(HD video) High school choir concert

Here's video from last night's concert:

Good news

In recent conversations with B-B-E Jaguars head baseball coach Pat Illies, I learned that turnout has increased for the junior high baseball Jaguars. As you will read in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice, at Monday night's school board meeting it was reported that the 7th and 8th grade teams were currently struggling with low turnout. (They opened practice on Tuesday.)

Coach Illies said that with some great success at recent recruiting, turnout in those grades is now up to 23 players. That will be a comfortable amount to field two teams, but of course, they will gladly take more players.

The season opener for the Jaguars is Thursday, April 7 against Upsala/Swanville Area. It is also the home opener, and the game is scheduled to be played at Saints Field in Elrosa. It would be the earliest high school baseball opener on record at Saints Field.

After reviewing all the varsity spring schedules, I determined the earliest dates that I'll be able to see each team in action:

• Boys' golf - April 15th at Minnewaska 
• Girls' golf - April 29th at Little Crow (NL-S)
• Baseball - April 7th at home
• Track and field - April 7th at Melrose 
• Fastpitch - April 12th at home

I hope to get spring schedules for all varsity teams printed in my April 7th issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice...although there's a small chance I might get them printed in next week's paper. It all depends on what level of crazy the next few days brings my way. Generally speaking, there's plenty of crazy sent my way while I navigate through a brutally hectic schedule.

New subscribers

We are up to 278 new subscribers at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper since January 1, 2015. That's an increase of 45 percent!

Lately I've been bogged down by administrative work at the newspaper and have been blogging very sparingly. I've also been distracted by research that I talked about in a column on page five of last week's issue (March 17, 2016). You can see more online at http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

Not a subscriber yet? Here's the link to go to so you can sign up. I hope to get the online version up and running within the next few weeks. That has been a process that's been dragging on for months now...
http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/0030.1.2047438956430809035/subscribe

Speech at CMC meet

The B-B-E speech team took second place tonight at the conference meet held at HLWW high school. Out of 14 categories, B-B-E took seven championships!!! Whew!

From the archives...

I doubt anyone who sees this picture will recognize it without looking at the words etched at the bottom. Shown is the Brooten school building (1st grade through 12th grade) taken between 1912 and 1933. What can be seen is the west-facing wing, with the "high school" wing in the background. The high school wing was a wooden structure built in 1898 and torn down in 1934. The brick "elementary" wing was built in 1912 and stood until 1994.

In 1934, when the wooden high school structure was torn down, it was replaced by a new high school wing that included a full gymnasium / auditorium with the traditional two-level seating area that seated about 400 people.

(HD video) Snow-Daze pep fest game

Cheese balls were flying! (Video from February 5 at the high school)

(Video) Winning the playoff opener

Here's video from the end of the playoff opener on March 3:


Hope you're enjoying the nice weather today!

(Video) Season ends for the Jaguars

Here's the final huddle of the 2015-2016 season for the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team:

The Browerville/Eagle Valley Tigers boys' basketball team lost in the opening round of the Class 1A state tournament today. Seeded No. 4, the Tigers lost 66-52 to No. 5-seeded Red Lake.

B/EV finishes 26-3 overall, one win short of the school record of 27 wins set back in 2011-2012 when they also lost in the opening round of the state tournament.

Step III: Tigers tear up the court

The ninth-ranked Browerville/Eagle Valley Tigers girls' basketball team won tonight 82-46 in the Sub-Section 5A-South championship game against our B-B-E Jaguars.

The Tigers advance to play Cromwell-Wright in the Section 5A championship game. Cromwell-Wright beat Verndale in a high-scoring shootout by an 87-75 score in the Sub-Section 5A-North championship game tonight.

(Video) Cubs vs. Jaguars

Here's action from the first half of Saturday night's game:


And by the way, both radio stations (The Train, Smooth Magic) will carry tonight's big championship game!

Step II: Jaguars vs. Cubs

With 11 minutes left in the game: Cubs 48, Jaguars 46.

How did the game turn out? Click on this link at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to read more:
http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2016/03/03/sports/finals-bound/220.html

*Next: a 7 o'clock tip-off on Tuesday, March 8 back at Sauk Rapids-Rice high school.

Halftime

Cubs 33, Jaguars 32 at halftime in Sauk Rapids.

Weekend notes

The B-B-E robotics team has returned from the regional contest in Duluth. I haven't gotten a full report yet, but Coach Tom Gjerstad reported that the weekend went very well for the team, and they are proud of their efforts although they didn't make it into the finals round that took place this afternoon.

In other news, the B-B-E speech team took home another championship!! They took first place today in the medium schools division at Sauk Centre. Taking first place were: Joe Reller / Riley Schumann in Duo Interp, Courtney Brandt in Extemp. Reading and Molly Tengwall in Storytelling. Great job!!!

Here's video from after the playoff opener on Thursday night:


I'm currently at Sauk Rapids-Rice high school with the first semifinal game underway. Browerville/Eagle Valley is blowing No. 5-seedeed East Central off the floor. Late in the game it's 69-28...time to get ready for the big Central Minnesota Conference showdown with Kimball Area!!!

Step I: opener success

Against No. 6-seeded Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team gave a dominant performance while picking up their 19th win of the season by a 71-49 score in their last game of the season on the home court. Making it even more exciting was that the game was played in front of a packed house!

Now 19-8 overall, the Jaguars advance to the Sub-Section 5A-South semifinals, with their next game set for 8 p.m on Saturday night, March 5 at Sauk Rapids-Rice high school. The opponent will be conference rival and regular season co-champion Kimball Area (22-5).

Here's video from late in the second half:

Sub-Section 5A-North quarterfinal girls' basketball scores:
Sebeka 59, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 39
Verndale 61, Pine River-Backus 28
Menagha 71, Nevis 63
Cromwell 81, McGregor 36 (Cromwell is the top seed and 24-3 overall; last week they lost to Sauk Centre 79-72)

Sub-Section 5A-South quarterfinal girls' basketball scores:
Browerville/Eagle Valley 86, Upsala 57
Kimball Area 84, Swanville 50
East Central 52, Isle 46 (East Central was the No. 5 seed; Isle was No. 4)

Section 6A girls' basketball playoff scores:
Ortonville (No. 6 seed) 56, Battle Lake (No. 3 seed) 54
Brandon/Evansville 50, Underwood 39
West Central Area 54, Parkers Prairie 40
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 48, Hancock 23 (WHN is the No. 1 seed)

Area girls' basketball playoff scores on March 3:
Litchfield 53, Rockford 50
Annandale 57, Maple Lake 26
Sauk Centre 88, Paynesville Area 36
Watertown-Mayer 68, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 48
Eden Valley-Watkins 56, Spectrum 28
Albany 58, Royalton 33
Osakis 64, Melrose Area 34
Holdingford 40, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 31
St. Cloud Cathedral 63, Pierz 54
Sleepy Eye 59, BOLD 30

Area boys' basketball playoff scores on March 3:
Jackson County Central 70, Montevideo 65 OT (Thunderhawks missed front end of a bonus attempt at the line in the final seconds of regulation; they finish 21-8 overall)
Fergus Falls 63, Alexandria 60
Waseka 103, Marshall 100 (4 OT!)
Central MN Christian 72, Murray County Central 51

See you at SR-R high school on Saturday!

First half

We have had a great first half tonight for the girls' basketball playoff opener. At the break the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is ahead of K-M-S 40-23.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Area boys' basketball playoff update

The Rockford Area Rockets, co-champions of the Wright County-West Conference this season, saw their valid aspirations for a state tournament berth come to an end when Annandale beat them 50-46 in the Sub-Section 5AA-West championship game last night. The Rockets had a terrific 23-6 season, which included an 11-3 mark in their conference; they shared the title this year with Annandale.

This is Rockford’s first year in the Wright County Conference after being a member of the Central Minnesota Conference. They are coached by Michael Tauber, a former Division II basketball player at the University of Minnesota-Morris.

Annandale (24-6) advances to the Section 5AA championship to face Breck for a chance to go to state. Annandale has gone to state each of the past three seasons, finishing as Class 2A state runners-up in 2014.

Melrose Area, the Class 2A champions in 2015, saw their outstanding conference championship season come to an end in the Sub-Section 6AA-West finals when the No. 2-seeded Albany Huskies beat them 67-59. 

Click here to read more about the Dutchmen, who finished 26-3 this year.

http://dutchmensportsblog.blogspot.com

Funeral coming on Monday

Rick Thonvold shown in the "adult" category of the pedal pull at Bonanza Valley Days on July 12, 2014.

Funeral services for Rick Thonvold, age 47 of Brooten, will be on Monday, March 7 at Hope Lutheran Church in Sunburg. You can read all the details of his funeral and visitation plus read more about Rick at
http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2016/02/25/news/funeral-for-rick-thonvold/215.html

As a business owner in the Brooten community, Rick was a strong supporter of the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling program. He will be dearly missed in Brooten and also Jaguar Country. May God bless his memory.