Over Christmas break, there have been posters hung anonymously on the inside of both the girls’ and boys’ bathrooms. These posters stem from Justin’s Break the Silence campaign.
Since Justin’s heartbreaking death in 2016, the nonprofit organization through the Dakota Medical Fund spreads awareness about mental health in schools. An example of their encouragement to break the silence is with these posters.
After coming up short in the Dakota Bowl two years in a row, West Fargo Sheyenne finally got over the hump in 2021.
Full-back Josh Henricks looks for an opening in West Fargo High’s defensive line during the Dakota Bowl Photo courtesy Jason Kirkeby at jasonkirkeby.smugmug.com
It was an historic year for the Mustangs. They dominated all season long, scoring 364 points and only giving up 90 points. It was their first perfect season with a record of 12-0.
The 364 points the Mustangs put up this season is now the best mark in program history, while the 90 points they allowed is the fewest amount of points the Mustangs have ever given up.
West Fargo Sheyenne rolled to a 27-7 victory over their cross-town rival, the Packers, to capture their first state title in program history.
Josh Henricks, who was one of the top rushers in the state all season, had a whopping 39 carries for 238 yards and three touchdowns in the final game of his high school career.
Henricks was the main workhorse for the Mustangs this season and finished his senior year with 275 carries for 1,451 rushing yards, and an amazing 23 touchdowns.
Grant Warkenthien had the other rushing touchdown in the Dakota Bowl for the Mustangs as he was able to finish his glorious high school career on a high note.
Grant Warkenthien was a three-year starting quarterback for West Fargo Sheyenne and will continue his academic and football career at MSUM next year.
Warkenthien had four rushing touchdowns in the semifinal game against Shanley where the Mustangs won 36-21. He showed his leadership as a senior this year and was very hungry to bring this program a state title.
Grant Warkenthien breaks free for a touchdown against Shanley in 11AA Semi-final on November 5th, 2021 Photo courtesy Jason Kirkeby at jasonkirkeby.smugmug.com
West Fargo Sheyenne’s defense made a statement this season and was a big factor all season long. Their 7.5 points given up per game average is the lowest in program history.
The Mustangs didn’t allow a lot of big plays this season. Defensive backs coach Andrew Rott stated, “This year we asked the secondary to do some new things that required more communication and attention to detail. They did a good job of being focused and continuously improved. Even though we allowed a few touchdowns through the air, we did a pretty good job of limiting big plays this year.”
The coaching staff put a lot of emphasis into the importance of a strong defense. “In practice, we typically focus on footwork, technique, and ball skills,” coach Rott said. “As a defense, we focused on tackling, pursuit, and setting the tempo. We also focused on playing mistake free football.”
West Fargo Sheyenne had five shutouts during their championship season which were against Grand Forks Central, Bismarck High, Minot High, Bismarck Century, and Fargo Davies. Shanley was the only team that could score at least three times against the Mustangs this year.
Shanley put up 29 points in their week three matchup against West Fargo Sheyenne and 21 points in the AA semifinal matchup.
The Deacons were also the only team to build a lead on the Mustangs. The Mustangs trailed the Deacons at halftime 21-14 in the AA semifinal game before the Mustangs scored 22 unanswered in the second half.
Other than the two games against Shanley this year, the Mustangs controlled the tempo in the other 10 games they played.
Dominance on both sides of the ball this year showed the Mustangs’ desire for a state title this season. Jeremy Newton, head coach of the Mustangs stated, “I think the team did a great job this year and hopefully they will stay hungry moving forward. We all work hard to reach the same goals every season.”
Head Coach Jeremy Newton prepares before the Dakota Bowl against West Fargo High. Photo courtesy Jason Kirkeby at jasonkirkeby.smugmug.com
West Fargo Sheyenne is 64-21 under head coach Jeremy Newton and are 40-5 in the last four years.
“I think we played well as a team this year and worked hard in practice. We don’t really think about that other stuff,” coach Newton said. “I think that we just took it one week at a time.”
West Fargo Sheyenne has reached the playoffs 7 times out of their 8 years as a varsity program.
Coming into the season, the Mustangs were looking to finish some unfinished business from the previous two years. Bismarck Century knocked off West Fargo Sheyenne in the Dakota Bowl in 2019 and 2020.
Grant Warkenthien and most of the seniors knew it was their last chance at a state title this year so they wanted to make sure that they finish their high school football careers in dominant fashion.
The Mustangs were able to get revenge on Bismarck Century late in the regular season with a 14-0 victory at home in front of the Mustang faithful.
West Fargo Sheyenne snapped Bismarck Century’s 29-game winning streak. The defense only allowed four yards of total offense in the third quarter.
Tharin Parson was an animal at defensive tackle and had three sacks against the Patriots. The Mustangs carried that momentum into the playoffs.
The 2021 West Fargo Sheyenne football team will go down as one of the most dominant teams in North Dakota high school football history.
It was all about getting stops on defense and controlling the clock on offense for the Mustangs this year and that’s the way they play.
This was a team that never gave up and pushed through adversity when they faced it.
After a slow start against West Fargo High in the Dakota Bowl, West Fargo Sheyenne was going to make sure that they didn’t shut down.
The Mustangs jumped out to a 14-0 lead and held that lead for the rest of the game to win 27-7.
As the clock hit zero, the players rushed out onto the field and the fans and student section went wild.
For the first time in program history, the West Fargo Sheyenne Mustangs had the right to call themselves, state champs.
West Fargo Sheyenne holds up their first ever football state championship trophy after defeating West Fargo High, 27-7, on Friday, November 12, 2021, at the Fargodome. Photo courtesy Jason Kirkeby at jasonkirkeby.smugmug.com
The NBA’s 2021 season started on October 19th. Many new changes occurred with players being traded to other teams and teams playing better than they did the last season.
Before the season started, many players were transferred to different teams in hopes of being the diamond that will get them out of the rough. LeBron James, shooting guard/small forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, gained two new star athletes as teammates.
With already having his center Anthony Davis to rely on, he also gained Russell Westbrook as a point guard and Carmelo Anthony as a power forward.
However, with all the star power on the team they haven’t been playing the best and have been getting in each other’s way.
The Chicago Bulls, however, are having a much better season than last year after picking up point guard Lonzo Ball, and power forward DeMar DeRozan to join small forward Zach LaVine. Along with those two Nikola Vucevic took place at center.
Not many believed that this team would thrive with these players but now they have been stationed in the top of the Eastern Conference. Many are surprised the Golden State Warriors are doing so well. With the point guard Stephen Curry missing his shooting guard and “splash-brother” Klay Thompson due to injury.
He has been able to keep the warriors in the top of the Western Conference. With how well Stephen Curry has been playing many are now starting to believe that he is the best shooter in history.
Along with Klay Thompson being one of the players we haven’t seen touch the court this season, we also haven’t seen star point guard for the Brooklyn Nets Kyrie Irving.
Kyrie Irving hasn’t played a game this season due to the city of New York’s vaccine mandate for Covid-19. With Kyrie Irving refusing to get vaccinated due to his personal decisions; he hasn’t been there for his teammates Kevin Durant and James Harden.
Another player not playing is point guard for the 76ers Ben Simmons who hasn’t been there for his team due to mental health reasons. It’s been noticed that his mental health started going down after the playoff game against the Atlanta Hawks. He folded the game with an illogical pass in which he had a perfect lay-up and could have gotten the chance for a free throw with the foul.
If he went for the lay-up, he would have most likely been able to get the 76ers to the next round. After the game many 76ers fans were disappointed and put the blame on Ben Simmons making it hard to go back and play.
The 76ers are getting very annoyed about Ben Simmons refusing to play; on November 15th, 2021, they fined Ben Simmons for not traveling with the team on their 6-game road trip.
The 76ers have been floating around in the Eastern Conference from being in the lower bottom to upper top. The 76ers have been able to show that they’re a good team with or without Ben Simmons. With power forward Joel Embiid, small forward Tobias Harris, and shooting guard Seth Curry, Stephen Curry’s brother, the 76ers can stay in the playoff pictures. But who knows how good they will be once Ben Simmons comes back, if he comes back?
The Milwaukee Bucks, who won the 2020 national championship, is shockingly staying in the bottom portion of there confrence.
However, the season is still a long way from ending and power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks have time to get everything figured out and figure how to be a playoff contender and hopefully win another championship.
The current status of the NBA right now is sure to keep basketball fans interested but there is still a long season ahead where anything can happen. Will your team make it to the playoffs and finals? We’ll have to wait and see.
The Sheyenne Cheer Team has been a sport for many years. However, January 2022 will be the first year competing.
Throughout the years, the cheerleaders have prepared for the moment that they will compete to bring home the State title of North Dakota Cheer to Sheyenne High School.
However, the preparation for the event isn’t all so easy. Before the State competition on March 19th, 2022, the members need to figure out a game plan.
With Jennifer Larrieu as a first-year head coach for Sheyenne, they are determined to put everything they have into winning the event.
Since middle school, Jenn has dreamed of coaching a State cheer team of her own. During her senior year, she was on the winning state cheer team for the West Fargo Packers. Since then, Larrieu had coached at West Fargo Davies High school and an 18 plus cheer team in Moorhead, MN called the Invaders.
A typical practice session requires preparation. To begin, the cheer mats and tape must be set up in the Sheyenne Multipurpose Room before each practice.
For the members, practices start off with fifteen minutes of stretching. Continuing on, they start tumbling while encouraging each other to push themselves along the way.
“As much as I love Cheer, it gets hard to balance with life sometimes.”
-Cheyenna Thompson (senior)
Each practice also consists of reviewing cheers as well as playing the “hit game.” The game helps the cheerleaders’ motions become sharper and look cleaner.
One of the favorite things for the girls to do is stunting. Some examples of stunts are split pyramids, extensions, and shoulder sits. Each stunt requires the need of two or four members.
With winter tryouts over, the hard work has begun for the team that ranges from grades 8-12 who practice Monday through Friday from 3:45pm to 6:30pm in addition to weight training on Mondays and Wednesdays. Occasional team bonding is also important on their schedule.
Sheyenne cheerleaders and mascot at the North Dakota State Football game.
Along with having practice at least four days a week, the members have their own school and outside responsibilities as well which also includes balancing school, cheer, family, relationships, and other extra curriculars.
One example is Abbie Chesser, an 8th grader who attends Liberty Middle School. Abbie is a first-year cheerleader for Sheyenne High School. During the cheerleading season, Abbie is also a figure skater and dancer. Abbie hopes to get her driver’s license soon. She’s also a full time student and an inspiration to many members on the team.
No matter how much stress, the athletes’ dedication means everything and nothing will get in their way of winning the State title.
Martial Arts are combat techniques that come from many different countries and cultures and are used for self defense and sport. Before MMA, matches where held within the singular sport, but on November of 1992 the UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship, officially started mixing the forms of combat.
Connor McGregor lays punch into Dustin Poirier’s face during UFC 257
Since the beginning of the violent sport, Dana White, president of the UFC, has been traveling throughout the world looking for talented athletes trying to find the next super star.
He located star fighters from everywhere including Africa; where he found Kamaru Usman, Francis Nganou, and Israel Adesanya, Brazil; where he found Anderson Silva, Royce Gracie, and Jose Aldo and many other fighters from different countries in Europe, Australia, Asia, and North America.
Dana White’s brilliant business moves grow the popularity of the UFC with the sport combining all forms of martial arts from all the different countries making the sport more interesting.
Also, UFC is gaining major popularity because fighters will walk into the octagon with the flag of their home country. This action makes fans cheer for their home fighter such as the Olympics.
Conor McGregor is the most famous fighter in the UFC and whenever he has a fight the crowd is bombarded with Irish flags, showing the Irish natives are cheering for their home-town-boy. This action is also showed with other fans such as Michael Chandler fans waiving United States flags when he fights.
The UFC has support from companies that enhance the sports popularity such as Monster Energy Drinks, Body Armor and Reebok providing footwear for fighters. These sponsors help the sport increase in popularity along with major celebrity influence such as stand-up comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan draws attention to the UFC with his podcast the Joe Rogan Experience.
Just like in boxing, the UFC has a PPV (pay-per-view) system. The PPV helps increase the hype for the fight by making viewers more interested in the headlining fight. The first pay-per-view sold 86,000 dollars.
One fighter who sells a high amount of PPV is Conor McGregor. He gets the entire world to view into the fight with his intense trash talking at press conferences. Hate him or love him, you’re watching the fight.
Khabib Nurmagomedov and Connor McGregor are the reason for the largest pay-per-view in UFC history selling 2.4 million dollars.
While the UFC is the most popular organization in combat sports, they have been having a battle with boxing for the most popular combat sport. Boxing and the UFC intertwine with each other putting the best strikers against boxers to see who would win.
Connor McGregor was the light at the end of the tunnel for the UFC when he went to box Floyd Mayweather, but unfortunately the Irish striker couldn’t take down the undefeated champion.
Mayweather has the highest PPV sold in any combat sport selling 4.3 million views generating 600 million dollars.
With all the steps taken to get the UFC where it’s at today, the UFC will be able to keep increasing in popularity with new headlining fights like Dustin Poirier vs Charles Oliveira on December 11th. With these headlining fights the UFC will grow in viewers and participants.
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