Off and running

• Aaron Grinsteinner and Brent Sorensen

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Aaron Grinsteinner, left, works against Brent Sorensen on Monday afternoon during a drill at Team North Dakota’s Badlands Bowl practice at Dickinson High School. Grinsteinner, who graduated from Dickinson Trinity, and Sorensen, who graduated from Hazen, were rivals on the football field in high school but are teammates this week as members of Team North Dakota.

Talk about it

Ryan Smith playfully jabbed Esley Thorton in the side as they set up for a defensive back drill Monday afternoon.

Thorton, Bismarck High’s all-state quarterback who at 6-foot-3 is six inches taller than the Wahpeton running back, got an elbow into his new teammate and smiled before the whistle blew.

But as soon as the ball was airborne, Thorton’s height advantage was rendered useless. Smith used his speed to break free and snatch an out-route pass thrown by an assistant coach.

The Team North Dakota leaders laughed as they trotted back from the drill, enjoying one of their first moments as teammates as they prepared for the Badlands Bowl all-star game.

“It’s fun playing with all these guys,” Smith said.

Kickoff for the game between the top high school football players from North Dakota and Montana is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Badlands Activities Center.

Smith and Thorton, both North Dakota State recruits, are getting to know each other and 30 of their new teammates for the week. Team North Dakota began practicing Sunday night, held three practices Monday and will do the same today.

Mark Gibson, the head coach of Class AAA state champion Bismarck High, is coaching Team North Dakota this year. He said the players have helped the short week get off to a good start.

“These are premier kids from all across the state,” Gibson said. “We couldn’t be any happier with the way they’ve come in with a great attitude and a willingness to work.”

Like usual, North Dakota will use the playbook of it head coach.

While Gibson said the first few practices have been used to quickly whip the players into shape and give them the express tutorials on how he wants the offense and defense to operate.

Having Thorton at quarterback has helped ease the offense’s growing pains, Gibson said.

“I’m comfortable with the system we’re doing and I don’t need to learn a lot of new things,” Thorton said. “I can help out the other guys. I mean, quarterback is a position where you want to know the offense, so it’s fortunate for me.”

Badlands Bowl

What: North Dakota-Montana all-star football game

Where: Badlands Activities Center

When: 6 p.m. MDT Saturday

Tickets: $10 adults, $5 12-and-under

Tags: badlands bowl, sports, football, preps