Reusse: North Dakota school remains a lifeline for Minnesota junior college football

ROCHESTER – Red River Valley University opened in Wahpeton, North Dakota, in 1891. The original building, called “Old Main” of course, still stands. It has been on the national register for historic buildings for four decades. The state’s science academy opened there in 1903, and that is the year to which the North Dakota State College of Science traces its roots. NDSCS has played in the Mon-Dak Conference in all sports other than football. The “Mon” stands for Montana, which is a long trip for the collections of Wildcats in a half-dozen other sports. Now, in a dramatic change for two-year competition, “Science” will be joining the MCAC in all sports starting next September. And why not, being right across the Red River from Breckenridge and having 25 Minnesotans on the football roster already? Advertisement NDSCS has been both a force and a savior for two-year college football in this state. The Minnesota College Athletic Conference has more than a dozen schools with multi-sport athletic programs, but it dropped to five football teams early this season. That’s because Minnesota West (Worthington) lost its coach, Jermaine Smith, to Mississippi Delta after the 2025 season – and the contacts a JUCO coach has for bringing in players from other regions of the country are more important than his coaching ability. The Worthington team played one game to open this season, was thumped, and then cancelled the remainder because of a shortage of players. The number of healthy bodies was in the low 20s when West called it off. The MCAC is optimistic that West will return to football in 2027. Among the five that remained, NDSCS and the Mesabi Norse earned the spots in the conference title game on Sunday afternoon. The site was Rochester Regional Sports Stadium.