Football updates

In a game featuring two teams that our B-B-E Jaguars football team will play next year, Upsala/Swanville Area overcame a tough challenge from Royalton and won 20-14 in the Section 6A championship game. The MSHSL website says that the game was played in the FargoDome. I have a hard time believing that, as last week I heard the "powers that be" were trying to move the game to a closer venue to those towns.

Playing it in Alexandria would've made too much sense, though, and we don't want that happening!

In other games tonight:
BOLD 34, Paynesville Area 8 (5AA championship game)
Minneapolis North 40, Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 13 (4A championship game)
Pipestone-Jasper 42, Jackson County Central 16 (3AA championship game)
Holdingford 42, Ottertail Central 22 (6AA championship game, where the Huskers crushed the top-seeded Bulldogs)

Lots of projects

I seem to currently have about a hundred projects happening at one time right now. With a clear break in sports events until the winter seasons begin later in November, I have a lot of catching up to do on many different matters.

I recently completed what you see below after covering a visit by two politicians at the Eagle's Healing Nest veterans home in Sauk Centre and hearing more about the unacceptable situation unfolding with our V.A. system that in my opinion has abused untold numbers of veterans in our country in a systematic and unspeakable fashion.

I hope you and your family have a safe and enjoyable Halloween today and tonight. Take it easy!

Yesterday was Stand up to Bullying Day at B-B-E. Below is a photo of the high school student body and staff members gathered to honor the moment.

(Video) Last night's calamity

In case you missed it, here's a short video clip from game two last night:


Just for sentimental value, I took a look back in online sports archives and found this from the 2010 volleyball season. That was the last year the Jaguars advanced to the state tournament. http://vikinglandsports.com/newsarticle.php?yid=1011&tid=1701&sid=1230027&nid=39753
It was fun to remember that season.

B-B-E's technology initiative

It's terribly exciting to learn recently about B-B-E's technology initiative that's soon being implemented where all 5th-12th grade students will receive mobile devices (iPads or Chromebooks) as a part of their education. Currently the only nearby schools I know that have this type of idea in place are Long Prairie-Grey Eagle and West Central Area.

Did you know? Out of the 534 public school districts (which includes charter schools) in Minnesota, almost one-third of them already have a one-to-one hand held device initiative in place with their students or are asking taxpayers to vote to support such an idea.

Step II is a bust

The players on the court react following the conclusion of the second playoff match.

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team played from behind for most of the night and never gained enough footing to challenge Verndale in a 3-0 loss. Game scores were 15-25, 21-25, 24-26.

Not good.

For me an added tough blow was that University of Minnesota-Morris head volleyball coach Chad Braegelman, who I went to college with back in the late 1990s at UMM, was in attendance and witnessed what transpired. All I could say to him is that I didn't recognize the team that donned the blue and white jerseys.

Rough start

Not off to a good start against Verndale tonight.

Update: the errors that plagued the Jaguars in game one never really went away and the season is over. For the record, the scores were 15-25, 21-25, 24-26.

We are shell-shocked in Jaguar Country. I am dumbfounded by this loss! We haven't been 1-1 in sub-section volleyball since 2001.

I'm signing out for the night.

Radio

A quick note: Dmac will be in Long Prairie tonight with radio coverage of volleyball. It's terrific news, as I am unsure if I can make it up from Glenwood in time for my own coverage.

(Video) Fall Choral concert

Here's video from tonight:


Great job!

(Video) B-B-E vs. EVW volleyball

More from Friday night's volleyball playoff opener:

National Anthem performed by students

The National Anthem was performed by B-B-E choir students on Friday night.

Here's post-match video featuring Kendall Kampsen, who did an outstanding job both on the court and in the interview:


Coach Weller shown with his team, giving instructions in the huddle while the Jaguars rallied from behind in game two

 And here's video of the National Anthem:


Wow!! What can I say? We are very lucky to have such talented students at B-B-E!!! I'm very excited to see their talents on display on Monday night (October 27) when the B-B-E high school choirs perform at 7:30 p.m. Come out and show your support!

Football updates, including ACGC vs. LPHT

The Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons lost 20-14 tonight to LPHT, the defending section champions. ACGC was driving into LPHT territory and had a final play at the LPHT 30 yard line, but with 6 seconds left the final play was an incomplete pass.

It was a wild game. The Bulldogs led 13-7 at halftime and scored on their first drive of the third quarter to go up 20-7. A pure defensive struggle played out from that point on. Early in the fourth quarter, ACGC caught a huge break when LPHT fumbled a hand off with around 10 minutes left in the third quarter and came up with possession at the Bulldogs 19-yard line. Derek Dengerud soon scored with 9:45 left, and with a good PAT kick it was 20-14.

The teams traded possessions once each, and LPHT started a drive from their own 30-yard line with six minutes to go. ACGC forced the Bulldogs to punt and then started a last-ditch effort at tying or taking the lead with just 2:32 left in the game from their own 20-yard line. With an 80-yard field to work on, the Falcons managed to drive inside Bulldogs territory but ultimately ran out of time.

In the other Section 4A semifinal, top-seeded Minneapolis North blew away Mayer Lutheran in a 58-22 win. The Crusaders, just 2-7 going into the game, were in a 7-7 tie with the Polars after the first quarter ended. North advances to the section championship game as a member of Section 4A for the first time.

**Huge news: the Central Minnesota Conference has four teams advancing to section championship games! Holdingford, Maple Lake, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted and Pierz. And Eden Valley-Watkins had a 19-12 lead over heavily-favored Paynesville Area at halftime.

In Section 6AAA, New London-Spicer beat Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 48-30, although the Tigers led 15-14 at halftime.

Melrose Area is heading to a football section championship game for the first time since 2001 after they crushed Annandale 32-6 in the Section 6AAA semifinals. The Dutchmen take on NL-S (the defending champion) in the championship game, the date of which is yet to be announced.

NL-S lost in a wild Prep Bowl game last November.

*A little historical nugget: in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, Melrose Area advanced to a section football championship game every year. Every one of those years, Albany ended their season.

Holdingford won 48-8 to advance to their third straight Section 6AA championship game. That's all the information I have from that section.

Still digging up other scores around the area...stay tuned!

Other area playoff scores:
Pierz 49, Mora 0
Holdingford 48, Osakis 8
Rocori 41, Albany 30
HL-W-W 28, St. Agnes 12
Maple Lake 68, Brooklyn Center 14
Paynesville Area 46, Eden Valley-Watkins 33
BOLD 41, Minnewaska Area 12
Underwood 39, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 6
Canby 46, Wabasso 6
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 16, Mountain Lake Area 8
Dawson-Boyd 48, Lac qui Parle Valley 0
Minneota 48, United South Central 7
Adrian 21, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 14
Upsala/Swanville Area 34, New York Mills 6
Royalton 28, Pine River-Backus 8
Moorhead 30, Alexandria 0
Norwood-Young America 49, Zumbrota-Mazeppa 12

Jaguar wrestling store closes on Sunday!

www.bsnsports.com

Click My Team Shop logo
Click login Now and enter the access code: muelle5DM

Here's a message from the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling coaches:
The Jaguar Wrestling online store is up and running. See the attached photo for details. Orders can be placed and paid for online by following the instructions on the flyer. All 7th-12th grade wrestlers are strongly encouraged to order the first two items (blue shirt and silver shorts) for practice. THE STORE WILL CLOSE ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26th. Thank you for you support!

The wrestling preseason starts one month from today!! Go Jaguars!!

Step I: Eagles push the Jaguars through four sets

The Jaguars celebrate earning match point tonight while advancing in the playoffs.

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team won an exciting playoff match by a 3-1 margin tonight. After Eden-Valley-Watkins won game one 25-21, the Jaguars reeled off three wins in a row to advance to next Tuesday's semifinal round in Long Prairie.

The Jaguars have now won every playoff opener since 1999! Wow! Going back as far as I can remember, here's the years up to 1999 that the Jaguars also won volleyball playoff openers: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997. They now have a 16-match winning streak in playoff openers.

Game one brought a nice start for the Jaguars who jumped ahead 8-3. The Eagles lifted up their play by a mile and took the next seven points in a row to gain the lead. Tessa Halvorson's ace serve put the Jaguars ahead 11-10, but they gave up four points in a row and eventually fell behind 19-13 with a shell-shocked appearance. They fought back to a 20-18 deficit with an ace serve by Hailey Braegelman, but the Eagles went up 24-19 before getting the four-point win.

The Jaguars proceeded to win the next three games 25-16, 25-10, 25-20.

Want a stroll down memory lane the last time the Jaguars had to dig deep to pull out a playoff-opening win? It wasn't that long ago...just two years ago in fact against Osakis.
http://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2012/10/step-i-sub-section-quarterfinal-win-for.html

Here's the end of game three:


Up next: the sub-section semifinals
The third-seeded Verndale Pirates will be the opponent for the Jaguars on Tuesday. Verndale, now 21-9 overall, beat second-seeded Upsala 3-1. The Cardinals, who finished 18-7, had a solid ranking of 22nd in the Class 1A QRF scale; their noteworthy losses were to Osakis and Browerville in Prairie Conference action.

I don't know much about Verndale other than they have a ranking of 48th in the Class 1A QRF scale. I honestly did more scouting throughout the season on Upsala, figuring we'd eventually have to go through them to advance out of the sub-section. Time to throw out my notes and start over. I have a hunch without doing much digging that Verndale is a quality opponent and will present a tall task for the Jaguars in round two. In a nutshell: 48th on the QRF is not impressive, but knocking out Upsala in four games is. Clearly, the Pirates want to have a say in who becomes the Sub-Section 5A-South champion.

Verndale finished 4-2 (third) in the Park Region Conference behind champion Henning (23-6, 6-0) and runner-up Sebeka (21-7, 5-1). Sebeka is a number-one seed in Sub-Section 5A-North and ranked a very good 15th in the Class 1A QRF scale.

I haven't seen a score from the Nevis vs. Pine River-Backus match in the north sub-section. Nevis has won their sub-section every year since 2008 and won the section title every year since 2011. **Update: wow, I'm actually a little surprised, but Nevis took out PR-B in four games tonight at Pine River. That's a heck of a win for the Tigers. **Update: after further review, I see that Nevis had defeated PR-B on Sept. 4 in Pine River in the Northland Conference opener. Nevis (14-16 overall now) went on to finish 6-0 in the Northland Conference and win the championship alone. PR-B finished second in their conference and then 21-6 overall after losing tonight.

Section 5A volleyball playoff scores on October 24:
Sebeka 3-0 over Menagha (25-14, 25-23, 25-11)
Onamia 3-0 over Hinckley-Finlayson (25-11, 25-20, 25-13)
Braham 3-0 over Ogilvie (25-14, 25-12, 25-13)
Nevis 3-1 over Pine River-Backus (25-18, 25-20, 22-25, 25-20)
Kimball 3-1 over Royalton (25-24, 15-25, 25-22, 25-21)
Browerville 3-0 over Swanville (25-20, 25-18, 25-14)
Verndale 3-1 over Upsala

Pine River-Backus was rated 19th in the latest QRF Class 1A rankings, which to me is very good. (The Jaguars are tied at ninth by the way.) So tonight we saw a team rated 22nd and 19th both taken out of the playoffs by lower-rated teams. Anything can happen in when it's sudden-death action!

Stay tuned for more updates!

While you're here, click on this link and read up on the Jaguar wrestling clothing store. Their orders are being taken through the weekend, but it closes down on Sunday!
http://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2014/10/jaguar-wrestling-store-is-open-through.html

(Video) Football playoffs

This was from the second half, when Ryan Illies knocked down a two-point conversion pass to keep the Jaguars on top of the Falcons at 22-20.

Eden Valley-Watkins

We get Eden Valley-Watkins tonight. The Eagles won their play-in round match of the Sub-Section 5A-South volleyball tournament last night. They face our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team tonight on our home court at 7 p.m. The pep band will play tonight before and during the match.

Volleyball playoff scores from October 23:
* Eden Valley-Watkins def. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, 25-19, 25-21, 25-7
* Hinckley-Finlayson def. East Central, 25-9, 25-22, 25-23
* Menahga def. Pillager, 3-1
* Ogilvie def. Isle, 25-14, 25-18, 25-20
* Swanville def. Bertha-Hewitt, 25-21, 16-25, 25-19, 25-22
* Verndale def. Eagle Valley, 25-19, 25-9, 25-15

Over in Section 3AA, New London-Spicer beat Benson in four games, 25-11, 25-16, 25-27, 25-8.

In Section 5AA, Maple Lake beat Rockford in three games, 25-15, 25-14, 25-8.

Volleyball playoffs

Write this down on your calendars!

Friday, October 24: sub-section opener at home at 7.
Tuesday, October 28: second round at Long Prairie
Thursday, October 30: third round at Pierz
Saturday, November 1: fourth round at Pierz]

And while you're at it, click here and keep the pledges coming! Spread the word! Voting ends tomorrow.

http://www.celebratemydrive.com/commit

(Video) What a start!

What a terrific way to start a football game! The B-B-E Jaguars football team stopped A-C-GC on fourth down at the B-B-E 17-yard line on the first possession of the first quarter. They turned around and drove 83 yards to score. Shown below is video from that first touchdown:


It was very difficult to see the game go so well for the Jaguars up to the last half of the fourth quarter. I have personally said to team members to keep their heads up and be proud of their effort last night.

Here's a photo gallery from the game:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-Sports/2014-BelgradeBrootenElrosa-fal/BBE-Jaguars-football-vs-ACGC

Friday Night Lights IX: stunned disbelief

Coach Moscho talks to his defensive unit with 49.5 seconds left in the game. A-C-GC just gained a first down, goal-to-go at the nine-yard line.

I don't even know what to say. I can't even bring myself to type the final score. I haven't decided how much I want to say about the game's ending. It was not right that time expired after our ball carrier was tackled but the game was ruled complete! It hurts. But even if we ran one final play from the 20-yard line, we still had to move the ball 20 yards to get the win.

How's this for irony? The B-B-E Jaguars football team lost tonight to A-C-GC by the same score that A-C-GC lost to the Jaguars in last year's section semifinal game.

The Jaguars got an impressive 241 rushing yards on 34 carries, but the Falcons were better yet with 369 rushing yards on 60 carries. A-C-GC had two turnovers compared to none for the Jaguars.

One thought quickly comes to mind: bring on the Prairie Conference! The Jaguars are coming guns blazing!

I just noticed this, which illustrates the immense strength of the schedule the Jaguars played this fall. In our lone non-conference game, against Class 2A Norwood-Young America, the Jaguars lost to a team that would eventually finish 7-1 and earn the number one playoff seed in Section 2AAA. NYA won their playoff opener 24-6 tonight over Medford.

Here's video of the last play of the game, with the Jaguars at the 50-yard line on third-down and eight. Just eight seconds were on the clock. I shifted just a bit off of Tanner Heinsius, who carried the ball for about 30 yards.


It's not worth whining about, but it does leave a bad taste in your mouth. No matter what, the Jaguars have to pick themselves up and look ahead to the 2015 season. Who's our first opponent? None other than Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City!

Section 4A football scores:
#5 Mayer Lutheran 26, #4 Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 6
#2 Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 30, #7 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 14 (the Fighting Saints trailed just 15-14 heading into the fourth quarter)
#5 Mayer Lutheran 26, #4 Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 6
#1 Minneapolis North 33, #8 Kimball Area 0

Other area football scores, playoff openers: 
Section 6AAA
Melrose Area 32, Litchfield 22
Annandale (six seed) 22, Montevideo (three seed) 13
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 42, Redwood Valley 13

Section 5AAA
Foley (seven seed) 29, Aitkin (two seed) 14
St. Cloud Cathedral (three seed) 32, Milaca (six seed) 18

Section 4AA
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 35, Spectrum 0 (Lakers are the number two seed)

Section 6A
Royalton 43, Prairie Valley 7

Section 6AA
Holdingford 47, Wadena-Deer Creek 0
Osakis 26, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 19 (first playoff win for the Silverstreaks since 2009)

Section 5AA
Minnewaska Area 38, Sauk Centre 24
Eden Valley-Watkins 41, Yellow Medicine East 8
BOLD 54, Benson 13

Halftime, playoffs!

At halftime at ACGC's "cornfield" the B-B-E Jaguars football team has a 16-14 lead. Early in Q1 on ACGC's first possession the Jaguars stopped the Falcons on downs and then drove 83 yards to take an 8-0 lead with 6:43 ) left in the 1st quarter. The Jaguars are in business!

We are in shock as we filter out of the stadium. Not a happy ending.

I know this: our Jaguars would have gone 3-5 or 4-4 in the West Central Conference this year and had a home playoff game.

*Other scores:
Holdingford won 47-0.
Minnewaska trailed 22-8 at halftime before whipping Sauk Centre in a 38-22 win. The Mainstreeters finish 1-8.

Keep the pledges coming!!!!

Click here!

http://www.celebratemydrive.com/commit

Volleyball seeding is in

In a nutshell.

The number-one seeded B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team will host either fifth-seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City or fourth-seeded Eden Valley-Watkins in the sub-section playoff opener this Friday at 7 p.m.

A-C-GC and EV-W square off in a play-in round match on Thursday night at Eden Valley.

More to follow later.

The defending section champion, Nevis, is the number-three seed in one of the North sub-section pods behind Sebeka and Pine River-Backus.

Coming tonight: photo galleries

I'm really behind on photo gallery uploads. I'm hoping to get a couple up tonight from recent volleyball and football action.

This is a big week coming up!!!!

Here's some Homecoming photos:
http://saukherald.smugmug.com/2014-Events/2014-BelgradeBrootenElrosa-are/BBE-Homecoming-activities

What's on deck this week

On deck in Jaguar Country:

Monday - the seeding takes place for the Section 5A volleyball teams, who are grouped into four "pods" with higher seeds getting first-round byes. The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team will being with a home playoff match on Friday.

Tuesday - the B-B-E Jaguars football team travels to A-C-GC (Grove City) to start the Section 4A playoffs. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Let's get a big crowd down there!! It's roughly a half hour to 40-minute drive.

Friday - the volleyball team hosts the playoff opener at 7 p.m. Other playoff dates are Tuesday, October 28 (at Long Prairie); Thursday, October 30 (Pierz); Saturday, November 1 (Pierz).

And don't forget to put Clue on your calendars in November! The B-B-E Theater Department's fall musical is November 20, 21, 22.

Jaguar wrestling store is open! (through Oct. 26)

www.bsnsports.com

Click My Team Shop logo
Click login Now and enter the access code: muelle5DM

Here's a message from the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling coaches:
The Jaguar Wrestling online store is up and running. See the attached photo for details. Orders can be placed and paid for online by following the instructions on the flyer. All 7th-12th grade wrestlers are strongly encouraged to order the first two items (blue shirt and silver shorts) for practice. THE STORE WILL CLOSE ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26th. Thank you for you support!

The wrestling preseason starts one month from today!! Go Jaguars!!

Remembering a truly dark day

Coach Vos and Coach Friedrichs shown during the Section 5A individual wrestling tournament at the Minnewaska Area high school in February 2011.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012.

It was a day we will never forget in Jaguar Country. A dark, deeply difficult day for students, parents, teachers, school staff, administration and community members at B-B-E.

That day we lost Coach Rich Vos. He was everything you could have wanted in a teacher and coach: loyal, supportive, positive, helpful and generous. He both looked for and expected the best in his students and athletes. He didn't accept excuses. He was a no-nonsense type of person who knew how to connect with students just when they needed it the most. The school will never be the same. He was such a terrific role model and someone countless students looked up to.

Take a moment and say a prayer for Beth and their two children.

Here's some of what I wrote during that week, printed in the Oct. 18 issue of the Sauk Centre Herald.

In the blink of an eye on Tuesday morning, unimaginable tragedy struck Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa.
In a bicycle/semi accident that took the life of Rich Vos, the B-B-E community lost a father, husband, coach, teacher, friend, neighbor and role model.
Coach Vos was more than just the head wrestling coach for the past 11 seasons. He was a church member, community volunteer, a family man and most of all, a well-respected math teacher.
As B-B-E Athletic Director and Principal Rick Gossen stated very eloquently in the West Central Tribune, the impact Vos had on the school and community reached far beyond his work with the Jaguar wrestling program.
"Rich was one of those guys, from an educational standpoint, had a lot going for him,” Gossen said in the Tribune. "As a math teacher, his students enjoyed him very much and as a coach there were a lot of kids in the school who were committed to him and the program. Guys who can do it in the classroom and on the court, in the wrestling room or on the field are hard to come by. He will be missed."
Here are a couple noteworthy figures: in only seven hours after it was created, a Facebook tribute page titled "R.I.P. Mr. Vos" accumulated 2,684 "likes" from visitors to the website. At the B-B-E Jaguar Sports blog that I created six years ago, a total of 3,777 visitors clicked by on Tuesday.
The previous one-day record at my blog was 859 visitors set on the opening day of the 2012 state boys' basketball tournament.
As I read through tributes given by B-B-E students about Vos, what really stands out are the comments given about how he got the most out of those in his math classes. The impact he had on those students will yield rewards for the rest of their lives.
From my perspective, Vos was an incredibly good-natured, friendly and hard-working teacher and coach at B-B-E, where he has worked since 1998. Vos was very passionate about the B-B-E wrestling program. He worked tirelessly to build up the youth wrestling program and get parents involved as volunteers in the system. He was also instrumental in leading the school to converting unused classroom space into a badly-needed wrestling practice facility.
B-B-E is a very closely-knit school district and community. We take immense pride in how hard we work, how hard we play and how much we help one another when times are tough.
The downside to living and working in a small community is that when tragedy strikes, it hurts a thousand times worse because everyone is considered like family.
In this difficult time, what is the best way to respond?
In the words of B-B-E English teacher Carol Sanders via Facebook, here's a few things we can do.
"Honor him...Learn your math. Take good care of your body. Love your children. Smile."

Section 4A football playoffs

Video from the second half of the football game last Friday night:



Section 4A seeding (final):
1st Minneapolis North (7-1)
2nd Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity (5-3)
3rd Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (3-5)
4th Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (2-6)
5th Mayer Lutheran (1-7)
6th B-B-E (1-7)
7th Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (1-7)
8th Kimball Area (0-8)

The B-B-E Jaguars football team will being the playoffs with a Section 4A quarterfinal game at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City high school in Grove City next Tuesday, Oct. 21 with a 7 p.m. kickoff.

Above are the section seedings, with the top four seeds hosting the opening round of the section tournament.

Celebrate my Drive! at B-B-E

Have you pledged today to Celebrate my Drive? You can help B-B-E schools! This teen driver's safety campaign runs Oct. 15-24 across the nation and encourages the message "2n2". This means 2 eyes on the road, 2 hands on the wheel. BBE has decided to participate due to the many benefits for our students and families. First, we will bring much attention and awareness for driver's safety and secondly, we can earn money for BBE Schools! We have a chance to win $100,000 or $25,000 grants. (We have 50 total chances for small schools.) Prizes are awarded to the schools that have the most pledges during the week of Oct. 15-24. In addition, the top small and large school can earn a concert from The Band Perry! For more details, check out www.celebratemydrive.com/commit or click on the link on our school website.


Click below to listen to a video of a B-B-E student talking about the Celebrate my Drive competition at Trinity Lutheran Church on Sunday:

Section 4A football

Here's the updated football standings in Section 4A. The last game I didn't get a score on, Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity hosting Medford, was posted this morning. The Bulldogs beat the winless Tigers (0-8) 20-14 to finish the regular season 5-3 overall. They will come in as the number-two seed in the section.

Section 4A rankings (final):
1st Minneapolis North (7-1)
2nd Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity (5-3)
3rd Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (3-5)
4th Mayer Lutheran (1-7)
5th Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (2-6)
6th B-B-E (1-7)
7th Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (1-7)
8th Kimball Area (0-8)

The B-B-E Jaguars football team is on a collision course with Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. I am fairly confident that the order I have above is the order the QRF seeding will show once that's finalized later today.

The Jaguars and Falcons have met in the football playoffs in 2010, 2012, 2013 and now 2014. It will be an intriguing match up when we travel to Grove City next Tuesday! It gets more dramatic from there!! A win over A-C-GC (and I'll post my thoughts on our odds of beating them later) will set up a trip to Lester Prairie on Saturday, October 25 for the semifinals. LP/HT will run roughshod over Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in their playoff opener and set up another huge rivalry game. LP/HT and B-B-E have met in the football playoffs in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, with the Bulldogs holding a 3-2 advantage in that series. The Jaguars knocked out LP/HT in the section semifinals in 2010 and 2012.

While I'm hoping for an upset in our playoff opener game at Grove City, I predict the chalk will hold on the rest of the games and the number one, two and four seeds will win in the quarterfinals.

Stay tuned.

Friday Night Lights VIII: so long to the CMC

In the last-ever game played in the Central Minnesota Conference by our B-B-E Jaguars football team, the Pierz Pioneers did just about anything they wanted in a 46-0 win to end the regular season undefeated for the first time since 2006. The Pioneers, ranked fourth in Class 3A, had a total of 525 rushing yards compared to 112 by B-B-E. They also held a 21 to six edge in first downs while clinching the 2014 CMC title by themselves. Maple Lake finished in second place (6-1) after they beat up Holdingford tonight.

In the third quarter, the Jaguars had all starters pulled after they fell behind 21-0 at halftime. They came out of the game injury-free, which to me is a huge win in itself.

In spite of tonight's loss, the future is extremely bright for the Jaguars! I am terribly excited for the scheduling changes that are coming our way. That bright future starts with the playoff opener next Tuesday night. Basically, we'll never have to knock heads with Class 3A schools and likely will rarely, if ever, play a Class 2A school in football. I can confirm that the 2015 and 2016 football seasons include only Class 1A schools. The list of teams we'll play in football in the regular season, not in any particular order, is: Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, Royalton, West Central Area, Prairie Valley (Parkers Prairie/Eagle Valley coop), Browerville, Upsala/Swanville Area and Kimball Area.

Read more below on the playoff outlook.

Here's my Section 4A watch:
Mayer Lutheran lost their game tonight 20-19 to visiting LeSueur-Henderson to finish 1-7. However, they likely will remain at the number-four spot in the section standings unless Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart manages to win their last regular season game.

*Updates: BL-H-S got shredded by visiting (#7 ranked) Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 56-0. Osakis had a late 29-6 lead against Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. It appears that the Jaguars will hold at number six in the section standings and start the playoffs at Grove City next Tuesday night. The Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons blew a 12-point lead against Class 3A Montevideo tonight in a 28-26 loss.

Osakis beat visiting K-M-S 29-14. Eden Valley-Watkins had a 34-0 lead against Kimball Area late in the third quarter, sending the Cubs on their way to an 0-8 record. (The Eagles actually led 27-0 at the end of the first quarter.)

Section 4A rankings (incomplete):
1st Minneapolis North (7-1)
2nd Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity (4-3)
3rd Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (3-5)
4th Mayer Lutheran (1-7)
5th Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (2-6)
6th B-B-E (1-7)
7th Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (1-7)
8th Kimball Area (0-8)

Central Minnesota Conference football scores in week eight, Oct. 15:
Maple Lake 35, Holdingford 8
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 20, Rockford Area 6

Area football week eight scores, Oct. 15:
BOLD 28, Sauk Centre 7 (Mainstreeters finish the regular season 1-7)
Melrose Area 29, Benson 15
Paynesville Area 52, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 34
New London-Spicer 20, Dassel-Cokato 13 (the Dan Essler-coached Wildcats win the Wright County West Conference title and earn the top seed in Section 6AAA with a first-round bye)
Browerville 42, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 7
Alexandria 33, Fergus Falls 6 
Montevideo 28, A-C-GC 26 
Minnewaska Area 54, Yellow Medicine East 17
Lac qui Parle Valley 19, Canby 12 

Volleyball playoffs

The seeding for volleyball teams in Sub-Section 5A-South will be next Monday morning.

Ponder it

Some great advice.

Friday Night Lights VII: state-ranked Irish maul Jaguars

The Maple Lake Irish named the score tonight. After leading 28-0 at halftime, they decided to win 47-0 over our B-B-E Jaguars football team. The Jaguars came close to holding Maple Lake to just one touchdown in the first quarter. The second touchdown came with 1:42 left in the first quarter.

At one point the Jaguars could have recovered their own punt inside the Maple Lake 15-yard line. The Irish punt receiver fumbled the football, it bounced away from about six players before it landed right back in the hands of a Maple Lake player at the Maple Lake eight-yard line.

It was that type of night. The Jaguars actually played pretty well in the first half considering how great their opponent was.

Unofficially, the Irish had 353 yards of offense (all rushing), while the Jaguars had approximately 50 yards of net offense for the game.

With BL-H-S and Mayer Lutheran both getting wins tonight, the hopes for the Jaguars getting a home playoff game now rests on their chances of winning at Pierz next Wednesday night.

Central Minnesota Conference football scores on Oct. 10:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 34, Eden Valley-Watkins 28
Pierz 27, Rockford Area 12
Holdingford 61, Kimball Area 14

Other football scores in week seven on Oct. 10:
Albany 45, Foley 0
Paynesville 66, Benson 6
Mayer Lutheran 19, Sibley East 16
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 18, Sleepy Eye 14
Upsala/Swanville Area 46, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 0
Montevideo 42, Yellow Medicine East 7
LP/HT lost 40-6
Watertown-Mayer 35, Jordan 20
Osakis 16, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 15
Prairie Valley 37, United North Central 24
New York Mills 39, West Central Area 6
MA/CA 28, Minnewaska Area 6
BOLD 48, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 21
G-SL 29, Dassel-Cokato 20

Radio

Tonight's game will be on Smooth Magic 107 FM. Thanks Dmac!

Don't miss this! Steak fry in Elrosa

Support the Elrosa Fire Department! They are an extremely valuable asset to this area. They serve both the cities of Elrosa and Spring Hill plus surrounding townships.

State-ranked Irish

Hailey Braegelman is shown setting up the attack early in game two tonight. Lots of pink in the stands!

A powerhouse Maple Lake squad swept our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team to put a firm grasp on first place in the conference tonight. Losing 3-0 on any night is tough to swallow, and this one is no different. Making that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach hurt worse is that in game one, the Jaguars came back from a 22-21 deficit to go up 24-22 on a kill by Kinlee Swanson, an Irish net violation and another kill to bring game point. Maple Lake got a kill, and then the Jaguars committed three straight errors to hand the Irish a 26-24 win. Ouch.

The Irish, ranked sixth in Class 2A and a favorite to win Section 5AA in November, then won the next two games 25-18, 25-20.

Central Minnesota Conference volleyball scores on Oct. 9:
Pierz 3, Rockford Area 0

Here's video from game three tonight:


Next is the Alexandria tournament on Saturday. The Jaguars (14-8) start out with a very tough, state-ranked (Class 3A) North St. Paul team at 9 a.m. at the brand new Alexandria Area high school. The Polars are ranked fifth in Class 3A and have a 20-2 overall record.


Area volleyball scores on October 9:
Benson 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Rocori 3, Alexandria 0
Sebeka 3, New York Mills 0
Verndale 3, Pillager 0
Browerville 3, Swanville 0
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 3, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 0 (W/H-N clinches the Pheasant Conference title with the sweep) 

Dig Pink!

Tonight is Dig Pink night for the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team. Dig Pink t-shirts are for sale at the high school office today. They'll also be available at the match tonight, according to Coach Weller.

The Jaguars have traditionally been one of the state's top fundraising teams for Dig Pink night, which goes towards support of the Side Out Foundation in support of breast cancer awareness. Read more on that organization at http://www.side-out.org/digpinkrally

Also, good luck to members of the B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team who are competing in the Section 5A individual tournament at Glencoe: Cassandra Hoppe and Morgan Pastian (singles players) and Erin Rooney / Morgan Meyer / Sierra Wohlman / Katie Boie (doubles).

Parents Night

Parents Night for all 7-12 grade football players will be Friday night during the varsity game against Maple Lake.

Sweep at Osakis

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team won 3-0 against a very good Osakis team tonight. The Silverstreaks had an impressive 17-6 record coming in. This was also Osakis's first loss of the year in a best-of-five match format.

Next is the match of the season when Maple Lake comes to town on Thursday night. Let's pack the gym, sound good?!!!

If you can't make it, you can catch the action with DMac and also on the B-B-E school website.

At Sauk Centre, Melrose lost 3-0 to the Mainstreeters.

That's all until I get back online on Wednesday night. Busy week.

Volleyball on the radio

Tonight's volleyball match at Osakis featuring our B-B-E Jaguars will be broadcast on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. D-Mac will provide his first-class play-by-play coverage of the non-conference match. The Silverstreaks are having one of their better seasons in recent years and hold a 17-6 overall record. In the Prairie North Conference, they are 8-0.

http://www.kmgk1071.com

Thanks, D-Mac!

(Video) More action from Homecoming

From the football game:


And some video from the Pep Fest on Friday afternoon:

Have a great week!

(Video) Jaguars pull ahead in 3rd quarter

Here's an exciting video of Jordan Wosmek's third-quarter touchdown that put the Jaguars ahead 12-6 over the Rockford Rockets in last night's Homecoming game. It gave a great deal of hope to the team and fans, but unfortunately a win wasn't meant to be.


More photos and some video will be posted on Sunday.

Friday Night Lights VI: hearts break on Homecoming

Coach Gossen gives instructions to the offense late in the third quarter against Rockford.

I am so incredibly proud of our Jaguars.

Against a very talented Class AAA team who was supposed to beat us something around 45-12, our guys gave everything they had. They truly left it all on the field and gave a huge Homecoming crowd a whale of a game to cheer for. The wind and cold were unbearable at times. We had 25 to 30 mile an hour gusts almost the entire game. Temperatures (not including the wind chill) hovered in the low 40s the whole night.

In a wild Central Minnesota Conference contest riddled with turnovers on both sides, the B-B-E Jaguars football team battled their hearts out in tremendous fashion but came up short in an 18-12 loss to Rockford Area on Homecoming night.

Against the odds, the Jaguars scored first on a touchdown run by Jordan Wosmek and held a 6-0 lead in the second quarter until the Rockets tied it with 7:40 on the clock. The Jaguars regained the lead at 12-6 with about six minutes left in the third quarter. The lead stood until the 9:08 mark in the fourth quarter when Rockford tied it 12-12.

The game-winning touchdown was posted with just 2:13 on the clock and moved the Rockets to 3-3 overall and 2-3 in the CMC.

Rockford gained 319 total yards in the game compared to 162 for the Jaguars. Rushing yards showed 211 for Rockford and 162 for B-B-E. The leading rusher for the Jaguars was Tommy Cebulla with 104 yards. The Rockets lost three fumbles, while the Jaguars had no turnovers. Neither team threw an interception.

Tear your heart out. This one hurts!! I've already seen a handful of other Section 4A teams lose, and a win tonight would have given the Jaguars a huge shot at the number-four playoff seed (which translates into a home game). It wasn't meant to be. It's cruel!! After glancing at the Section 4A standings heading into this game, it appears that a win would have not only vaulted the Jaguars firmly into fourth place but would give them a shot at the number-three seed even if they end up 2-6 in the regular season. A-C-GC would have to beat BOLD or Montevideo in order to secure third place under that scenario.

That's all for tonight.

Here's the new Section 4A standings:
1st Minneapolis North (6-0)
2nd Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity (4-2)
3rd A-C-GC (3-3)
4th Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart (1-4)
5th B-B-E (1-5)
6th K-M-S (1-5)
7th Mayer Lutheran (0-6)
8th Kimball Area (0-6)

I believe Mayer Lutheran will move ahead of K-M-S when the new QRF calculation is completed on Monday. The Crusaders lost to Watertown-Mayer, a Class 3A school, while the Fighting Saints lost to Class 1A Browerville tonight. BL-H-S will get beaten by undefeated New Ulm tomorrow in their sixth game of the season. I honestly don't know if we'll briefly move into fourth place when the new QRF comes out. It looks like a toss up.

In week seven, BL-H-S has a shot at beating Sleepy Eye (2-4 overall) but then faces the private school in that same town who is 5-1; the Mustangs will be either 1-7 or 2-6 going into the playoffs, which starts with the quarterfinals on Tuesday, October 21.

I looked at Mayer Lutheran's schedule, and they have a decent shot at winning their last two games. That would vault them into fourth place. I predict we'll either go to Hector, Grove City or Mayer for the playoff opener as the fifth seed. I'm even more convinced now that a Homecoming win tonight would have virtually guaranteed us the fourth seed. Again, tear your heart out! That hurts!!!

Central Minnesota Conference football scores on Oct. 3:
Maple Lake 61, Kimball Area 0 (at Kimball)
Pierz 21, Eden Valley-Watkins 7 (at Pierz)
Holdingford 14, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 6 (at HL-W-W)

Area football scores on October 3 in week six:
Browerville 27, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 0
Paynesville Area 34, Minnewaska Area 12
Minneapolis North 39, Minneapolis Edison 0
Albany 62, Mora 0
(Games played in snow up north!)
MACCRAY 18, Lakeview 12
New London-Spicer 18, Annandale 14
BOLD 32, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 13
Norwood-Young America 21, Belle Plaine 0
Brandon/Evansville 36, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 34
Dawson-Boyd 27, Canby 0
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 40, Wadena-Deer Creek 0
Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton 20, Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity 18
A-C-GC 33, Sauk Centre 15
YME 30, Benson 8
St. Cloud Apollo 24, Willmar 20
Minneota 59, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 0
Watertown-Mayer 42, Mayer Lutheran 6

Halftime!

6-6 tie game at halftime! Check back later for results.

Pep Fest!

Here's some video from the Pep Fest held this afternoon. It shows the 6th grade team winning the championship in the volleyball setting/passing competition. The boy is Andrew Weller; I forgot the girl's name. You can see their sixth-grade classmates erupt in wild applause after it was over.

Pep Fest!

Watch it live right now at the BBE school website!

Rockford

Our wonderful hometown student section was as loud and rambunctious as ever for Homecoming tonight.

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team won games one and two, 25-19 and 25-11 for a Homecoming night win over Rockford Area in a Central Minnesota Conference match. They won game three 25-15 to get the sweep and improve to 13-7 on the season. Their next match is at Osakis next Tuesday.

The Jaguars led in game one 5-2 before fighting through deficits of 10-9 and 11-10, but three kills in a row by Kinlee Swanson and a Hailey Braegelman ace serve put the Jaguars ahead 16-12. In game three Jaguars led 9-8 before slowly pulling away for a big 10-point win and the sweep. The Rockets fell to 1-18 overall and 0-5 in the CMC.

Here's video from the end of game one tonight:


Don't forget about the Tailgating Party on Friday night before the big Homecoming football game, sponsored by North American State Bank. It will be held in the Industrial Arts/Agriculture shop, so don't sweat the possible rain that's in the forecast. Come out and show your support!

Homecoming tailgate party on Friday

I received word this morning that the Homecoming Tailgating Party sponsored by North American State Bank will be held in the ag/shop room at the high school. So please, by all means, make plans to come in and show your support!

We live in farm country

Take note!