1995 – New England Tigers (12-0)
The first 3-peat in Dakota Bowl history began in 1995 with the New England Tigers. The first of three straight undefeated seasons began in dominating fashion. The only game within one score was the championship game played against Thompson. The 1995 team gave up two scores in four of their twelve victories, including four shutouts.
1996 – New England Tigers (12-0)
The Tigers defended their crown in 1996 with a dominant regular season. They steamrolled their way to a 10-0 start before the closest match-up of their 3-year run came against Divide County. The Tigers victory margin on average was 52-6 the first ten games of the season. The state semifinal came down to the wire as they won 21-20 before advancing to their second consecutive state championship game. New England would go on to defend their title against Hillsboro with a final score of 23-6 in the Dakota Bowl final.
1997 – New England Tigers (12-0)
New England would complete their three-peat in 1997 with another undefeated run to the Dakota Bowl. The ’97 team was not as statistically dominant as the teams in ’95 and ’96. They played in 5 games decided by one score including their final three playoff games. The regular season saw a close match-up in Week 1 against Harding County (SD) that finished 22-20. An October 10th tilt against Scranton was their only other one score game of the regular season. After a first round bye, the Tigers met Divide County once again in the playoffs and took care of business, winning 24-7. They went on to play Turtle Lake-Mercer to a 22-18 final score in the quarter finals. The semifinal match-up was a 14-12 victory against Burke Central, leading to a Dakota Bowl championship game with Rolette. Rolette hadn’t been to the State Final since winning it in 1990.
The Dickinson Press did a great job covering this run by New England where the newspaper clippings all came from. That article can be found here.
** New England Head Coach Mike Schatz**
Schatz was inducted to the NDHSCA hall of fame in 2010. He was able to reminisce on the run his teams went on, including a 47-game winning streak. Schatz finished his coaching career with 203 wins, four state championships, and 14 Western Roughrider Conference Championships. The Tigers won state championships in 1988, 1995, 1996, and 1997.
1998 – Divide County Maroons (12-0)
Divide County finally got over the hump in 1998. They won a state title and went undefeated with a 12-0 record. More importantly for them, they ended the New England Tigers winning streak at 47 games. The Maroons gave New England their closest game during the run in the ’96 semifinal, lost again in 1997, and finally got the monkey off their back with a 16-6 victory sending them to their first Dakota Bowl final. The championship game against Hatton finished with a 34-22 final score giving them a well-earned state championship.
1999 – Central Valley Valiants (11-1)
Central Valley closes out the 1990s with their only state championship in football prior to their co-op with Hillsboro. The ’99 team’s lone defeat on the season was to Edinburg 14-12 on September 24th, 1999. They rolled the rest of their games that season, until a quarterfinal round match-up against, Edinburg once again. The Valiants defeated the Spartans 6-0 in the rematch before beating New Rockford 40-20 in the semi-finals and then Linton 40-24 in the final Dakota Bowl of the 1990s.
Randy Vigen, the coach of the Valiants 1999 team went into the NDHSCA hall of fame in 2011. The Mayville State University Class of 1975 alum was inducted into the Class of 2022 Mayville State Hall of Fame. He retired with 198 career coaching victories, 14 playoff appearances, and the 1999 State Championship. Central Valley named the football field after Vigen in 2007.
Well there you have it, 10 state champions from the 1990s in North Dakota 9-man high school football. We will do more of these across different sports in the future. Good luck to everyone vying for the 9-man crown this year. Feels like New Rockford is destined to take it home this year, but we will see over the next couple weeks.
Here’s a video of Bob Green. If you don’t know, now ya know.
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