Mavs second in conference

The North Country Mavericks (11-4) hope to punch their second consecutive ticket to the Eastern C Divisional Tournament this weekend.

"It was a pretty good (regular) season for us, two of our losses were to Scobey and the other two losses were from class B teams," Coach Barry Malone said.

Luckily for the second place team, they will have two days to work with, unlike the 2016 installment of the 3C District Tourney, the Mavericks won't be involved in every single game within a day.

The 2017 3C District tournament to be played in Scobey starting on Friday, October 27, and Saturday, October 28, will play host to four teams in Scobey. Only two teams will advance to the next round.

Though the Mavericks have proved to be the second-best team in 3C this season, they will face a tough handicap this weekend as the group will be without a few starters who are attending the FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind.

"We are going to work on a different rotation," Coach Malone said. "We are missing three to four starters. They won't be back until late Friday night."

The team has been preparing for this very moment.

"We knew last spring that this was going to fall during the tournament," Coach Malone said. "I think that they are ready to step in and they have had quite a bit of playing time. They are athletic, scramble hard and work hard, so (hopefully) we can get all six to gel at the same time."

The Mavs ended their regular season campaign with a 3-1 win over the Nashua-Opheim Rivals.