More photos of the basketball teams and the wrestling squad in action can be found at my Jaguars' photos blog. The link can be found at the right with the other links on this page.The Jaguar wrestlers fell to strong Central Minnesota Conference teams in a home triangular at the High School on Tuesday night, first to Pierz 56-21 and then to Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 51-18. In both matches, the Jaguars had strong outings up and down the lineup, even with their first-year wrestlers. It is a sign of good things to come this season from our Jaguar grapplers.
They rebounded from those losses by posting big wins at the Royalton Triangular on Thursday night, beating CMC member Rockford (a Class AA team) 48-32 and the host Royals 42-33.
The Jaguar basketball squad had a cliffhanger for their home opener, playing an exciting game for a large crowd of faithful Jaguar fans, losing 65-62 to the neighboring rival Paynesville Area Bulldogs, also a Sub-Section 5AA-2o opponent. The telling part was their ability to recover from deficits throughout the entire game, ultimately being unable to overcome a 14-point second half hole, getting it no closer than the three-point final margin. For starting three sophomores and two juniors, this team still plays competitive ball while putting on a great show for fans to enjoy. Only one senior sees regular playing time during the game.
At halftime of the Jaguar basketball game on Thursday night, the Lady Jaguar Danceline made their opening performance of the winter season. An overview of their team and the season will be featured in next week's Observer and Bonanza Valley Voice issues. They debut in the first official varsity competition as a team on Saturday, December 16, at the BOLD High School in Olivia.
Next week the Lady Jaguars basketball team hosts Benson in non-conference action on Tuesday night at the elementary school. They will host Minnewaska area on Saturday in a double-header with the boys team. JV's will play @ 2:00, Girls Varsity at 3:30
and the Boys Varsity at approximately 5:00. All are at the high school.
The Jaguar basketball team travels to Sauk Centre to face the Mainstreeters on Thursday, December 14. They will then face Minnewaska Saturday in the boys/girls double-header.
The Jaguars have a shot at winning both games, lifting their record to above .500 for the first time since the 2004-2005 season. Both the Lakers and Mainstreeters have lost to the Jaguars for two years straight, so they'll be hungry to win. The last Lakers' win over our Jaguars was in December 2003 (a 55-52 win), and the last Mainstreeters' win over our Jaguars was in December 2002 (a narrow 65-64 win).
The Jaguar wrestling team travels to Holdingford on Tuesday, December 12 for a Triangular against the host Huskers (a conference opponent) and the Ogilvie Lions. They host a strong New London-Spicer team in a dual meet on Friday, December 15 at the high school. The Jaguars went 1-1 when they hosted both teams at the high school, losing 45-31 to Holdingford and beating Ogilvie 50-24.