North Dakota
East edges West for 7th-straight win in North Dakota 11-man Shrine Bowl football game
MAYVILLE, N.D. — It wasn’t the high-scoring shootout often seen in all-star football games, but Saturday’s 11-man Shrine Bowl contest was no less entertaining.
Keaton Docken’s 22-yard field goal as time expired in the first half put the East All-Stars up three, and Hunter Bindas’ interception with 1:38 remaining in the game sealed a 10-7 win to give the East a seventh-straight Shrine Bowl victory against the West at Jerome Berg Field.
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
Facing a 2nd-and-7 in its own territory, West quarterback Bryson Heck of Valley City was pressured by Harvey-Wells County’s Tyler Swang, hitting Heck in the arm as he threw. The jackpot ball landed in the hands of the waiting Bindas, and the former Kindred Vikings star returned it to the West 35-yard line.
“They ran a double move to the single-receiver side and I was playing underneath,” Bindas said. “(Swang), our defensive end, got the tip and I saw it in the air. So I just went under, got it and helped seal the game.”
With timeouts remaining for the West, the East ran three more plays before H-WC’s Kayl Sieg iced it with a three-yard run on 3rd-and-2 to send his team to victory formation.
Docken’s leg the difference
The Northern State football team will be excited to have Docken on its roster this fall, and the former Fargo South kicker showed why on Saturday.
His 22-yard boot was near-perfect after the East offense put him well within his range to take the lead at the half.
“The offense drove us down and they got us into field goal range,” Docken said. “Good snap, good hold, good kick. It’s been a great week here.”
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
Defense wins championships, and it also wins all-star games. Along with Bindas’ game-sealer, the East picked up three interceptions throughout the game.
With 1:22 remaining in the first quarter, Beck was picked off by Langdon Area-Munich’s Cody Amble. Amble returned the ball to the West 45-yard line to set up the East in opposing territory.
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
The East capitalized on the turnover, scoring three plays later on Fargo Davies’ Malachi Werremeyer’s 2-yard rush on 1st-and-goal.
The second pick of the game came with Bismarck Legacy’s Easton Bergrud at quarterback for the West. With 35 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Bergrud was intercepted by West Fargo Horace’s Axel Anderson and returned to the West 49-yard line to ultimately set up Docken’s go-ahead field goal.
Following Werremeyer’s first-quarter score, the West responded in the second quarter with an 11-yard TD connection on 2nd-and-9. It was Heck connecting with Velva-Drake-Anamoose-Garrison receiver Reggie Bruner before Heck added the extra point to make the score 7-7.
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
Despite being an all-star game, East and Davies head coach Wayne Werremeyer didn’t shy away from the offense he utilizes in the fall, running the old-school T-formation his Eagles teams have become accustomed to.
“It’s a special group of kids and we’re a little unconventional sometimes in things we do,” Werremeyer said. “Kids came out here all week, they learned different football than they’re used to, they busted their butts and I’m so proud to be part of this team.”
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
It wasn’t the ‘T’ that put Docken in range for the end-of-half field goal however. The East spread it out with H-WC quarterback Tallen Thorson to set the play up.
Thorson connected on back-to-back passes with West Fargo Sheyenne’s Cooper Bryant and Amble to bring the ball to the 5-yard line.
“It all came from a turnover and then (Thorson) made a play on a pass play which I know we don’t normally do,” Werremeyer said. “But we had an opportunity to spread it out a little bit and it’s athletes making plays. They’re good athletes.”
One last father-son moment
Wayne Werremeyer has had the privilege of coaching his son Malachi throughout his career at Davies. Saturday offered one final chance for the father-son duo to coach and play on the same gridiron.
Malachi will head to the University of Jamestown next season to continue his academic and football career.
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
“It was just fun,” Malachi Werremeyer said of playing for his dad one more time. “I’m tired right now, but it’s been fun. I’m excited (for the future). This is kind of like a preview for it, so I think it’s going to be a fun time.”
“Special, it’s special to me,” Wayne Werremeyer added. “He deserves everything that he’s earned.”
2025 marked the 51st installment of the North Dakota Shrine Bowl, which has been held annually since 1974.
The weeklong event is put on by the El Zagal Shriners out of Fargo and Kem Shriners out of Grand Forks. The event was created “with the goal of honoring high school football athletes who excel both on and off the field and display high character, to raise awareness and funds for the Shriners Children’s nonprofit, and to inform the public about the organization,” according to its website.
The week brings nearly 130 senior football players from across North Dakota and western Minnesota together for practices, team meals, bonding activities and the chance to hear from and interact with Shriners Children’s patients.
A parade and banquet are also held annually on Saturday morning prior to kickoff in the 11-man and 9-man contests.
“The Shrine Committee does a fantastic job as well as Mayville State putting this thing on,” West and V-D-A-G head coach Matt Weidler said. “Raising awareness for those patients out there that need our help and support and for us to come out and play football and to help raise money, it’s been a great week and I love everything about the Shriners.”
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
A particularly special guest was in attendance for Saturday’s games, Shriners International Patient Ambassador Paige LaCombe.
A college student from Lafayette, Louisiana, LaCombe is one of just two International Patient Ambassadors that Shriners Children’s selects annually to represent the organization at events across the country.
She’s attended PGA Tour events in support of the nonprofit and has had the privilege of participating in the Rose Bowl parade.
This week was her first time visiting the state of North Dakota.
“I’ve never been so far up north in my life,” LaCombe said. “So I wasn’t really sure. I’m from the South, and everyone’s nice and the hospitality is amazing. Now I’m up here and I’m like, ‘Okay, you all are the same. You all are so nice.’ ”
LaCombe was taken to Shriners Children’s Texas hospital when she was 8-years-old after suffering an allergic reaction to a newly-prescribed seizure medication.
Perplexed at first, doctors diagnosed LaCombe, now 19, with Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which “is a rare, serious disorder of the skin and mucous membranes,” according to Mayo Clinic. The condition is often described as “burning from the inside out.”
LaCombe was rushed to the hospital with a 104-degree fever and skin blistering off of her body. Now, she credits Shriners Children’s with saving her life.
“When I first went there, we had no idea what Shriners was,” LaCombe said. “I was taken in an ambulance there because my parents raised (heck) to have me moved to that hospital because they found out about it. Soon after, my dad was like, ‘OK, what is this about? There’s men walking around in crazy hats which were the fezzes.’
“They were taking care of my parents, bringing them back and forth from the hotel room and they were called roadrunners. Then, they would bring me to my appointments whenever I was out of the hospital. It just means a lot because they not only make our lives easier, but they’re also raising money for the hospital. It’s a fraternity that has fun but also is for an amazing cause.”
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
LaCombe was recognized at halftime of Saturday’s 11-man game.
LaCombe said she was free of SJS in about three months. Now, some 11 years later, she was selected to travel the country and attend various events like the Shrine Bowl. For her, it’s a way of giving back to the organization that’s meant so much to her.
“Not only does it give back to the hospital, obviously because they saved my life free-of-charge,” LaCombe said. “And then me being able to come out here and share my story and to express to people why your donations matter so much, but to also get my story out.
“A lot of people that I’ve spoken to, even doctors, are like, ‘I need to look into that because it’s kind of scary.’ It makes me feel better that if at least one person in the crowd learns something new, I feel accomplished and if at least one person in the crowd donates, I feel accomplished. It just makes me feel so good.”
For more information on Shriners Children’s and International Shriners, visit shrinerschildrens.org and shrinersinternational.org.
North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
North Dakota
NCAA Set to Change Unpopular Football Rule Just in Time for North Dakota State’s FBS Jump
North Dakota State playing in the FCS playoffs and College Football Playoff in back-to-back years? It’s likelier than you think.
That’s because on Wednesday, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports, the NCAA Division I cabinet voted to repeal a rule that effectively barred teams transitioning from FCS to FBS from playing in postseason games in their first FBS seasons. The Bison are making that move along with Sacramento State in 2026.
The reported change has been a long time coming; the rule has hampered teams from immediate bowl eligibility for decades. Its good intentions of dissuading teams from rashly making the FCS-to-FBS leap have been rendered obsolete in recent years by the fact that programs generally arrive in FBS more prepared than ever before.
Consider the number of new FBS teams that have had to work within the provision in the past decade alone
That list includes: Liberty (home for the holidays at 6–6 in 2018), James Madison (8–3 in 2022 under coach Curt Cignetti, and barely able to play in a bowl at 11–1 in ’23 due to a lack of bowl-eligible teams), Jacksonville State (8–4 in ’23 before backing in like the Dukes), Missouri State (7–5 in 2025, also backed in) and Delaware (6–6 in ’25, ditto).
James Madison in particular became a cause célèbre in ’23 because it started the season 10-0, climbing as high as No. 18 in the AP Poll in mid-November. Then-Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares bandied about suing the NCAA before the Dukes lost 26–23 to Appalachian State, an event that caused the program to back off and accept a bid to play Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. James Madison lost that game 31–21, by which time Cignetti had left for Indiana.
There was a time when the FCS-to-FBS jump was an imposing one, and the NCAA did not want to incentivize making it lightly—not even a proud Florida A&M program could make a mid-2000s attempt at a jump stick. However, the Flames, Dukes and other teams have shown it’s not so great a climb for programs with the right resources and management.
Now the Bison and the Hornets stand to benefit.
How far can North Dakota State and Sacramento State go in the near term?
The Bison opened 12–0 last year before a shock loss to Illinois State in the FCS playoffs’ second round, so that question may answer itself. North Dakota State does not play a single Power 4 team—a potential strength-of-schedule albatross if it has designs on really surging. A potential roadblock: the fact that the Bison have to visit the Mountain West’s two favorites, UNLV (Oct. 10) and New Mexico (Oct. 24).
It’s a different story for the Hornets, a 7–5 squad a year ago whose move to the FBS is widely seen as a gamble on their growth potential. Sacramento State also does not play a major-conference team, but has a breakneck travel schedule ahead of it—the Hornets will visit Ypsilanti, Mich.; Bowling Green, Ohio; Muncie, Ind.; Mount Pleasant, Mich. and Honolulu. Combine that with a first-year coach—Oakland native and ex-MC Hammer choreographer Alonzo Carter—and it could be a long FBS debut in California’s capital.
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