Winter Week 1: Successful opening week for the Jaguars

At Paynesville last Thursday, the Lady Jaguars are shown completing another successful drive to the bucket while blowing the game open with a tenacious full-court press in the second half of their 60-35 blowout win over the Paynesville Bulldogs.

This shot in the paint was part of a three-point play by the Jaguars, who came back from an 11-point deficit to not only tie the game at 24-all here, but move ahead on a 12-0 run to end the first half, leading 31-24 over Chokio-Alberta on Saturday at the K-M-S Tip-Off Classic.

This Jaguar rolls his opponent over for the pin.

The winter Jaguars sports teams had a successful first week of varsity action this past week. Large crowds of faithful fans were on hand at each event, with a very large section of high school students at the Jaguar Wrestling Invite on Friday at the high school.

After playing below their abilities in their opening games, both the Jaguar and Lady Jaguar basketball teams turned it around quickly and drilled their opponents in their second game. They both run a deep bench and employ full court presses with fast-break offenses, which should make for an exciting winter for local basketball fans. The boys go ten deep during the game, while the girls have been running nine deep.

A young Jaguar wrestling squad opened the season with their annual Jaguar Invite at the high school. Four of eleven Jaguars made it to the finals round, where Austin Kampsen finished with a team-high second place medal at the 145 class. Nellie Baker (103 and Travis Winter (125) took fourth place, and Cole Tensen (119) finished with the third place medal. The eleven Jaguars who took the mat all wrestled with a high level of intensity and gave strong performances, with some experiencing varsity action for the first time.

Next week the Lady Jaguars basketball team has no games, with the Jaguar basketball squad hosting Paynesville on Thursday in their only action until December 14th when they travel to Sauk Centre.

The wrestlers host Pierz and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted in a triangular on Tuesday, starting at 5:00pm. They travel to Royalton for a triangular against the host Royals and Rockford on Thursday and to Maple Grove for a tournament on Saturday beginning at 10:00am. It will be a very busy, action-filled week for the team, so if you see a wrestler make sure to tell them good luck.