1 week Ago By Gaylon Wm. Parker
SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA — While the nominees for college football’s Heisman Trophy are still quite a ways from being revealed, the staff at The Dickinson Press is able-and-ready to bring you up-to-speed on the players who stood out in Class AA, Class A and the 9-Man arenas, with an abundance of potential winners in the offing, given the variety of performances seen on the field over the course of the 2024 schedule. While Killdeer, Trinity, Beach and Hettinger County all earned postseason spots, numerous area teams also featured athletes worthy of accolades ..
. particularly these four individuals. The Press has chosen Dickinson High School sophomore quarterback sensation Nathan Stevenson for the Class AA division with Killdeer Cowboy — and actual cowboy — QB Kale Hansen earning the title for Class A after a remarkable pair of individual campaigns under-center for those two signal-callers (who both wear #5, incidentally).
Meanwhile, the staff was forced to acknowledge that two running backs could not be quite-easily separated in the 9-Man competition, as both provided a punishing example of ground-pounding prowess down the stretch in Husky superstar Mark Fitterer and Richardton-Taylor’s Brycen Glass. ADVERTISEMENT The reasons for all these choices should be abundantly clear upon further reading, and they are separated by classes, from top-to-bottom. The Press notes: Showing a precocious approach to the game as only a sophomore, Stevenson displayed a poise and preparation that offer signs of his future promise.
The signal-caller will be around for another two seasons, and that should give hope to Dickinson Midgets fans who are thirsting for another postseason spot in the near-future. Dickinson head coach John Tuchscherer says: “Nate had a phenomenal year for us. He stepped right into the QB position this summer and never looked back.
We knew that he was capable of throwing the ball, but the thing that stood out to me was how well he ran the ball. He is a hard-nosed kid and he isn’t afraid to put his shoulder down and pick up those tough yards. Nate’s biggest attribute is his leadership skills.
As a sophomore, he was one of the guys that our team looked to as a leader. He’s not afraid to say the things that need to be said, and he always leads by example.” Prep football is a constant game of flux, as young players take over for outgoing seniors and so-on, therefore it’s in the reading-between-the-lines that Stevenson starts to shine.
His quarterback efficiency of 120.6 ought to accomplish that goal, but with 12 TDs and 1,475 yards passing there are smoother roads ahead. Especially considering that Stevenson also ran for a team-high 425 yards and had a pair of scores and a 7.
7 YPC average over the course of the campaign. Honorable mention: Dickinson High senior RB Braden Meschke. The Press Notes: Hansen was one of the most-remarkable athletes on any given Thursday-, Friday-, or Saturday gridiron and came up 3-yards short of a state-semifinal appearance for the Cowboys.
In addition to his glittering overall stats, his leadership lifted the team throughout an undefeated Region 4 calendar with dominant wins on offense and a stifling presence on defense. The multi-sport athlete is one of the most-likely individuals area fans could see at the next level of play, or in a rodeo-arena near you ..
. sooner-rather-than-later. Hands-down, the Area Player of the Year, regardless of level.
Cowboys head coach Andy Cook says: “Kale is one of the best football players I have ever been around. His toughness, both physically and mentally, is second-to-none. This helps him to excel as a leader amongst his teammates, as well, because he will never give up the fight.
He can obviously do all the physical things that you need a quarterback to do, but what separates him has always been his undying level of competitiveness. The game is never out of reach when you have Kale Hansen at the helm.” ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, Hansen’s stat-line looks devastating to any observer, and he placed high-in-the-running for all-time touchdown passes in North Dakota Class A history — if not at the top — while completing 171-of-251 attempts (a 68% completion-percentage) and 2,834 yards through the air at 11.
29 yards-per-attempt and 257.64 per-game. With 42 touchdown strikes and only 7 interceptions, he also posted a blinding, overall quarterback rating of 133.
0. Adding to that, Hansen had 360 yards rushing on the season with 7 touchdowns, and on the defensive side of the ball registered 38 tackles — 21 solo — and 2 INTs with a fumble recovery and defensive pick-6 for good-measure. Honorable mention(s): Trinity senior RB Camden Kubas and Heart River junior RB Shane Stroh.
The Press Notes: The most-shocking thing about Fitterer is that he has a year left-to-go at the prep level, as he looks like he’s ready for a college jersey next August and not Husky-Blue. Whether Fitterer ran through holes the size of a Ford F-350 or created them himself was always in the offing, and once out of the backfield he was nearly impossible to stop on any given outing. Hettinger County fans will be happy to see him take the field once again in roughly 9-months' time.
Huskies head coach Nate Zachmann says: “Mark has a blue-collar work ethic every day, he never wants to waste a rep. He’s very coachable and has a team-first mentality. If we asked him to play center for us, he would.
He knows any success he has is because of his teammates around him. It’s all about the team. Whether it’s Jordan Jung throwing him the ball or the guys up front, Teddy, Daniel, Tucker, Grady , Evan, Will, Johnny on the line.
Rhett Miller and Aidan Rafferty at full back blocking for him open a lot of holes too. Those guys do a lot work up front that can go unnoticed at times.” Fitterer’s total offensive stats speak for themselves, as he ran for 1,164 yards on 151 carries for a 7.
7 yards-per-carry average with 14 touchdowns, and spending time under-center also was a boost for the Huskies' offense as he completed 14-of-30 passes for 284 yards (20.3 YPC) and 4 TDs. But he also caught 11 receptions for 225 yards and a TD while compiling 80 solo tackles on the opposing-side of the ball with 30 assisted tackles.
The Press Notes: Glass’s career statistics look like they will probably wind up in the Raider Hall of Fame someday, as he has been a standard-bearer for the team over his seasons with the program. But the 2024 sked stands apart with numbers that have to be seen to be believed. While RTHS only notched a single win over this-year’s campaign, Glass was one of the best area running backs and dominated despite being the center-of-attention for opposing defenses, while opposing offenses simply couldn’t evade him.
Raiders head coach Brady Martin says: “Brycen Glass has been an integral part of the RTH Raider Football program since his 8th-grade year. Offensively, he has played everything from WR, to QB to RB. Defensively, he primarily played DB and then LB and has led our team in tackles and turnovers-forced the past two years.
He is all-around a great athlete and everything a coach wants in a football player. He developed into a vocal leader for us these past two years and his toughness and grit is second to none. His senior year and career will be one for the memory books and we are proud to have had him as a Raider!” ADVERTISEMENT Among those statistics stand a stunning 1,109 rushing yards and 307 receiving yards and — oddly enough — 40 passing yards for a grand-total of 1,406 over the course of only eight games.
Added to that were his 14 touchdowns and a stellar track-record on the defensive side of the ball. As a first-team selection and Senior Athlete of the Year out of Region 7, Glass had 86 total tackles, with 2 forced fumbles and 3 INTs. Honorable mention(s): Beach senior RB Justus Baker and Grant Co.
/Flasher “Storm” senior lineman C.L. Weinberger.
Editor’s Note: Just a reminder for area parents, coaches, fans and enthusiasts ...
all submissions to The Dickinson Press concerning photos, statistics, scores and other information are always welcome. Please send them to [email protected] whenever they become available.
Thank-you. For more information about prep football in North Dakota, please visit the website at https://ndhsaanow.com/tournaments/football or simply keep reading and subscribe to The Dickinson Press.
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