American Legion Central Plains Division 2 Regional preview
West Salem poses with its Class A state championship trophy. West Salem will try to win its third major title of 2017 this week in North Dakota.
Holmen Post 284 and West Salem Post 51 advanced to the American Legion Central Plains Division 2 Regional with Class AA and Class A state titles, respectively. They’ll try to add some national hardware to the trophy case when the eight team tournament gets underway. West Salem is in Pool A, while Holmen is in Pool B. Viroqua won the tournament last year.
West Salem (26-4) plays in the third game of the tournament at 4 p.m. on Thursday. They’ll face Minnesota Division 2 state champion Pierz (14-0). The Minnesotans have played a short schedule this summer, but have been dominant in their wins. They have outscored opponents 119-38 in 14 games.
Holmen (25-7) plays the final game of the first day against host Wahpeton (23-11). Wahpeton was knocked out of the North Dakota Class A playoffs in the regional rounds, short of the state tournament. Holmen easily has the most favorable matchup to open the tournament.
In the second round of pool play, West Salem faces Marysville, Kan. at 8 a.m. on Friday. Marysville is 24-9 this summer. They hosted the Kansas Class AA state tournament, and got the state’s berth to this tournament after both the state champions and runner-up declined to participate.
Holmen squares off with the Nevada Silver Division state champion Las Vegas Patriots in the second round. It is unclear what the Patriots’ overall record is entering the tournament, but they finished 12-6 in league play in the regular season and then went 3-0 at the Silver Division state tournament.
Holmen will face North Dakota Class B state champion Thompson in the third round. Thompson is 28-6 this season, and figures to be one of the toughest teams in the bracket.
In its final game of pool play, West Salem plays North Dakota Class A champion Park River (34-6), another powerhouse from the state.
The top two teams in each pool advance to the tournament semifinals on Saturday. The third place game takes place at 1 p.m. on Sunday, with the championship following at 4 p.m.
Wisconsin has two of the top teams in the regional this year, but they should get tough battles from the teams from North Dakota and Minnesota in particular.
West Salem will be going for its third major championship of the season. In the spring, West Salem High School won the WIAA Division 2 state championship. They followed with a Class A Legion title last week, and a national regional title would complete a treble.
