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GRAND FORKS — Blaine Smith grew up in Hatton, N.D., but he knew all about the success of Stephen-Argyle Central’s football program from his dad, who grew up in the area.
The Storm have won seven state championships, with the last coming in 2009.
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Smith, who moved before his freshman year of high school, has been a key for Stephen-Argyle this season. The 10-1 Storm are set to play in their 15th state tournament when they take on Mountain Iron-Buhl at 7 p.m. Thursday at Grand Rapids High School.
“The school traditionally has great football,” Smith said, “and the history of the program, being one of the top 9-man programs in Minnesota. We talked. We’d watch games occasionally, and we’d follow along with their seasons and everything.”
Smith scored all six of Stephen-Argyle’s touchdowns in its Section 8 9-man semifinal win over Kittson County Central.
He followed that up with a four-touchdown performance in the Storm’s section championship game win over Warren-Alvarado-Oslo at the Fargodome last week, sending the Storm to the 9-man state playoffs.
“Our line’s been playing great,” he said. “I’ve had everywhere to run behind them, and they’ve been blocking good for me. We’ve had a mindset that it’s must-win games now that it’s playoffs, so we’re fighting strong. It’s must-win.”
It’s a jump for the senior running back, who scored 15 touchdowns last season.
“I knew I had to improve,” he said, “so I worked hard in the offseason. For me, it’s just the last chance for me. Just make it as far as we can. We lost last year in the championship, so we wanted to win that and get to state, and we did. So now, it’s just onto the next thing.”
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That means taking on an undefeated Rangers team, which put up over 50 points nine times in their 11 games this season.
“They’re going to be physical,” Smith said. “We just have to match their physicality. They’ve blown out a lot of teams. We just have to keep it a close game, because if it’s a close game, I feel like we have the team to battle to the end, and win. I don’t think a lot of teams can beat us in a close game.
“We’ve just been fighting together. We had a bunch of tight games this season and just haven’t given up yet. Just keep fighting through the fourth quarter. We just keep fighting.”
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