The Jaguars volleyball team earned two big accomplishments tonight on the hardwood. With a 3-0 sweep over visiting Holdingford, the Jaguars wrapped up their second straight undefeated Central Minnesota Conference championship. It is the 8th time in B-B-E history that the Jaguars have won a volleyball conference title. The first two came in 1994 & 1995, and then in the CMC the Jaguars won conference in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, and now 2008.
The Jaguars overall record is 26-1, setting a new school record for regular season wins. Holdingford is 14-12-1, and 4-3 in the CMC.
Tonight was also Seniors' night, where the underclassmen on the varsity squad honored the nine seniors on the roster.
It was announced following the match that the Sub-Section 5A-South playoffs will begin on Friday, October 25. High seeds will host the sub-section quarterfinals. Play-in matches, if any are needed, are the night before. Each of the two sub-sections in Section 5A are split into two sub-sub-sections. (Weird, I know) I don't have a handle on how it all works out. However, sometime during the day on Wednesday I will find out the seedings and will post on here the full playoff schedule. Stay tuned!
Area volleyball scores:
Kimball 3, Rockford 2 (Game five was 15-8)
Eden Valley-Watkins 3, Maple Lake 2 (Game five was 15-9)
Melrose Area 3, Minnewaska Area 0
Sauk Centre 3, Mora 1
New London-Spicer 3, Albany 0
St. Cloud Cathedral 3, Foley 0
Yellow Medicine East 3, Morris Area 0
BOLD 3, Paynesville Area 1
Bertha-Hewitt 3, Verndale 0 (Bertha-Hewitt finishes the regular season 21-6-1)
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 3, Milaca 1
Osakis 3, Swanville 0 (Osakis wins the Prairie Conference Championship for the 2nd straight season, 8-0 final league record)
Parkers Prairie 3, Hancock 1
Browerville 3, Upsala 2
Royalton 3, Eagle Valley 2
In area football action...sometimes, not often...but sometimes I am right. Last week I predicted that Maccray would beat Dawson-Boyd in their regular season finale. Tonight, in Dawson, the Blackjacks lost 21-14 to the visiting Wolverines (7-1). Two lost fumbles and two interceptions led to the Blackjacks' loss.
Maccray is a Class AA team, so Dawson-Boyd does pick up Section 5A points. Their record is 6-2 going into playoffs next week. All 7 of Dawson-Boyd's other opponents this season were Class A teams. I will add, some of those 7 Class A teams were GOOD, like Minneota and Adrian. Minneota drubbed Dawson-Boyd 41-14 in Week 3, a game held in Dawson. With their loss tonight, Dawson-Boyd is out of the running for a number-one playoff seed. Also, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg is now in the running for the #2-seed. If they beat Upsala-Swanville Area in Swanville tomorrow night, they will finish 6-2. Dawson-Boyd and K-M-S would be 6-2, with identical Section 5A points as well, since both have 7 Class A opponents, and one Class AA opponents. I do not know what tiebreaker would decide who is #2 and who is #3.
I have contacts who will be in Swanville and in Tracy, where the key games are going to take place. I actually predict that Minneota will defeat Tracy, even though Tracy-Milroy-Balaton is a state-ranked Class AA team, and Minneota is ranked in Class A. As for the U-S-A vs. K-M-S game, I can only hope that the Patriots will tag the Fighting Saints with their third loss of the season.
By 9:00 I will have a good idea of which teams will be winning those two crucial games, unless they go down to the wire.
Minneota, who sits at the top of the Section 5A standings, is 7-0 and will face unbeaten Tracy-Milroy-Balaton on Wednesday night in a classic battle for the Little Sioux Conference championship. The winner will be the champion alone, the loser will be runner-up. Win or lose, Minneota owns the #1 playoff seed for Section 5A. Even if they finish 7-1, they would still lead the pack in the section standings.
Read up on Minneota at the following link, at the Marshall Independent newspaper online = http://marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/505137.html?nav=5021 This is a great story that previews the Minneota vs. Tracy-Milroy-Balaton matchup.
One thing that is wild, just wild...if the Jaguars would've won at West Central Area in the season opener, they would be in the running for a #2 playoff seed with their last game of the season on Wednesday night. They would be 4-3 right now, and a 5-3 regular season for the Jaguars would beat out K-M-S and Dawson-Boyd's 6-2 record in the Section 5A standings. The key thing about getting a #1 or #2 playoff seed is that it means you would host the first two rounds of playoffs going into the section championship. While a home playoff game doesn't guarantee a win by any means, it sure helps.
Nevertheless, if the Jaguars can stay focused and dig deep and beat Holdingford on Wednesday night, they would be in the running for a #3 playoff seed. I like our chances of winning the section if that happens. However, K-M-S needs to lose to Upsala-Swanville Area in order for this scenario to play out.
I won't be saying any more about playoffs until after Wednesday night's game. In advance...pardon me when I go nuts if the Jaguars beat Holdingford. It would lock in a #4 and possibly #3 playoff seed, and a first-round home playoff game.
If that indeed happens, I will have a considerable amount of information to post, regarding football playoff history at B-B-E.
As of now, all postings on here between now and mid-November will be playoff-related. We're looking at roughly a month's worth of playoff action ahead of us with the football and volleyball teams. The cross country teams are also gearing up for their playoffs, at the Section 6A meet at NL-S on October 23.
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