The fall of 2025 was a remarkably special year for high school football teams in the Lake Region.
Among North Dakota’s main four levels, three state champions were from the area. Devils Lake won its first ever state championship in Division AA, while New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock won its second straight nine-man title and Langdon Area/Munich grabbed its fourth Division A trophy in the last eight years.
Four Winds also made the playoffs, sending Marial Deng, Francis Bellile and Tyler Black Jr. off to the college ranks on a positive note.
Here’s a rundown of some of the main area storylines to follow this fall.
How will Devils Lake defend its first ever state title?
A year after making Devils Lake history, the Firebirds enter the post-Palmer, post-Exner era with some uncertainty.
The good news is that Devils Lake has built upon its reputation. The Firebirds will be known by every opponent as the defending champs, a team that’s going to require their best effort to beat. It’s a position that Devils Lake football has never been in.
But on paper, there are some question marks.
Most obvious is at the starting quarterback and running back positions. Mason Palmer and Bryar Exner were both first-team all-staters at those positions, respectively, last fall. Palmer was the Senior Athlete of the Year. It’s almost unfair to expect anyone to fill those shoes to the same caliber.
Based on last year’s backups, senior Talan Gregory and junior Egan Laite should be slated to fill in at quarterback and running back, respectively. Both players could rightly be considered X-factors going into this season.
Valuable pieces on defense like Kade Fee and Luke Wasness graduated as well. The top returning player on the defensive end is senior Easton Encinas, who had 66 total tackles last fall. Junior Grady Quam, who had 35 including multiple sacks, should play a big part, too.
However, not all of the key pieces are gone. Second-team all-stater Casey Brown is back to anchor the offensive line in his senior year. Fellow second-team all-state selection Will Heilman, also a senior, is back to lead the wide receiving corps. Heilman was Devils Lake’s most productive receiver last year after an explosive performance in the championship game. Devils Lake will have to figure out some options to fill out the receiver group; Encinas and Domingo Engberg are some of the top returners behind Heilman.
For the Firebirds to make another run, the new faces will need to mesh with the old.
How long can the Rockets keep their winning streak alive after graduating Easton Simon?
New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock has not lost a football game since Nov. 3, 2023.
The Rockets bring a 25-game winning streak into the 2026 season. Their lowest margin of victory in that span was the state championship game last November, when they “only” won by 16.
It’s a streak that head coach Elliott Belquist said last year he wouldn’t have imagined in his “wildest dream.”
The Rockets had to replace some pieces last year to go on their second straight championship run. They arguably have even more holes to fill this year. The most glaring is at quarterback. Easton Simon graduated after captaining NR-S/M to back-to-back state titles.
Fortunately, Jax Demester has gotten more playing time than a typical backup quarterback over the past two seasons. Demester would usually come in when games became lopsided, sometimes even playing the entire second half. The way Demester, now a junior, adjusts to a starting role will be critical to the Rockets’ success.
NR-S/M also graduated some of its top receivers in Easton Benz and Grant Engebretson. But the Rockets do bring back senior Thomas Allmaras and junior Koy Zieman, who both played significant roles in 2025. Their continued development will be another key.
The Rockets also have to establish their starting running back. Carter Engebretson and Jackson Schumacher did a fantastic job over the last two years, respectively, but each has now moved on.
On the defensive side of the ball, NR-S/M lost a standout in Alex Weisenburger but returns quality contributors like Layton Jacobson and Malaki Kukowski.
The Rockets also retain pieces on the offensive line like Chaztin Wobbema and Aaden Benson.
Ultimately, it will be interesting to see if NR-S/M can continue to be a powerhouse even after losing a quarterback like Simon. It’s a massive loss, but the Rockets still have a program rich with success that brings back a good amount of quality athletes.
Which other teams will contend in Region 2?
While NR-S/M has run that region over the last couple years, there’s been plenty of competition for the final three spots in the state playoffs.
Nelson County and Cavalier each went 5-4 last year and narrowly missed out. North Prairie and Four Winds each went 6-3, with North Prairie getting the No. 3 seed by virtue of a tiebreaker. North Border earned the No. 2 seed with a 7-2 record, but the Eagles lost to sixth-place Cavalier. Teams still had to earn their wins over 3-6 Larimore and St. John. It was a competitive region.
With NR-S/M potentially being more beatable than past seasons, that could open it up even more. The Rockets are certainly still the favorites, but an upset win from one of the other contending teams could go a long way towards their playoff hopes.
North Prairie is 15-4 over the last two seasons. North Border has made the playoffs in 13 consecutive seasons. Four Winds is looking for a third straight playoff berth. Cavalier had a long streak of playoff berths end in 2025. Some of these squads are going to be hungry. But only four of the region’s 10 teams will earn the privilege of playing past Oct. 16.
At the bottom of the region, one thing to watch is whether North Star can return to its competitive ways. It was only three years ago that the Bearcats went 6-3 and made the playoffs. Last year, a small roster was made smaller by a string of unfortunate injuries and they had to resort to a junior varsity schedule, forfeiting the majority of their games. North Star appears to have every intention of fielding a varsity team this year. The program is searching for its first varsity win since Oct. 11, 2024.
How about Langdon?
The Cardinals have put together an impressive decade of success.
A 13-0 campaign last fall improved their record over the last 10 years to 106-13. They’ve won four Division A titles in that span. They’ve had a .600 winning percentage or better in each of those 10 seasons.
Like most teams that reach those kinds of heights, though, they have a lot to replace. Quarterback and Senior Athlete of the Year Jax Johnson is gone. So are all-state running back Sam Davis and all-state defensive end Theo Romfo. That’s a lot of yards and tackles to fill in.
One name to watch on the Cardinals is senior lineman Landon Schneider, who committed to UND football over the summer.
It will still be a very different-looking LA/M team than the one that won a championship last fall. It should be intriguing to see if Josh Krivarchka can work his magic again and get this team to the state semifinals for the fourth consecutive season.
The field of competition will be similar
A big storyline last year was Devils Lake adjusting to a move from the East to the West. The nine-man regions were also formatted differently compared to the year prior.
This season, there are no major changes affecting area teams. The regions are laid out the same way they were last fall.
Devils Lake is in a West division with Minot North, Jamestown, Bismarck St. Mary’s, Dickinson and Watford City. Four Winds is part of a 10-team region where each team has a nine-game schedule with no non-region games. The Region 2 schedules in nine-man and Division A are in the same order as last year, with the only difference being home vs. away.
In other words, these teams should know, more or less, what to expect. Last year could be a shot in the dark at times. Now, they can look back at last year’s matchups and prepare accordingly.
Aug. 21 games for Lake Region teams
7 p.m. Four Winds @ Larimore, Larimore High School
7 p.m. New Rockford-Sheyenne/Maddock vs. Cavalier, New Rockford Athletic Field
7 p.m. Langdon Area/Munich @ Oakes, Oakes High School