Ryan Ladika/MDN Lions freshman Drew Zwak fights through an attempted tackle during Bishop Ryan’s 20-12 win Oct. 8 over Velva/Garrison.

The Bishop Ryan football team’s 2021 fall slate began on an inauspicious note on a rainy and windy Aug. 20 night.

The Lions were tasked with battling not only the visiting Dickinson Trinity High School Titans, but also a torrential downpour that lingered throughout the evening at Minot State’s Herb Parker Stadium on the season’s first day.

With the game tied at 12 and only minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Titans marched down the field on their final drive and hit paydirt with under a minute to play in regulation, sending Ryan to an 18-12 Week 1 defeat.

The loss marked the first and last the Lions would suffer during the regular season. Ryan shoved its disappointing result aside with haste and emerged on the winning end of its next eight contests to end its regular-season schedule.

Among their eight victories this season, the Lions bested fellow postseason teams Des Lacs-Burlington on the road in Week 3 and Velva/Garrison in Week 8 by respective 34-22 and 20-12 final scores.

They were rewarded for their efforts with the top seed out of Division 11B Region 3 and the fourth overall seed in the 11B state playoff bracket. Ryan’s 8-1 overall finish put the team in elite company upon season’s end, as the Lions were one of 16 teams in the state out of 104 with at least eight wins on its resume entering play Oct. 20.

“I think we came a long way,” said Ryan head coach Roger Coleman. “We saw big-time improvement from a lot of guys who didn’t see a lot of playing time, or in some cases, even their first years playing varsity football or football even in general.”

Not only did the Lions finish in the top 15 percent of North Dakota high school football, but they did so with a freshman leading the charge at quarterback. Jett Lundeen and his ‘gunslinger mentality,’ as Coleman described, led Ryan to 30 or more points four times this season, including its meeting with the Lakers, and an average of just over 26 per game.

The first-year signal-caller completed 53 percent of his passes this season and finished with 1,463 yards on 87 completions, including 12 touchdowns through the air and seven more on the ground.

“He’s just a kid who puts in a ton of work,” Coleman continued. “He’s very mature, coming along through the season, and he’s just done a really great job of making plays when he had to, especially being a freshman his first start.”

As dominant as Lundeen’s play was, the Lions’ defensive effort throughout the season was equally impressive. Ryan limited opponents to just under 14 points per game and only four total touchdowns through the air against seven interceptions.

The age-old saying ‘defense wins championships’ will likely ring true again in the Lions’ first-round matchup against Hazen High School Oct. 23, the first postseason meeting between the two programs since Ryan topped the Bison 31-14 in the 2016 Class A State Tournament quarterfinals.

Hazen boasts a feast-or-famine offense that produced at least 40 points in each of its five wins this season and fewer than 20 in three of its four losses. Containing the Bison’s offensive potential will be key for a second-round berth, and a preseason scrimmage between the two, Coleman said, will go a long way in aiding the Lions’ preparation for a somewhat unfamiliar opponent.

“The main key on defense is taking care of their athletic quarterback (senior Adin Jungers),” Coleman added. “They have some guys who they can put the ball in their hands and be dangerous too. They’re very solid, pretty much in everything that they do, so we’re going to work the gameplan and find their weakness and attack whatever that may be.”

The team will bring a ‘one game a time’ approach into their first-round matchup this weekend, thinking little of any momentum the team accrued this year. Coleman remembers all too well the last time the Lions entered the postseason as unbeaten region champions, when Beulah completed a 2018 upset of Ryan in the first round by a 33-14 final score on the Lions’ home turf.

The fifth-year head coach has instead urged his team to take nothing for granted. Only the first round is a guarantee, and while Coleman hopes his players enjoy the moment, the preparation and execution must only improve from here on out to accomplish their goal.