(VIDEO) Construction progress at the elementary

Now I take a brief pause in sports reporting to bring you this video clip. It's "tangentially" related to sports reporting...see below.


This video was taken on Monday, December 28. That week the school was closed - both K-6 and the Jaguar Kids Connection programming. You can also see for a few seconds the work being done on Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin's house. That week they got a new roof! Everyone was so terribly excited and happy for them after what they endured on Halloween Night.

Some of you may recall that Mr. Goodwin is a retired coach at B-B-E who coached a long, LONG list of athletic teams across numerous sports in the Brooten Buccaneer and B-B-E Jaguar athletic programs. He became head coach of the Brooten boys' basketball program beginning in the 1984-1985 season. Mrs. Goodwin was a most loved and revered Home Economics teacher at Brooten and B-B-E high school. I don't remember the exact year, but in the late 1990s she was hired as Home Ec teacher at Sauk Centre high school, where she continues to work today.

Incredible afternoon in Jaguar Country!

How awesome is this!

Today at our high school, two Top-Five teams met on the mats. The No. 3-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team hosted No. 5-ranked Minnewaska Area. B-B-E built a 27-7 lead before the Lakers stormed back in the upper weights.

Ahead 27-22, B-B-E got a huge win by a 4-2 decision by senior Mark Jenniges at 220 pounds to clinch the team win! It was a terribly exciting afternoon. 

Final: #3 B-B-E 30, #5 Minnewaska 25.

And noteworthy! Mark Jenniges earned his 100th career win during the NL-S triangular last night. Great job! 

Below is a video interview of Coach Mueller following today's huge win. Thanks, coach, for your comments!

More video to come later. I am going to Bucky's Bar with family to celebrate this win!

Here's the run down of the varsity match:

106: Brett DeRoo lost a 4-0 decision

113: Ethan Mueller lost a 15-4 major decision

120: Tanner Viessman won by fall (1:28)

126: Ryan Jensen won an 11-3 major decision

132: Walker Bents won a 1-0 decision

138: Tyler Jensen won a 5-2 decision

145: Blaine Fischer won an 18-0 tech fall (5:03)

152: Maximus Hanson won a 5-1 decision

160: Dylan Kampsen won a 5-2 decision

170: Talen Kampsen lost by fall (5:13)

182: Cooper Wold lost an 8-4 decision

195: Carson Gilbert lost by fall (1:26)

220: Mark Jenniges won a 4-2 decision

285: Bryce Feuerhake lost a 5-1 decision

Next for the wrestlers: they travel to Eden Valley-Watkins high school on Tuesday, January 19 for a triangular that also includes Osakis.

*Update: here's a notice on a "lost cat" that we've temporarily dubbed the Jaguar Cat...found at the high school today during the wrestling match. (short link) https://bit.ly/39C09DH.

Wrestling

The No. 3-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team hosts No. 5-ranked Minnewaska Area at 2 p.m. today. I've been traveling and haven't had a chance to post the video feed. My apologies.

Updates to follow.

**Update: the varsity match started at about 3:15 p.m.

**Through 113 pounds, the Lakers have a 7-0 lead.

At 120 pounds, Tanner Viessman won by pin in the first period to make the score 7-6.

*Through 152 pounds, the Jaguars are ahead 24 to 7.

Updates / final score to follow in a new blog post - with recap coming later tonight.

Boys' basketball and wrestling season openers

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team defeated visiting Maple Lake by a 49-21 score tonight. After both teams shot poorly in the first half, B-B-E found some offensive rhythm in the second half to pick up the easy season-opening win. Sophomore Kaden Pieper led the Jaguars with 16 points, 13 of them in the second half. A total of 10 Jaguars scored tonight and all 15 players got in on the action.

The Jaguars led 22-7 at halftime. For the game, they had 10 steals which helped make up for a lackluster performance on the offensive boards. 

Here's video featuring the final five minutes of tonight's game.

At a triangular at New London-Spicer high school tonight, the No. 3-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team went 2-0 with wins over the host Wildcats and also the Paynesville Area Bulldogs. The Jaguars defeated Paynesville Area 70-3 and the Wildcats 50-21. Against Paynesville, the Jaguars earned 42 points off of seven forfeits (ouch).

The next action in Jaguar Country is a home dual wrestling meet tomorrow (Saturday) at 2 p.m. against Minnewaska Area. It was previously billed as a triangular, but now it will just include the visiting Lakers and our Jaguars. The dual is not open to the general public, but it will be live streamed.

*Just for fun! Here's a video clip from the photo shoot of the boys' basketball team last March following the season-ending playoff loss to Nevis at Wadena:


Three seniors graduated from that team, including Jackson Peter, who scored 15 points that night. He was the lone graduation loss from the top rotation on that team. Ironically, I ran into him at RJ's Mini Mart tonight after the game. I enjoyed a brief chat with him about this year's team. Needless to say, we are all excited about their potential!

(LIVE VIDEO) Boys' hoops

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team opens the 2021 season tonight on the home court against Maple Lake. They are looking to improve on a 14-15 overall record from last season. They graduated just one player off of last year's main player rotation, although he was an integral cog in the wheel (Jackson Peter).

I can vividly remember the night of the Sub-Section 5A-West championship game. It was Wednesday, March 11, at Wadena-Deer Creek high school. That was the last "normal" day of our lives to date. The Jaguars lost 61-58. Everyone was anxious to see how Nevis would fare in the Section 5A finals two nights later, but that game never took place.

I'll get the video player embedded here before tip-off, which is at 6:30 p.m. The game is not open to the general public.

AND finally, here's the video...it's live as of 6:30 p.m.

Two minutes into the game, and the Jaguars have an early 8-0 lead.

Just shy of four minutes into the game, Luke Dingmann scored in the paint to make it 10-0.

With five minutes gone in the game, Maple Lake has five turnovers but no points.

With 12 minutes left in the first half, the Jaguars have cooled off from the field but continue to play tremendous defense. They are setting traps like no one's business!

With 11:05 on the clock, Ernesto Brown shot two free throws and made one of them to get the Irish on the board. B-B-E has an 11-1 lead, and four Jaguars have scored so far.

With 10:05 left in the game, Ryan Schwinghammer got his first bucket of the game to make it 13-1. Maple Lake called a timeout.

Just under 10 minutes left, and Maple Lake has nine turnovers, no field goals and one free throw to their credit.

With under four minutes left, the Jaguars have really cooled off but have a 15-6 lead.

With 3:42 left, Peyton Winter drained a three-pointer for an 18-6 lead.

*Halftime: B-B-E 22, Maple Lake 7. No player has more than one field goal.

*Update: to start the second half, Maple Lake scored a field goal in the first minute to make it 22-9.

With 14:49 left, Maple Lake scored on a second straight layup to make it 22-11. B-B-E's Coach Anderson promptly called a timeout.

Then with 13:29 left, Luke Dingmann had two free throw attempts and drained both of them for a 25-11 lead.

*More updates in a new blog post.

Snow day

School is closed today due to the weather. 

I don't notice poor conditions in the city of Brooten, however, on my walk to downtown, I lost my footing 4 to 5 times while walking down the street. The city plows are doing a good job of clearing the streets, but there is lots of ice out there. Much of the ice is covered by snow, which makes walking dangerous. I think we may see people getting fooled by conditions and either slipping on their feet, or slipping around in their automobile.

Girls' basketball season opener

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 64-25 at Royalton tonight to open the 2021 season and the Central Minnesota Conference schedule. They host Paynesville Area next Tuesday at the high school. The event is not open to the general public. I mistakenly said they host Kimball on Saturday, but the Kimball home game is next Thursday night.

Tonight against the Royals, the Jaguars held a 43-13 halftime lead.

Allisa Knight was leading scorer with 18 points on red hot 52 percent field goal shooting. Next was fellow senior Josie Knutson with 12 points, including a stellar five-for-six performance at the free throw line. Eight Jaguars landed in the scoring column, and as a team, they shot very respectable 41 percent on the three-point line (5-for-12). With free throws, the Jaguars were a modest 60 percent (9-for-15).

Royalton went 23-6 last season and won both contests with the Jaguars. They were sub-section runners-up on Section 6AA, falling to Albany 56-49 to end their season. Graduation hit them hard, as they lost seven very experienced, record-breaking, talented seniors last May. This year's Royals team has just five returning players with varsity experience, including two seniors, one junior, one sophomore plus a freshmen who moved into the Royalton district with prior varsity experience from a different school.

Girl's basketball! (LIVE VIDEO)

A great friend of mine passed on the link, and here it is, to see tonight's girls' basketball action from Royalton. I had to plug it into a "link shortener" so it can be posted on my blog appropriately. If you click on the following link, it will redirect you to the video players, courtesy of the Royalton broadcasting team.

Link = https://bit.ly/3qsdXHP. The video will be posted via Facebook Live. However, I believe you can watch the video without having a Facebook account. I do not have Facebook, and I am expecting that I can still see the video player.

Tip-off for the JV game is at 5:45 p.m. with varsity to follow.

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has seven seniors on this year's team: Karsee Kampsen, Jackie Lindsay, Liz French, Josie Knutson, Jozey Goodall, Allisa Knight and Karissa Jones. This is one of the most experienced B-B-E girls' basketball team to ever take the court for a new season. Kampsen, Linsday, Knight and Jones all have two or more years of varsity-level experience. They also have a wealth of extremely talented underclassmen to bolster the lineup.

*Update: I've got the Facebook Live video player to work. I hope you are able to as well. With under six minutes left in the first half, the JV Jaguars have a 25-6 lead.

At halftime for the C-squad game, Royalton has a 16-14 lead over the Jaguars. A three-point shot by B-B-E rimmed off at the halftime buzzer.

*Final score: the Royalton C-squad team defeated the Jaguars 28-27.

Here's another link you will want to bookmark. It's the "master schedule" for B-B-E's winter sports varsity teams! 

https://sites.google.com/evw.k12.mn.us/centralmnconference/belgrade-brooten-elrosa.

*Update: the tip-off for the varsity game should take place at 7:15 p.m. It appears that all things are on schedule from Royalton high school. The Facebook Live stream appears to work with no problems, and it is also available in high definition video. 

Once the games are complete, they are also archived at that Royalton Facebook page for later viewing.

More to follow later.

**Update for the varsity game: at halftime, the Jaguars have a 43-13 lead over Royalton.

(LIVE VIDEO) Home wrestling triangular is SATURDAY

I am giving this a whirl to embed the live video stream into this blog.

Thank you, B-B-E Broadcasting team!

**THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO SATURDAY, two days from now. This is due to the weather, not the pandemic. I just learned this about 10 minutes after initially adding this blog post while visiting with Mr. Gossen outside the elementary school. I was over there this afternoon videotaping and taking pictures of the steel "framing" of the addition on the northeast side of the building. The progress is exciting! I've been saying that over and over again since last summer. 

*The home wrestling triangular is postponed to Saturday, January 16 with a start time of 2 p.m. for the first dual between the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team and Paynesville Area.

I've looked for a link for the girls' basketball game tonight at Royalton, but I have had no luck finding it. I will try again tonight. This event is still on*****

Also, tomorrow's home game at the elementary school will be a varsity-only event with tip-off at 6:30 p.m. The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team opens their 2021 season against Maple Lake. This event is not open to the general public, but attendance is allowed at two people per student-athlete on a pre-registration basis.

6, 0, 0

The numbers 6, 0 and 0 take new significance for the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa community. For the latest one-week period, the zip code areas of Belgrade, Brooten and Elrosa (population ~ 4,285) had a total of six COVID-19 cases added to the cumulative case load. These numbers were reported to the Minnesota Department of Health for the period of Thursday, January 7 through Wednesday, January 13.

*Remember: a case is not always an infection. Some "cases" are reported but are just a detection of the presence of virus after the PCR test cycled far past the point where the result should be taken seriously.

On the flip side, I believe that a case on the local front is generally due to a person who showed real symptoms and who was in fear that a COVID infection could lead to a bad outcome. I know this: locally, most people would not get tested unless they absolutely had to. (You can ask around and see if I'm right or wrong on that!)

New COVID cases by zip code:

Belgrade 56312 - 6

Brooten 56316 - 0

Elrosa 56325 - 0

The numbers are very significant considering that by now we should be seeing a "Christmas surge" on the reports. I'm sure weeks from now, state "leaders" will be still saying "Well, well, well we have to be on guard for a Christmas surge of cases from all the people who were naughty over the Christmas holidays."

Back to the COVID reports...

NO new cases for the Sunburg zip code (population is 707)...and last week they reported just one new case for the December 31 through January 6 period.

To the west, the Glenwood zip code (population 5,500+) saw a noteworthy uptick of 20 new cases.

To the west of Glenwood, the zip code area of Starbuck (population 2,458) saw a total of four new cases reported. They had five new cases reported the week before that.

To the west of Starbuck, the zip code area of Cyrus (population 496) saw no new cases reported. They had one new case reported the week before that. Cyrus has one of the lowest total case counts in west central Minnesota with just 28 cumulative cases dating back to January 2020. Their "case" rate for population is 5.6 percent.

To the west of Cyrus, the zip code area of Morris (population 6,807) saw a total of 14 new cases reported. The week before, that the Morris area had 11 new cases reported.

To the north, a total of 12 new cases were reported for Sauk Centre's zip code area (population 7,778).

To the north and east, the Melrose zip code area (population 5,868) reported just nine new cases.

To the north and west, the Villard zip code area (population 928) reported no new cases. The week before, they reported three new cases.

To the east, the zip code area of Paynesville (population 5,844) reported 11 new cases.

To the southeast, the zip code area of New London (population 4,797) reported 12 new cases.

To the south of New London, the zip code area of Spicer (population 4,696) reported nine new cases.

To the south of Spicer, the zip code area of Willmar (population 23,173) reported just 18 new cases. That is rather eye opening and also promising as the Willmar schools look to reopen for hybrid learning on January 18.

To the southeast of Spicer, the zip code area of Kandiyohi (population 928) had no new cases. They also had no new cases the week before.

To the south, the zip code area of Pennock (population 1,271) reported just 3 new cases.

To the southwest, the zip code area of Kerkhoven (population 1,238) reported no new cases. They reported just one new cases the week before that. Also, for the December 24 to December 30, the Kerkhoven area reported one new cases. Those three weeks of numbers show a dramatic slow down compared to the December 17 to December 23 period, when they had 17 new cases reported.

To the southwest, the zip code area of Murdock (population 1,196) reported 6 new cases. Last week they reported seven new cases, but the week prior to that (December 24 through December 30) had one new case reported.

To the southwest, the zip code area of Benson (population 4,693) reported just four new cases. They reported 6 new cases the week before that. For the December 24-December 30 period, they reported 4 new cases.

That's the latest run down.

*Update: click on the following (short) link to read a press release from the Glacial Ridge Health System in Glenwood (with clinics in Starbuck and Brooten) = https://bit.ly/3ssTsMX. The press release talks about updated information related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Girls' basketball to open season

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team will begin the 2021 season tomorrow (Thursday) with a Central Minnesota Conference game at Royalton.

I am buried by countless irons in the fire for the foreseeable future, so the Jaguar sports coverage in print and online will be spotty at best for the next two to three weeks. Currently I have a mountain of work to deal with related to the Minnesota Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service. You can read more about that on pages one and eight of today's issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice.

State rankings, wrestlers to open Thursday

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team holds the No. 3 state ranking in the initial 2021 Guillotine poll that was released on Sunday. They will undoubtedly have a big target on their backs this season - but they are ready! They have 10 juniors and seniors on the roster to lead the way, including returning state champion and junior Walker Bents.

A total of five Jaguars are on the Top-10 individual rankings.

The season opens on Thursday this week, although visiting fans will not be permitted to attend. Home fan information is available through the school activities office. The first match in Thursday's triangular is against Paynesville at 5 p.m. at the B-B-E high school.

Web streaming information will be announced at a later time.

(HD VIDEO) Band recital at the Belgrade Library

By now it could be considered a "Blast from the Past" - although I do remember that night as if it was yesterday in spite of almost a year's time passing by. On Friday, February 28 of last year, members of the B-B-E senior high band performed a recital at the Belgrade Library. The weather outside was very mild, and I recall a very nice crowd in attendance.

Here's the video, which only got 6 views last March once I got it posted...hence, why I want to dust it off and show it again. Two of the first three musicians are members of the 2020 Jaguars girls' tennis team, and the musician who played second in the video was an offensive lineman this past fall for the Jaguars football team. A third member of the girls' tennis team plus numerous kids who are also on the speech and robotics teams performed. All great kids!!!

The next morning, I took a bee line to Xcel Energy Center and witnessed a spectacular showing by members of the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team. A huge feat was accomplished by then-sophomore Walker Bents, who won the 106-pound state championship. I didn't get out of there until well past 9 p.m., which is when the medals ceremony ended.

The whirlwind was on! I got zero rest for many weeks to come. The following weekend I was in Ogilvie (girls' basketball section finals) and then Duluth (robotics regional)...the week after that included the state girls' basketball tourament.

Then COVID-19 and the government response hit us all square between the eyes. I didn't really recover from any of it until June...June 12 to be exact! A full 90 days after the girls' basketball trip to state, I was back in the saddle covering town team baseball.