Loboes putting it together

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Brady Thielges and his teammates waited patiently, battling as hard as they could until the team could get closer to being fully healthy.

The LaMoure-Litchville-Marion High School football team appears to have reached that point.

A week after beating a ranked Hankinson team, the Loboes (5-2) knocked off No. 1-ranked Wyndmere-Lidgerwood 26-14 last Friday night at home.

“We’ve gotten some players back from injury, that’s been helping us out,” said Thielges, the Loboes’ junior all-state running back. “We knew we could be a good team. We’re starting to put it together. We’ve really been clicking as of late.”

Wyndmere-Lidgerwood features standout athletes Jeff Illies and Luis Vasquez, both with multiple all-state honors. Thielges said the team strategy against them paid off.

“They’re definitely two of the best players in the state,” Thielges said. “We just had a good gameplan around them. We have some good athletes of our own. We were able to cover them up and contain them.”

LaMoure-L-M started off slow this season, edging Strasburg-Zeeland by two points. They suffered a two-touchdown loss to Napoleon and an eight-point loss to South Border. The Loboes’ wins — and also their losses — are proof that there isn’t an easy week in 9-man’s Region 1.

“Every team has just a bunch of weapons,” Thielges said. “Every week you’ve got to keep your eye on a few players. Everyone has two or three really good athletes that can catch the ball and run with the ball. It’s tough, but we love the challenge.”

The standings show a muddled region in which two teams with winning records could find themselves on the outside looking in for the playoffs. Wyndmere-Lidgerwood and Napoleon-Gackle-Streeter are both 6-1, and Hankinson and South Border join LaMoure-L-M with 5-2 records. Richland is 4-3, but dealt Napoleon-Gackle-Streeter its only loss.

Thielges said beating two teams who were at the top of the region was a good feeling.

“Definitely with both teams being ranked in the polls, we knew it was gonna be a challenge,” Thielges said. “We have a good team. We know if we play our best, we can compete with anyone in the state. We’ve shown that the last few weeks.”

With only two weeks remaining in the regular season, there’s no shortage of excitement.

Napoleon-Gackle-Streeter goes to Hankinson on Friday. The Friday after, Hankinson visits South Border, Richland goes to LaMoure-L-M and Wyndmere-Lidgerwood travels to Napoleon-Gackle-Streeter.

Playoff pictures

With the high school football regular season winding down, many teams are eyeing playoff spots.

In Class AA’s West Region, Carrington sits fifth behind Beulah, Minot Ryan, Rugby and Dickinson Trinity. However, the Cardinals still have plenty of chances to prove themselves with contests against Beulah, Rugby and Bottineau still to go. They have suffered defeats to Minot Ryan and Dickinson Trinity.

In Class AA’s East Region, Valley City is tied at the top with Wahpeton, Grafton and Fargo Shanley — all with 3-1 records. Lisbon is fifth with a 2-2 record, while Griggs Barnes County remains winless in the region.

Maple Valley-Enderlin’s 26-22 win over Northern Cass put it in the driver’s seat in Class A’s Region 1. The Falcons are 5-0 in the region with a possible test from 3-2 Milnor-North Sargent coming this week. They close out the regular season against winless Fargo Oak Grove. A win over Milnor-North Sargent or a Northern Cass loss to Linton-HMB would clinch the No. 1 seed for Maple Valley-Enderlin.

In Class A’s Region 2, Harvey-Wells County sits fourth, tied with Park River-Fordville-Lankin. The two play each other this week with the winner getting the edge in the tiebreaker. H-WC meets Langdon in the season finale.

In 9-man’s Region 2, New Rockford-Sheyenne holds a firm grip on the No. 1 seed, having beaten contenders Cavalier, Hillsboro and Lakota-Adams-Edmore. The Rockets close out the season against Thompson and Dakota Prairie, which have a combined two wins on the season.

VB tourneys

Griggs County Central, Linton-HMB and Midkota will head to the Laker Invite hosted by Des Lacs-Burlington on Friday. The tournament, one of the biggest in the state, concludes on Saturday.

Central Prairie, Edgeley-Kulm, New Rockford-Sheyenne and Pingree-Buchanan-Kensal will play in a tournament in Carrington on Saturday.

LaMoure starts play in a Fargo tournament on Friday.

Jay bits

The Jamestown High School volleyball team, which is third in the West Region behind Dickinson and Bismarck Century, hosts Williston at 7 p.m. today. The Jays, who have won five straight matches 3-0, will go to a two-day tournament in Fargo this weekend, starting Friday. … The Jamestown High School boys soccer team plays Bismarck St. Mary’s in a state-qualifier at 5 p.m. Friday in Mandan. … The cross country teams are set for a trip to Rugby on Saturday. The meet starts at 4 p.m. … The girls swimming and diving team has a road dual with Mandan at 5 p.m. Friday.

Sun sports writer Chris Aarhus can be reached at (701) 952-8462 or by email at caarhus@jamestownsun.com

Tags: class b, sports, football