Winter Week 3 - Lady Jaguars Take it on the Chin, Wrestlers Overcome Holdingford 38-36, Jaguar basketball gets killed by Sauk's press

Photos from the Benson girls basketball game and the New London-Spicer wrestling dual.

The Jaguar wrestling team faced area Class 2A power New London-Spicer during "Parents' Night" at the high school tonight (Friday). They forfeited the 215 class, and went 2-11 in the other 13 matches, falling 59-9 to a Jair Toedter-coached Wildcats team. Every Jaguar put on a great show for the large crowd on hand.

The Lady Jaguars basketball team fell behind 7-0 in the opening minutes against the visiting Benson Braves Tuesday night, and after playing catch-up the entire game and falling behind 52-29 at one point, ended the game losing 67-57 in non-conference action.

The same evening, the Jaguar wrestlers were at Holdingford putting on two very good performances while splitting their duals. Against the host Huskers, they came on strong at the upper weights and defeated Holdingford 38-36. Against Ogilvie, they fell behind 24-0, then came back to take five of the final eight matches while losing 36-30. The wrestlers were given a big boost by the return of sophomore Travis Rath (152) to the lineup. Rath is a two-time returning state entrant, placing 6th in 2006.

Two nights later on Thursday, the Jaguar basketball team traveled a short trip up Highway 71 to Sauk Centre in an attempt to even their record at 2-2 overall before opening up Central Minnesota Conference play next week against the #8-ranked (Class AA) Rockford Rockets.
During most of the first half they played competitive ball, giving up a 13-5 run that erased a 7-3 opening lead. After getting to a 26-22 deficit, it went downhill by halftime, Jaguars losing 33-23. It got worse in the second half as they could not handle a suffocating press by the Mainstreeters, who beat our Jaguars for the first time in four years, by a score of 66-43.

The wrestlers host New London-Spicer at 6:30 at the high school on Friday night. Both basketball squads host Minnewaska on Saturday afternoon in a double-header at the high school. The J.V. squads both play at 2:00, while the Lady Jaguars play at 3:30 and the Jaguars play at 5:00. The Lakers will provide good competition for our teams, as it will be a fun day of basketball for area fans.

**Special note, the boys/girls double-header will be aired on MAGIC 107, 107.1 F.M. out of Glenwood. Again, 3:30 is the slated time for the Lady Jaguars' game to begin.

The Lakers' boys basketball team is 2-2, having just defeated St.Cloud Cathedral (a possible Sub-Section 5AA-20 opponent for our Jaguars) 61-49 on Tuesday night. They committed 52 turnovers while losing their first two games to Alexandria and Holdingford, but have since gotten things under control and will be hungry to beat our Jaguars, who they have lost to for the past two seasons. They started last season 3-8, including a 69-64 loss at their gym to our Jaguars. They then went on an incredible run to win 12 of 14 games before losing to a strong Melrose squad in the Section 6AA playoffs.

The Lakers girls basketball team is 2-2 after losing to St.Cloud Cathedral 60-52. (CHS is in the same sub-section as our Lady Jaguars) The Lakers lost to Benson in their opener 54-48, beat Morris 40-33 in a rival battle, then shredded Sauk Centre 57-29, limiting the Mainstreeters to 13 first-half points, eight total field goals, while forcing 24 turnovers. Last season they defeated our Lady Jaguars 54-41 at their high school as they opened their season 7-1, before two stretches of 4-3 and 2-6 brought them a 13-10 record entering the Section 6AA playoffs, where they went 1-1 and were bounced by Central Minnesota Conference member Holdingford 41-35.