Jaguars girls tennis loses 6-1 match at Maccray, gears up for key match against sub-section foe Melrose on Thursday

Junior Amber Meyer competed for the Jaguars at one-singles against Maccray.

The Jaguars girls tennis team fell 6-1 on the road at sub-section opponent Maccray, picking up their lone point from the one-doubles due of Laura Johnson/Tia Braegelman (6-3, 6-2 win) - the Wolverines improved to 13-4 overall.

The Jaguars travel to Melrose for a 4:30 match on Thursday.

Area girls tennis results on Tuesday:
Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd 5, Melrose Area 2
Annandale 4, New London-Spicer 3
Minnewaska Area 7, West Central Area 0

Area volleyball scores on Tuesday night:
Benson 3, Yellow Medicine East 0
A-C-GC 3, Lac qui Parle Valley 1
Minnewaska Area 3, Morris Area 1
Maccray 3, Dawson-Boyd 0
Hancock 3, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 0
NL-S 3, Milaca 0


This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Jaguars Volleyball sweeps K-M-S for 15th win of the season - Up next: Pierz in a big CMC battle on Thursday

The Jaguars (15-2) won in two close games in the first two sets, then coasted to a 25-18 win in game three in a road game at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The Fighting Saints, who play in a very tough Camden Conference that includes powerful teams like Minneota, Renville County West, and Lakeview, fall to 5-11 overall.

Area volleyball scores:
Buffalo Lake-Hector 3, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 2
Redwood Valley 3, Renville County West 1

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Homecoming 2009 at B-B-E this week - *Hot-off-the-press Volleyball state polls posted below

Monday night: Jaguars Volleyball competes at K-M-S.

Tuesday: Jaguars girls tennis travels to Maccray for a 4:30 match against a fellow Sub-Section 5A-West opponent. The Wolverines will be a tall order, as they just defeated NL-S 6-1 on Monday and are 12-5 overall. They are the 2009 Southwest Conference Champions (a conference including teams like Redwood Valley and Marshall).

Thursday: Jaguars cross country at Albany (4:00) - Jaguars girls tennis at Melrose (4:15) against another sub-section opponent - Jaguars volleyball hosts Pierz in a huge CMC match.

Friday: annual Homecoming game! Jaguars football hosts Pierz at 7:00.

Saturday: the 9th-ranked (Class A poll, Sept 28) Jaguars volleyball will battle at the 13th annual Willmar Cardinal Classic tournament, beginning at 9am. New London-Spicer is the top competition looking to dethrone the Jaguars, who are three-time defending champions. They've advanced to the championship of this tournament every year since 2004.

Latest Class AA and Class A volleyball polls:
Class AA
1. Marshall (4) 172
2. Jackson County Central (8) 162
3. Lesuer-Henderson 148
4. Hutchinson 144
5. Delano 126
6. Stewartville 110
7. Jordan 96
8. Hibbing 91
9. Belle Plaine 60
10. Wadena-Deer Creek 57
Others receiving votes: New London-Spicer (34), Pipestone Area (32), Chatfield (15), Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (7), Rocori (6)


Class A
1. Bethlehem Academy (15) 225
2. Minneota 205
3. Windom 197
4. Bertha-Hewitt 148
5. Deer River 129
6. Northern Freeze 115
7. Lake of the Woods 103
8. Martin County West 93
9. B-B-E 91
10. SW Christian 74
Others: Meadow Creek Christian (37), Canby (33), Mabel-Canton (31), Leroy-Ostrander (30), SW Star Concept (24), Ada-Borup (13), Murray County Central (10), Nicollet (10), Parkers Prairie (8), Nevis (6), Win-E-Mac (3)

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Click on the poster below to read more about upcoming October 24th Heidi (Gregory) Deters benefit at A-Rod's

Heidi is a member of the B-B-E class of 1996.

The link to her Caringbridge website is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/heidideters

Family and friends of Heidi will be hosting a benefit for Heidi on October 24th at A-Rods bar in Elrosa. Spaghetti supper from 5-9 PM with a live auction beginning at 9 PM.

A fund has also been set up at the North American State Bank in Elrosa called "Heidi Deters Fund". We are also accepting items for the live auction. If you are interested in volunteering or donating items for the benefit please email me at <donations4heidi@yahoo.com>. Drop off locations for auction items are at the homes of Dennis and Carol Deters, and Allan and Angela Gregory.

Please put Heidi and her family in your prayers!

Jaguars are pummeled at Maple Lake, 49-7 loss on the gridiron - other area football scores are posted below

The Maple Lake Irish improve to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the Central Minnesota Conference with their 49-7 whitewashing of the Jaguars tonight.

The Jaguars were right in the game in the first half, trailing 14-7 before the Irish tacked on another score before halftime.

Maple Lake pounded the running game to the tune of 307 yards rushing.

It won't get any easier for the Jaguars, as they are set to host Pierz (3-1 overall, 2-1 CMC) next Friday.

Central Minnesota Conference results:
Eden Valley-Watkins 40, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 6 (40-0 halftime lead!)
Pierz 41, Rockford 0 (Pioneers' are victorious on Homecoming)
Holdingford 42, Kimball Area 14 (Huskers appear to be on the rebound, they led 28-8 at halftime)

Scores involving Section 4A teams:
Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 33, Lions Gate Academy 14
A-C-GC 42, Minnewaska Area 21 (Falcons' first win of the season)

Interesting football results:
Lac qui Parle Valley 40, Paynesville Area 26 (a huge win for the Eagles, who are now 3-0 in the West Central South Conference)
Royalton 42, K-M-S 9 (OUCH! Fighting Saints lay an egg on their Homecoming)

Other area football results:
Mora 40, Sauk Centre 13
A-C-GC 42, Minnewaska Area 21 (Falcons' first win of the season)
Browerville 28, Upsala/Swanville Area 12
New London-Spicer 14, Albany 2 (Albany's first loss of the season; NL-S is 4-0)
West Central Area 18, Pelican Rapids 14 (big come-from-behind win for the 3-1 Knights)
Willmar 28, Little Falls 25
Foley 40, St.Cloud Cathedral 6
Ogilvie 16, Barnum 14
Rocori 13, Fergus Falls 7
Milaca 35, Melrose 13
Renville County West 14, Fulda 7
Dawson-Boyd 35, Murray County Central 6
Maccray 66, Ortonville 0 (OUCH)
BOLD 28, Yellow Medicine East 7
Montevideo 14, Benson 12

Random football notes from tonight:
-From the way I read the stats, Royalton punted only one time during their 42-9 win at K-M-S tonight. Tyler Cebulla was the punter, and his effort was good for a distance of 28 yards. The senior fullback also carried the ball eight times for 101 yards, including touchdown runs of 6 and 11 yards. His younger brother Tucker kicked two PAT on the Royals' final two touchdowns.

-Albany committed 6 turnovers in their loss at NL-S tonight - the Huskies were
stopped twice in the red zone, one time at the Wildcats' 2-yard line on fourth down.

-Willmar (3-1) scored 14 unanswered points on Little Falls to erase a 25-14 deficit that stood on the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter.

-Royalton invaded Fighting Saints country tonight and held K-M-S to 243 yards total in offense. K-M-S had 76 yards passing, the rest rushing.

-At A-C-GC, the Falcons piled up 413 yards of offense against Minnewaska, with 395 yards coming on the ground in a whopping total of 73 rushing plays. Only six plays were passing plays. The visiting Lakers (1-3 overall) were held to 242 yards overall while running only 27 offensive plays.

In their impressive win over Paynesville, LQPV rushed for only 41 yards, but passed for 224.

Renville County West has only 19 players suiting up for their varsity games. (Ouch!) They still managed to defeat Fulda 14-7 tonight, picking up 12 sacks along the way in a game played down in Fulda (just north of Worthington in SW MN) It was RCW's first win of the season.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Jaguars Volleyball wins grueling 3-1 match at Maple Lake

The Irish (9-5 overall, 1-2 Central Minnesota Conference) made the Jaguars earn it tonight on the Maple Lake court, though the Blue and Silver was able to make the trip back up Highway 55 with their unblemished conference record still intact.

Irish head coach Marty Kiebel always has his squad revved up to play the Jaguars, and this season was no different.

Luckily, the Jaguars had the edge on the hardwood tonight.

The Jaguars (14-2 overall, 3-0 CMC) gear up for a two-match week next week that includes a trip to K-M-S on Monday night and a home match on Thursday (Oct 1) against Pierz.

They travel to the Willmar Cardinal Classic tournament on Saturday, October 3. The Jaguars have participated in this tournament since 1997. They've won the last three championships here.

Pierz improved to 3-0 in the CMC tonight with a win at Rockford.

K-M-S is 5-12 overall after going 4-4 in their first eight matches of the season. Their Camden Conference North record is 2-3 coming into tonight's match against Renville County West.

Central Minnesota Conference results:
Kimball 3, Holdingford 1
Pierz 3, Rockford 0
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 0

Prairie Conference results:
Upsala 3, Osakis 1 (Upsala pulls into two-way tie for first place in the Prairie, hands Silverstreaks their first conference loss since 2006)
Royalton 3, Swanville 1

In girls tennis action, the Jaguars girls tennis team lost a home match against the Osakis Silverstreaks, falling 6-1. The Silverstreaks improved to 13-2 overall with the win.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Central Minnesota Conference volleyball clash set for tonight (Thursday) in Maple Lake - Section 4A football notes below

The Jaguars volleyball team is gearing up for a road trip to Maple Lake tonight, where they will face a red-hot Maple Lake Irish team that won seven of its first nine matches of 2009. This past weekend, the Irish went 2-2 in a tough Big Lake Invitational. They are 9-4 overall and 1-1 in the CMC coming into tonight's match. Note: Earlier I incorrectly said that they were 2-0 in the CMC - duhh, it's easy to look up what their CMC record is in 2009.

The Irish, who won the CMC outright in 2004 and 2005, and shared the title in 2006 with the Jaguars, are rebounding from an 11-15-2 season in 2008 where they had a very young team. They advanced to the Section 6AA finals in 2007, winning a 3-2 thriller against Rocori in the sub-section finals before losing 3-0 to eventual Class AA State Runner-up St.Cloud Cathedral. In 2005, the Irish lost 3-2 in the sub-section finals to St.Cloud Cathedral, who went on to place 6th in the Class AA state tournament that season. In 2004, the Irish had an incredible 24-match winning streak through the regular season into the playoffs. They lost a heartbreaker in the Sub-Section 5AA-20 championship, falling 3-2 to CMC rival Pierz.


A couple Section 4A football notes:
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City is 0-3 for the first time since 1998. They were one of the pre-season favorites in Section 4A - but right now the section appears wide open from top to bottom.

Another top preseason 4A team is Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity, who went 8-2 in 2008. The Bulldogs picked up its first win of the season last Friday, topping West Lutheran 38-21 in Minnesota Christian Athletic Association play.

The Bulldogs, now 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the MCAA, were led by senior Scott Thiemann, who ran for 132 yards and four touchdowns.

The victory came on Holy Trinity’s homecoming game.

LP/HT will next face Lion’s Gate Academy Friday, Sept. 25 in Bloomington at 7 p.m.

(From the Howard Lake Herald Journal, Aaron Schultz - sports reporter)

Notes from the Central Minnesota Conference:
The Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Lakers’ football team lost its first game of the season last Friday, falling to Holdingford 26-14.

The game was tied at 14 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Huskers scored 12 points in the final quarter to pick up the win.

Adam Klinkner rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown for HLWW in the loss.

HLWW is now 2-1 overall, and 1-1 in the Central Minnesota Conference.

The Lakers will next host Eden Valley-Watkins Friday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. for homecoming.

(From the Howard Lake Herald Journal, Aaron Schultz - sports reporter)

New London-Spicer edges Sauk Centre in West Central North division volleyball clash

In a battle of conference unbeatens, visiting New London-Spicer swept Sauk Centre on Tuesday night to take over sole possession of first place in the WCCN. NL-S is 10-1 and Sauk Centre is 12-3 overall.

The Pierz Pioneers improved to 12-3 overall with a 3-1 non-conference win at Sauk Rapids (5-5), a match that was profiled in today's St.Cloud Times. The Pioneers apparently have designs on making the Class AA state tournament - they reside in Section 6AA, which is loaded with tough teams from Sauk Centre, NL-S, St.Cloud Cathedral, Annandale, and Rocori. Their toughest competition for the Sub-Section 6AA-North crown is Sauk Centre. The south half of 6AA has NL-S, Annandale, and Rocori all vying for the #1 playoff seed.

Other area volleyball results:
St.Cloud Cathedral 3, Annandale 1
Albany 3, Milaca 1
Melrose 3, Foley 2 (visiting Dutchmen won game five 15-12)
Mora 3, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 1
Benson 3, Paynesville 1 (the Bulldogs remain winless)
Osakis 3, Royalton 2 (a 3-7 Royals squad gave Osakis a Prairie Conference battle)
Upsala 3, Eagle Valley 0
Browerville 3, Swanville 0
RCW 3, Dawson-Boyd 1
Lakeview 3, K-M-S 1
R-T-R 3, MACCRAY 1
Morris Area 3, BOLD 2 (the Tigers won game five 18-16!)
YME 3, A-C-GC 1

This week in Jaguars sports:
The Cross Country teams will compete at the Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball Invitational on Thursday. The meet will be hosted at the Kimball Golf Course on the south end of town beginning at 4:15pm.

The Jaguars girls tennis team hosts a powerful Osakis Silverstreaks squad on Thursday at the high school tennis courts at 4:30pm.

The Jaguars football team travels to Maple Lake (2-1) on Friday night for a key CMC battle in which the Jaguars can not only even their record at 2-2 overall, but also gain ground in the Section 4A standings.

More info on Section 4A football will be posted tonight.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Jaguars Volleyball hands New London-Spicer Wildcats their first loss of the season, a 3-2 barn-burner in favor of the Blue and Silver

The Jaguars Volleyball team serves up some "humble pie" in Wildcat country!

A highly-anticipated matchup between two state-ranked teams played out at the New London-Spicer high school tonight, as Class AA #10-ranked NL-S (9-0 coming in) was defeated in five games by Class A #10-ranked B-B-E (13-2 after tonight).

The Wildcats took games one and four, with the Jaguars all but laying down in game four where they lost by something like 25-11.

In the deciding game five, the Jaguars roared in front 5-1 before the Wildcats came back to an 11-10 deficit. A missed call by the line judge made it 14-13, then a thunderous block by Rachel Anderson ended the match! She would lead all players at the net with 6 ace blocks in the match.

NL-S hit hard and served hard, but the Jaguars' defense was at peak form when it had to be. They managed to outplay a veteran, experienced NL-S team that is early favorites to win Section 6AA.

It was, without a doubt, the greatest regular-season win for the Jaguars Volleyball team in many seasons.

**Two fun facts:
-The last time NL-S defeated B-B-E in volleyball was in October 2001, the Sub-Section 6AA-East semi-finals. Interestingly enough, that match also went five full games, with the Wildcats winning game five 15-13. That was also the last year that the Jaguars did not make a sub-section championship game appearance in the playoffs. NL-S went on to face Sauk Centre in the sub-section championship, where they were swept by a Mainstreeters team that went on to take fourth place at state.

-Last weekend at a volleyball tournament at the U of M-Morris, I asked Sauk Centre head coach Jim Klaphake point blank, "Do you think B-B-E can beat NL-S?" He said they could - and they did!

It's a quiet night in NL-S country tonight. Gotta love it!

Area volleyball results:
Kimball 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0 (The Cubs are 10-5 overall)
Upsala 3, Onamia 0 (Upsala is 10-1)
Osakis 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 0
Hancock 3, Dawson-Boyd 0
Hutchinson 3, Willmar 0

The Jaguars girls tennis match at home against Parkers Prairie was postponed until a further date.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Hot off the press: Jaguars Volleyball cracks Top-10 Coaches' poll

Here's the latest Class A state rankings:

1. Bethlehem Academy (14 first-place votes) 210
2. Minneota 184
3. Windom 171
4. Northern Freeze 148
5. Bertha-Hewitt 135
6. Martin County West 103
7. Lake of the Woods 92
8. Deer River 91
9. SW Christian 82
10. B-B-E 65
Others: Meadow Creek Christian (48), Leroy-Ostrander (25), Nevis (21), Canby (18), Ada-Borup (12), Mabel-Canton (12), SW Star Concept (12), Murray County Central (11), Nicollet (10), Brandon-Evansville (9), Win-E-Mac (8), Parkers Prairie (6), Sebeka (6)

In Class AA, New London-Spicer holds onto the #10 spot.

Here's the Class AA poll
1. Jackson County Central (7) 169
2. Marshall (4) 144
3. Lesuer-Henderson 131
4. Hutchinson 120
5. Jordan 109
6. Stewartville 102
7. Delano 96 (tie)
Hibbing 96
9. Wadena-Deer Creek 50
10. New London-Spicer 31
Others receiving votes: Annandale (20), Chatfield (20), Belle Plaine (19), Pipestone Area (18), Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (7), Esko (6)

A couple volleyball notes

The Jaguars Volleyball team (12-2) travels the short trip south to New London-Spicer (9-0) on Monday night to face the state-ranked Class AA Wildcats in non-conference action.

In 2008, two much-anticipated meetings between the two teams both went in favor of the Jaguars, first a 3-1 win at home for the Blue and Silver, and then a convincing 2-0 sweep in the Willmar Invitational championship match. Following the win in Willmar, everyone was pretty much in a awe of the efficiency and speed that the Jaguars shredded the Wildcats - a point that this year's NL-S team most certainly won't forget.

I'd still give the edge to the Jaguars, though they'll need to play a flawless game to upset the undefeated Wildcats.

In college news, Emily Roelike received "Hitter of the Week" honors in the Minnesota Community Athletic Conference-South division a week ago. The freshmen outside hitter averaged 2.9 kills and 2.3 digs per game. They went 5-0 that week and are now 12-1 overall and 5-0 in the MCAC.

These people are nuts! What is happening when our country has people THIS stupid walking around acting like they have a clue

A very telling, informative Youtube clip, with interviews from the September 12th "Tea Party Protest" in Washington, D.C. It speaks volumes about those who attended that event.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPMjC9mq5Y
...and it's scary!

Brainerd Dispatch story about the Pierz vs. Eden Valley-Watkins football game on Friday night (36-7 win for the host Eagles)

Click on the following link to read the story:
http://www.brainerddispatch.com/stories/091909/spo_20090919049.shtml

Full results from Saturday's action at the Bethel University Class A Showcase Tournament - Jaguars finish in fifth place, win five of six matches

Class A Showcase tournament results:

Deer River, unranked and not receiving any Class A votes in the polls, won the second Class A Showcase with a three set win over #7-ranked Bertha-Hewitt with a margin of 9 points. The first two sets were 2 point margins for each team. Deer River (9-2-1 overall) got hot in the third set, winning 15-6.

Consolation bracket -
Quarterfinals
Underwood def Carlton 25-23, 25-19
Meadow Creek def Lion's Gate 25-12, 25-6
Sebeka def Onamia 25-16, 25-10
Nevis def Buffalo Lake-Hector 25-22, 25-23
Semifinals
Meadow Creek def Underwood 17-25, 25-19, 15-2
Nevis def Sebeka 26-24, 24-26, 15-11
Loser's Semis
Carlton def Lion's Gate 25-15, 25-8
Onamia def Buffalo Lake-Hector 25-21, 25-22

Winner's bracket:

Quarterfinals
Parkers Prairie def Win-E-Mac 25-18, 25-19
Bertha-Hewitt def Lake of the Woods 17-25, 25-19, 15-11
Southwest Christian def Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 25-17, 25-18
Deer River def LeRoy-Ostrander 26-24, 16-25, 15-5
Semifinals
Bertha-Hewitt def Parkers Prairie 23-25, 25-16, 15-10
Deer River def Southwest Christian 25-18, 25-22
Loser's Semis
Lake of the Woods def Win-E-Mac 25-18, 25-17
B-B-E def LeRoy-Ostrander 25-19, 25-17

Championship round, including the state-rankings of Top-10 teams:
15th Place
Buffalo Lake-Hector def Lion's Gate 1-0, 1-0 forfeit
13th Place
Carlton def Onamia 18-25, 27-25, 15-13
11th Place
Sebeka def Underwood 25-20, 25-16
9th Place
Nevis def #9 Meadow Creek 25-18, 21-25, 15-9
7th Place
#10 LeRoy-Ostrander def Win-E-Mac 25-23, 25-21
5th Place
B-B-E def #4 Lake of the Woods 25-15, 25-21
3rd Place
#7 Southwest Christian def Parkers Prairie 25-16, 25-17
Championship
Deer River def #7 Bertha-Hewitt 28-26, 24-26, 15-6

Lake of the Woods is now 6-2-2 overall. They tied Deer River and Nevis in pool play (1-1 in games) during Friday night's action. The Jaguars can be very proud of their showing at the tournament, winning five matches via sweep and losing only one match - to the #7-ranked Southwest Christian Stars team that ended up winning third place by beating Parkers Prairie.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Cell phone use not exclusively discouraged at Swanville public schools

Click on the link to read the story: http://www.lpleader.com/?p=4395

Interesting - Mike Grant (Bud Grant's son), head coach of Eden Prairie football, dumbest coach in recent memory, picks a fight with a St-Trib reporter

Click on the link to see what I mean = http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/59804047.html?page=1&c=y

...and while you're at it, read the comment section - lots of good stuff there, reading "big city" school politics.

Jaguars Volleyball wins two of three on final day of Bethel Showcase Invitational - finishes with 5th place showing

Julie Hieserich in set assist mode.

An attack by Shannon Gruber.

The Jaguars volleyball team went 5-1 overall in their trip to the Bethel University Class A Showcase Invitational, winning three matches on Friday night and two of three played on Saturday. Along the way, they defeated some of the top teams in Minnesota, no small task in a matter of a few short hours. They are now 12-2 overall.

They lost their opening match of Saturday morning, then rebounded to take the next two, finishing fifth out of the 16 teams in attendance.

In the fifth place match, the Jaguars swept the #4-ranked Lake of the Woods Bears, winning in dominating fashion 25-15, 25-21. The Bears lost to Bertha-Hewitt 17-25, 25-19, 15-11 in the quarterfinals.

Another of the Jaguars' wins on Saturday was against Leroy-Ostrander (25-19, 25-17). The L-O Cardinals were the 10th-ranked team in Class A coming into the tournament.

Jaguars' junior setter Julie Hieserich topped the 1,000-career set assist mark at the Showcase Invitational - she now has 1,087 set assists in the stat book.

At the Sauk Rapids Invite, Annandale (12-1) was team champion. They defeated state-ranked Wadena-Deer Creek in the championship match. Sauk Centre defeated Pierz in a 2-1 match for third place.

Sauk Rapids Invite final team standings: 1. Annandale; 2. Wadena-Deer Creek; 3. Sauk Centre; 4. Pierz; 5. St. Cloud Cathedral; 6. Rogers; 7. Dassel-Cokato; 8. Monticello; 9. Sauk Rapids; 10. Melrose; 11. Albany; 12. St. Cloud Apollo; 13. Mora; 14. Little Falls; 15. Elk River; 16. Holdingford.

At the Minnewaska Area Tournament, New London-Spicer defeated Hancock in the championship match. The host Lakers took fourth out of the eight teams at the tournament. At Minnewaska in pool play, Hancock tagged Benson with the Braves' first loss of the season.

At the Becker Tournament of Roses, Kimball Area went 4-1 while taking second place, raising their overall season record to 9-5.

A look around the Central Minnesota Conference - Volleyball

Pierz came into this weekend with a 9-1 record, while the Jaguars were 7-1 before last night's action. Maple Lake, who had a rough 2008 season in which they finished 11-15-2 overall, won their first seven matches of 2009 and was 7-2 coming into this weekend's Big Lake Invitational. Both teams appear to be the top challengers at this point of the season to the Jaguars if they want a "four-peat" at the top of the Central Minnesota Conference.

The rest of the CMC had the following overall records: HL-W-W (6-4), Kimball Area (5-4), Holdingford (2-4), Eden Valley-Watkins (1-6), Rockford (1-7).

Jaguars Football picks up first win of the season, 16-8 win at Rockford - Jaguars Volleyball wins three at Bethel Showcase Invitational

The Jaguars football team took their 0-2 record and tossed it to the curb tonight, playing solid defense the entire game to hold the Class AAA Rockets in check.

With tonight's win, the Jaguars Football team improves to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the Central Minnesota Conference.

The Jaguars scored on two touchdowns through the air as well as a safety for their 16 points. The safety came on a quarterback sack by Brent Goodenbour in the Rockets' endzone; the two pass plays were on Joey Gruber to Kevin Kuefler connections.

This marks the fifth straight year that the Jaguars will not go winless on the gridiron. That may not sound like much at other schools, but for B-B-E it's something that's never happened before since the 1988 pairing. In fact, they had never gone four seasons without an 0-8 or 0-9 record until the 2005-2008 seasons.

Tonight at the Bethel University Class A Showcase Tournament, the Jaguars Volleyball team improved to 10-1 overall with wins over Parkers Prairie, Carlton, and Sebeka - all via sweep! Tomorrow they'll play two more matches. They were runners-up at this tournament in 2008.

Carlton entered the tournament 3-1; Parkers Prairie was 3-2, while Sebeka was 6-0. Sebeka is one of the top teams in Sub-Section 5A-North.

Central Minnesota Conference football scores:
Eden Valley-Watkins 36, Pierz 7 (the Eagles smoked the Pioneers in Eden Valley)
Maple Lake 38, Kimball Area 0 (ouch)
Holdingford 26, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 14

Noteworthy border battle result between long-time rivals:
BOLD 41, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 6 (Ouch! - the Warriors rushed for 378 yards!)
Lac qui Parle Valley 28, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 14 (LQPV is 2-1 after going 1-17 in the 2007/2008 seasons)

Area football scores:
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 46, New York Mills 7
Paynesville 26, Morris Area 24 (P'ville is 2-1)
Albany 40, Mora 21
MACCRAY 41, Renville County West 14
Minneota 71, Lakeview 0 (Ouch!)
New London-Spicer 40, Melrose 2
Minnewaska Area 21, Benson 7
Yellow Medicine East 13, Montevideo 7
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 40, Canby 0
Upsala/Swanville Area 27, Parkers Prairie 10
Sauk Centre 28, St.Cloud Cathedral 26
Ottertail Central 35, Royalton 23 (Royals fall to 1-2)
Hutchinson 19, Northfield 14
Adrian 47, Ortonville 6
Bertha-Hewitt 34, Underwood 8
Brainerd 35, Willmar 13
Marshall 42, Redwood Valley 20
Chokio-Alberta 18, Hancock 0
Dawson-Boyd 41, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 0
Jackson County Central 20, Luverne 7
Alexandria 40, St.Cloud Apollo 21
Wabasso 8, Red Rock Central 0 - double-OT
Wheaton 44, Brandon-Evansville 8
Sartell 30, Fergus Falls 0
Little Falls 34, Moorhead 33 - double-OT (LF is 2-1 for the first time since...who knows?)

More will follow on Saturday morning.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Bayer Built Woodworks, Inc., a proud Jaguars sports supporter and employer of a host of B-B-E families, in rural Belgrade. Link is live, re-routed to the company's official website.

Jaguars Volleyball sweeps second Central MN Conference foe of the season - defeats Rockford in three games on the road

The Jaguars improved to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the CMC.

Don't forget to listen to the Jaguars on 107.1 FM out of Glenwood if you can't make the 80+ mile trip to Rockford tonight!

Central Minnesota Conference results:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 3, Holdingford 0
Kimball Area 3, Maple Lake 0
Pierz 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 0

Area volleyball scores from Thursday night:
BOLD 3, Paynesville Area 1
Benson 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 1
Brandon-Evansville 3, Parkers Prairie 2
Chokio-Alberta/Herman-Norcross 3, Battle Lake 0
Browerville 3, Upsala 2 (Upsala was 9-0 coming into the match)
MACCRAY 3, Renville County West 2
Montevideo 3, Lac qui Parle Valley 2
Morris Area 3, Yellow Medicine East 1
New London-Spicer 3, Albany 0
Sauk Centre 3, Mora 0
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 3, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 2
West Central Area 3, Ulen-Hitterdal 0

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

A full schedule of fall sports broadcasts of B-B-E Jaguars events on Smooth Magic, 107.1 FM in Glenwood

Click on the schedule to see it in full size.

Friday night's Jaguars football game at Rockford will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 - Glenwood 107.1 FM

Pre-game will begin at approximately 6:45pm.

Both teams are 0-2, so at the final horn one team will have picked up the first win of its season.

More will follow Thursday morning.

North Dakota students to pay tuition in Breckenridge after abrupt end to school board meeting

By: Mila Koumpilova, The Forum (Forum Communications of Fargo, ND)

Breckenridge Interim Superintendent Warren Schmidt (formerly of the B-B-E school district) said Monday he didn’t know some students the district listed to claim state aid for last school year were in fact North Dakota residents. And he added he didn’t believe principals or teachers were aware of that either.

At its Monday meeting, the district’s school board was supposed to discuss the out-of-state enrollment issue, which spurred a state inquiry after a parent complained about it to the Department of Education. But Schmidt asked the board to adjourn the meeting prematurely because he disagreed with a television reporter over whether she could place a microphone on the desk in front of him. After some hesitation and protests from an audience of a couple of dozen, the board complied.

Apparently, the district has a policy dating back to 1995 that says out-of-state students must pay tuition commensurate to per-pupil state aid, currently about $6,000 per student. Because the board didn’t take action Monday, that policy will stand and will apply to what Schmidt said are six North Dakota students who started the school year in the district.

“Not a single parent from North Dakota has ever paid tuition to this district, including this year,” said Schmidt, who’s been with the district a year. “Why? I don’t know.”

This summer, a Breckenridge parent, Laura Heitke, contacted the Department of Education with names of students she believed go to school in the district but live in North Dakota. In response to a department inquiry, the district submitted earlier this month the names of nine students with North Dakota residence who attended the district all of last school year. Schmidt said he’s submitting a revised list today.

The district would have generated Minnesota taxpayer dollars for these students.

At the beginning of the meeting, Heitke addressed the board urging members not to let students attend Breckenridge tuition-free on the heels of $500,000 in budget cuts this spring.

“I really expect to board to do the right thing for taxpayers,” she said. “I think there are enough of them out there concerned about what’s going on.”

But when the board got to the issue, the last on the agenda, a reporter for WDAY-TV, Christina Vaughn, attempted to place a microphone in front of Schmidt. He insisted that she step back. She countered she was just doing her job at a public meeting, and a cameraman explained he would not get good-quality sound with the mike in the audience.

After Vaughn refused to step back, the board voted to adjourn the meeting. After the television crew left the room, Schmidt spoke to residents and fielded questions.

Schmidt explained the issue came to the district’s attention only after Heitke brought it up at the board’s August meeting: “We immediately after this meeting started examining the issue.”

After consulting with an attorney, he would have recommended that the board start enforcing its tuition policy. When asked if the district would have to reimburse the state for past aid, he said, “If the State Department says, ‘You’ve got to pay it all back,’ then we’ll pay it all back. It was never my intent to disobey the law.”

Heitke said she did not believe nobody in the district knew that the students on the Department of Education list lived in North Dakota. And she pointed to a March e-mail exchange she had with Schmidt, in which she alerted him to the issue.

After the meeting, Schmidt said to protect student privacy, he couldn’t comment on claims by parents that some of the students in questions are children of district teachers.

But, he told residence, there’s an upside to the story.

“We must be a great school if we have a lot of students from North Dakota wanting to come here,” Schmidt said. “Well, I shouldn’t say a lot. We have some.”

Scouting info on Rockford Rockets football

In their shutout loss at home to Maple Lake last week, the Rockets gave up the following to the Irish: 8-yard and 11-yard touchdown passes - a 30 yard field goal, and a four-yard fumble recovery return, that all came in the first half. In the second half, the Irish scored on a 10-yard run in the third quarter. All four PAT kicks were successful for Maple Lake (1-1) - the Rockets are 0-2.

In Rockford's 41-7 loss to Jordan in Week 1, their only score of the game was a 10-yard run by Deiderich in the fourth quarter - that was after giving up 41 points to the Hubmen (1-1) in the first three quarters.

Jaguars Volleyball wins tense battle at Hancock tonight - visiting Jaguars took game one 30-28 and game three 28-26!

Maggie Gruber led the charge for the Jaguars, as she earned 7 kills in game one. She would finish with a match and career high 18 kills on the night.

The Hancock Owls fell to 4-2 overall. The Jaguars improved to 6-1 heading into Thursday night's trip to Rockford for a CMC match against the 1-5 Rockets. Rockford dropped their conference opener to Maple Lake 3-0 last week.

Tonight's match was aired on 95.7 FM KKOK out of Morris, a broadcast that included a number of B-B-E area business-sponsored ads.

The Jaguars girls tennis team traveled to West Central Area (Barrett) to face the Knights in non-conference action. The outcome was a 4-3 win for the Knights, who are now 4-3 overall. They host a triangular at the high school tennis courts at 4:30 on Thursday (Sept 17) that includes Parkers Prairie and Sauk Centre.

Area volleyball results:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 3, Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 0
Kimball Area 3, Swanville 0
Redwood Valley 3, MACCRAY 2
Morris Area 3, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 0

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Jaguars Volleyball is tagged with first loss of the season at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Invite

The Jaguars went 3-1 at the HL-W-W Invite, settling for the third place title for the first time since 2006. The Jaguars won a 2-0 match against Glencoe-Silver Lake before falling in a three-game match to Class AAA Maple Grove.

The Maple Grove Crimson were 3-1 going into the match against the Jaguars, with their loss coming to Class A power Meadow Creek Christian in a 3-1 match at Andover on September 3. MCC is the 9th-ranked team in the latest Class A coaches poll.

After the loss to Maple Grove, the Jaguars won 2-0 over Cedar Mountain-Comfrey to earn a place in the third-place match. The CM-C Cougars are a team including numerous athletes who won the Section 2A girls basketball title last year and made it all the way to the Class A championship game, where they were hammered by Ada-Borup 61-31.

In the third-place match, the Jaguars split the first two games against Norwood-Young America before rallying for a 15-12 game three win.

The Jaguars are now 5-1 overall. They travel to Hancock to face the Owls in a non-conference match on Monday night (Sept 14) - the Owls are 3-2 overall after taking fifth place at the same tournament Sauk Centre participated in on Saturday. (See more on that below)

For argument's sake, Maple Grove is not a bad team to lose to - they were a Class AAA section finalist in 2007, the last time the Jaguars faced them in the HL-W-W tournament. That year, the Jaguars defeated them 2-1 on their way to winning the tournament title with a 3-1 match record. (They lost to Norwood-Young America that year in the opening match of the day)

Other area results:
Kimball Area went 1-3 at the Buffalo Invite.

Sauk Centre won the Stacy Polzin McIntyre Memorial Tournament, held at the sports complex of the University of Minnesota-Morris on Saturday. They squeezed out a thrilling 2-1 win over West Central North Conference and Highway 71 rival Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, after dropping the first game to the Thunder in the championship match.

Morris Area took third place in that same tournament.

More will follow on Sunday night.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

B-B-E Class of 1996 member diagnosed with cancer - CaringBridge link posted below

The link to Heidi (Gregory) Deters' CaringBridge link is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/heidideters

Jaguars lose in double-OT battle with HL-W-W on the home gridiron - 12 to 6 final score, first 2-OT football game in B-B-E history

The Jaguars lost a mind-blowing battle against Class AA conference opponent Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted tonight, in a 12-6 loss after two overtimes were complete. It's the first time in B-B-E history that two overtime periods were needed to determine a winner in a game involving the Jaguars on the gridiron. If there was ever a moral victory for B-B-E football, tonight was just the case.

The Jaguars trailed 6-0 at halftime, then tied the game in the third quarter on a short-yardage touchdown by Eric Speldrich. Oddly enough, both teams' offenses were 9-of-31 in passing, while the Lakers outgained the Jaguars on the ground by a slim 131-120 yard margin.

"Double-overtime" games in basketball have taken place before for B-B-E, in both boys and girls hoops, and extra vollies in volleyball have been needed numerous times in that sport at B-B-E - extra innings in baseball/fastpitch are common in the spring for the Jaguars, as well as overtime periods in wrestling meets during the winter - but a double-overtime football game is truly rare at B-B-E.

It won't get easier for the Jaguars in Week 3, as they travel to Class AAA Rockford next Friday to face the Rockets in the second CMC game of the season. Rockford was crushed by Jordan in Week 1, then faced Maple Lake tonight in their CMC opener.

Rockford was blanked by Maple Lake 31-0 on Friday night, in a game held at Rockford. So next Friday you'll have one team smarting from a shutout loss on their home field against another team smarting from a double-OT loss on their home field - the Jaguars vs. the Rockets. That game should be a dandy.

Back to tonight's action...in a huge, HUGE game at Browerville, the host Tigers stomped all over the Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Fighting Saints in a 26-0 win. K-M-S can kiss their #1 state-ranking good-bye with the shocking loss. Browerville was receiving votes in last week's Class A poll.

The West Central Area Knights were flattened by Class AAA Staples-Motley in their home opener tonight by a 43-0 score. The game was the Heart O' Lakes Classic Conference opener. The Knights defeated the Jaguars 20-7 in the season opener last week and were hoping to get off to a 2-0 start to their season for the first time since 2006.

Central Minnesota Conference results:
Pierz 62, Kimball Area 0
Eden Valley-Watkins 35, Holdingford 6
Maple Lake 31, Rockford 0

Other area football scores:
Albany 26, Sauk Centre 14
Foley 32, Melrose 12
New London-Spicer 14, Mora 6
Osakis 14, Royalton 6** -a huge upset at Royalton
Yellow Medicine East 35, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 14
Montevideo 33, BOLD 30
Ottertail Central 47, New York Mills 0
Morris Area 16, Minnewaska Area 0
Lac qui Parle Valley 21, Benson 13 (the Eagles snap a huge losing streak)
MACCRAY 21, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 0
Little Falls 16, Rocori 7 (a huge win for a struggling Flyers' program)
Paynesville Area 42, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0 (huge win for the Bulldogs)
St.Cloud Cathedral 15, Milaca 14
Upsala-Swanville Area 20, Pillager 6
Dawson-Boyd 55, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 20
Lakeview 21, Ortonville 13 (remember Lakeview from last year's playoff opener?)

A few noteworthy items...A-C-GC is 0-2 for the first time since the 1997 season when they went 1-7. The LQPV win over Benson was the Eagles' first win since September 7, 2007 when they hosted Benson and defeated the Braves 21-14. LQPV went 0-9 in 2008 and now has only four wins since the beginning of the 2006 season - but their 17-game losing streak is over. Uuf Da! Pierz was ranked #8 in the latest Class AA poll, with Eden Valley-Watkins coming in at #5. NL-S was rated #4 in the Class AAA poll. Dawson-Boyd is ranked #8 in Class A. Little Falls hadn't won a football game since October 13, 2006 - until tonight. The Flyers have only three wins in football since the beginning of the 2005 season! Ouch! They went 4-5 in 2004, the last season they had more than 0 or 1 win.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Jaguars Volleyball wins fourth straight Central Minnesota Conference opener, 3-0 sweep vs. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted

The Jaguars improved to 2-0 overall heading into the HL-W-W Invitational, held this Saturday at 9am at Humphrey Auditorium at the Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Middle School in Howard Lake. The Jaguars are two-time defending champions of the event, having won three of the last four HL-W-W Invitationals.

Friday night the Jaguars football team opens CMC action with a home game against Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. In 2008, the Jaguars fell 34-14 at the Lakers' brand new football stadium south of Howard Lake.

Central Minnesota Conference volleyball results:
Pierz 3, Kimball Area 1
Holdingford 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 1
Maple Lake 3, Rockford 0

More will follow later.

Volleyball preview for the Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Lakers

The Lakers are coached by second-year head coach Christin LaMott.

Last year the Lakers went 11-10 overall, also 3-4 in the CMC. They return three starters from 2008: Maggie Horstmann, Taylor Williams, and Sharayh Clos.

Horstmann, Clos, and Christine Bobrowske serve as team captains.

Regarding the Lakers' chances in the CMC this fall, LaMott said, “We are looking to compete for the conference title, B-B-E is the favorite.”

In Section 6AA, state-ranked New London-Spicer, St. Cloud Cathedral, and Rocori seem to be the favorites.

Team goals & expectations are “Come to play all the time,” LaMott said. “Compete in every game, and grow as a team.”

Thanks to Aaron Schultz, reporter with the Howard Lake Herald Journal, for providing this information.

On tap for the Jaguars on Thursday night: home cross country meet at Prairie View - home volleyball vs. HL-W-W

The annual Jaguars Invitational Cross Country meet will begin at 4:30pm at Prairie View Community Golf Course.

Teams invited include Benson/K-M-S, BOLD/Buffalo Lake-Hector, Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd, Litchfield, Montevideo, Morris, New London-Spicer, and Redwood Valley.

The Jaguars girls tennis team travels to St.John's Prep for a 4:30 non-conference match against the Johnnies.

The Jaguars volleyball team hosts Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted in a 7:30 match to open Central Minnesota Conference play. The Lakers went 11-11 overall last season, losing their final four matches, while finishing 3-3 in the CMC for a third-place tie with Holdingford.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Season preview story for the Pierz Pioneers volleyball team

2008 Pierz volleyball record: 16-14 overall, 0-1 playoff result, 6-1 CMC record (2nd place)

Two starters return to Pierz volleyball in '09
New head coach has 25 year involvement with program
by Rick Converse, Morrison County Sports Writer

Wally Brown returns to coach the Pioneers for 2009. He has been involved in Pierz volleyball for 25 years.

Brown speaks highly of Lisa Kurtz, Beth Fischer,

Billie Kimman and Shawn Dunn who join him this year in coaching the Pioneers.

The team is a little inexperienced, but Brown said, "We will need to keep improving as the season goes along in order to be successful in the playoffs. If we do this, we should compete for the conference, subsection and section titles."

Senior middle hitter, Sammi Lucking is a returning starter and captain. Senior Miranda Przybilla also returns from last year's starters.

Four other returning letter winners are back. Senior captain Kelsey Meyer and senior Emily Weber return along with juniors Katelyn Fuhrman and Hannah Groves.

The varsity squad includes senior Kayla Stich, junior Erica Broschofsky, Sam Herold, Amber Preimesberger and sophomore Lindsay Monson.

The Pioneers hosted Little Falls on Tuesday in a closely contested match up. Pierz dropped the first game 19-25 while receiving several rotation violation penalties.

Once they had that problem addressed, they came back and won the next two games 25-23 and 28-26.

Little Falls forced a fifth game by winning the fourth 25-21. The fifth and final game was almost all Pioneers as they beat the Flyers 15-5.

Next up for the Pioneers will be the Kimball Cubs who come to town Thursday, at 7:30 p.m. Brown feels the Cubs could surprise everyone in the conference.

Season preview story for the Pierz Pioneers football team

No surprise - Pierz plans power run game
Pierz’ power running game may be deeper than ever in 2009; defense led by senior lineman Dylan Peterson
by Matt Perkins, Morrison County Record sports reporter

Opposing coaches seem to have a difficult time figuring out how to stop the Pierz football team.

But it's not because the scouting report on the Pioneers' offense is any sort of mystery.

Pierz could broadcast its game plan over the radio or take ads out in the newspaper up in Hibbing, outlining play-for-play what it is going to do when the season begins Thursday (kickoff at 7 p.m. in Pierz), and the Bluejackets would still have a tough time stopping the Pioneers' power running game.

However, Pierz' success this season will rest on its defense's ability to stop teams from using that smash mouth style of offense against them.

Over the last three seasons, Pierz has a record of 30-5. In the five losses, opponents have averaged over 200 yards on the ground.

In looking to put a stop to that trend, the Pioneers turn to their 6-foot-7-inch, 308-pound senior lineman, Dylan Peterson.

Peterson, who is getting serious looks from Division-I colleges this fall, will lead a defensive front that is fixed on controlling the line of scrimmage.

And Peterson will also be tasked with that same goal on offense, paving the way for what head coach Leo Pohlkamp is calling his deepest backfield in recent history. Senior Travis Kahl tops the depth charts at tailback.

"We have five running backs that could all be considered starters," Pohlkamp said.

Add to that a healthy quarterback battle between Zach Pohlkamp and Brandon Boser, and Pierz has itself an offensive laced with potential.

They also have an opportunity to get some early experience against a Hibbing program that has been struggling recently. In the last three years, the Bluejackets have just two wins and 25 losses.

Game preview vs. Hibbing
PIERZ vs. HIBBING, Thursday September 3 at 7 p.m.

The Pierz Pioneers are a perennial powerhouse because head coach Leo Pohlkamp has an established system that his kids don't question.

When they buy in to the program, they always seem to come out ahead when cashing out.

But cashing out short of a state tournament appearance is always short of expectations in Pierz.

Success has pushed the standards for a team that has gone 30-5 over the last three seasons. The Pioneers have retooled with new senior leadership every year.

In week one, against a Hibbing team that has gone 2-25 over its last three seasons, a Pierz team led by senior lineman Dylan Peterson and senior running back Travis Kahl will look to hit the ground running.

And while the team does not have the luxury of looking ahead o the schedule, Pierz fans are likely taking aim at a Sept. 18 road match-up against conference rival, and nemesis, Eden Valley-Watkins.

Extra note: The Pioneers smashed Hibbing 41-0 in Pierz for their season opener last Thursday night.

A couple Central Minnesota Conference football previews

First off, a little information on the Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Lakers football team, who travels to Belgrade this Friday night for the Central Minnesota Conference opener between the Lakers and Jaguars. The Lakers won their season opener last Thursday night in a thriller against Norwood-Young America, by a 22-16 final score. The game was held at the Lakers' second-year football stadium, at the one-year old HL-W-W senior high school sports complex south of Howard Lake.

After trailing 8-6 at halftime, the Lakers pulled in front 14-8...then trailed 16-14 with a little over 3:00 remaining in the game.

From Aaron Schultz's sports blog, "HL-W-W then got a big pass completion from senior quarterback Jace Whitcomb to Luke Swedberg on their next drive, which set up Adam Klinkner’s two-yard touchdown run with about a minute left to play in the game.

That lead would hold up, giving HL-W-W a 1-0 record on the season."

Aaron Schultz is the reporter for the Herald Journal in Howard Lake, covering Lakers athletics. His sports blog can be found at this link: http://www.hjblogs.com/category/sports

And on to CMC football previews for Rockford and Maple Lake...

Rockford Rockets preview - 2008 record: 2-5 CMC, 2-7 overall. Against the Jaguars in Belgrade last year, the Rockets lost 31-13.

The Class AAA Rockets are led by first-year head coach Dan Houghton, who has eight years experience coaching prep football, five as assistant at Rockford with four of them as Defensive Coordinator.

Graduation hit Rockford hard, as they have three starters back on offense and four on defense.

Offensive returners: Ryan Diederich (QB), Mike Moore (running back), Travis Lehmberg (offensive line). Defensive returners: Bryan Mock (defensive end), Zach Swanson (defensive tackle), Mike Moore (linebacker), and Nick Schaub (linebacker).

On his team's chances in 2009, Houghton stated, "We should have some play makers this year and a defensive hitting mentality. Areas of concern are inexperience and lack of depth on the team, as we played a lot of seniors last fall. Our outlook for the season is to be competitive in all games and looking to improve in every game, and to be playing well going into the playoffs."

In their season opener against Jordan, the Rockets fell 41-7.

Maple Lake Irish preview - 2008 record: 5-5 overall, 4-3 CMC, 4-4 regular season, 1-1 playoff record. Against the Jaguars last year, the Irish lost in Belgrade 28-7.

The Irish are led by sixth-year head coach Tim Knudsen, who also leads the powerful Irish fastpitch team in the spring.

Graduation hit Maple Lake about as hard as it did Rockford, as the Irish will start only two seniors on offense and three on defense. Luke Fobbe and Pete Nordlie are seniors leading the offense, while Pete Nordlie, Mike Mooney, and Jake Serfas are the seniors leading the defense.

The Irish return six offensive starters, including quarterback Cameron Knudsen (junior), who threw 13 touchdowns and rushed for 408 yards and eight touchdowns in 2008. Running back Brian Redemske (sophomore) rushed for 116 yards and one touchdown. Jordan Goelz (junior) rushed for 132 yards.

Defensive returners for Maple Lake include: Senior linebacker Pete Nordlie (63 tackles, 1 INT) - Senior defensive end Mike Mooney (29 tackles, 3.5 sacks) - Junior linebacker Alex Couette (27 tackles).

About his team's chances in 2009, head coach Knudsen stated, "Our team goal for this year is to compete and win the CMC for the first time in school history. It won't be easy." Note: the CMC is loaded with strong teams from Eden Valley-Watkins and Pierz, a theme running throughout this decade - 2003 was the last year that neither the Eagles or Pioneers won the CMC. That year, Holdingford was CMC champions.

In Maple Lake's 2009 season opener, the Irish lost 11-7 to a tough-as-nails Mayer Lutheran squad. In 2008, the Crusaders finished 6-5, losing in the Section 4AA championship game 22-12 to Norwood-Young America. Mayer Lutheran competes in a loaded Minnesota River Conference in which six of the eight teams were ranked in the state polls in Class AA and AAA in 2008.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Jaguars girls tennis travels to NL-S today

The Jaguars girls tennis team travels to New London-Spicer today to face the Wildcats in a dual non-conference meet at 4:30. The 'Cats are in the same sub-section as the Jaguars are.

The Jaguars volleyball team's next action is at home on Thursday night when they open Central Minnesota Conference action against Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. The Jaguars are three-time defending CMC champions, having won the last two crowns outright after sharing the title in 2006 with Maple Lake.

On Saturday (the 12th) the Jaguars travel to Howard Lake for the annual HL-W-W tournament at 9am, held at Hubert Humphrey Auditorium at the Lakers' middle school.

Update on Tuesday night...The Jaguars girls tennis team fell 7-0 at NL-S, though they battled hard in many of the matches, going a third set in one of them and forcing tie breakers in a few others.

In volleyball news, the Jaguars moved up one spot in the Class A state polls, holding the #11 slot in this week's release. Bertha-Hewitt (2-0) is ranked at number eight.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Jaguars football drops season opener 20-7 to West Central Area

The Jaguars totaled 255 yards of offense in their season opener on Friday night, a home game against West Central Area (Barrett) - the Jaguars host Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted in the CMC opener next Friday at the high school sports complex.

Area football results on Friday night:
Albany 40, Yellow Medicine East 14
Bertha-Hewitt 34, Hancock 14
Browerville 22, United North Central 14
Chokio-Alberta/Herman-Norcross 24, Underwood 6
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 38, Eagle Valley 0
Eden Valley-Watkins 40, Pipestone Area 14
Foley 41, Lac qui Parle Valley 7
Glencoe-Silver Lake 41, Hutchinson 0
Jordan 41, Rockford 7
Kimball Area 42, St. John's Prep 0
Melrose 30, BOLD 7
Milaca 34, Minnewaska Area 17
Morris Area 22, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 6
Montevideo 31, St. Cloud Cathedral 27
New London-Spicer 48, Paynesville Area 33
Sauk Centre 21, Benson 7
Willmar 26, Bemidji 19

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Uuf Da! She's a little nutty - 6th Congressional District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann

Last week, 6th District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, (R-Stillwater) rallied a crowd of conservatives in Denver to fight health care reform legislation.

Railing against Democrat-driven health care reform and cap-and-trade legislation, she warned that the two proposals have “the strength to destroy this country forever”. Bachmann’s prescription to save this country from those who want to offer affordable health care to all Americans as well as to begin to heal the atmosphere by reducing CO2 emissions?

A covenant, exhorted Bachmann , “to slit our wrists, be blood brothers on this thing,” adding, “We will do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn't pass.”

Friday night - Jaguars football team hosts West Central Area in season opener

The Jaguars football team makes its quest for a third season opening win out of the past four seasons - a feat never done in B-B-E football history.

In 2008, the Jaguars were nipped in Barrett by WCA in a 27-20 loss.

The Knights compete in the tough (Class AA and AAA) Heart O' Lakes Conference, where they finished 1-5 in last year's schedule.

Kickoff is at 7pm at the B-B-E High School sports complex.

Jaguars Volleyball starts 2009 season with impressive 3-0 sweep of Class AA #14-state-ranked Sauk Centre

Junior Maggie Gruber (left) led the Jaguars in hitting with 10 kills against Sauk Centre - Shannon Gruber (right) was one of three Jaguars who had three ace serves apiece during the match.

The Jaguars defeated the Mainstreeters in the season opener for the second straight season. This time, it happened behind the strength of a well-balanced team that will pave their way through the season without All-State performers Heidi Lensing and Emily Roelike - both playing college volleyball this fall.

Sauk Centre brings back a wealth of experience from last year's Sub-Section 6AA runner-up team, while the Jaguars returned four starters and a number of other letterwinners who hope to keep B-B-E's volleyball program on the map.

A humbling sweep for the Mainstreeters, no doubt, who felt they had a good shot at knocking off the Jaguars. Since 2001, Sauk Centre has only one win in volleyball (regular season/playoffs) to its credit against B-B-E - coming in the Sauk Rapids tournament in 2007.

Area volleyball scores:
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 3, Yellow Medicine East 0
Delano 3, Rockford 0
Lac qui Parle Valley 3, Dawson-Boyd 0
Melrose 3, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 1
Montevideo 3, Central MN Christian 2
Morris Area 3, Minnewaska Area 0
New London-Spicer 3, Dassel-Cokato 1
St. Cloud Cathedral 3, Litchfield 0
Wheaton 3, West Central Area 1

Area football scores:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 22, Norwood-Young America 16 (a big win for the Lakers - who come to B-B-E next Friday night for the Central Minnesota Conference football opener)
Mayer Lutheran 11, Maple Lake 7
Osakis 34, Parkers Prairie 7
Pierz 41, Hibbing 0
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 14, MACCRAY 12
Royalton 44, New York Mills 0
Upsala/Swanville Area 21, Ottertail Central 12
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 20, Pillager 6
Dawson-Boyd 54, Renville County West 7
Litchfield 36, Watertown-Mayer 0

More will be posted on Friday morning.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Jaguars girls tennis posts impressive 4-3 win at Melrose Area

The Jaguars won in No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 singles, as well as No. 3 doubles to squeeze out a 4-3 win over neighboring rival Melrose Area. The Dutchmen fell to 2-6 with the loss.

Another noteworthy item is that in the three wins Melrose picked up, the Jaguars pushed them all to three sets.

The Jaguars are competing at the Parkers Prairie Triangular tomorrow, Thursday. The event was postponed by one day, according to Coach Westrom. The other opponent is Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Upsala-Swanville Area.

A few volleyball scores from Tuesday night:
Benson 3, K-M-S 0
CMCS 3, Yellow Medicine East 2
Renville County West 3, BOLD 2 (classic border battle where the host Jaguars won game five 16-14)
Montevideo 3, Dawson-Boyd 0
Buffalo Lake-Hector 3, MACCRAY 1

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Scouting report - the season opening opponent for the Jaguars Football team, the West Central Area Knights

**Update on Wednesday morning: In the September 3rd Hoffman Tribune, the WCA Activities Director reported that the turnout for the Knights football team is 51, a big jump up from 36 in the 2008 season. It should also be noted that turnout for the Jaguars football team has jumped as well, up from the low 40s in 2008 to an incredible number of 54 for 2009. This bodes well as the program looks to get out of the "two win" cycle and make strides similar to last year's 5-5 team. Having 14 seniors on the roster doesn't hurt either.

Now, on to the story...

Size and experience favor Knights on gridiron in ‘09
By Kris Beuckens, Sports reporter - Hoffman Tribune

The West Central Area Football Knights spent two weeks, beginning on August 17, in two-a-day practices to get themselves prepared for another grueling season in the Heart O’Lakes Classic Conference.

Twenty-eight returning letter winners, ten of whom were starters last season, will work to improve greatly on last year’s 2-7 mark (1-6 HOL Classic). In fact, the Knights look forward to shaking up the HOL and have a run at a conference title in mind. They’ll try to set a positive tone for their season this Friday, September 4, at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa.

Second year Head Coach Tim Pattrin is, so far, excited about what he sees from his team. He knows that line play is crucial for any team hoping to be successful and believes his linemen on both sides of the ball can be difference-makers for the Knights in 2009. “Our offensive and defensive lines will be very big, strong, and experienced,” he said.

Linemen expected to make a huge impact for the Knights include five seniors. Center Brian Oachs (6’1”, 240), nose guard Jordan Haarstad (6’5”, 280), offensive guard Bryan Barrera (6’4”, 270), defensive tackle Max Sheldon (5’10”, 260), and offensive and defensive lineman Sam Richards (6’5”, 220) will lead the way.

Pattrin continued by saying, “Our backs, both offensive and defensive, have plenty of varsity experience to offer as well. Our big question mark will be our linebackers who are quite inexperience at this level.”

Junior Colton Blascyk will lead the offense from his quarterback position. He’s a third-year starter who can get the ball to an open receiver and has the ability to unleash a deep bomb when the situation calls for it. He’s also not afraid to tuck the ball away and pick up some yards with his feet. Jake Long, Tucker Belgum and Bryce Olson should each get plenty of catches this season.

“Colton brings experience and a strong and accurate arm to the table,” noted Pattrin. “As for our receivers, Jake is strong and fast and is a great tackler on defense, Tucker is smart, experience and is a great leader, and Bryce has great hands and great speed.

Cole Amundson will be called upon to carry the ball for the Knights. He, and other backs, will be looking to re-establish the Knights’ ground game. Cody Blehr will also factor in the Knights’ backfield as the season progresses.

A couple of other players expected to contribute are Brandon Quick (WR/DB) and Jake Boeddeker (WR/DE). “Brandon is a hard hitting safety, a hard worker and is extremely dedicated to the weight room, while Jake is a great up and coming leader and a very dedicated kid,” noted Pattrin.

Pattrin is looking for Breckenridge, Warroad and DGF to all be tough in the Heart O’Lakes Classic Conference.

Pattrin is assisted this year by Kraig Hunter, Luke Erickson and Jeff Holsen.

This Jaguars sports update brought to you by:

Scouting the area - Volleyball preview from the Osakis Review

(Note: Volleyball and football season previews for the Jaguars can be found in this week's Sauk Herald, Observer, and Bonanza Valley Voice newspapers.)

"Osakis volleyball takes court Tuesday"
By: By Eric Morken, Sports reporter, The Osakis Review

The Osakis volleyball team looks to continue its dominance of the Prairie Conference with a roster loaded with upperclassmen in the 2009 season.

The Silverstreaks have 10 seniors who are hoping to lead the way for Osakis after finishing 2008 with a 19-8-1 overall record. Included in that was their second straight Prairie Conference championship that was won in style with a perfect 10-0 league record. It was the second consecutive year that the Silverstreaks went through the conference schedule undefeated. It is a feat that head coach Kirsten Wessel feels stems from the way the girls are taught at a younger age.

“I would say that we just keep pushing our younger girls to get better,” she said. “We keep improving our younger grades. As we continue to push them, each year our incoming varsity players are at a high level. I do a little spikers program with our 4th, 5th and 6th graders. It sparks interest and with that interest, we have got a large number of girls to go out.”

That 20-0 conference record in the last two seasons makes Osakis the team to beat until another team proves otherwise. Upsala and Browerville both look to be the teams that could pose the biggest threat to the Silverstreaks. Upsala finished 13-9-1 last year. Browerville ended 14-13 after losing to Osakis in the Section 5A playoffs.

“You don’t want to overlook anybody,” Wessel said. “I don’t want the girls to feel too comfortable in that, ‘yeah, we are winning the conference.’ We need to continue to work hard. Upsala and Browerville always have pretty decent teams, and you can’t let up on a team like that.”

If the Silverstreaks do repeat as conference champions, they will have to make up for the loss of three all-conference players. Prairie Conference defensive MVP Whitney Lee, Stacey Kern and Kari Ludwig all graduated last year. Tricia Hetland was also lost to graduation after an honorable mention all-conference season.

On another note...my album containing over 250 photos from Saturday's state tournament game between Elrosa and Cannon Falls has been fully uploaded to the Sauk Centre Herald's online photo gallery. The URL is = saukherald.mycapture.com