Thursday volleyball scores

New London-Spicer picked up a 3-2 home court win over Albany tonight. The Wildcats (3-3) won game five by a 16-14 score!

Area volleyball scores on Thursday, August 31:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 3, Litchfield 0 (HL-W-W Lakers are off to a 6-1 start)
Willmar 3, Brainerd 0
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 3, Central MN Christian 0
Annandale 3, Holdingford 0  
West Central Area 3, Ashby 0    
Paynesville Area 3, Osakis 0 (the Bulldogs have roared out to a 6-1 start)  
Benson 3, Minnewaska Area 1    
Melrose Area 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 1
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 3, Montevideo 0  
Sauk Centre 3, BOLD 1  
Ortonville 3, Hancock 1

Volleyball defends home court

Coach Weller and the Jaguars huddle up prior to the start of game three against Osakis.

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team swept Osakis in the home opener by scores of 25-17, 25-15, 25-16 tonight. Now 1-1 overall, the Jaguars have a break in action until Thursday, Sept. 7 when they host Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (6-1) in the Central Minnesota Conference opener.

Here's HD video from the end of the match:


See more coverage of the match along with action photos in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

I want to take a moment to wish best of luck to the B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team as they host Sauk Centre on Friday this week (10 a.m.). And of course, let's also come out and show our support for the B-B-E Jaguars football team as they open the 2017 season at home on Friday night with a 7 o'clock kickoff against Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.

Area volleyball scores on August 29:
Marshall Area 3, Alexandria 0
Wadena-Deer Creek 3, Pequot Lakes 1
Holdingford 3, Foley 0
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 3, Dassel-Cokato 2
Maple Lake 3, Litchfield 0
MACCRAY 3, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 3
Eden Valley-Watkins 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0   
Pierz 3, Aitkin 0
Paynesville Area 3, Yellow Medicine East 2
Crosby-Ironton 3, Verndale 1      
New York Mills 3, Frazee 1
Braham 3, Royalton 0
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 3, New London-Spicer 0
Henning 3, Hancock 0

Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 3, Benson 1

Volleyball opener

The Minneota Vikings won 3-0 tonight over the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team in the season opener played at Ridgewater in Willmar.

Volleyball opens season Monday

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team opens the 2017 season with a "neutral-site" match against state power Minneota on Monday, Aug. 28. The match will be held at 7 p.m. at Ridgewater College.

See the full season preview of the Jaguars, including comments from 11th-year head coach Kevin Weller, in the Aug. 24 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Last week the B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team played in six matches. They fell to 0-7 in the home opener against Benson/Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg on Friday.

State amateur baseball update

In their state tournament opener, Region 15C champion Lake Henry defeated Young America 7-1 on Saturday afternoon in Hamburg. Lake Henry's bats were hot, as the Lakers out-hit the Cardinals by a 15-7 margin.

Jordan defeated Maple Lake 4-3 in the other side of the bracket, so Elrosa faces the Brewers next Saturday in the Sweet 16. Jordan went ahead 4-1 with a three-run bottom of the third inning, and they rode their defense the rest of the way. Jordan's starter, Mitch Bockenstedt, fired 10 strikeouts in six innings of work to get the win.

By the way, here's a Twitter link that shows video of Ethan Vogt's grand slam home run in the Pelican Rapids game last weekend: https://twitter.com/MinnBaseball/status/899369936505778176.

How awesome is that!

Fine goes up considerably

Just a reminder: as of August 1 this year, fines go from $300 to $500 for passing a school bus with the stop arm extended and flashing lights going, when stopped.

If you see a person pass through in such a situation, please write down the make and model, color and license plate number if possible and report it!

School starts on Tuesday, Sept. 5 at B-B-E schools.

It's go time! State tournament baseball

The game has resumed in Norwood between the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team and the Hampton Cardinals in the Round of 32 at the Class C state tournament.

In the top of the eighth inning, Elrosa made the most out of having the bases loaded on no outs and scored two runs to tie the game at 5-5!

Here's video from the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Cardinals ended up scoring three runs to take a 5-3 lead. Around the 4:40 mark of the video, a controversial call was made on a 2-6 put out throw of a Hampton runner stealing second base.


*Update: we are going into extra innings! The game was tied 5-5 through nine innings. Ethan Vogt has taken over pitching duties for the Saints.

*Update: through 10 innings, there is a 5-5 tie score on the scoreboard at Norwood! We're heading into the 11th inning.

*Update: both the Saints and Cardinals scored one run each in the 11th inning to send the game into the 12th inning tied 6-6.

*Update: the game will go at least 13 innings! Crazy! It's still tied 6-6 through 12 innings.

Elrosa won 7-6 in 13 innings! They take a 24-10 record into the State Tournament Sweet 16 on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 5 p.m. at Green Isle. The opponent will be Maple Lake or Jordan. Spread the word! This is the second year in a row that the Saints have advanced to the Sweet 16 of the Class C amateur state baseball tournament. 

To get the win, Elrosa started out strong in the top of the 13th when lead off batter Pat Illies got on with an errant ground ball throw to first base. AJ Hadley then keyed a hit-and-run play where the fielder's choice throw to second was not in time to get Illies at second. The relay was good at first for the first out. Kevin Kuefler then batted and hit a high ball to the second baseman, who dropped the catch. Matt Middendorf, the No. 1 batter, got an intentional walk to load the bases. Cody Eichers was hit by a pitch for an RBI to score Illies and make it 7-6.

In the bottom of the 13th, left fielder Austin Imdieke made a spectacular sliding catch near the left fence line for the first out. Next was a pop fly to third baseman Austen Hadley, and then Kevin Kuefler ran down a hard hit ball to center field to end the game. Saints win!

**Here's video from the end of the Pelican Rapids game last weekend:


Here's a link to view information on the Green Isle ball park:
 http://classc.leagues.mnbaseball.org/page/green-isle-ballpark

State amateur baseball: Round II

I'll get random updates posted from Norwood during the Elrosa vs. Hampton state baseball game.

At about 22:30 we went into a rain delay with lightning in the skies. Elrosa leads 3-2 with one run scored in the first, third and fourth innings. The Cardinals answered with two runs scored in the bottom of the fourth inning.

*Here's video from the first inning tonight:


*Update: at 22:20 we went into a lightning delay with Hampton ahead 5-3 in the top of the eighth inning.

More updates to follow at 23:30.

Sonofabitch!!
**At 23:15 the game was postponed to tomorrow. The game will resume in the top of the eighth inning at 1 o'clock in Norwood.

I'm headed home.

Correction on radio coverage

KMGK radio will broadcast next week's home volleyball opener against Osakis on Tuesday night, not the match against Minneota on Monday.

State baseball!

The Saints huddle up following their state tournament opener in Hamburg.

The Elrosa Saints baseball team has a 1-0 lead through four innings against Pelican Rapids.

The game got very exciting in the top of the fifth inning when Ethan Vogt crushed a grand slam home run while the Saints put up a six-spot on the scoreboard. They took a 7-0 lead into the top of the sixth inning, and then they put up a four-spot in the sixth to go ahead 11-0.

Final: Elrosa 12, Pelican Rapids 6. Ethan Vogt got the pitching win, starting for the Saints and going 6 2/3 innings before being relieved by his brother, Aaron Vogt, in the seventh inning.

Here's video from the seventh inning:


The Saints are now 23-10 overall and play the Hampton Cardinals, the Region 4C champions, on Friday, August 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Round of 32 at the Class C amateur state tournament. Later tonight video and other highlights will be posted from today's game.

Here's the website for the Hampton amateur baseball team: http://hamptoncardinals.teams.mnbaseball.org.

Earlier today, Regal lost 6-4 to Green Isle in their state opener. The Eagles had four errors to one by the Irish, while Green Isle out-hit Regal by a 9-7 margin.

On Saturday, St. Martin lost in their state opener by a 4-0 score to Howard Lake, the No. 4 seed out of Region 12C.

That leaves Elrosa and also Lake Henry as the two teams out of Region 15C who will play in the Round of 32 next weekend. Lake Henry faces Region 7C's No. 4 seed, Young America, at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26 in Hamburg. Young America beat the Rochester Road Runners 5-0 in their state opener on Saturday.

Stay tuned to extended coverage of the Elrosa Saints at state in the upcoming issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper!

(HD video) Sedan Daze fire and rescue dance

Here's some video from the dance in Sedan tonight that had entertainment in it.


It was a terrific parade! All in all, a very good night in Sedan.

(HD video) Vacation Bible School

Here's video from Vacation Bible School singing on Thursday, August 10 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Brooten:

I was unable to get more than two pictures into this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper from the V.B.S. singing that day.

I hope to see many of you at Sedan tonight! Refer to page one of the most two recent Bonanza Valley Voice newspapers for all the details...and the half-page ad on page four this week.

Slow start

The sports department at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper has had a slow start to coverage of the fall sports preseason. Here's what I've gathered so far:

B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis - turnout under third-year head coach Katie Hanna stands at a respectable 17 in the first week of preseason drills. They have five seniors this season, and their photo was featured on page 13 of this week's Bonanza Valley Voice. The season begins on Friday (tomorrow) at the MACCRAY triangular; Redwood Valley is the third team. The following day, the Jaguars travel to Milbank, SD and then compete at the Litchfield quadrangular next Wednesday.

B-B-E Jaguars football - eighth-year head coach Chris Moscho, a 2002 graduate of Melrose Area and a nine-year veteran of the B-B-E elementary teaching staff, has somewhere between 32 and 35 young men to work with in grades 9-12 as of the first week of preseason. This extreme lack of depth is an issue the team will have to work through this season. The current breakdown is: seven freshmen, five sophomores, eight juniors and 12 seniors.

One exciting addition to his coaching staff is 2011 B-B-E graduate Kevin Kuefler. Coach Kuefler was a senior on the 2010 team that advanced to the Section 4A championship, which resulted in a tough 15-6 loss to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. He was also a sophomore on the first B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team to win a conference title (2008-09) and a senior on the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team that lost in the Class 1A state title game in March 2011. It's no secret that he was one of B-B-E's best athletes to ever walk the halls of our high school. He has been a terrific addition to our school's coaching staff after gaining the elementary phy. ed. teaching position last year.

Getting back to the football team, the Jaguars open the season on Friday, Sept. 1 when they host Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. That game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.

I'll be gathering a light volleyball report on Friday.

(Video) Mixed Brew at August Fest

Here's video from the street dance on Saturday night during Belgrade's August Fest, featuring Mixed Brew. They were fantastic! **This is 2017 video.


Not much blogging for the next day or two...we have another huge, 16-page issue coming out at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. If you're not a subscriber, you are missing out!

Rained out

The final day of the Region 15C amateur baseball tournament was rained out today. The seeds to state are as follows:
1. Lake Henry (automatic first-round bye)
2. St. Martin
3. Regal
4. Elrosa

The draftees have been announced, and they are as follows: Elrosa drafted New Munich's Jim Thull and Nick Stangler, Lake Henry drafted New London-Spicer's Patrick Courtney and Meire Grove's Matt Imdieke, St. Martin drafted New Munich's Ty Reller and Greenwald's Brandon Worms, and Regal drafted Starbuck's Michael Gruber and NL-S's Adam Nibaur.

Regal opens the state tournament on Sunday, August 20 at Green Isle at noon.

Elrosa opens the state tournament on Sunday, August 20 in Hamburg at 2:30 p.m.

Below, here's a video clip from the end of the game between Elrosa and Regal on Saturday night:


Even with the final day rained out, I believe that it was a very entertaining and exciting Region 15C baseball tournament. Good luck to all four teams advancing to state!

Region baseball

Here's video from the Belgrade August Fest Car/Truck/Tractor show awards:

Here's where we're at...the Elrosa vs. Regal game is underway in New Munich. In the top of the third inning, Regal has a 3-2 lead after the Saints scored two runs in the top of the third.

Final score: Regal 4, Elrosa 3. The Eagles advance to the next round of seeding in Region 15C. They play at 11 a.m. against St. Martin. If Regal wins, they advance to the championship game with a shot at the No. 1 seed to the state tournament. Lake Henry awaits the winner of the 11 a.m. game in the finals at New Munich.

And I'm finally posting this score from last night in the Region 15C tournament (Aug. 11)...Lake Henry won a thriller in 11 innings by a 3-2 score over St. Martin. Jason Kampsen scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 11th to end the game.

Showdown in New Munich

With four-and-a-half innings in the book, the Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team has an 8-5 lead over Richmond in a state-qualifying elimination game of the Region 15C tournament.

Earlier today, Regal ended Meire Grove's season with a 5-3 win. That also puts the Eagles at the state tournament for the second year in a row.

*Update: the Elrosa Saints are headed back to the state tournament! For the second year in a row! Elrosa bear Richmond 17-5 and advance at regions to play Regal in a seeding game later today.

*Update: Regal beat Elrosa 4-3 in the last game of the day. Elrosa goes to state as the No. 4 seed from Region 15C. Their state opener is at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 20 in Hamburg. Spread the word! Let's get a big crowd down to state!!!

By the way, you can watch the Belgrade August Fest grand parade at 4:15 p.m. today at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2017/07/27/streaming/belgrade-august-fest-parade/137.html.

August Fest kicks off

The Toilet Bowl races, sponsored by the B-B-E Area Jaycees, were a huge hit on Friday.

The Belgrade August Fest kicked off on Friday night and had a terrific turnout at the Belgrade Firemen's chicken dinner. Check out video from the street dance at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2017/08/10/news/hd-video-street-dance-helps-kick-off-august-fest/507.html.

Don't miss the full schedule of the Belgrade August Fest on page 12A of the Aug. 10 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. The full-page spread was sponsored by the Belgrade Commercial Club as well as 18 Belgrade-area businesses. We thank them for the support of our hometown newspaper!

Speaking of support...don't miss out on the great sales going on at the Belgrade Hardware Store during August Fest. They had a large, color ad on page 1B of this week's Voice while helping contribute to putting in four pages of color. They are open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

And Elrosa Saints fans! Elrosa and Richmond will tangle for a state tournament berth at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday in New Munich.

KRA races

No racing tonight at the county fair in Willmar. (Thursday)

Below, here's some super-high definition video from Vacation Bible School at Trinity Lutheran in Brooten:


Look for many, many photos from V.B.S. at Trinity Lutheran Church in the Aug. 17 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

(Video) Raptor Center at the fair

The University of Minnesota Raptor Center was at the Pope County Fair last weekend. They gave a nice presentation and showed a number of raptor animals to fairgoers in the main office building garage. Below is a high-definition video of part of the presentation featuring a bald eagle.


Currently the Kandiyohi County Fair is underway in Willmar. Their fair board had a large advertisement using up almost an entire page in the August 3 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice. We appreciate the support of our hometown newspaper! We will be posting weather-related announcements regarding the Kandiyohi County Fair today and through the weekend.

Below is the schedule plus an advertisement for the Little Theater play "Three Murders, and It's Only Monday" that is directed by B-B-E 1996 graduate Thom Rosengren. You can click on the graphic and enlarge it for best viewing.

Tonight is the Kandiyohi Racing Association (KRA) races at the fairgrounds. I learned this morning that Willmar took a heavy rainfall last night, and the status of the races is currently up in the air.

KASM archives

This is very cool! Check out these archives of recent Region 15C amateur baseball tournament games at the KASM (1150 AM) website: http://www.mykasm.com/2017-region-15c-baseball.

Regions: Day 3

Here's a recap of what's transpired so far today, Sunday, August 6 at the Region 15C amateur baseball tournament.
In a state-qualifying game, St. Martin defeated Elrosa 2-1. Elrosa now waits to see who wins between Richmond and New London-Spicer later today. The Saints and that game's winner will tussle next Saturday, August 12 at 1:30 p.m. in New Munich in the elimination bracket.

In the first of two elimination games, the Regal Eagles have a 3-0 lead over New Munich through five-and-a-half innings. The Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third and then tacked on another run in the top of the sixth. The game also had a 30-minute rain delay that began around 3 o'clock.

Chris Beier was tagged out at the plate, when center fielder Grant Johnson hustled for a tough ball for the put out throw at home plate. It denied Regal from going ahead 4-0 and was good for the third out in the top of the eighth inning.

*Final score: Regal 3, New Munich 0. The Eagles made the most of just four hits in the game, and Shane Radermacher came in for relief of starter Josh Beier in the eighth inning to help shut the door on the Silverstreaks. Regal stays alive and will play next Saturday in the elimination bracket.

*Update: after two-and-a-half innings, the third game of the day in New Munich has a score of 0-0. Richmond is facing off with New London-Spicer in an elimination game. *Update at 7 o'clock...heading into the top of the ninth inning, Richmond has a 5-3 lead over the Twins. *Update: Richmond turned an F3+3U double play in the top of the ninth inning to end NL-S's season with a 5-3 win. What an ending! The County Line League champions went 0-2 at the region tournament.

Next for Elrosa: the Saints play Richmond at 1:30 p.m. in the elimination bracket. St. Martin faces Lake Henry in a seeding game at 8 o'clock on Friday. At 11 a.m., Meire Grove faces Regal in an elimination game. At 4 o'clock, the two winners of the previous games that day square off.

Paid attendance for this weekend at the Region 15C tournament was 2,213. The opening night (Friday) had 423 paid attendees.

Region 15C baseball from New Munich

Here are scores from the first two games of today in the Region 15C amateur baseball tournament held in New Munich:
Meire Grove 3, Richmond 2...as the Grovers got their first win at the region tournament since 1987.
...and in the bottom of the seventh inning, Lake Henry has a 6-3 lead over New London-Spicer. *Final score: Lake Henry 10, New London-Spicer 3.
St. Martin 3, New Munich 0.

No score yet on the night cap in Farming.

In the Saturday night game, Lake Henry defeated Meire Grove 5-2 to earn the region's first ticket to the Class C amateur baseball tournament.

On Sunday in New Munich, Elrosa faces St. Martin at 11 a.m. in a state-qualifying game. Following that, New Munich faces Regal in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. The third game of Sunday in New Munich is also an elimination game, and it will feature New London-Spicer tangling with Richmond.

Region 15C baseball

The opening game of the Region 15C amateur baseball tournament was a treat for fans of both teams on Friday night in Farming. For Regal, they had plenty to cheer about through eight-and-a-half innings as they kept Elrosa in check while scoring two runs in the top of the sixth.

Pat Illies then smoked a 1-1 count pitch over the left-center fence for a two-RBI home run that ended the game with Elrosa winning 3-2.

Next: Elrosa (21-8) plays in a state-qualifying game at 11 a.m. on Sunday, August 6 in New Munich.

Below is video from the bottom of the third inning, when Regal starter Chris Beier earned two strikeouts in a row to end Elrosa's bases loaded threat.


It was one hell of a game to watch. Both pitchers, Beier and Ethan Vogt, went all nine innings and pitched outstanding games. You could not walk away from the game without being impressed by both teams.

Regions begin tomorrow night

The Region 15C amateur baseball tournament begins on Friday night at 8 o'clock in Farming. The Elrosa Saints will take on Regal in the first game. Action continues on Saturday with a full day of games in New Munich, and then at 8 o'clock another game will be held in Farming.

Below is video from the bottom of the 9th inning between Elrosa and New Munich this past Sunday, the Stearns County League North division championship:

Parents of B-B-E students! Don't forget that the mandatory All-Activities meeting is on Sunday, August 6 at 7 p.m. at the high school. This is a meeting where the rules of the road will be spelled out for the coming year for any student in any activity in 2017-2018. Additional information was published on page one of this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Babe Ruth playoffs

The No. 2-seeded B-B-E Jaguars Babe Ruth baseball team defeated top-seeded Avon tonight in the I-94 League playoff championship. The Jaguars scored two runs in their final at bat to pull off an 8-1 win. Great job, Jaguars!