Girls' basketball playoffs

Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, the No. 9 seed in Sub-Section 5A-South, earned a 55-38 win at No. 8-seeded Onamia (5-21) on Monday night this week in a play-in round game.

The Fighting Saints (7-20) advance to the quarterfinals, played this Thursday at our house against our top-seeded B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. Let's pack the gym with a huge crowd of Jaguar fans!

State wrestling spec bus!

From the B-B-E Community Education office, just released mid-morning on Tuesday!!! We have just a day and a half to get folks signed up, so please spread the word asap!

B-B-E Community Education will be offering a charter bus to the individual state wrestling tournament on Friday, March 2. The bus would leave Brooten at 10 a.m. and Belgrade at 10:15 a.m. The Class A wrestling tournament begins at 1 p.m. When the session ends at 3 p.m., the Xcel Center is cleared and the following session begins at 4 p.m. Any BBE wrestlers in the wrestlebacks would likely begin around 6 p.m. The final session on Friday is scheduled to be done at 9:30 p.m.

  

Who: Anyone 18 years or older. Anyone under 18 would need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.  

Bus cost: $20 per person

(and separately...)

Ticket cost: $26 for adults, $17 for students

Sign-up: Call Tessa (320)346-2278 x1218 or (320)254-8211 x1218

Deadline: 3 p.m. Wednesday, February 28.

**Here's video from the Section 5A tournament on Saturday at Minnewaska Area high school, with the finals of the 152-pound bracket featured:

(VIDEO) Section wrestling

Here's more video from Saturday's section wrestling tournament...this features Tyler Jensen's win in the third-place match of the 126-pound bracket. Jensen, an eighth grader, later won the true second-place match to advance to the Class 1A state tournament.

I'm neck deep in putting the March 1 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper together. On Monday night, we've got a ton of ground to cover: city council in Brooten, school board at the high school and the 5-6 and 7-12 grade band concerts (also at the high school)!

Social media

With all that's going on I think it's time for some reasonable measures be taken on social media usage. Something like a minimum age of 21, government approval of all of your posts, or maybe a permit showing you have the training on proper social media usage? We all know a great deal of bullying goes on there and how many commit suicide because of it? We all know the internet was created for military communication, and who really needs that kind of speed in communications anyway? Why not just write a letter like we did in the old days?

Girls' basketball playoffs

The playoff pairings are set for the upcoming Section 5A-South tournament that begins this week. The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team, still smarting from an upset loss in the regular season finale at Holdingford, looks to right the ship as they host a quarterfinal-round match on Thursday, March 1 at 7 p.m.

The top-seeded Jaguars (19-7) will host the winner of the Onamia vs. Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg play-in round game. The first round of playoffs is on Monday, February 26, when No. 9-seeded K-M-S travels to No. 8-seeded Onamia.

If the Jaguars win their quarterfinal game, they advance to the semifinals to play on Saturday, March 3 at 6 p.m. at Foley high school. Further playoff dates are March 6 and March 9 with 7 p.m. tip-off on both of those nights to round out the Section 5A tournament.

2018 Sub-Section 5A-South seedings (and overall records):1. B-B-E (17-9)
2. East Central (19-6, winners of 10 straight)
3. Braham (14-12)
4. Swanville (13-9)
5. Upsala (8-18)
6. Isle (9-17)
7. Ogilvie (10-16)
8. Onamia (5-20)
9. K-M-S (6-20)
10. Hinckley-Finlayson (5-21)
11. St. John's Prep (3-5)

Undefeated Menahga (26-0) is the top-ranked team in Sub-Section 5A-North; they have tough competition in their half of the section from Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (22-4, No. 2 seed) and Pine River-Backus (17-9, No. 3 seed). Menahga and PR-B squared off in the season opener at Menahga with a 64-52 outcome in favor of the Braves.

(VIDEO) Section wrestling

In this video, you can watch part of one of the semifinal matches in the 152-pound bracket of the Section 5A individual wrestling tournament. Isaiah Gilbert, seeded No. 3, defeated a No. 2-seeed guy from Benson.


This is pretty neat from my perspective: this area will end up with at least 15 inches of snow over the last two days.

More coverage

More coverage of both the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team and also the B-B-E speech team will be posted later tonight.

Stay tuned.

Section wrestling updates! (VIDEO added)

*******SIX TO STATE!!!!******** (See below)

At noon, here's my first update from the Section 5A wrestling tournament at Minnewaska Area.

Blaine Fischer, Canon Swanson and Tyler Bents are all in their respective championship matches.

*Update: also winning in the semifinals were Adam Jaeger and Isaiah Gilbert! B-B-E has five of 14 wrestlers all competing in the championship matches later this afternoon.

The finals should start between 14:30-15:00 this afternoon. The last round of consolation matches is starting at 13:10.

*Update: here are the other Jaguars who are still alive in the section tournament: Walker Bents, Tyler Jensen, Dylan Kampsen, Mark Jenniges, Trevor Kern and Seth Roering. Walker Bents just won his second consolation match of the day by a 3-1 decision.

If you tune into Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood today (107.1, also found online at their website or on TuneIn) you can hear other updates throughout the afternoon courtesy of sports broadcaster Brady Erdmann. Thanks, Brady!

*Here's the official list of the 11 Jaguars who will compete in the finals: Walker Bents, Blaine Fischer, Canon Swanson, Tyler Jensen, Dylan Kampsen, Tyler Bents, Isaiah Gilbert, Adam Jaeger, Mark Jenniges, Trevor Kern and Seth Roering. The finals are starting at 14:34.

**UPDATE at 15:15: winning their championship and finals matches so far are sophomore Canon Swanson (champion) and eighth-grader Tyler Jensen (third place). At 113, eighth-grader Blaine Fischer lost in the championship but will get a true-second match to compete for the state tournament. Jensen, wrestling at 126, will also get a true-second match to compete for state.

At 132, Tyler Bents won a sudden-victory overtime 3-1 decision over Paynesville Area's Shawn Rue to claim a section title! Both are juniors. It was just the second time in his career that Tyler Bents has beaten Rue. Tyler Bents will be a four-time state entrant. (SEE VIDEO)

**Here's video from the overtime session of Bents v. Rue:

Also, at 138, sophomore Dylan Kampsen won by pin in the first period to finish with a fifth-place medal. He is a sophomore.

At 152, senior Adam Jaeger won a 3-2 decision against Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg's Dylan Rudningen to claim a section title and punch B-B-E's third ticket of the day to the state tournament. Jaeger (28-0) will be a four-time state tournament entrant with 167 career wins to date.

At 160, senior Isaiah Gilbert lost a 5-4 decision to a Minnewaska wrestler; he will not need to wrestle in a true-second match and has punched his ticket to the state tournament. This will be the second state tournament of his career.

At 170, freshmen Mark Jenniges lost by pin to finish with a fourth-place medal.

At 182, senior Trevor Kern lost an 8-2 decision to finish with a fourth-place medal. He has been a strong, steady, key part of this team during his varsity career. Leadership like that will be missed!!

At 195, senior Seth Roering won by pin to take fifth place. It was a terrific ending to his two-year wrestling career!

I will try posting another update after the true-second matches are complete. As it stands right now, B-B-E will send four Jaguars to the Class 1A state tournament!! (Swanson, Tyler Bents, Jaeger and Gilbert) And hopefully a total of six!!! Overall, B-B-E will put 11 of their 14 wrestlers on the medals stand today. That is awesome!!!

The true-second matches will begin shortly before 17:00.

It is snowing like mad outside by the way!!!! Be safe today!

**Update! Both Blaine Fischer and Tyler Jensen won their true-second matches tonight! They will both advance to the state tournament for the first times in their careers. Both are eighth graders.

...a late update from last night: the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team suffered an upset 58-52 loss at Holdingford to fall to 19-7 overall heading into the playoffs. They will host a quarterfinal-round match on Thursday, March 1 with a 7 o'clock tip-off.

It was a difficult loss to swallow. Holdingford is a .500 team, and while they are good, losing to a .500 team is not how you want to head into the playoffs. The Jaguars will now share second place in the Central Minnesota Conference with Maple Lake, both teams 10-4 each. Holdingford (13-13 overall) then tied Kimball Area (12-14) for fourth place with 7-7 records. Eden Valley-Watkins (23-3) went unblemished through the CMC schedule this season to win the title for the sixth straight season. Two years ago, they went 12-2 and tied Kimball Area for first place.

Section wrestling!

The start time for tomorrow's one-day Section 5A wrestling tournament at Minnewaska Area has been moved up to 9 a.m. (from 10 a.m. as reported in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. This decision was made today by section officials.

*Below is a video from the second half of last night's basketball game...I haven't had much time since last night to blog. Been busy moving snow!

I hope to get back on this blog tonight. I still have to run my snow blower one more time to take care of my property.

Snow!

Last night the Bonanza Valley area received about seven to 11 inches of snow.

Today B-B-E schools are two hours late.

Bulldogs

After trailing in the opening minutes, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has a 29-20 halftime lead against Paynesville.

B-B-E won 53-47. This was a battle to the end. The Jaguars (10-14) held brief double-digit leads early in the second half. and withstood a rally where the Bulldogs cut it to two points.

Next: the Jaguars travel to Kimball Area next Tuesday, Feb. 27 to face the Cubs (19-4, 9-2), who are still in the hunt for at least a share of the Central Minnesota Conference title.

Central Minnesota Conference boys'BB scores on Feb. 22:
Kimball Area 66, Pierz 57
Maple Lake 65, Holdingford 34

Area boys' basketball scores on February 22:
Brandon-Evansville 60, West Central Area 57
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 62, Wabasso 56
BOLD 76, Minnewaska Area 61
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 62, Benson 38
Melrose Area 74, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 53
St. John's Prep 58, Browerville 51

Radio coverage, dance

Tonight's home border battle game between our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team and the Paynesville Bulldogs will be on 106.5 FM The Train.

Also, the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team will perform at halftime of both the JV and varsity games.

Job opening at B-B-E

The B-B-E school district has a job opening at the top of the administrative team.

The February 21 issue of the Paynesville Press reports that the Paynesville school district has hired Matt Bullard to be their next superintendent.

Bullard will replace Bob Huot, who will retire at the end of this school year. Bullard was hired at B-B-E as high school principal in 2006. In 2008, the job title of superintendent was added to his work load.

By the end of the week I hope to get some initial research done on what "comes next" for our school district. I've never been through this with a front-row seat. Shortly after I resigned at the Sauk Centre Herald, they went down the road of replacing long-time superintendent Dan Brooks; I missed out on that whole process. I do know that depending on how much time they have to fill the position, some school districts hire an interim superintendent for a period of time up to one year while they do a more exhaustive, thorough search for a stable hire.

While I initially feel nervous about it, and even sad about losing Mr. Bullard, I think we should pick our heads up and be excited about what comes next. We get to sell our school district to any number of potential superintendent candidates who apply here!!  I don't know how much "public input" is done, or if members of the public join any kind of committee...too many questions right now. I need to ask around and see what we've done in the past and find out what the correct, established process is that other schools use.

Needless to say, this position is a big deal to B-B-E!!!!

And I forgot to post this last night...in Kimball, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 50-40 to improve to 19-6 overall. They head to Holdingford this Friday to wrap up the regular season.

Clay Trap shooting meeting!

(Video) Heavyweight match goes to B-B-E

Shown is footage from the heavyweight match in the Section 5A semifinals this past Friday night at the B-B-E high school:


It has been a long weekend. While researching childhood suicide, I stumbled across the story of a 12-year old girl who died on January 10 of this year after committing suicide. She had been tormented in vicious, unspeakable ways via the Internet by multiple similar-aged lowlifes whose parents clearly raised them wrong. It has made me ill. Here is her obituary: http://www.heritagefhllc.com/obituaries/Gabriella-Peyton-Green?obId=2874082#/obituaryInfo.

I have much more to say about this topic!

Here's a list of area wrestling playoff scores this past weekend:
In Section 8AA at Thief River Falls, No. 10-seeded Sauk Centre-Melrose lost 37-25 in a pigtail match to No. 7-seeded United Clay-Becker. SC-M finishes the season 4-19 overall. They went 11-11 overall a year ago and competed in the Section 8AA quarterfinals. They went 15-8 two years ago and competed in the Section 8AA Final Four.

Also in Section 8AA, No. 3-seeded Pierz won 55-21 in their opener; in the semifinals, the Pioneers lost 51-18 to No. 2-seeded Detroit Lakes.

In Section 6A, state-ranked West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville won two matches to get into the finals for the fourth year in a row. In the Section 6A finals, they suffered a 30-27 loss to No. 2-seeded Ottertail Central to finish 17-4 overall.

In Section 7A, No. 3-seeded Royalton/Upsala won 54-21 over Crosby-Ironton in their playoff opener; in the semifinals, the Royals won 42-20 over No. 2-seeded Aitkin. In the finals, the Royals lost 46-28 to No. 1-seeded Blackduck/Cass Lake-Bena.

Willmar won 31-30 in the Section 8AAA finals over Bemidji to advance to the state tournament.

Section 3A playoff scores:
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrooke-Walnut Grove 35, Canby 22
Minneota 36, Jackson County Central 33
TMB-WWG 36, Minneota 22 (Vikings finish 18-9; Panthers take a 28-2 record into the state tournament)

Section finals

K-M-S earned an upset win against B-B-E in the semifinals tonight to advance to the Section 5A championship. The Fighting Saints (14-5) will face Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville for a berth in the Class 1A state tournament. The Wolves beat Minnewaska Area 50-17.

Final score: LP-GE/Browerville 42, K-M-S 15.

Wrestling updates

The Jaguars shown gathered following their first-place effort at Paynesville on January 12.

Wrestling updates will be posted here as often as possible after 6 p.m., with the first matches featuring the top four seeds of Section 5A squaring off for the right to compete in the championship match. Only one team will be left standing when the night is complete!!!

On one mat, top-seeded, No. 5-ranked Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville (21-1) will face No. 4-seeded Minnewaska Area (17-11) in one semifinal match.

On the other mat, the No. 2-seeded and No. 6-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team (20-2) faces No. 3-seeded, two-time defending champion Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (13-5) in the other semifinal. The Fighting Saints are receiving votes in the "Lean and Mean" category of the Guillotine state rankings.

Updates to come after 6 p.m. tonight!
106: Walker Bents lost a 9-3 decision.
113: Blaine Fischer lost a 21-7 decision.
120: Ryan Young won a 16-0 technical fall!
126: Canon Swanson won a 7-3 decision to put B-B-E ahead 8-7 in the team score.
132: Tyler Bents won a 7-3 decision.
138: Dylan Kampsen won an 8-0 major decision.
145: Taiton Lindner lost by fall (1:13). This makes the team score 15-13.
152: Isaiah Gilbert lost a 5-2 decision to Dylan Rudningen.
160: Adam Jaeger won by fall!!! In the third period.
170: Mark Jenniges lost a 4-3 decision.
182: Trevor Kern won.
195: K-M-S won by fall over Isaac Kampsen.

**Update: K-M-S clinched a team win at 220 pounds. Final score: 31-30. Joe Thompson won by fall at 285.

B-B-E finishes 21-3 overall with the best team record in school history.


Let's GO JAGUARS!!


...and thank you to Paul Gruber Baling of Elrosa along with Brooten Auto Parts, Inc. of Brooten for your sponsorship of Jaguar wrestling coverage!

Pierz game

With two minutes to go, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has a 57-48 lead over Pierz. Final score: B-B-E 66, Pierz 54. The Jaguars, who had four players score in double figures while led by Parker Schwinghammer's 17 points, are 9-14 overall and 5-6 in the Central Minnesota Conference.

Here's video from the overtime session in the JV boys' basketball game:


At Paynesville tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 58-35 to improve to 18-6 on the season. Nine players scored for the Jaguars, who have now tied with two other B-B-E girls' basketball teams for the most wins in the regular season.

Always

Always be humble and kind. It's the best way to heal our nation. Teach that to your kids!! This is the fastest way you can make change. Stop sitting there putting faith in our government and thinking that government will solve our problems!!!!

Wrestling playoffs

The No. 2-seeded and No. 6-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team won 67-11 tonight over Quad County to open the Section 5A tournament. The quarterfinal-round win lands them a spot in the section Final Four for the second year in a row and the third time in the last four seasons.

Quad County, the No. 10 seed in Section 5A, advanced from the pigtail match with a 46-33 win over No. 7-seeded Ortonville.

At Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, the No. 3-seeded Fighting Saints defeated No. 6-seeded Benson 48-24.

At Minnewaska Area, the No. 4-seeded Lakers ended No. 5-seeded Paynesville Area's season in a 42-31 quarterfinal-round win.

B-B-E, now 20-2 on the season, hosts the Final Four round this week Friday. The semifinals will take place simultaneously at 6 p.m. with these match-ups: No. 1-seeded Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville will tangle with Minnewaska Area; and B-B-E will face K-M-S in the other semifinal. The winners square off later that night in the Section 5A finals for the right to compete at the Class 1A state tournament.

LP-GE/Browerville beat No. 9-seeded BOLD 63-10 in the other quarterfinal match tonight.

At Maple Lake tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost 62-50 to the first-place Irish. The Jaguars trailed 35-24 at halftime and were led by Parker Schwinghammer's 16 points.

(Video) Senior night

Here's video from senior/parents night at the girls' basketball game last Thursday. In this clip, we see the opening minutes of the Pierz game won by B-B-E by a 70-35 score.


Don't forget! The B-B-E high school choral department will hold a Winter POPS concert tomorrow night (Monday) at 7 p.m. in the auditorium.

The next night, Tuesday, fans will want to return to the B-B-E high school to take in the Section 5A wrestling opening night. Action starts with a pigtail match at 6 p.m., with the winner advancing to the section quarterfinals against No. 2-seeded B-B-E. The quarterfinal match will start around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.

Speech team earns hardware

The B-B-E speech team took second place in the intermediate school division at the Swanville meet on Saturday. Great job! Read more in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

(HD video) Section dance comp!

Here's video from the jazz division today at Montevideo, with our B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouttes dance team competing in the Section 3A meet.


Sweeping both Section 3A title was the Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd Shadows taking first place in jazz and kick. Taking second place in both division was Yellow Medicine East, and BOLD took third place in both kick and jazz. All six squads advance to the Class 1A state dance comp.

Below, here's a short video clip featuring the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes kick squad at today's section meet in Montevideo. NOTE: this was recorded in ultra-high definition quality, so playback in HD will require very fast Internet speed.


**Updated on March 1, here's a link to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's SmugMug photo gallery with 120+ photos from the section dance comp:
https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/BBE-Jaguar-winter-sports-17-18/BBEPaynesville-Pirouttes-at-sections-02-10

That's all for now, time to head to Swift Falls for the predator hunt results at Brink's Beer Joint!

Are you wondering what's on the local community calendar? Such items are published in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper each week. There are also events posted on the Voice newspaper website: http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/page/bonanza-valley-community-calendar/102.html.

Halftime score

At halftime, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team trails visiting Minnewaska Area 32-19.

Final score: the Lakers won 62-50 to improve to 15-5 on the season with their sixth straight win. They are currently the No. 2-ranked team in Sub-Section 3AA-North behind New London-Spicer.

The Jaguars are 8-13 overall and head to conference-leading Maple Lake next Tuesday.

(HD video) Dance team readies for sections

Here's a story at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website previewing the Section 3A dance comp that takes place tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 10) in Montevideo: http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2018/02/01/sports/section-3a-dance-comp-is-saturday-february-10/574.html.

Teams finishing third or higher at sections advance to the Class 1A state dance comp.

Below, video from the home dance comp on January 8:


Kudos to the four seniors on our B-B-E/Paynesville dance team! They have given terrific leadership this season: Charlotte Winkler, Megan Carroll, Aly Riggs and Morgan Soine.

Final seconds!

Parker Schwinghammer's driving layup with five seconds left lifted the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team to a thrilling 47-46 win over Howard-Lake-Waverly-Winsted tonight.

A little over midway through the second half, the Jaguars took a 40-33 lead on two bonus free throws by Parker Schwinghammer. Fast forward to around the three-minute mark, and the Jaguars were staring at a 43-41 deficit. Ryan Illies then put in a shot to tie the game with 2:43 remaining. It appeared that the game would go down to the wire - and that's exactly what happened.

HL-W-W trailed by two points in the final minute, but a three pointer in the left corner lifted them in front by one point with around 16 seconds to go.

For the game, B-B-E (8-12, 4-5 Central Minnesota Conference) shot a solid 46 percent from the floor and made 15 of 23 free throw shots.

In the Central Minnesota Conference tonight, all home teams won! (See below)

Here's video from the dramatic ending!

The other home game tonight had very little drama by comparison. The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team easily took care of business in a 70-35 win over visiting Pierz on Parents/Seniors night. The Jaguars are now 17-6 overall and are idle until next Thursday when they travel to Paynesville Area. The Pioneers fall to 6-15 with the loss.

Tomorrow night! The lone varsity action will be the boys' basketball team hosting Minnewaska Area in what should be a very exciting a border battle.

Additional game notes plus the area scoreboard will be posted later tonight.

Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on Feb. 8:
@ Maple Lake 50, Eden Valley-Watkins 44
@ Holdingford 74, Pierz 51
@ Kimball Area 78, Paynesville Area 58

Area boys' basketball scores on Feb. 8:
New London-Spicer 81, Rockford Area 76 (Wildcats avenge an earlier-season overtime loss at Rockford with a win at Fort Knox tonight; NL-S has now won six straight and seven of their last eight games)
Bertha-Hewitt 50, Verndale 47
Henning 81, New York Mills 57
Royalton 84, Ogilvie 34
Hancock 71, Brandon-Evansville 61
Springfield 78, BOLD 76 (this could possibly be a preview of the Section 2A championship game; Springfield is 19-1, while BOLD falls to 16-5)
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 72, Benson 29
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 68, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 49
Montevideo 56, MACCRAY 49

(HD video) Youth wrestling finals

Here's action from the last few matches (four or five) of the championship match in Saturday's home youth wrestling tournament. The B-B-E Jaguars were taking on Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd/Montevideo "United" in a battle that included 15 weight classes.

This week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper has a few action photos plus the team photo published on page five.

Wrestling playoffs!

Huge, breaking news! Read all about it at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website:
http://bit.ly/2EP3PlQ.

Here's a link to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website help wanted page: http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/classifieds/category/employment. These ads are also printed in the newspaper.

Road woes

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team dropped its second road game in a row when poor free-throw shooting cost them a win at third-place Maple Lake on Monday night. After sitting in a 22-22 tie at halftime, the Irish (12-7, 7-4) outscored the Jaguars 26-21 in the second half to win 48-43 in a Central Minnesota Conference contest. Poor two-point shooting also contributed heavily to the loss: the Jaguars made just eight of 31 shots from inside the arc, while they were 12-of-22 at the line. On threes, the Jaguars shot a solid 31 percent (5-of-16) with Jenna Dingmann making three of nine three-point attempts and Morgan Gronli making good on two of three tries beyond the arc.

Next: the Jaguars (16-6, 7-3 CMC) host Pierz (6-14) on Thursday this week.

In other news, here's a link to a web article at the Bonanza Valley Voice website that provides highlights about the upcoming Glenwood Winterama, which is on Saturday, February 10: http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2018/01/25/regional/winterama-is-saturday-on-lake-minnewaska-in-glenwood/570.html.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on Feb. 5:
Holdingford 46, Kimball Area 37
Pierz 56, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 42

Area boys' basketball scores on Feb. 5:
Willmar 81, St. Cloud Tech 78 (Cardinals improve to 18-0 with Noah Slagter hitting the game-winning shot in the final minute at Willmar)
Kimball Area 63, Litchfield 50 (Cubs defeat their southwestern neighbors and are now 15-4 overall; not 15-6 overall as reported in the West Central Tribune)
A-C-GC 74, K-M-S 67
YME 48, Benson 44 (Braves fall to 0-20 overall)
Melrose 75, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 59
Minnewaska Area 60, Sauk Centre 55
Ortonville 72, Renville County West 49

Area girls' basketball scores on Feb. 5:
Eden Valley-Watkins 53, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 21
New London-Spicer 74, Browerville 34
Willmar 65, St. Cloud Tech 24
Braham 66, Ogilvie 49
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 52, Verndale 40
Yellow Medicine East 91, Benson 54
MACCRAY 33, Hancock 29
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 53, Osakis 39
Sauk Centre 71, Minnewaska Area 41
Albany 51, Royalton 48

Local precinct caucuses

I only have information for Stearns County residents at this point.

The Stearns County DFL (I'm guessing western folks) will gather at the Sauk Centre high school at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, February 6. I believe the actual caucus does not begin until 7 p.m.

For local Republicans in Stearns County, they will meet at 7 p.m. at the B-B-E high school on Tuesday, February 6.

Also, while I have your attention, I hope you can put the 7th-12th grade choir concert on your calendar! It will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 12. You can read more about it in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice.

Saturday action in Jaguar Country

In the home elementary wrestling tournament today, the B-B-E Jaguars lost 45-26 to Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd/Montevideo "United" to finish second out of eight teams. In the pool play duals, the Jaguars defeated Litchfield 60-21, Canby 68-7 and BOLD 46-34.

Below is video taken right before the finals started, with Coach Swanson rallying the troops!


At home, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost 37-36 to Browerville after holding a 27-11 halftime lead. From the free throw line, the Tigers shot 9-for-17 for the game. The Jaguars made Browerville's free throw shooting look spectacular...the Jaguars made just one of eight free throw attempts in the game. First-half B-B-E free throw shooting: 1-of-4, and in the second half, the Jaguars missed all four free throw attempts.

Yes, that's all correct.

I don't have an exact final score in the second varsity game of the day. I believe the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 74-20 against Browerville. (*That is the correct final score.) B-B-E held a 49-11 lead at halftime. The Tigers are mostly a team of 8th and 9th graders...very similar to what they fielded in the 2011-2012 season - two years before the Tigers went to state in the first of back-to-back appearances.

Also, congratulations to sixth-year head coach Kristina Anderson on getting her 100th career win today! Read more about this achievement in next week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Halftime updates, final scores

At Eden Valley-Watkins tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has a 23-20 halftime lead.

At home, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is ahead 31-19 with one minute to go in the first half against Howard-Lake-Waverly-Winsted. At halftime: Jaguars 33, Lakers 20.

Final score at Eden Valley: No. 19-ranked Eagles 49, Jaguars 42. The Jaguars play Browerville tomorrow at 3 o'clock at the B-B-E high school.

Final score in the home contest: B-B-E 59, HLWW 50. The girls' basketball team hosts Browerville at approximately 4:45 p.m. Tomorrow at the high school.

In a matchup of two of the top teams in western Minnesota, Hancock's boys' basketball team won 77-65 at Ortonville. The Owls have a two-game lead over the Trojans in the Pheasant Conference standings.

An incredible night on the home mat!

Freshmen Mark Jenniges puts the squeeze on WCA/A/B-E's Alex Butcher while earning a pin that sealed the win for B-B-E.

My ears will still be ringing tomorrow morning! The match finished up over 1 1/2 hours ago, and my head is still spinning.

It was a night for the ages on the home mat tonight, with our No. 9-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team hosting a triangular to put a wrap on the regular season.

In B-B-E's first dual against Royalton/Upsala, the Jaguars won 51-15.

The night ended in grand fashion, with our Jaguars defeating No. 5-ranked West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville by a 36-31 score. The Jaguars clinched the win when Mark Jenniges won by pin at 170 pounds over Alex Butcher with a time of just 59 seconds.

Blaine Fischer got things rolling for the Jaguars with a win by a 2-0 decision against No. 6-ranked Jordan Lohse at 113 pounds. Lohse is state-ranked in the 106-pound class. Ryan Young then put the hammer down for the Jaguars when he pinned Reubens Swanson in the 120-pound match with a time of 1:39, giving B-B-E a 9-6 lead. Canon Swanson battled for a win at 126 pounds by a 6-4 decision against fellow sophomore Kaleb Getz; he led 2-1 after one period, took that 2-1 lead into the third period and earned two takedowns in the final 90 seconds for the win. B-B-E's lead expanded to 12-6 by that point.

At 132 pounds, B-B-E's sophomore Dylan Kampsen faced senior Chris Onstad and came away with a win by a 5-1 decision. He blasted out to a 5-0 lead with late near fall points at the end of the first period. A very exciting match played out at 138 pounds, when B-B-E's Tyler Bents faced fellow junior Hunter Hanson and earned a win by pin (3:39) after building a 9-2 lead midway through the second period. The Jaguars led 21-6 at that point.

B-B-E's sophomore Taiton Lindner squared off with Hunter Mickelsen at 145 pounds. Mickelson, a junior, earned a win by a 5-2 decision to get WCA/A/B-E their first points since the 106-pound match. Lindner, who trailed 4-0 after two periods and fought off his back late in the second period, battled valiantly throughout the entire third period.

At 152 pounds, B-B-E's Isaiah Gilbert took care of business with a win by pin (4:21) over fellow senior John Barber.

Next came the match of the night, and very likely the most exciting regular season match that wrestling fans will see in a long, long time. You can watch the entire match yourself in the video below. B-B-E's Adam Jaeger won by a 2-1, sudden-victory, four-overtime decision at 160 pounds against fellow senior and state-ranked Kaden Spindler. Jaeger picked up the win by earning an escape with just two seconds remaining in the fourth overtime. B-B-E's lead was 24-9 at that point.

At 170 pounds, Mark Jenniges then put every B-B-E fan on their feet after the B-B-E freshmen pinned junior Alex Butcher in just 59 seconds.

WCA/A/B-E (15-3) then won the final four matches, three by pin and one by an 11-1 major decision at 195 pounds to bring it to the final score. They wrap up their regular season with the Park Region Conference tournament on Saturday at Royalton.

B-B-E takes a 19-2 overall record into the playoffs, where they will likely be the No. 2 seed in Section 5A. The Jaguars begin the playoffs with a quarterfinal-round match on Tuesday, February 13 at home. You better be there!!! Details to follow in the upcoming issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Below is video featuring the entire 160-pound match, all three regulation periods plus four overtime sessions! Two state-ranked wrestlers duked it out. It was an unforgettable match that lasted approximately 14 minutes! And here's a very neat sidebar to all that: both of the wrestlers in this video will be Concordia College Cobbers next year, taking their passion for wrestling and competition to the Division III level. B-B-E's Adam Jaeger is ranked No. 3 at 152 pounds, while Kaden Spindler is ranked No. 2 at 160 pounds.

With the win by a 2-1 four-OT decision, Jaeger will take an undefeated record into the playoffs.

What more can I say? I could not be prouder of our team and our community!

Stay tuned for more coverage. It will take quite the effort to relax and wind down for a few hours of sleep!

##ConquerEveryDay

Wrestling updates

West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville won the first dual meet 48-20 tonight.

In the second dual, our No. 9-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team defeated Royalton/Upsala 51-15 to improve to 18-2 on the season.

*Update at 22:30: the Jaguars went 2-0! They beat No. 5-ranked WCA/A/B-E by a score of 36-31. It was crazy! The atmosphere was incredible.

Home wrestling action

Tonight we have home wrestling action in store for Jaguar fans. The No. 9-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team hosts Royalton/Upsala and No. 5-ranked West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville in a triangular. It will also be Parents/Seniors night! The first dual of the night begins at 5 p.m. between B-B-E and Royalton/Upsala.

Tuesday night, Jan. 30 CMC boys' hoops scores:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 35, Paynesville area 34 (Bulldogs lose on a shot in the final seconds)
Maple Lake 73, Pierz 50