Season Preview: 1A North Central League

Neil Devlin

December 19, 2020 @ 09:00 AM

How it all shook out in ‘19-20 Good stuff here – the North Central had quality at the top. Fleming (8-1) led the way, a game better than Briggsdale. Throw in the Wildcats’ (21-3) and Falcons’ (22-2) overall records and the N.C. stood about as tall as any 1A group. Prairie (11-9) had some success. Weldon Valley (7-12) and Peetz (2-18) were next. Pawnee, new for ’20-21, resumes after not fielding a team the past two seasons.   Teams – Briggsdale, Fleming, Pawnee, Peetz, Prairie and Weldon Valley. Which playoff team advanced the furthest? Fleming and Briggsdale each made the 1A quarterfinals … and both were relegated to consolations in close games. Fourth-seeded Fleming fell 39-38 to No. 5 Shining Mountain; No. 2 Briggsdale dropped a surprising one, 45-42 to No. 7 Cotopaxi. Of course, the Fleming-McClave and Briggsdale-Sangre de Cristo consos never occurred. A few returning players to watch [player_tooltip player_id="145417" first="Whitney" last="Chintala"], Fleming, 2022, G, 5-5 Promising -- Wildcats’ top scorer (18.7 points) as a sophomore.   Hunter Kirkwood, Fleming, 2021, F, 5-10 Back for more after a substantial double-double -- 18.2 points, 12.3 rebounds.   [player_tooltip player_id="116808" first="Shelby" last="Hoffman"], Briggsdale, 2022, G, 5-4 Falcons’ second-leading scorer (14.8) points) also topped them in assists (4.0).   [player_tooltip player_id="117683" first="Kylie" last="Krise"], Briggsdale, 2022, G-F, 5-9 Three-sporter led the North Central in scoring (20.6 points) as a sophomore.   Bobby Schriener, Prairie, 2022, F,5-9 Mustangs’ second-leading scorer (12.1 points) despite no 3-pointers made (0-13). Some other names to know Kaytlyn Keating, Weldon Valley, 2021, G, 5-5 Kally Kirkwood, Fleming, 2023, F, 5-10 Paige Maddox, Peetz, 2022, G, 5-3 Peyton Nicklas, Briggsdale, 2023, G, 5-6   A quick, early look to Season B Fleming and Briggsdale are at the top of the North Central. This is a recording. Fleming had only two juniors as upperclassmen on its roster a season ago and Briggsdale had all of one senior. The faces should be familiar. So should the results.