extended sports coverage for the B-B-E community brought to you by the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper in Brooten, MN. (Address: P.O. Box 250, Brooten) http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. ALL VIEWS posted are strictly and without exception the opinions of the newspaper owner and no one else; they're written in first hand format. Please submit feedback in writing to the address posted above. **This is Minnesota's oldest varsity high school sports blog. We hope to keep it going into the future!
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Halftime updates
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is ahead 31-26 at halftime against the visiting Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Fighting Saints. The game is being broadcast on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.
Final score: B-B-E 58, K-M-S 46! The Jaguars are 14-5 overall heading into Friday's home game against Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. K-M-S falls to 4-16 overall heading into a home contest on Thursday against A-C-GC (played at the Murdock gym).
Also in a home game, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team defeated Holdingford 62-55 tonight. The Jaguars (7-10) led 28-23 at halftime. Holdingford falls to 10-7 overall and 3-4 in the Central Minnesota Conference, now tied with B-B-E in fourth place. Next: the Jaguars travel to Eden Valley-Watkins to take on the second-place, state-ranked Eagles.
Shown are minutes from late in the first half at Eden Valley on Friday night:
Next for the Jaguars (13-5) is a home game against K-M-S on Tuesday this week.
Also, tonight the B-B-E/Paynesville dance team competes at New London-Spicer. The dance comp begins at 6:30 p.m., with the welcome and National Anthem taking place at 6:25 p.m. Dance times tonight: 7:06 p.m., B-B-E/Paynesville’s varsity jazz squad will perform; soon after that, at 7:18 p.m., the JV jazz squad goes out. Later in the kick division, B-B-E/Paynesville’s varsity kick squad performs at 8:05 p.m., while the JV kick squad goes out at 8:17 p.m. ##ConquerEveryDay
In other news...
In a Central Minnesota Conference wrestling dual on Friday, Kimball Area beat Eden Valley-Watkins 57-18.
Also, Minnewaska Area blasted the paired team of Lac qui Parle Valley/Montevideo/Dawson-Boyd "United" 49-29 in a West Central Conference dual on Friday. Both United and Minnewaska Area gave up two weight each at 145 pounds and above to forfeits. The Lakers finished 3-1 at the WCC duals, beating Sauk Centre-Melrose 60-30 and BOLD 45-25. They lost to A-C-GC 34-24 and now stand at 12-10 in dual meets. They have not had a winning dual record this late in the season since at least 2010.
At Browerville, the No. 9-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team lost against No. 7-ranked LP-GE/Browerville 46-15. It was a tough one to watch.
The Jaguars rebounded in grand fashion by defeating No. 3-ranked Minneota 40-31! Their final dual went their way as well, when they beat Rush City/Braham 70-12.
At Eden Valley, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is ahead 17-16 at halftime in a Central Minnesota Conference game between the first- and second-place teams.
The Eagles led 38-31 in the final minute.
Final score: EV-W 42, B-B-E 40.
Here's video from the final minutes of the game:
Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on Jan. 27:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 55, Holdingford 52
Maple Lake 57, Kimball Area 44
More will be posted late Saturday night. A busy weekend ahead! Saturday has the Tully's Ice Fishing Memorial Tournament at Norway Lake, and then I hope to take in some Spicer WinterFest activities.
The Guillotine released their latest state rankings just a few minutes ago, and the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team has climbed to No. 9 in Class 1A. Marvelous! Their next opponent, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville, has climbed to No. 7 in the same poll. These two teams clash in just a few hours at the Browerville high school in the opening match up of tonight's Browerville dual tournament. The big match begins at 4 o'clock sharp.
I'll be there, and I hope you can be too! After the LP-GE/B dual, I'll be heading southeast down to Eden Valley-Watkins to catch our No. 12-ranked B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team taking on No. 11-ranked Eden Valley-Watkins in a Central Minnesota Conference battle for first place.
For the B-B-E wrestlers, Canon Swanson is ranked No. 3 at 120 pounds; Tyler Bents is ranked No. 5 at 132 pounds; Adam Jaeger is ranked No. 3 at 152 pounds; and Isaiah Gilbert is ranked No. 10 at 160 pounds.
A ridiculously entertaining game played out tonight on our home court, when our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team took on the second-place Kimball Area Cubs in a Central Minnesota Conference battle.
At halftime, the Cubs led 26-16. The first half was tough for the Jaguars the whole way. They fell behind 26-12 with 4:31 on the clock, but their defense hung tough and proceeded to hold Kimball without a point up to halftime. Buckets by Ryan Illies and Ethan Schwinghammer narrowed the gap to 10 points.
After both teams traded buckets in the opening 30 seconds of the second half, Kimball's senior co-captain Hayden Gagnon buried a three-pointer with 15:15 on the clock. Soon after that, the Cubs got a layup for a 33-18 lead. Parker Schwinghammer then made a field goal, and Evan Wiener went two-for-two at the free throw line for a 33-22 deficit with 13:40 left. B-B-E was in the early stages of an incredible 11-0 run. When Parker Schwinghammer drained a shot in the lane with 9:50 left, they were then trailing 33-29.
The Cubs snapped the 11-0 run with a rebound shot in the paint by tall, smooth senior center Weston Hine at the 9:21 mark. Just 30 seconds later, Ashton Dingmann drained a three-pointer that got a huge portion of the B-B-E faithful to their feet. On the ensuing inbound of the ball, the Jaguars snared a turnover, and Wiener got fouled. He promptly swished two free throws to make it a one-point game. Roughly 50 seconds later, Wiener then drained a three-pointer that put the Jaguars ahead 37-35! The game hung in the balance, and there were still eight minutes left to play.
Later in the half, Ryan Illies scored in heavy traffic in the paint with 3:09 left. At that point, the Cubs led 42-41.
Final score: Kimball Area 45, B-B-E 44. The Cubs (12-3) made good on a "prayer" of a shot at the buzzer, with a three-pointer banking in as the horn sounded. It was fired before the clock ran out, giving the Cubs the win and keeping them one game out of first place. It was definitely one of the most entertaining and well-played basketball games I've watched in a long time. The Cubs entered the game with a scoring average of 65 points a game.
After a quick glance at the game stats, here's what the free throw numbers are: Kimball was 7-of-10 for the game, while the Jaguars went 7-of-12. Kimball was 4-of-9 on three-point tries, while the Jaguars were 5-of-18. Overall shooting percentages were almost dead-even: 42 percent for Kimball and 40 percent for B-B-E.
Eden Valley-Watkins and Kimball Area remain in a tie for second place at 5-1 each in the CMC; the Eagles hammered last-place Pierz on their home court tonight. CMC-leader Maple Lake, meanwhile, survived a tough game at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, coming home with a 44-39 win while improving to 6-0 in the league and 11-3 overall.
HL-W-W (5-12 overall) and B-B-E (6-10 overall) are both tied for fifth place in the CMC at 2-4 each.
Up next: the Jaguars host Holdingford in a CMC game next Tuesday.
On a completely different note (no pun intended), I don't believe I have ever botched the National Anthem in pep band like I did tonight on my trumpet. It was harsh! I tried the "second trumpet" line, and it was not good. I am used to the "first trumpet" line of the Anthem. I will be working on that. It's like anything: getting better won't happen without practice!
Video of the final minutes is forthcoming! Stay tuned.
**Here's a long video showing the final minutes of the game:
Stay tuned for the area scoreboard.
Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on Jan. 25:
Eden Valley-Watkins 80, Pierz 53
Maple Lake 44, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 39
Area boys' basketball scores on Jan. 25: Albany 59, Mora 43 Dawson-Boyd 63, MACCRAY 59 New London-Spicer 59, Watertown-Mayer 53 Braham 74, Onamia 33 Cass Lake-Bena 80, Nevis 64 (CL-B is 17-1 overall with the win; the Tigers fall to 13-2 but are solidly in first place in Sub-Section 5A-North; both teams were undefeated in the Northland Conference before tonight) Minneota 83, Yellow Medicine East 52 Canby 62, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 52 Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 61, Browerville 55 OT Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 64, Lakeview 56 Hinckley-Finlayson 68, Pine City 66 (H-F and Pine City entered this game tied for first place (8-0 each) in the Great River Conference; H-F is solidly in first place in the Sub-Section 5A-South standings and 15-2 overall) Ortonville 63, Benson 59 (the Trojans improve to 13-2 overall; the Braves fall to 0-16) Lac qui Parle Valley 55, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 52 (the visiting Fighting Saints came close to taking a bite out of the second-place team in their Camden North Conference; the Eagles improve to 7-4 in the Camden North, just two games out of first place behind Dawson-Boyd; K-M-S is 8-8 overall and 4-7 for fourth place in their conference)
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team beat Holdingford 49-40 tonight on the home court in a Central Minnesota Conference game. Nicole Wesbur with 13 points and Macie Kirckof with 12 points powered the offense. The Huskers fell to 9-8 (3-4 CMC) with the loss. B-B-E is 13-4 overall and 6-1 in the CMC heading into Friday's tough game at Eden Valley-Watkins.
At Eden Valley, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team went 2-0 against the Eagles and Osakis. They've now tied the regular season win record at B-B-E with a 15-1 record. The 1997-98 squad won 15 matches in the regular season.
Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on Jan. 23:
Eden Valley-Watkins 56, Kimball Area 41
Maple Lake 62, Pierz 50
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 54, Paynesville Area 37
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team defeated subsection rival Swanville 54-41 on the home court tonight. It was a tight game through the entire first half and the first six to seven minutes of the second half.
With 10:30 left in the game, the Jaguars held a 37-32 lead. Up to that point it was essentially a one-possession game.
Ethan Schwinghammer had a career night with 18 points on 67 percent field goal shooting. The Jaguars shot 41 percent from the floor.
Here's video from early in the second half tonight:
Next: the Jaguars (6-9) host Kimball Area in a tough Central Minnesota Conference match up with the Class 2A Cubs. Kimball is 10-3 overall and 4-1 in the CMC, tied for second place with Eden Valley-Watkins. They are just one game out of first place behind Maple Lake (9-3, 5-0).
Tomorrow night the girls' basketball team hosts Holdingford (9-7, 3-3) in a very important CMC match-up. Also tomorrow, the wrestling team travels to the Eden Valley-Watkins triangular that also includes Osakis.
The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper wants to give big shout-outs to the B-B-E speech team and also the B-B-E/Paynesville dance team in their respective competitions today. The speech team is at Alexandria for the first meet of their 2018 season. The dance team is at the Yellow Medicine East comp.
*Update: the speech team had three members earn medals. They are: Jayden Miller (sixth in extemp. speaking), Ben Vliem (seventh in creative) and Aynsley Preble (sixth in exempt. reading). The speech team is next in action on Tuesday, Jan. 23 with a junior high meet at Holdingford. The next 7-12 grade meet is on Saturday, Jan. 27 at Little Falls.
Stay tuned to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper for extended coverage of the speech team in the Jan. 25 issue. We have ordered up extra ink just for them!
Six members of the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team will compete for individual titles tonight at the 11-team New London-Spicer tournament. They are Blaine Fischer, Canon Swanson, Tyler Bents, Adam Jaeger, Isaiah Gilbert and Trevor Kern.
In the varsity team standings, before the consolation round was tallied, the Jaguars are in first place with 88 team points. New York Mills is in second place with 74.5 points. Hibbing is in third place with 70.5 points.
*Update: the first championship match started at 20:45. The Jaguars have 129 team points to remain in first place ahead of NYM, who has 115.5 points. Hibbing is in third with 101 points.
Also, at Paynesville, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team won 59-51 for their second win in a row. Parker Schwinghammer had an outstanding night with 25 points on 11-of-16 field goal shooting, five rebounds and four steals. As a team, the Jaguars shot a very hot 55 percent from the floor. B-B-E (5-9, 2-3 Central Minnesota Conference) has a huge Sub-Section 5A-South game coming on Monday on the home court, when Swanville comes to town. The Bulldogs (6-5, 4-2 Prairie Conference) are the second-ranked team in the sub-section, while the Jaguars sit in the fourth-place spot. A win for the Jaguars would be HUGE! Let's get a big crowd to cheer them on!
Here's video from Tyler Bents' match in the 138-pound finals, when he faced Sam Stageberg of NL-S:
**Update at NL-S: winning titles so far are Canon Swanson (120) and Tyler Bents (132). Also winning titles were Adam Jaeger (152) and Isaiah Gilbert (160). Trevor Kern took second place at 170 pounds. Blaine Fischer took second place at 132. Tyler Jensen took third place at 126. The Jaguars won the title as a team. Great job!!
Next for the wrestlers: a triangular at Eden Valley-Watkins next Tuesday that also includes Section 5A rival Osakis (2-13). The EV-W Eagles are no longer in Section 5A; they are now in Section 4A along with Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.
Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on Jan. 19:
Eden Valley-Watkins 65, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 53
Maple Lake 63, Holdingford 56
Area boys' basketball scores on Jan. 19: Melrose Area 71, BOLD 60 Dassel-Cokato 80, New London-Spicer 70 Hancock 62, Battle Lake 54 Minnewaska Area 82, A-C-GC 64 Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 64, Montevideo 34 Minneota 65, Lac qui Parle Valley 52 Renville County West 55, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 43 Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 72, MACCRAY 32 Sauk Centre 52, Benson 47 Parkers Prairie 84, Brandon/Evansville 55 Beckery 73, Albany 71 OT Ortonville 79, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 44 West Central Area 88, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 22 Pillager 77, Pierz 76
Area girls' basketball scores on Jan. 19: A-C-GC 49, Hancock 47 Lakeview 42, Benson 29 BOLD 96, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 48 MACCRAY 50, R-T-R 28 Melrose Area 56, Holdingford 45 St. Cloud Cathedral 59, Pierz 43 Kimball Area 58, Rocori 49 Sauk Centre 71, Albany 49 Osakis 83, Browerville 48 Royalton 67, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 29 Swanville 64, Ashby 55
Here's a brief video clip from the end of the Parkers Prairie game on Tuesday night:
I was pretty much out of commission for most of Wednesday. It was a tough day. You can read more on why in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice that has a story in it regarding a 13-year anniversary that has weighed heavily on my this entire week.
Central Minnesota Conference boys' hoops scores on Jan. 16:
Kimball Area 73, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 56
Maple Lake 58, Paynesville Area 51
Eden Valley-Watkins 47, Holdingford 38
The lone varsity activity on Thursday night this week is a big home CMC game for our B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team. They host rival Kimball Area! These teams last met at Melrose Area high school last March in the Sub-Section 5A-South championship game. The Cubs are 7-7 overall and 4-2 in the CMC, just one game behind the Jaguars in the conference standings.
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team trailed 36 to 28 at halftime at Pierz tonight. Final score: B-B-E 65, Pierz 58!! For the game, the Jaguars went 20-of-32 at the free throw line, while the Pioneers made four of seven shots at the line. Pierz attempted just two free throws in the second half.
At Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team lost their first dual 30 to 29 to Pierz. It was a huge heartbreaker. They rebounded with a 52-24 win over the Lakers to improve to 13-1 overall. They are now 4-1 in the CMC standings, while Pierz is 4-0.
The Pierz match was back-and-forth the entire way with multiple ties. After two weights: 3-3 tie! The Jaguars went up 6-3 with Canon Swanson's win by a 5-0 decision at 120 pounds. Sure enough, the Pioneers tied it at 6-6 with a decision win at 126.
B-B-E gained some traction with a win by pin (27 seconds) by Dylan Kampsen at 132. Tyler Bents added to that with another pin (2:42) at 138 for an 18-6 lead.
Pierz got a decision at 145, but Isaiah Gilbert earned a technical fall (20-5, 5:27) at 152 for a 23-9 lead. Adam Jaeger scored B-B-E's final points of the night with a win by forfeit at 160 for a 29-9 lead.
Pierz followed suit with a 3-0 decision win at 170, a win by fall at 182 and a 9-3 decision win at 195 to narrow the gap to 29-21. At 220, Pierz earned a win by fall, and then they sealed it with a 7-1 win by decision at 285 in a 30-29 win.
At home, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 51-27 over once-beaten Parkers Prairie. The Jaguars had an incredible second half after trailing 22-21 at halftime. Holy smokes! The Panthers entered the game with a 55-points per game average on offense, an 11-1 overall record and a perfect 6-0 mark in the Little Eight Conference. Parkers Prairie was ranked No. 23 in the latest Class 1A QRF rankings.
More to come much later tonight, probably after midnight! The January 18 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice has to be put to bed and prepared for the printing press.
Below, video from Adam Jaeger's 152-pound championship match at Paynesville on Friday night:
On Friday in his first match of the night, Adam Jaeger earned his 150th career win. He is the career win leader at B-B-E.
Below, video from Trevor Kern's win at 182 pounds:
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is next in action on Tuesday, January 16 when they travel to Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted for a Central Minnesota Conference triangular. Also at the CMC tri will be defending conference champion Pierz.
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is at the Paynesville tournament tonight and has a huge lead over second-place Sartell-St. Stephen. With the finals yet to start, the Jaguars have 194.5 team points, while the Sabres are in second place with 163.5 points.
Paynesville sits in third place. *Update: the Jaguars have eight wrestlers in their respective championship matches!! They are Blaine Fischer, Canon Swanson, Dylan Kampsen, Tyler Bents, Adam Jaeger, Isaiah Gilbert, Mark Jenniges and Trevor Kern.
Another three wrestlers are in the third place matches: Walker Bents, Tyler Jensen and Seth Roering.
Going for fifth place are Taiton Linder and Joe Thompson.
Below, video with Isaiah Gilbert earning his 100th career win! This took place in the semifinals at 160 pounds.
*Update:
the Jaguars won the tournament! They had 247 points to take first place. Second-place Sartell-St. Stephen had 181.5 points, while third-place Paynesville had 157 points. Sauk Centre-Melrose was fourth at 136 points. Milaca-Faith Christian was fifth with 132 points. Barnesville was sixth with 121 points. In seventh place was Eden Valley-Watkins with 51 points. In eighth place was Spectrum with 38 points. In ninth place was Holdingford with 26 points. Multiple Jaguars took first, second or third place. It was a terrific night on the mats! Other updates will follow after 11 o'clock tonight, including individual finishes and video clips.
Below, video from the finals featuring the third-place match at 106 pounds; B-B-E's Walker Bents won the match in sudden-victory overtime! He earned a takedown for the win that is shown in the video:
Individual finishes tonight at Paynesville...
At 106, Walker Bents improved to 21-13 on the season with a third-place finish and an exciting sudden-victory, fourth-period 10-8 decision win over Paynesville Area's Craig Schmitz.
At 113, Blaine Fischer improved to 25-8 with a first-place finish and a win by pin (4:48) in the finals against Sartell-St. Stephen's Andy Heckman.
At 120, Canon Swanson improved to 27-2 with a second-place finish, losing a 7-2 decision to Sartell-St. Stephen's Jackson Penk. Penk is the No. 3-ranked wrestler in Class 3A at 120 pounds. Swanson, ranked in the top-10 in Class 1A at 120, finished in second place at the Paynesville tournament for the second year in a row with a finals loss to Penk. Their championship match was one of the finest of the evening, and the two shared a light moment of comeraderie in their post-match handshake that was to be remembered.
At 126, eighth-grader Tyler Jensen improved to 24-9 with a third-place finish and a win by pin (4:00) against Eden Valley-Watkins' Taylor Ludwig. He was the youngest of the six 120-pound placewinners, which included two sophomores, two juniors and one senior.
At 132, freshmen Dylan Kampsen improved to 20-8 with a second-place finish, losing a 10-3 decision in the finals to Paynesville's Shawn Rue, No. 4-ranked and a junior.
At 138, Tyler Bents improved to 27-6 with a first-place finish and a 9-1 major decision win over Sartell-St. Stephen's Sam Fernholz.
At 145, Taiton Linder improved to 11-18 with a fifth-place finish. He was one of just two sophomores in the top six at 145. The other four placewinners included a junior and three seniors.
At 152, Adam Jaeger improved to 13-0 with a first-place finish and a win by technical fall (5:48, 21-4) over Paynesville's Weston Roberg.
At 160, Isaiah Gilbert improved to 28-5 with a first-place finish and a win by fall (1:52) over Sartell-St. Stephen's Alex Moritz.
At 170, freshmen Mark Jenniges improved to 18-12 with a second-place finish. In the finals, Jenniges lost by fall (1:14) to Barnesville's Preston Snobl, a junior.
At 182, Trevor Kern improved to 23-11 with a first-place finish and a 13-1 major decision win over Sartell-St. Stephen's Jack Engle in the finals.
At 195, junior Thaniel Cebulla finished in sixth place and has a 7-20 record.
At 220, Seth Roering improved to 14-19 with a third-place finish and a win by pin (32 seconds) over Barnesville's Jackson Poepping. Roering won his quarterfinal match by fall (1:31) and also in the wrestlebacks by fall (2:28) to land a spot in the third-place match.
At 285, Joe Thompson improved to 9-15 with a fifth-place finish and a win by fall (55 seconds) over Spectrum's Jacob Kettelhodt.
At home tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team improved to 9-4 on the season with an 83-30 win over winless Paynesville Area in a Central Minnesota Conference game. The Jaguars led 45-15 at halftime. Macie Kirckof led the team with 19 points on 80-percent field goal shooting. Jenna Dingmann added 11 points while also shooting 80 percent from the floor!
Up next: a road game at non-conference Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City on Monday night. That game will be aired on 106.5 FM The Train of Norway Lake-Sunburg.
Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on Jan. 12:
Eden Valley-Watkins 57, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 28
Maple Lake 50, Holdingford 48
Area girls' basketball scores on January 12: New London-Spicer 70, Rockford Area 34 (NL-S earns their first Wright County West Conference win of the season after an 0-3 start in league play) MACCRAY 36, Lakeview 30 Swanville 74, Bertha-Hewitt 53 New York Mills 62, Battle Lake 28 Minneota 76, Dawson-Boyd 49 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 59, Lac qui Parle Valley 58 Yellow Medicine East 77, CM-Christian 52 Sauk Centre 64, Minnewaska Area 38 Montevideo 58, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 36 BOLD 71, Melrose Area 60 Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 49, Benson 31 Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 62, Ortonville 38 West Central Area 70, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 66 OT
Every sports season, when a team starts to really get hot - and sometimes we have teams that get red hot at B-B-E ...when that happens I re-analyze what away events I'll get to. I have an insane schedule as it is owning the newspaper, covering news and also being my own sports reporter. I gotta say - it's time to re-analyze what wrestling events I'll get to as this season heats up.
I would really, really encourage others to do whatever it takes to get on the bandwagon and follow our Jaguar wrestlers. They are having a truly incredible season!!! And the best is yet to come as far as I'm concerned!!!
Here's what I've got on my calendar, hoping to work all of this into my schedule:
Friday, January 12 - the Jaguars are at the Paynesville tournament (4 p.m. tomorrow)
Friday, January 19 - the Jaguars are at the New London-Spicer tournament, where they will try defending their title from a year ago (3:30 p.m. start)
Friday, January 26 - the Jaguars are at the Browerville duals (5 p.m.) where the competition will be incredibly fierce! State-ranked Minneota, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville, Pierz and West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville will all be there.
Thursday, February 1 - a home triangular with Royalton/Upsala and also WCA/A/BE once again...that will be a very, very fun night that will wrap up the regular season schedule.
Then we get to the Section 5A team tournament...the Jaguars are all but a lock to have a home night for the opening round on Tuesday, February 13. If they win their quarterfinal match that night, they will compete again at home on Friday, February 16 in the Section 5A Final Four round. This year the Jaguars host that Final Four tournament. They last hosted it in 2013 when they competed in the semifinals (a close loss to Kimball Area).
My point is: get your butt to some or all of these wrestling events!! The full schedule was printed in the November 23 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice.
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is 2-0 so far at ACGC. They beat Redwood/River Valley 40-33 and Section 5A rival Minnewaska Area 51-21.
Redwood-River Valley is a Class 2A co-op between the schools of Redwood Valley, Cedar Mountain and Springfield. They have one state-ranked wrestler: Tayte Harazin at 145 pounds. In the latest Guillotine poll, Harazin was ranked No. 10 in Class 2A. Harazin faced B-B-E's Tyler Bents; the result was a 4-2 decision in favor of Harazin.
Minnewaska Area is having their best season since 2011-2012 when they finished 7-15 overall. Last year they went 3-17, but this year they are off to a 6-7 start, which was their record coming into tonight. They finished 8-9 overall in 2009-2010. They were 10-10 in 2007-2008, and you'd have to go all the way back to 2006-2007 before they last had a winning dual meet record. This year they could very well finish above .500.
...back to the ACGC quad...
After the 126-pound match was in the book against ACGC, the Jaguars are trailing 12-6.
Adam Jaeger is B-B-E's new career win leader in wresting. Jaeger took hold of 2013 graduate Patrick Rooney's record with an 18-7 major decision win over A-C-GC's Taylor Fester in the third dual tonight.
*Update! BOOM! So that just happened! The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is TWELVE-AND-O in dual meets! They defeated A-C-GC by a 32-30 score in the final match of tonight's quadrangular in Grove City. A late pin at 195 pounds by senior Trevor Kern (2:53 vs. Logan Sherwood) helped seal the deal and keep the Jaguars unbeaten in dual meets so far this season. Kern's pin made the score 32-21, but the match was not yet in the bag for B-B-E. Next was Thaniel Cebulla (first-year wrestler, a junior) squaring off with No. 10-ranked Tanner Berghuis at 220 pounds. Cebulla lost, but it was a 9-3 decision. Had he lost by a tech. fall or gotten pinned, the Jaguars would have ultimately lost the dual. As it shook out, the Jaguars then led 32-24 before the Falcons got a pin at 285 to close the gap to two points.
A-C-GC entered tonight's quadrangular with a 12-1 record and a very, very solid resume. Both A-C-GC and B-B-E were sitting in the "Lean and Mean" group in Class 1A of the Guillotine's December 22 state rankings. Tomorrow (January 12) the next round of state rankings will be released. I am very anxious to see where B-B-E ends up.
The A-C-GC win was not in the bag until some time between 9:30 and 10 o'clock tonight. In hindsight I should have made the trip to ACGC to take it in myself!! However, I planned all week to play in the pep band at tonight's home basketball game and also go watch the Jaguars in action at the nine-team Paynesville tournament tomorrow night - and they should do very well there, although I don't want to say any more and jinx it! They definitely left it all on the mat at ACGC and will have an incredibly tiny window to turn around and get their MoJo for tomorrow's action, which starts at 4 p.m. Teams involved with the host Bulldogs and our Jaguars include Barnesville, Eden Valley-Watkins, Holdingford, Sauk Centre/Melrose, Milaca, Sartell-St. Stephen and Spectrum.
Below, here's video from last week's Jaguar Invite. It features Tyler Bents in action against Minneota's Blake Reiss. Bents won 6-3 in this semifinal match before winning the finals by an 8-0 major decision over K-M-S's No. 8-ranked Jonathan Tostenson. It was a great night for B-B-E's state-ranked junior! He was ranked No. 5 in the latest Guillotine poll at 138 pounds and went over the 100-win mark for his career back on December 29 at the Rogers invitational.
On top of all that, here's where we sit for some of the team's career win leaders: Adam Jaeger surpassed 2013 B-B-E graduate Patrick Rooney's career win mark of 148 wins. Jaeger went 3-0 tonight to get to 149 career wins. Congratulations!!! And then we have Bents with over 100 wins. Last Friday at the home invitational, sophomore Canon Swanson went over 100 career wins, earning his 100th win in the semifinals. Tonight, senior Isaiah Gilbert went 2-1 at the quadrangular to get to 98 career wins. So in a nutshell, we're within grasp of having four wrestlers with over 100 career wins. That is incredible for a small school wrestling program!!!!
In my Pierz Pioneers watch...the Pioneers defeated Kimball Area 55-18 tonight in a Central Minnesota Conference wrestling dual. They are 8-6 overall in duals and 2-0 in the CMC. The Jaguars are 3-0 in the CMC standings at this point. One of Pierz's six losses is to Sartell-St. Stephen, a team that will be in Paynesville tomorrow.
At home tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost 82-54 to Maple Lake.
No word yet on how the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team has fared at Minnewaska tonight. *Update! The Pirouttes jazz squad took first place!! Congratulations!
Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores:
Eden Valley-Watkins 69, Paynesville Area 51
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 73, Pierz 55
Area boys' basketball scores on Jan. 11:
Melrose Area 61, Holdingford 47
Parkers Prairie 65, Ashby 48
Kimball Area 80, Swanville 39
Brandon-Evansville 62, Underwood 51
Hancock 82, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 44
Ortonville 74, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 42
Redwood Valley 79, Springfield 77 (Redwood Valley wins this epic border battle between two southwest Minnesota powerhouses...the Tigers entered the contest 10-0...what an insane atmosphere that had to have been at the Springfield high school gym! The Cardinals are now 7-5 overall)
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 62, Benson 32
Lac qui Parle Valley 72, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 55
Dawson-Boyd 73, Minneota 67
Lakeview 77, MACCRAY 67
CM Christian 57, Yellow Medicine East 47
Renville County West 66, Canby 54
Sauk Centre 67, Osakis 63 (Mainstreeters snap a three-game losing streak)
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 85, Montevideo 44
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 77, West Central Area 70
Stay tuned! We are on the way to -17 degrees tonight.
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 59-27 at Pierz tonight to lift their record to 8-4 overall and 3-1 in the Central Minnesota Conference. They host Paynesville Area (0-13, 0-5) on Friday in another CMC game.
Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball scores on Jan. 9:Maple Lake 59, Paynesville Area 23
Kimball Area 67, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 58
Eden Valley-Watkins 53, Holdingford 26
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost to Parkers Prairie 68-58 to fall to 3-8 overall. The Jaguars led 30-29 at halftime after trailing 29-24 late in the first half. The Jaguars host Maple Lake in a CMC game on Thursday this week.
Below is video from the closing minute of the first half against Parkers Prairie:
At Sauk Centre, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team beat BOLD 63-9 and then Sauk Centre/Melrose 47-19 to improve to 9-0 in dual meets! Next is a quadrangular at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City on Thursday this week.
Area boys' basketball scores on January 9: Watertown-Mayer 78, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 59 West Central Area 50, Ashby 43 Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 58, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 56 Willmar 75, Fergus Falls 65 Nevis 58, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 54 Annandale 68, Paynesville Area 50 Hinckley-Finlayson 73, Rush City 54 Onamia 56, Ogilvie 33 Braham 87, East Central 55 Sisseton SD 74, Ortonville 67 Rothsay 52, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 43 MACCRAY 65, Canby 54 Renville County West 73, Yellow Medicine East 58 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 59, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 54 Lakeview 69, Lac qui Parle Valley 53 Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 85, Dawson-Boyd 67 Minneota 72, CM-Christian 43 Henning 56, Verndale 45 Pillager 63, Sebeka 60 Wadena-Deer Creek 66, Menahga 58, Bertha-Hewitt 57, New York Mills 50 Springfield 74, Wabasso 24 (Springfield scores their lowest output of the season...they are averaging 90.6 points per game and are 10-0!) Royalton 56, Foley 46 Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 50, Sauk Centre 37 BOLD 83, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 63 Melrose Area 74, Minnewaska Area 60 Montevideo 55, Benson 29 Browerville 63, Upsala 44 Osakis 59, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 46 St. John's Prep 69, Swanville 51 Area girls' basketball scores on January 9: Foley 52, Royalton 43 Annandale 48, New London-Spicer 35 Parkers Prairie 57, Underwood 50 MACCRAY 76, Canby 65 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 59, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 25 Melrose Area 60, Osakis 51 Minnewaska Area 57, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 46 Lac qui Parle Valley 65, Lakeview 30 Minneota 68, CM-Christian 45 A-C-GC 44, Benson 42 Pillager 60, Upsala 57 WCA 67, Ortonville 59
Come out tonight and show your support for our B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team, as they host a nine-team meet that starts at 6 p.m. at the elementary school. Teams included are Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, Lakeview, Litchfield, MACCRAY, Melrose Area, New London-Spicer, Sauk Centre and Worthington.
Make sure to get here early and get a good seat! The National Anthem is set to be played at 5:55 p.m.
**Update: if you can't make it in person, you can watch it live on YouTube courtesy of the B-B-E high school Broadcasting students. The URL is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_uPgpm418U.
Below is video of the varsity high kicks squad at Melrose on December 16:
This week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper will have multiple pages of pictures from the Just For Kix-Belgrade winter dance show and also tonight's home varsity/JV dance competition.
The B-B-E robotics team Resistance is at Central Lakes College-Staples this morning hearing about their 2018 competitive season's challenge. They will have six weeks to design and build their robot to compete in the F.I.R.S.T. robotics regional competition on the first weekend in March at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center in Duluth.
What is FIRST Robotics? FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" which represents the core mission of the entire program and subsequent competition. It is a co-ed extracurricular activity that blends the excitement of both rigorous science and technology-related work along with good ol' hard-nosed competition that's no different than two football or basketball teams going at it on the athletic playing field.
The FIRST robotics competition is thought of as the ultimate "sport for the mind" - with high school students calling it "the hardest fun you'll ever have."
Below, some video from the event in Staples:
Next week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper will have a feature story on the robotics team and the upcoming competition. You can also read more here = https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc.
At the home invitational tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team finished in third place out of seven teams. Taking first was Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville, who tallied 199 points. In second place was Minneota with 189.5 points. The Jaguars had 172 points, while Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg was fourth with 137.5 points. The bottom three teams were Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in fifth with 114 points, Becker in sixth with 97.5 points and Albany in seventh with 95 points.
A huge shout out to sophomore Canon Swanson, as he earned his 100th career win during the semifinals at 120 pounds tonight. He won that match by a 9-1 decision and then took the title with a 6-3 win by decision in the finals.
Below is video from Canon Swanson's championship match tonight:
The Jaguars had 13 placewinners: Walker Bents took sixth at 106; Blaine Fishcer took third at 113, Canon Swanson took first at 120, Tyler Jensen took fourth at 126, Dylan Kampsen took second at 132, Tyler Bents took first at 138, Taiton Linder took fourth at 145, Adam Jaeger took first at 152, Isaiah Gilbert took second at 160, Mark Jenniges took sixth at 170, Trevor Kern took fifth at 182, Thaniel Cebulla took fifth at 195 and Seth Roering took fourth at 220.
At Sauk Centre tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team lost 66-39. They trailed 38-16 at halftime.
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted by a 54-48 score tonight in a Central Minnesota Conference game. The Jaguars trailed 22-16 at halftime.
##ConquerEveryDay
Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on January 5:
Maple Lake 67, Eden Valley-Watkins 47
Kimball Area 73, Paynesville Area 43
Holdingford 61, Pierz 48
Area boys' basketball scores on January 5: Foley 74, Rockford 69 Ortonville 61, Ashby 45 Lakeview 73, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 58 MACCRAY 57, Yellow Medicine East 40 Minneota 93, Renville County West 78 Lac qui Parle Valley 73, Canby 40 BOLD 92, Montevideo 61 Nevis 64, Pine River-Backus 33
Area girls' basketball scores on January 5: Holdingford 56, Royalton 53 Swanville 66, Isle 35 Menahga 85, Sebeka 37 Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 53, Paynesville Area 40 West Central Area 52, Minnewaska Area 49 Ortonville 67, Ashby 24 Osakis 59, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 44 Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 61, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 54 YME 64, Montevideo 47 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 63, Lakeview 30
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team's invitational is underway at the high school right now. With the semifinals in play, the Jaguars have multiple guys gunning for first place: Canon Swanson (120), Dylan Kampsen (132), Tyler Bents (138), Adam Jaeger (152) and Isaiah Gilbert (160). All won in the semis.
As a team, the Jaguars are in first place! They have 126 points compared to Minneota, who is in second place with 120.5 points.
**Update: late in the wrestlebacks...the Jaguars have slipped to third place in the team standings. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville is in first place with 168.5 points. Minneota is in second with 158 points, and the Jaguars are in third with 145 points.
**The final tally has the Jaguars in third place. LP-GE/Browerville took first place.
Click on the following link to see an updated post from tonight that has final team scores as well as video and other tournament information. Also, results from the varsity basketball games in Howard Lake and also Sauk Centre are posted as well: http://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2018/01/wrestlers-take-third-place.html.
More to come after 11 o'clock...right now it's time to pack up the car and get my camera equipment ready for a trip to Central Lakes College-Staples on Saturday morning. The Bonanza Valley Voice will travel there with the B-B-E robotics team for the kickoff event to their 2018 competitive season. You can read more about this on page one of this week's newspaper.
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team picked up a Central Minnesota Conference win over the visiting Maple Lake Irish tonight by a 63-49 score. After taking a 35-20 lead into halftime, the Jaguars kept their composure against a charged-up Irish team in the second half while never letting the lead shrink to fewer than nine points. Their biggest lead came at the nine-minute mark in the second half when Cassandra Tensen made a layup off of a steal for a 54-36 margin.
Below is video from the latter half of the first half of the game...it begins with the Jaguars nursing a 19-13 lead:
Next: a short road trip up Highway 71 tomorrow (Friday) to face neighboring rival Sauk Centre, a team that is ranked No. 1 in Class 2A and unbeaten (10-0) on the season.
*Don't forget! The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team hosts an invitational tomorrow starting at 2:30 p.m. Come out and show your support!
I noticed the latest A.P. state rankings for boys' basketball show Eden Valley-Watkins at No. 14 with a 7-0 record. Melrose Area is 8-1 overall and sits at No. 16. In Class 1A, Nevis is ranked at No. 3 and appears to be Section 5A's kingpin at this point of the season. Hinckley-Finlayson is No. 8 as the only other Section 5A team ranked in the top 20.
In the girls' basketball state rankings, New London-Spicer (8-3) comes in at No. 8, with Eden Valley-Watkins (8-1) ranked No. 10. For the Class 1A rankings, Menagha (8-0) is ranked No. 10.
Kinlee Swanson, Alex Evenson and Peyton Miller shown during starter introductions in the sub-section playoff opener on March 5, 2015 at the B-B-E high school. These three players helped blaze a playoff trail that found B-B-E in two straight sub-section title games. That was a feat that had never happened in the history of B-B-E up to that point for our girls' basketball program. See more below. (And how about those cheerleaders in the background! Jordan Wosmek and Tommy Cebulla next to our Jaguar mascot.)
Here's video from the final minute of the 2015 Sub-Section 5A-South championship game held at New London-Spicer high school. Members of that B-B-E girls' basketball squad returned to Jaguar Country today for a friendly scrimmage with our current varsity squad.
That was a fun night! I'll never forget raising holy hell because MSHSL officials wanted Kimball and B-B-E to play the game up at Pierz. After a day of banter back and forth via phone and the web, they moved the game to New London-Spicer high school - basically a home game for us! It was also the second of four straight sub-section championship game appearances for our girls' basketball team (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)...and our girls' basketball team also played in sub-section finals in 1991, 1993, 1995 and 2005. B-B-E has earned sub-section titles in 1993, 1995, 2005, 2015 and 2017.
Back to present-day...tomorrow I hope many of you can make it to the high school to see our girls' basketball team take on Maple Lake in Central Minnesota Conference action. Tip-off is at 7:15 p.m. Be there or be square!!!!
