SportsBuzzard Blogs

DAVID and GOLIATH?

How is it that a team that is undefeated and totally untested during the regular season and three games into the playoffs is considered an underdog? That is the situation the Harding County Ranchers face less than 24 hours from their matchup in the Dome with Hanson Beavers.

I think there are a lot of factors that lead most to tab the Beavers the favorite:

• The Beavers’ recent Dome success (two straight championships, one in 9B and last year in 9A)
• Location, location, location (see my recent posts on Sioux Falls versus The State)
• Distance—the Ranchers will have logged over 530 miles by the time they get to Vermillion, whereas the Beavers have just over a 100 mile drive to the Dome, and will sleep in their own beds the night before
• Competition—there is little doubt that the Corn Belt Conference is the best 9 Man conference in the state this year. Conversely, the Little Moreau Conference hasn’t really tested this year’s Rancher team, nor have they been tested by their LMC foes for over a decade.
• Call it the STM factor—the stigma that a west river team falls apart on the plastic grass in the Dome

One clear cut advantage Harding County has is their mascot. A Rancher slays a Beaver every time, not to mention the Beaverettes (that’s the name of the Hanson girls teams, I kid you not). Seriously, the Ranchers have to like their position as underdogs in this game, as must the Ranchers Coach Jay Wammen (Wammen played for the last Rancher team to make it to the Dome, and was an all state player in 2000 for the Ranchers)

I for one will take David over Goliath. Apparently so do other west river buzzards, as of this writing 91% of those in the poll are with the Ranchers.

Tags: Harding County