Okay, so listen up. Every dang season I gotta know where the local teams stand, right? Especially my nephew’s squad over in Bismarck. Trying to find good, actually updated weekly, North Dakota high school football rankings used to feel like chasing my tail. Absolute nightmare.
So, Where Did I Start Looking? Nowhere Good, Honestly.
First thing? Obviously, I opened a search page. Typed in something basic like “North Dakota high school football rankings“. What pops up? Mostly sites stuck in week 1… from last year! Or worse, predictions for games that already happened. Total waste of time. Felt like digging through a digital dumpster.
Then I remembered the big national sports sites. Figured they gotta have it covered. Nope. Clicked around forever. Found rankings for the Dakotas combined, which is useless. Or top 25 lists for the whole damn country, which tells me zip about ND’s Division AA, or heck, even Class B teams. Frustrating as all get out.
Tried the state high school association page next. Surely they know. Found schedules, scores from past games… but official rankings? Crickets. Not a thing. Just raw scores. You gotta be kidding me.
The Actual Winners (Spoiler: It’s Mostly One Guy)
Almost gave up. But then, totally by accident scrolling through a local paper’s sports article comments – bam! Someone mentioned a name: “Ryan“. Said his rankings are the real deal, updated religiously. Okay, clue.
Back to searching, but now with that nugget: “Ryan high school football rankings North Dakota“. Jackpot.
- Found “Ryan’s” stuff: Seems he runs his own dedicated blog/page. Looked legit. Simple layout, no frills, just lists.
- Checked the date: Right there at the top. Updated: Yesterday. Exactly what I needed.
- Scrolled through: Broke down different classes (Class AAA, AA, A, B, 9-Man), recent results, little comments on key games – guy clearly lives and breathes this stuff.
Then, remembered the sports reporters actually covering the games. Went directly to a few of the biggest local newspapers sports sections. Buried sometimes, but sure enough:
- They usually run “their” rankings (which often heavily relied on Ryan’s work, honestly) mid-week.
- Sometimes deeper analysis or feature the top teams. Less raw data, more story.
Setting Up My Weekly Check
Alright, lesson learned. National sites = useless for ND. State site = scores only. The good stuff?
- Ryan’s Page: My primary go-to every Tuesday morning with coffee. Bookmarked that bad boy.
- Key Local Papers: Quick check for their sports sections mid-week. Usually just a confirmation or interesting read.
- Word of Mouth: Listen in at Friday night games or on local sports radio snippets mentioning “the rankings”. Sometimes they hint at shifts even before Wednesday.
Tried setting up alerts once. Forget it. Too broad, got flooded. Stick with the manual Tuesday check. Takes two minutes now, instead of two hours digging through garbage.
So Yeah, That’s What Works (For Now Anyway)
Long story short: Forget the big names for accurate, weekly ND rankings. It’s all about that dedicated local source – Ryan’s page is the absolute gold standard. Supplement with newspaper picks for flavor. Done.
Saved me a ton of headache this season. Seriously, felt like cracking a secret code. Now I can actually argue with my brother-in-law about whether his kid’s team deserves to be top five without sounding like an idiot who’s looking at last month’s news. Small victories, folks. Small victories.