Playoffs Are Set for Jaguars Cross Country, Football, and Volleyball

The entire B-B-E community should be getting geared up for some exciting playoff action over the next few weeks. We should also celebrate the price of gas getting closer to the $2.50/gallon range (as the economy crashes around us).

Before I get into the playoff details...I want to make a special note on the 2-year anniversary that I created this website. My first post went up on Monday, October 16, 2006, when I began writing about the Jaguars' football team. Things developed quickly from there, as I gave heavy coverage on the Jaguars' volleyball and football teams as they went into the playoffs that fall. Since then I've had almost 17,000 page views...including over 100 views just on Thursday!

The Jaguars cross country team will perform in the Section 6A meet at 3:30 at the Little Crow Golf Course in New London on Thursday, October 23. Grant Bell, Jared Sorenson, and Kelsey Cassidy will be competing.

The Jaguars volleyball team opens up Sub-Section 5A-South playoffs on Friday, October 24. The night before that, Eden Valley-Watkins and Ogilvie will face off in a play-in round for the right to face our Jaguars.

The Jaguars football team opens up Section 5A playoffs on Tuesday, October 21, when they host the Lakeview Lakers (5-3) at 7:00 at the high school athletic complex. Make sure to read below in my Wednesday night post to learn more about the football playoffs, and to read information on the Jaguars football team. I went on and on, there's much to read...it may be my longest post ever on this now 2-year old website.

I want to add that the Jaguars' 4-3 Central Minnesota Conference record helped them achieve the highest spot in a conference schedule since 1993. That season, the Jaguars tied Morris at 3-3 for 3rd place in the West Central South Conference, both trailing state-ranked Class B St.Cloud Cathedral (WCCS champs at 6-0) and Class A Sauk Centre (WCCS runner-up at 5-1). In those years, Minnesota had four football classes and nine-man (AA, A, B, C, and 9-man).

**Saturday update...

I keep forgetting to mention how significant it is for the Jaguars football team to have a home playoff game. The following are the years the Jaguars have earned a home playoff game: 1988, 3rd seed in Section 4B - 1997, 2nd seed in Section 5AA (which meant a 2nd home playoff game for the semi-final round that year) - 2006, 4th seed in Section 5A. That means this is only the fourth time in B-B-E history that the Jaguars have had a first-round home playoff game. Putting it into greater perspective, that's only the 4th time out of 21 seasons! That is what brings excitement to a program, getting to start playoffs at your own high school, where school spirit thrives for the high school student body. It is a special time, for sure.

The Jaguars have to play with a chip on their shoulders as they approach the playoffs. They need to look at each game as a night when they can prove themselves, show they are for real, and show they can be winners in the post-season. More important than earning glory for B-B-E, the players need to focus and play well mainly for themselves. The seniors on this squad have dedicated four years of varsity football to get to this point, where they have a shot of advancing past the first round and possibly further.

I gotta throw out a bit of scouting information on Lakeview's football team, it's too interesting to just sit on it. The 5-3 Lakers are led by senior first-year quarterback Dakota Fiene, who is a converted running back. He's a dynamic ball carrier, check out his stats... 147 carries for 1,045 yards, a 7.1-yard per game average, with 13 rushing touchdowns. In the Lakers' upset win over Class AAA Pequot Lakes on Wednesday night, Dakota rushed for 151 yards!

Pequot Lakes was 4-3 coming into the game, including a 27-14 win over the Roseau Rams in Week 7. (Roseau beat West Central Area 34-21 in Week 3, by the way)

The second-leading ball carrier for the Lakers is Dakota's sophomore brother, Maverick Fiene. He's rushed 33 times for 217 yards (6.5 yds per rush) and one TD.

Dakota's passing stats are as follows: 19 pass completions, 44 pass attempts, 274 passing yards, 3 TD's, 5 INT's. That's for the whole regular season. This suggests Lakeview is a run first, pass second football team.

Back to volleyball...The following is the seedings for the sub-section pod that the Jaguars are in, with the teams' overall records.

1- B-B-E (26-1)
2- Braham (14-7)
3- Kimball Area (12-8)
4- Ogilvie (11-12)
5- Eden Valley-Watkins (7-11)
6- Royalton (4-17)

I predict Eden Valley-Watkins will beat Ogilvie and face the Jaguars in the sub-section quarterfinals. It would be fun to see Kimball beat Braham in the other match on October 24. If it played out that way, the Jaguars would face the Kimball Cubs on Tuesday, October 28 at 7:00.

I won't comment on the rest of the playoffs until we get past the 2nd-round match.

Final Central Minnesota Conference volleyball standings:
#1- B-B-E (7-0)
#2- Pierz (6-1)
#3- Holdingford (4-3)
#4- Kimball Area (3-4)
(tie) HL-W-W (3-4)
(tie) Eden Valley-Watkins (3-4)
#7- Maple Lake (2-5)
#8- Rockford (0-7)

This Jaguars sports playoff update brought to you by the following business that is unfortunately in the midst of an inventory sellout process. It's very sad to see a B-B-E business close. We wish the owners luck in their future endeavors.