift down to the 11% going on in 2006. That year had the most games decided by five points or less at 27%. Now it is the lowest recorded at 11.8%.

Here is how the top 64 would have been decided this year for the “Biggest Class” which we will call A

1. West Metro / Lake Minnetonka

• Minnetonka
• Wayzata
• Hopkins
• Eden Prairie
• Chanhassen
• Orono
• Benilde-St. Margaret’s (St. Louis Park)
• Providence Academy (Plymouth)

2. South Metro

• Lakeville North
• Lakeville South
• Prior Lake
• Shakopee
• Rosemount
• Farmington
• Eastview (Apple Valley)
• Jordan

3. East Metro

• Woodbury
• East Ridge (Woodbury)
• Roseville
• Mounds View (Arden Hills)
• Cretin-Derham Hall (St. Paul)
• Hill-Murray (Maplewood)
• Two Rivers (Mendota Heights)
• Holy Angels (Richfield)

4. North Metro

• Blaine
• Andover
• Champlin Park
• Maple Grove
• Park Center (Brooklyn Park)
• Centennial (Circle Pines)
• Spring Lake Park
• Totino-Grace (Fridley)

5. Northwest Corridor (Hwy 10 / I-94)

• St. Michael-Albertville
• Rogers
• Elk River
• Monticello
• Becker
• Foley
• Milaca
• Minneapolis North (Placed here to balance the NW flow)

6. West Central / Wright County

• Waconia
• Delano
• Maranatha Christian (Brooklyn Park – frequently plays West/NW)
• DeLaSalle (Minneapolis – central hub)
• Minnehaha Academy (Minneapolis – central hub)
• Little Falls
• New London-Spicer
• Alexandria

7. South & Southeast Minnesota

• Rochester Mayo
• Rochester Lourdes
• Byron
• Stewartville
• Owatonna
• Northfield
• Red Wing
• Marshall (Southwest, but fits the southern tier)

8. Northern Minnesota

• Brainerd
• Pequot Lakes
• Crosby-Ironton
• Perham
• Duluth Marshall
• Proctor
• Mountain Iron-Buhl
• Forest Lake (Northeast Metro, serves as the “gateway” north)

Already you can see section 1 is killer-diller with top level with two state champs, one runner up, and seven of the eight in the final polls. But games would be intense, games would be competitive, and crowds could be through the roof. Section 7 had four teams in state; Section 3, 4 & 8 had three; Section 6 had two.

My good friends at AI divided this grouping out.

Here is what I would call the B Level (65-128)

Group 1: North & Arrowhead (Northeast/North Central)

This group covers the Iron Range, the North Shore, and the deep North Woods.

• Rock Ridge High School

(Virginia/Eveleth)

• Mesabi East High School

(Aurora)

• Hermantown High School
• Cloquet High School
• Bemidji High School
• Kelliher/Northome High School
• Menahga High School
• Moorhead High School

(Northwest hub)

Group 2: Northwest & Red River Valley

Schools located in the fertile valley and central lakes region of Northwest Minnesota.

• Fergus Falls High School
• Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton High School
• Pelican Rapids High School
• Frazee High School
• Breckenridge High School
• Hillcrest Lutheran Academy

(Fergus Falls)

• Minnewaska Area High School

(Glenwood)

• Sauk Centre High School

Group 3: Northern Metro & Exurbs

Major schools located in the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities and the Highway 65 corridor.

• Anoka High School
• Coon Rapids High School
• Osseo High School
• St. Francis High School
• White Bear Lake High School
• Mahtomedi High School
• Buffalo High School
• Braham High School (Northern edge)

Group 4: Minneapolis & Inner Ring West

Public and private schools located within Minneapolis city limits and the immediate western suburbs.

• Minneapolis Washburn High School
• Minneapolis Southwest High School
• Minneapolis Roosevelt High School
• St. Louis Park High School
• Richfield High School
• Bloomington Jefferson High School
• Edina High School
• West Lutheran High School (Plymouth)

 

Group 5: St. Paul & Eastern Metro

Schools serving St. Paul and the suburbs along the St. Croix River and I-94 corridor.

• St. Paul Como Park High School
• St. Agnes High School (St. Paul)
• Visitation School (Mendota Heights)
• Tartan High School (Oakdale)
• Park of Cottage Grove High School
• Hastings High School
• Stillwater Area High School
• St. Croix Prep (Stillwater)

Group 6: West Metro & Central Transition

The bridge between the Twin Cities and Central Minnesota, including major private and lake-area schools.

• Chaska High School
• Southwest Christian High School (Chaska)
• Mayer Lutheran High School
• Watertown-Mayer High School
• St. Anthony Village High School
• Legacy Christian Academy (Andover/Central North)
• Willmar High School (Central hub)
• Central MN Christian (Prinsburg)

Group 7: Southwest & Minnesota River Valley

Schools spanning the prairie lands and river towns of Southwestern Minnesota.

• New Ulm High School
• Sleepy Eye Saint Mary’s High School
• BOLD High School (Olivia/Bird Island)
• Pipestone Area High School
• St. James Area High School
• Fairmont High School
• New Prague High School
• Norwood-Young America High School (NYA)

Group 8: Southeast & South Central

Covering the Mankato area, the Blufflands, and the southern border.

• Mankato West High School
• St. Clair High School
• Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton (JWP) High School
• New Richland-H-E-G (NRHEG) High School
• Hayfield/Schaeffer Academy
• Caledonia High School
• Goodhue High School
• Eagan

There were two state teams in section 1, 6 & 7 in this “class.” St.  Francis was #65 according to QRF. Would they have “won” this event?

How about class C—

1. Far North & Northwest

• Kittson County Central (Lancaster/Hallock)
• Warren-Alvarado-Oslo
• East Grand Forks
• East Grand Forks Sacred Heart
• Park Christian (Moorhead)
• Hawley
• West Central Area (Barrett)
• Rothsay

2. Iron Range & North Country

• Ely
• Chisholm
• Deer River
• Duluth East
• Esko
• Floodwood
• Cromwell-Wright
• Pine River-Backus

3. Central Lakes & St. Cloud Area

• Wadena-Deer Creek
• Pierz
• Royalton
• Holdingford
• Sartell
• St. Cloud Cathedral
• Albany
• Underwood (South of Fergus Falls)

4. West Central & Highway 12 Corridor

• Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta
• Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa
• Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg
• MACCRAY (Clara City)
• Kimball Area
• Dassel-Cokato
• Glencoe-Silver Lake
• Holy Family Catholic (Victoria)

5. North & East Metro Fringe

• Princeton
• Zimmerman
• Big Lake
• Pine City
• St. Croix Lutheran (West St. Paul)
• St. Paul Washington/Johnson
• St. Paul Harding
• New Life Academy (Woodbury)

6. Minneapolis & West Metro

• Minneapolis South
• Robbinsdale Armstrong (Plymouth)
• Blake (Hopkins/Minneapolis)
• Bloomington Kennedy
• Burnsville
• Belle Plaine
• St. Peter
• Lakeview (Cottonwood – western outlier)

7. Southwest & South Central

• Luverne (Hills-Beaver Creek)
• Luverne
• Windom Area
• Cedar Mountain (Morgan)
• Maple River (Mapleton)
• Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial
• Faribault
• Triton (Dodge Center)

8. Southeast (Hiawatha Valley & Driftless)

• Rochester Century
• Zumbrota-Mazeppa
• Lake City
• Plainview-Elgin-Millville
• Dover-Eyota
• Winona Cotter
• Rushford-Peterson
• Southland (Adams)

Pine City was at the head of this listing.

And so on down the line. There would be six classes in this system to keep the 64 total. The exception would be the final class with 71 total.

Will this happen soon?

No.

But it fun to re-imagine and create an environment where there is balance in the competitive sense returning to the game.