On the debut episode of This Week in Carrington Sports, the Cardinal football program completes fall training camp, volleyball prepares for the start of practice and girls golf is underway.
All that and MORE on This Week in Carrington Sports with BJ Walters, presented by the i3G Sports Network and KDAK The Cardinal.
On the debut edition of This Week in Pington Sports, you can see it behind us. Football practice has begun for the 2025 Cardinals who look for a third consecutive playoff trip this season. There we go. That’ll work. I got it. Plus, Carrington volleyball getting ready for their first practice on Monday. We’ll sit down with the new head coach of Carrington Volleyball, Kayen Mary. Carrington Girls Golf is already well underway with their 2025 season. All of that coming up on the debut edition of This Week in Carrington Sports. Well, for me it’s uh excitement. You know, I I spend the last uh seven days before camp not sleeping at night, going thing over going over things in my head. But it’s uh it’s really just that sheer excitement, looking forward to getting the preseason done and starting Friday nights. It is almost game week for Carrington football at Kyle Smith and his team have been hitting this field for well over a week as they look to get ready for that season opener in Washurn against Southern Mlan. Uh you know, it’s a lot of work, but it’s it’s work well worth the effort and uh uh again this year I’m really excited about what we’ve got back and excited for the season to start. See if you can out throw them. What’s the one rule? Do you win? And part of that excitement, I’m sure, is helped by the fact that there are no more kindred roadblocks. There are no more central cast roadblocks. 11A is now an opportunity this year, especially when you return as much as you do. Yeah, I think there’s a lot of par through the entire division this year. You know, last year I thought our region had a lot of parody in it and and I think that’ll be similar this year, but this year I think it’s it’s anybody’s, you know, whoever can stay healthy, lucky enough to stay healthy, whoever can get hot at the end of the year has got a chance to win it all. And and I’m hoping we can be one of those teams that’s fighting for a title. With the departure of senior quarterback Josh Bickett to graduation, it’s now two young men, Max Wittmann and Parker Bickett, who will look to pick up the production that Josh leaves behind. Well, certainly know Parker ran the JV last year and and did a good job. He ran uh uh did a good job at camp this year. Uh we put Max Whitman in there a little bit. Max is new to football since his youth days, but Max is a smart kid, athletic kid, and and he caught on to things quickly. So, we’re hoping between those two that uh that we can, you know, get better each week. A big part of the season in 2025 will come down to the leadership roles for Carrington, including Tate Wolski and Cody, says Kyle Smith. Yeah. And I and I think we’re going to have to hang our hat on our defense, especially early in the year with a new quarterback. You know, it might be a little harder to score touchdowns early in the season. So, we need our defense to pick up where they did last year. You know, like I said, I think we got nine starters back from that team that beat Langden last year. and and I expect the defense to be our strength this year. The Cardinals open the 2025 season Friday night taking on the Rough Riders of Southern MLAN with coverage right here on KDAK the Cardinal on YouTube beginning at 6:00 p.m. Hey, break it down. Let’s go, Connor. Break it down. Let’s go. Ready. Break down. Bet Corvette or your best family car yet. Aset Motors in Carrington has whatever you need, including a fullervice auto shop, a proud supporter of Cardinal Athletics. Sports is on the air in collaboration with Bet Motors. Experience the mark of excellence at Bet with a wide variety of new and used inventory. Stop in today just south of the overpass in Carrington. Go-karts. When Carrington volleyball hit the court tomorrow, change will be in the air for their first practice. There’s now three classes in North Dakota. They will be a part of region two of class A. There’s also a new leader of the program and head coach Kaden Maring. Carrington volleyball has undergone a lot of changes, some here, some in the whole state. And one of those changes, their new head coach, Kaden Merring, is joining us. This must be awfully exciting for you. Carrington graduate, grew up here, played with the Jimmies, assistant coach here, and now you’re the leader of the program. Yeah, I am super excited to be back in my hometown. I mean, it’s always been a dream to coach here, let alone be a head coach. So, it’s just awesome to be a part of this program still and see what this year has to bring. Is it easy to transfer style of play from subarsity to varsity? You seem to have a program where JB players can contribute day one on varsity and it’s not that different, right? I think it’s the same style. Um because I did coach the B squad last year, so I think those players will kind of know what I expect and it’ll be pretty similar. How in what ways, if at all, will it be different from coach Troutman last year? Um, just knowing that I play a bigger role on this team and um, I kind of get to take the reigns on what we’re doing every practice and every game. So, that’s how it’ll be a little bit different. Three class volleyball kind of came about out of nowhere. All the focus was on a different sport, but what do you make of of three class volleyball? Do you think it was a good move on the whole and and how does Carrington fit in to it? I do think it is a good thing. Um, obviously you are playing the um, schools that are about the same level of play as you are. Um, I love the playing game at the end of the season. I think that gives teams another opportunity to make state and kind of prove who is one of the top dogs in the state. And I think Carrington will fit in really well. We’ve had a very competitive um, group of girls the last couple seasons and I don’t expect anything less this season. What do you make of the region? because Thompson, I mean, you guys handled them shockingly well a season ago. And then there’s a lot of teams who haven’t been on the schedule very much. So, these are sort of new challenges for you, right? It will for sure be different because we do play some different teams this year, which is exciting, but um we we will always be up for the challenge. So, getting to play Thompson and those tougher teams is always really exciting for our team. And a big highlight of the season is when you guys have the two tournaments. You go to Dax Burlington, that’s a huge tournament all across the state. And then with the three class volleyball has come a lot of changes to your own Carrington invite. You got a lot more class A teams here. So even those are really fun challenges. Great. And like I said, we want the competition. It just gives us a higher level level of volleyball that we need to play. So I’m up for the challenge and I know the girls are as well. And the season begins Tuesday, September 2nd on the road at Rugby. The first home match of the year, Thursday, September 4th, immediately into region play against Hillsboro Central Valley. Coach, thanks so much. Thank you. It’s the corner spot in Carrington, a place where legends meet to reminisce about days past and discuss the championship culture of Cardinal athletics. From pro sports lore to ice cold drinks, stop on by Headlocks and have yourself a time. Sports is on the air in collaboration with Headlocks on the corner in Carrington. From renowned wrestlers to everyday dark players, Headlocks is the spot. Carrington Girls Golf is already well underway with their 2025 season. And with a full team on the course this year, coach Sher likes what he sees. A lot of good things. Uh definitely some improvement in a lot of areas. Uh learning how to not take big numbers on some holes, shaving strokes as far as around the greens, chipping and putting. Uh getting up and down from 40 yards be key for us. Aubrey Nice makes a return to the sport after taking time off and she says she’s doing it so she has no regret. I think I like to play golf a lot. It’s definitely one of my favorite things to do, even if it’s just for fun in the summer and I only got to do it a couple times this summer, but I definitely felt like I didn’t want to regret not doing it this last year. So hopefully have a lot of fun. Molly Hansen has already won a tournament in Kder County and she says her putter was very good to her on that day. Yeah, Kder County, I thought that off the tea I was pretty consistent throughout the entire round and uh honestly I probably made a few more lucky plus than I usually do and that definitely helps and it kind of helped build my confidence I guess going forward and proving that uh within this new region that we’re in, I can be amongst the top girls. After qualifying for state last year, Eric and Molly both say she’s playing a more conservative brand of golf. not always walking out this driver and trying to figure out where we should play it instead of just hit it and figure it out after we hit it. Oh, yeah. So, when I started as a freshman, I guess I just wanted to hit the ball as far as I could every single time. And that included around the green sometime, which is obviously not the goal there. Uh, but now, yeah, definitely uh just paying attention to kind of what trouble we can get on get in on each hole and just trying to avoid that. and also uh maybe not always trying to make the the best shot or a great shot, but a good shot and one that will put us in a position to score well. And coach nor player are shying away from big goals in 2025 to stay in the top three of the team side of things at least throughout the season. Give us a chance to make it to the staterun. uh keep at least try to have two girls in the top 10 in each. Uh going forward, uh I hope to qualify for state again with an individual score at one of the qualifiers and then I think with a full team this year that I think would definitely have the potential to qualify for state as a team. So that’s another one of my goals as well. Carrington are next in action on Thursday in Napoleon before hosting a meet on the 25th. From Crossroads Golf Course, BJ Walters reporting. Life is about moments, big or small, joyful or challenging. At Carrington Health Center, we believe everyone in our community deserves compassionate care close to home. So you can focus on enjoying those moments surrounded by the people you love. At our facility, we put the care in Physical therapy radiology. Q care here with maybe the best character on the Carrington football team, Cody. All right, let’s just get the most important question out of the way real nice and early. Where do you get this phenomenal personality from? Probably my dad. He’s our he’s our goofy guy sometimes. So, so last year, huge year for you. Did you kind of see it coming? And if so, I mean, what was the key to it? I I honestly think I could have done better. I mean, you can always do better than you think. You know, you might think you do really good, but there’s always things that you can work on and do better at. Kyle talks a lot about you’re one of the leaders of this team. What does leadership mean to you? Um, taking care of your guys, uh, making sure everybody does their job and pays attention and knows what’s going on, you know, kind of just hanging out and being one of the guys. What are your goals both individually and as a team for this season? um to win. I think I want to be successful as a team and do good and have good things happen. And that is offensive and defensive lineman Cody Auto. Yeah. So the other beep we were doing and this and that and pretty much we’re going to punt it right up there. Beep. What’s with the towel? What does it say? In God we trust. Bull. Big cat. Goodbye, cat. Yes. Yeah. I’d run out of fingers. You only have 10 fingers. Can’t count 12 yards. Come on. As we mentioned, Carrington girls golf are in Napoleon on Thursday morning at 900 a.m. while Kyle Smith and Cardinal football begin their 2025 campaign at Southern Mlan coverage at 6:00 p.m. Friday on KDAK the Cardinal on radio and right here on the KDAK the Cardinal YouTube channel. And then Josh Kerbaugh’s team, the cross country boys and girls teams will hit the Jamestown Country Club at 10:00 a.m. Saturday for their opening meet of the 2025 fall season.
