MANHATTAN — A pair of divisional rivals, separated by about a dozen miles of Interstate 90, will meet this Saturday with a state football championship on the line.
Manhattan, the South's top seed, will host No. 2 Three Forks in the Class B title game in a meeting between a Tigers program making its third straight appearance in the championship and a Wolves team that punched a title game ticket for the first time. It's the first time that two Southern B teams have met for the title.
"It's awesome, we knew the Southern B was good," said fourth-year Manhattan coach Wes Kragt. "We were very competitive this year, it's definitely the best conference as it shows with us and Three Forks. It's going to be an exciting game."
The Tigers will enter the championship with a perfect 11-0 record while the Wolves are at 10-1 with their lone loss a 28-20 road defeat to Manhattan on Sept. 19. Three Forks will be looking for its first victory over the Tigers since 2009.
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Manhattan is no stranger to the championship as the Tigers are making their fifth appearance in the title game since 2019. They beat Fairfield in 2020 to secure the program's first title but fell to Florence at home in 2023 and at Malta last season.
"Haven't been able to complete it in the past so this is a very motivated team," said senior lineman Brady Toner. "Starter, non-starter, bench player, everyone wants it."
Said junior receiver Brayden Zikmund: "Obviously the last two years we lost and this year we want to win one for our team, (head coach Wes) Kragt, and this town."
Meanwhile, Three Forks has put together its best season in program history under seventh-year coach Connor Sullivan. The Wolves toppled the Western B's No. 1 seed Florence-Carlton in the quarterfinals 28-20 and then upended Glasgow — the Northern B's top seed — 32-30 in the semifinals.
Two seasons ago, Three Forks was looking to win its first playoff game in what was believed to be at least 50 years. Now, they're on the precipice of a state championship.
"It's definitely exciting, it's something that we've talked about leading up to this year," said Sullivan. "The kids just worked their tails off through the winter, spring and summer. They had one goal in mind and it was to make it to this game."
A big reason the Wolves were able to deliver back-to-back road upsets in the playoffs was the play of junior quarterback Kanon Reichman, who tossed four touchdown passes against Florence and five against Glasgow.
"I couldn't have done it without all these guys," said Reichman, giving credit right back to his teammates. "Amazing O-line, amazing skill (players), amazing defense. All these guys working toward a common goal and we were able to do that."
