Parshall football fans haven’t had much to cheer about since the Braves captured their first and only 9-man state title in 1983.

But they’ve had plenty to cheer about in 2009.

The Parshall-White Shield Braves defeated Towner-Granville-Upham last Saturday to advance to the 9-man state title game for the first time since that championship season. The Braves will face Hankinson at noon today at the Fargodome.

Coach Mark Grueneich, who has been at Parshall for 23 years, said both Parshall and White Shield are abuzz with excitement.

“We’ve won a few region titles since 1983, but we’ve been struggling the last several years,” said Grueneich, whose team broke a six-year playoff drought. “Actually, the expectations weren’t too high going into this year. We were picked by the coaches and some of the media to take fifth in our region, so this was totally unexpected. The kids believed they could do it, though. They’ve made believers out of a lot of people.”

The Braves are 9-2 and led by Jaren Enockson. The quarterback leads the team in rushing (1,121 yards), touchdowns (17), and passing (49-for-108, 9 TDs).

“Jaren is a phenomenal athlete. He makes our offense go,” Grueneich said. “He played wide receiver for us last year, but we felt we needed to put him in a place where we could get the ball in his hands more.”

Enockson also leads the defense with 110 tackles. Other offensive standouts include Cole Hendrickson (84-677, 9 TDs rushing), Payton Two Crow (63-487, 4 TDs rushing), and Greg Oster (29-577, 8 TDs receiving).

“We’re not a very big team, but we have good athletes who are quick,” Grueneich said.

The Braves are going against a hot Hankinson team. The Pirates, also 9-2, have won their last eight games, averaging 41.5 points along the way. They downed defending state champion Hillsboro 29-20 last Saturday after scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.

The Pirates have shown a tendency to score in bunches. They’ve tallied 20 or more points in a quarter nine times. They’ve done it four times in four playoff games.

“They are definitely an explosive team. They have a number of athletes who can make big plays,” Grueneich said. “We’ll need a big effort from our defense.”

Quarterback Alex Althoff, running back Garrett Stein and tight end Danny Hangaard have carried the load for the Hankinson offense. Althoff has rushed for 796 yards and nine TDs, and passed for 706 markers (37-for-77) and seven scores. Stein has 1,250 yards rushing and is averaging more than 10 yards per carry. He also has 16 catches for 218 yards and has scored 16 offensive TDs. Hangaard has 16 receptions for 339 yards and three scores.