Thursday night results and updates

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team lost 35-29 to West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville in Barrett tonight. It was not a triangular as was previously reported.

More to come.

Halftime: the girls' basketball team trails EVW 34-18.

In the first 90 seconds of the second half, the Jaguars trimmed the deficit to 34-24, but the Eagles later led 46-28 and were in command the rest of the way.

Final score: EVW 54, B-B-E 40. The Jaguars, who made 13 of 28 two-point shots in the game but just two of 21 three-point attempts, are now 14-5 overall and 6-3 in the Central Minnesota Conference. The Eagles are 18-0 overall and now 11-0 in the CMC. Tonight's win clinched at least a share of the CMC title for EV-W. Their last CMC loss was on February 4, 2016 at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted; that night, the Lakers won 63-47, but EV-W ended up tying Kimball Area at 12-2 for a co-championship in the CMC.

Also, the last year EV-W hasn't won a conference title was in the 2013-2014 season. That year, HL-W-W finished 14-0, while EV-W tied Rockford Area for third place (9-5).

In boys' basketball news, Pierz knocked visiting Maple Lake out of first place in the CMC with a 65-60 win tonight over the Irish. Technically, Maple Lake (8-7 overall, 5-2 CMC) has a half-game lead over the teams that are tied for second place: B-B-E, EV-W and HL-W-W. Those three teams are currently all 4-2 in the CMC.

**Don't forget! The No. 26-ranked (QRF) B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team hosts Holdingford on Friday this week (tomorrow) in a CMC game.

**Here's video from late in the second half tonight:

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on Jan. 31:
Holdingford 68, HL-W-W 46
Kimball Area 66, Maple Lake 46

Area girls' basketball scores on Jan. 31:
Benson 52, Lakeview 50
Parkers Prairie 55, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 20
BOLD 70, Yellow Medicine East 66
Willmar 56, Zimmerman 33
Brandon-Evansville 48, Battle Lake 38
Albany 58, Foley 44
Alexandria 84, Rocori 25
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 52, Browerville 50
Lac qui Parle Valley 64, Montevideo 45

Area boys' basketball scores on Jan. 31:

Melrose Area 73, BOLD 65 (Dutchmen hand the Warriors their first loss of the season after a 17-0 start in 17 games)
Browerville 82, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 70
Central MN Christian 68, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 62
Sebeka 58, Bertha-Hewitt 50
Henning 90, Wadena-Deer Creek 41 (Henning is 17-0)
Menahga 81, Verndale 58
Pillager 61, New York Mills 49
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 61, Canby 47
Minneota 87, MACCRAY 83
Sauk Centre 65, Benson 41
Minnewaska Area 67, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 63
Lac qui Parle Valley 81, Yellow Medicine East 43
Renville County West 72, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 59
Dawson-Boyd 82, Lakeview 49

Late start at B-B-E

On Thursday, January 31, B-B-E schools will start three hours late due to the polar vortex-related cold.

City-related information was announced on Thursday morning at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://bit.ly/2G1OOR0.

By the time kids were streaming through the doors of the B-B-E elementary and high school, actual air temperatures were between 16 and 18 below zero. The low last night was in the neighborhood of 35 below zero.

Today, we are expected to climb to five degrees below zero. A heat wave!!!

West Central Sanitation/business updates

From Jeff Bertram, sent this morning - he is the CEO of West Central Sanitation; they service local routes across the Bonanza Valley area.

Please be aware that for the safety of our Drivers, and the public, we are not going to be servicing any routes on Wednesday, January 30th. All routes will be serviced one day later as follows: Wednesday to Thursday, Thursday to Friday, Friday to Saturday! We are using a variety of means in informing the public, including letting you know! 

ALSO:Bonanza Valley State Bank, as well as the Brooten Bakery, are both closed today due to the cold. No one else has notified me of changes in operation. 

Also closed for the day: Coop's Corner's kitchen (C-store open until 10), the Belgrade Library, the Belgrade Bakery. That's all I know for sure.

Also: Kensington Bank's drive-up window is closing at 4 p.m. instead of the regular time of 4:30 p.m.

Wind chill!

At 11:42 this morning, we are looking at a wind chill of 42 degrees below zero out on the prairie.

At 15:21 in Brooten, the air temperature is 20 degrees below zero. The winds are out of the northwest at 26 miles per hour. The wind chill is 52 degrees below zero!!!

Hang on for the ride, it's gonna be bad!

*By 21:00 tonight, the wind has gotten absolutely nasty and violent. And I am not using the word violent lightly either. We now have 60 below wind chill readings. Holy cow!!!! I've ran my '98 Buick every couple of hours since mid-afternoon just to keep things going and make my errands around town by car and not by foot.

I generally enjoy walking a few blocks here and there in town, but today has not been a day for that.

**Below, video from the Paynesville win last week:


I hope you are all staying warm and staying safe!

Winning before the deep freeze hits

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 59-26 tonight in a non-conference home game against Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. The Jaguars shot 34 percent on field goals and made 12 of 15 free throw attempts. Macie Kirckof led the team with 22 points on 67 percent field goal shooting.

Area girls' basketball scores on January 28:
West Central Area 76, Battle Lake 51
Alexandria 72, Bemidji 52
Swanville 62, Holdingford 59 OT
Staples-Motley 57, Browerville 42

In weather news...here's what is posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website. Further updates will be posted at this web article as well on Tuesday, January 29. https://bit.ly/2MI8IkA.

On Tuesday, the mercury will drop hour by hour into the night. It will be dangerously cold! Be aware of what's going on and plan accordingly!

A bad ordeal coming with the cold

B-B-E schools will be closed on January 29 and January 30.

Below is what Superintendent Walsh e-mailed out to parents at about 17:00 tonight:
Due to the record cold temperatures forthcoming, school will not be in session Tuesday and Wednesdayof this week, January 29 and 30. The JKC program will still be in on time, but will close at 4:30 p.m. on each day. Please be safe during these next 72 hours. We will post any makeup dates by the end of this week. Thank you

Tonight's game is still on at home.

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 35-16 lead at halftime against non-conference Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.

Dance show

The B-B-E Just For Kix winter dance show will start at noon today at the elementary school. It has been reported in the past to have a 4 p.m. start time.

Also, the Belgrade Lions Family Fun Day will be from 1 to 3 p.m. today at the high school.
https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2019/01/17/news/lions-family-fun-day-is-january-27/788.html

Also, hats off to Billy Tensen (Informative category) and Jesse Westaby (Humor) as top placewinners for the B-B-E speech team. They each took fourth place in their categories in Little Falls on Saturday. Great job!! Hard work pays off!

Sixth straight

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team made it six in a row in Central Minnesota Conference play with a 59-54 win at Holdingford on Friday night. Macie Kirckof led the Jaguars with 29 points; as a team, they are now 13-4 overall and 6-2 in the CMC.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on Jan. 26:
Eden Valley-Watkins 63, Kimball Area 28
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 62, Paynesville Area 26
Pierz 58, Maple Lake 42

Area girls' basketball scores on Jan. 25:
Upsala 46, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 43 OT
Lac qui Parle Valley 62, Yellow Medicine East 45
Minneota 76, MACCRAY 35
Willmar 69, Sartell-St. Stephen 50
Underwood 56, Hancock 44
Pine River-Backus 62, Swanville 41

Benson 40, Osakis 31

Lakeview 67, Dawson-Boyd 50

Melrose Area 40, Brandon-Evansville 27
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 71, Ortonville 66
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 49, West Central Area 46

Area boys' basketball scores on Jan. 25:
Ashby 57, Battle Lake 48
Melrose Area 57, Albany 49
Willmar 85, Redwood Valley 65
Pine City 83, Hinckley-Finlayson 70
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 83, Pierz 77
Royalton 51, Milaca 31
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 64, Sauk Centre 47
Hancock 69, Lac qui Parle Valley 57
Pine River-Backus 86, Swanville 48
Minnewaska Area 42, Montevideo 37
Renville County West 72, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 63

The Bonanza Valley Voice sends our tip of the hat to the B-B-E speech team, as they open the 2019 season at Little Falls today. It will be an exciting season! A group of around 22 speech students made the trip for today's competition.

Also, last night, the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouttes dance team competed at the Camden Conference championship comp at Tracy-Milroy-Balaton high school. Three members of the squad earned all-conference honors: Brooke Deters, Dacia Herickhoff and Megan Laughlin. Congratulations! Hard work pays off!

Click here to see more coverage on the Spicer WinterFest activities, which had part of its schedule published on page four of this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. https://bit.ly/2WonDF5.

Four alarms

A four-alarm fire is being fought as I type this at 18:48 on Friday night. It's a severe shed fire on the Charlie Baker property west/northwest of Brooten on County Road 85...just shy of a mile north of Highway 55.

Thankfully, Charlie was not in the shed at the time the fire broke out.

*Below, a short video clip taken just shy of 18:00 on the east side of the fire:


**And a closer video taken from the chisel-plowed field to the north of the property:


Responding to the fire and fighting in dangerously cold conditions (-13 or so air temp) are fire departments from Brooten, Belgrade, Sedan and Elrosa. Say a prayer for them and their safety; they will be out there for awhile - undetermined at this point.

In tonight's game at Holdingford between the Huskers and our B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team, the score is tied 35-35 with 12 minutes to go in the second half.

*With 1:42 left in the game, the Jaguars have a slim 54-51 lead.

At the Browerville duals tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team went 0-3 and now has an 8-5 dual meet record. They lost to Foley 45-22; lost to LPGE/Browerville 39-26; and lost to Minneota 41-20. Up next: a triangular next Tuesday against Minnewaska Area and Sauk Centre-Melrose. The Minnewaska Area match will have huge Section 5A seeding implications.

Border battle!!

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team won 65-61 over visiting Paynesville. After trailing 32-24 at halftime, they opened the second half with a 19-3 run! The game went down to the wire, but a late free throw by Evan Wiener made it a four-point game in the closing seconds. The Jaguars allowed Paynesville to shoot a wide-open three at the buzzer, but it glanced off the backboard. Game over, Jaguars win!

Evan Wiener went absolutely nuts on Paynesville (I say that in a good way) and dumped 27 points on their heads. Bravo!

It was a great defensive night, with the Jaguars holding a high-octane Bulldogs offense 12 points below their typical scoring average. For what it's worth, the Jaguars scored about seven point above their typical scoring average.

*Just saw this: Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted knocked Eden Valley-Watkins out of first place with a 53-50 win tonight!

B-B-E (9-6) is 4-2 in a three-way tie for second place in the Central Minnesota Conference along with Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted and Eden Valley-Watkins. They are off now until next Tuesday, January 29 when they travel to Kimball Area (8-9, 2-4).

Central MN Conference boys'BB scores on January 24:
Kimball Area 58, Pierz 53
HL-W-W 53, Eden Valley-Watkins 50
Maple Lake 64, Holdingford 47

Maple Lake is now in first place alone with a 5-1 mark in the CMC.

More to follow after 22:30.

Radio

As stated in today's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper (page 7), tonight's boys' basketball game will be on The Train.

Halftime: Paynesville 32, B-B-E 24.

Three below

At 07:00 this morning, the temperature is at three below zero. Winds are out of the north/northwest at 21 miles an hour. The "real feel" temperature is 27 below zero!

Dangerous! Be mindful of this weather and of road conditions!

Two hours late: Thursday

Due to the oncoming bitterly cold weather, B-B-E schools will start two hours late on Thursday, January 24. Please spread the word! If you can help in your neighborhood, talk to your fellow parents and do what you can to blunt the inconvenience this can cause parents, especially those with young children.

We are a COMMUNITY in Jaguar Country! Don't forget that.

There's not much else to say besides what just flashed on Weather.com = "Think it's cold now? We have bad news"

I will get other updates posted here and also at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website at this web article (save on your phone) = https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2019/01/17/bbe/two-hour-late-start/790.html.

Time to go walk our dog one last time before the deep freeze hits!!

**Added late Wednesday night...here's a neat video clip to take your mind off of this incredibly crazy weather that's headed our way. It takes us back to September 2017 in scenic Terrace.


This video clip was never posted...I was surprised to see it had "no views" when I looked it up after finding the original MP4 file on an old jump drive. The size is 1.52 gigabytes! Holy moly! The seven-plus minute clip was shot at 1080p60 HD quality. We're still having trouble with this blog site on Internet Explorer. The images are not loading properly due to technical issues. Hopefully you're viewing this on a Chrome browser and not having any problems!

And here, something for political junkies...CNN again fails miserably and proves they are a huge, steaming pile of crap. They're just a disgusting bunch. SMH.


Watch the video to see what I'm talking about.

A win and a loss

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost 71-50 at Parkers Prairie tonight. At halftime, the Panthers led just 33-31 but pulled away early in the second half. They are currently tied for first place in the Little Eight Conference.

The Panthers (10-3) was hot from the floor, making 56 percent of their field goal shots to help make up for poor 5-of-15 free throw shooting. The Jaguars (8-6) shot 39 percent from the floor and made five of 10 free throws.

Next is a home contest on Thursday against neighboring and conference rival Paynesville Area. It will be a fun night! The dance team will also perform at halftime of the JV and varsity games.

At Kimball Area, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team came away with a 56-44 conference win. Allisa Knight's 18 points paced the Jaguars, who shot 44 percent as a team from the floor and got to the free throw line just eight times on the night. They were good on three of those free attempts.

Next for the girls' basketball team (12-4, 4-2) is a road game against Holdingford on Friday.

• On the home mats tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team picked up three quadrangular wins, including one that counts in the Central Minnesota Conference standings. Final scores were as follows:

B-B-E 77, Ortonville 6
B-B-E 63, Osakis 15
B-B-E 60, Eden Valley-Watkins 15 (CMC dual)

The wrestlers improve to 8-2 overall with the three wins and finish the CMC schedule with a 5-1 mark. Next is the Browerville duals this Friday (4 p.m.).

More to follow after 22:00.

Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball scores on Jan. 22:
Holdingford 84, Paynesville Area 32
Eden Valley-Watkins 56, Pierz 15

Area girls' basketball scores on January 22:
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 60, Minnewaska Area 43
Albany 65, Mora 40
Swanville 61, Royalton 41

Technical note: we are having all kinds of issues with this blog when using Internet Explorer as a web browser. With Chrome, it seems to work fine. Not sure what the fix is, but we're working on it.

##ConquerEveryDay

Halftime

At Kimball tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 34-19 lead in a Central Minnesota Conference game.

At Parkers Prairie, the B-B-E Jaguars boys'  basketball team trails 31-29 with three minutes to go before halftime.

No word yet on wrestling scores.

*Update: the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team went 3-0 tonight with convincing wins in all three matches on the home mats. They're now 8-2 overall heading into the Browerville duals this Friday.

With 4:41 left in the game, the girls are ahead 53-42. That gym is always tough to play in, and tonight is no different!

A new push

We have a new push at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

1,800 readers!

It's coming. Details to come in upcoming issues of the Voice.

##ConquerConquerConquer

Tough second half

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost 54-46 at Minnewaska Area tonight in a border battle rivalry game. The Lakers (9-5) made 15 of 18 free throw attempts in the game, while the Jaguars were good on five of eight tries at the line. Minnewaska Area was led by Grant Jensen's 16 points and seven rebounds; he is the son of 1987 Brooten graduate Eric Jensen, who owns Minnewaska Meats in Glenwood.

B-B-E (8-5) has a very short turnaround to recover from the tough loss, as they head into Ottertail County tomorrow night (Tuesday) for a non-conference battle at Parkers Prairie. The Panthers are 9-3 overall and 5-1 in the Little Eight Conference, tied for first with Ashby.

At Parkers Prairie tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team had a 63-51 lead with 35 seconds left in the game. The Panthers are undefeated so far this season and ranked No. 10 in the last Class 1A state poll.

Final score: B-B-E 64, Parkers Prairie 51!!! Woo Hoo!! The Jaguars shot 47 percent from the floor and had three players in double figures.

The Panthers fall to 13-1 overall, while the Jaguars improve to 11-4. B-B-E heads to Kimball Area tomorrow night to resume Central Minnesota Conference action.

More to follow later.

First half

With 3:30 to go in the first half, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team trails 20-19 at Minnewaska Area.

*Halftime: B-B-E 23, Minnewaska Area 22.

At Parkers Prairie, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is ahead 37-26 at halftime.

*Update: with 12 minutes left, Minnewaska Area has a 32-27 lead. *And with under seven minutes to go, Minnewaska Area has extended their lead to 41-34. *With five minutes to go, the Lakers are ahead 44-39.

Final scores to come in a new blog post.

Choir students ready to shine

Five members of the B-B-E senior high choir are participating in the Meistersinger Choral Festival at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, tonight (January 21). 

Rehearsals were yesterday and continue today leading up to a performance tonight at 5 p.m. To watch the concert live, tune into http://www.wartburg.edu/knightvision.

Additional coverage will follow in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper, where we LOVE our school's Fine Arts programs and promoting the wonderful students who make up the various Fine Arts groups.

In other news...tonight's boys' basketball game at Minnewaska Area will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.

For the RECORD

I wrote this a couple weeks ago and it never made it to print due to space constraints in my January 10 and January 17 issues.

I will publish it in my January 24 issue. It's written for my column / opinion area.

For the record, here’s a list of newspapers (town location) within a radius of 70 to 90 miles that the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper is bigger than: Albany/Avon, Eden Valley-Watkins, Foley, Granite Falls/Clarkfield, Belgrade, Maple Lake, Osakis, Parkers Prairie, Springfield, Tracy, Wabasso, Minneota, Battle Lake, Benson, Canby, Clara City, Kerkhoven, Starbuck and Wheaton.

Note: a few newspapers in that radius were not included in the main article on this topic that I published on January 10...because I did not have their 2017 figures available for comparison. 

Here’s a few to mention with their 2018 figures. Battle Lake's newspaper has an audited 2018 circulation average of 1,504. Brandon’s newspaper (covering the Brandon-Evansville school and area) said their circulation average was 1,557 in 2018 but did not provide an audited USPS report to the Minnesota Newspaper Association (MNA). I know that newspaper has been for sale for awhile now. The Clarissa newspaper said their 2018 figure was 2,050, but they also did not provide an audit. They are a newspaper I’m keeping my eye on, because in June 2017 their Eagle Valley school district folded. To me, that’s a death blow. The Chokio Review’s 2018 circulation average was 629. 

Newspapers (town location) that we’re basically the same size as: Madison, Melrose, Renville/Olivia, Staples - at least as of October 2018. Since then many changes could have taken place. This is business, and the business world is changing at a faster clip than it ever has been in history.

All the figures mentioned are available online and are public information. The MNA works diligently to make these figures public for the sake of transparency. Newspapers ask and often demand transparency from countless public and private organizations (within the realm of data privacy laws). I feel it’s only right to show the public how we’re doing and talk openly about what we need to improve on.

This is also posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice website:
https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/story/2019/01/17/opinion/for-the-record/787.html.

We ate like kings!

Tonight a couple of our kids and I ate like kings at Rooney's Bar in Sedan. We attended the prize giveaway and winner announcements of the annual Pope County Predator Hunt.

A good time it was! I'll have more coverage of this in the next issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice. The organizers for the predator hunt were gracious hosts.

Have a good night.

A book review

Here's an interesting blog posting to read on this bitterly cold morning:
https://bit.ly/2QYkzeH.

Wrestling - CHAMPS at NL-S!

I won't have wrestling information posted until after 10 p.m. tonight.

*Update: the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team won the 10-team New London-Spicer tournament tonight. They beat runner-up Pierz 194 to 168.5. Winning individual titles were Blaine Fischer (120), Canon Swanson (126), Tyler Jensen (132), Tyler Bents (138) and Mark Jenniges (182).

Next is a home quad on Tuesday next week.

Kensington Bank hours

The lobbies at Kensington Bank in Belgrade, Elrosa and Willmar will be closed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to allow staff members to attend the funeral of George Borgerding.

Drive-up window hours are unchanged for today, and they will be open to serve customers at all three locations.

The funeral is at 11 a.m. today. Refer to page three of this week's Bonanza Valley Voice for his full obituary.

R.I.P.

Winning on the big floor

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team got back on track quickly after losing on Tuesday night. At Morris on the college floor tonight, they beat a very good Lac qui Parle Valley team 63-58. The win improves their overall record to 8-4.

Evan Wiener led all scorers with 26 points. The senior had nine good field goal shots on 13 attempts and made four of five free throws; all that plus two assists, two blocked shots and nine rebounds (eight defensive boards!).

The Eagles (9-5 overall) are currently in first place in the Camden North Conference with a one-game lead (6-2) over second-place Renville County West (5-3). They could have made it a little tighter in the end with better free-throw shooting. They made six of 12 attempts at the line compared to B-B-E draining five of six free throws.

A big difference on the night was B-B-E making 10 three-pointers compared to LQPV making four. Also important was B-B-E's defense holding a high-octane LQPV offense 14 points below their average of 72 ppg.

LQPV is the No. 2-ranked team in Sub-Section 3A-North (No. 25 overall in Class 1A); they are looking up at No. 8-ranked (QRF) Minneota, who is the top overall-ranked team in Section 3A by QRF standings and also the No. 1-ranked Class 1A team in Minnesota in the Minnesota Basketball News poll.

B-B-E is also rated No. 2 in their sub-section (5A-South); the No. 28-ranked (QRF) Jaguars are looking up at defending champion and No. 23-ranked Hinckley-Finlayson.

The Jaguars have had some rough nights on that UM-Morris gym floor, and I'm referring specifically to playoff games over the years dating back to 1996. Tonight was not one of those nights. It was a very satisfying win.

Next for the boys' basketball team: a road game and border battle at Minnewaska Area next Monday, January 21; the Lakers just snapped a three-game losing skid with a 59-40 trouncing of Sauk Centre tonight.

Also tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team beat Paynesville 59-35 in a home conference game. They led 37-25 at halftime.

The Bulldogs fall to 1-12 overall (0-6 Central Minnesota Conference); B-B-E is 10-4 overall and now 4-2 (second) in the CMC. They trail first-place Eden Valley-Watkins, who is 15-0 overall and 8-0 in the CMC.

More to come later. I'm still basically "punched out" and off the clock for the day / night.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on Jan 17:
Eden Valley-Watkins 63, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 28
Holdingford 56, Maple Lake 33

Area boys' basketball scores on January 17:
Redwood Valley 80, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 58
Kimball Area 75, PACT Charter 44
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 80, Benson 72
BOLD 61, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 55
Henning 85, Menahga 70
Pillager 66, Bertha-Hewitt 47
Wadena-Deer Creek 66, Verndale 47
Minnewaska Area 59, Sauk Centre 40
Melrose Area 72, Montevideo 28

Area girls' basketball scores on January 17:
Upsala 43, Osakis 37
Parkers Prairie 65, Rothsay 30

Royalton 71, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 53

Yellow Medicine East 61, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 54
Pine River-Backus 48, Verndale 38
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 54, Hancock 53
Minneota 65, Lac qui Parle Valley 51
Swanville 69, Browerville 41
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 50, Ortonville 43

Brandon-Evansville 52, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 12
East Central 53, Hinckley-Finlayson 42
Pine City 82, Ogilvie 33

Two events - and office closed

Two events, one stretching over a multi-week period, are coming to the area. One is outside the Bonanza Valley Voice coverage area, but we are gladly helping promote it.

First, the Spicer Winterfest has a long list of activities scheduled for the next few weeks, basically from now into early February. You can see all of them on page 10 of this week's (January 17) issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

One item that the Spicer Commercial Club specifically asked me to promote is their first annual "Fire On Ice" dance this Saturday night, January 19, on Saulsbury Beach in Spicer from 6 to 10 p.m. Admission is just $10 for adults, and kids are free. This is a fundraiser for the Spicer Commercial Club and the Spicer Fire Department.

Another big event to get on your calendar is the 18th annual Belgrade Lions Family Fun Day. This will be held on Sunday, January 27 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the B-B-E high school. It has been promoted on the front page of the last two issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice.

More details are posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice website in the main slideshow stories. Click to read more: http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

"And on this day..."

On this day in 2005, a Holstein bull killed my dad.
https://www.wctrib.com/news/290975-brians-wishes-dream-came-too-soon-benefits-wildlife-and-environment.

The next morning, my dad's former classmate at Brooten high school, Jerry Olson, used a high-caliber rifle to take that bull down. He drove his J&K Meats pickup into a pasture that was adjacent to the cow yard, right across the barbed wire fence where the bull was standing, and shot one bullet into the bull's head. The bull dropped to the ground on the first shot. Jerry then crossed the fence with a large knife and cut the bull's throat to remove any doubt that it was dead.

You can watch part of what I just described in the video below. This video will not be available later today:



Do you know have any idea how lucky you are that we have farm families out there working every day to feed you and your family?

Today, Thursday, the Bonanza Valley Voice office will be closed.

Oh and by the way, I wanted to get this out there, just posted at the Voice website: https://bit.ly/2SZL1Xj
(Big Grove Lutheran church news) Feel free to check it out!

Home triangular

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team defeated visiting Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 57-21 in the opening dual of tonight's home Central Minnesota Conference triangular.

**Late in the Pierz dual, the Jaguars have a 34-27 lead. I don't know what weight they're at.

*Final score: Pierz 39, B-B-E 37. It was quite a match! Two powerhouses going at it.

At Maple Lake tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team suffered their fourth loss of the season. They played without leading scorer Ashton Dingmann, who was out with illness. The Irish won 57-41 in the CMC contest. B-B-E was led by junior Jackson Peter, who had 13 points on incredible six-of-eight field goal shooting with six rebounds and three steals.

B-B-E is now 7-4 overall heading into Thursday's non-conference game in Morris against Lac qui Parle Valley. (Played at the University of Minnesota-Morris campus's P.E. Center)

Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on Jan. 15:
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 55, Pierz 51
Kimball 60, Holdingford 50
That's all I can write...publishing deadline screaming at me right now.

##ConquerEveryDay

We lose another great one

Another great one has passed away from us here in Jaguar Country and the Bonanza Valley. George Borgerding, age 90, member of the Belgrade high school Class of 1946, passed away on Sunday.

He was a member of one of the best Belgrade Redmen teams to play in the 20th century, back in his senior year. The 1945-1946 Belgrade team finished 20-2 overall, the most wins for any Belgrade boys' basketball team. They were guided by first-year head coach Lowell Formo. The Redmen finished in third place in the District 20 tournament, losing to Delano 34-33 before beating Willmar 29-18 for the consolation title.

I don't know why we should be so sad that a 90-year old gentleman has passed on to heaven. But I admit, I do have great sadness over hearing this news.

His funeral is on Friday this week, January 18, at 11 a.m. at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Belgrade. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday this week at the church. At 4:30 p.m., a Knights of Columbus rosary will take place in his honor, followed by a 5 p.m. parish prayer service. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service on Friday.

Click on this link to see a video from his open house 90th birthday party from last November. The Bonanza Valley Voice had extended coverage in two print editions in November 22 and November 29.

https://bit.ly/2QQt3V8

God bless the memory of George Borgerding. R.I.P.

Defending state champs prevail

The defending Class 2A state champion Sauk Centre Mainstreeters eked out a 44-36 victory tonight over our B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team.

After trailing 22-15 at halftime, the Jaguars cut the deficit to four points on a few occasions but had too many turnovers at just the wrong time to pull this one out.

B-B-E falls to 9-4 overall heading into Thursday's home game against Paynesville Area.

**Calling all Jaguar fans! Don't miss tomorrow night's big match up between our B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team and the Pierz Pioneers. Action should be underway around 7:30 p.m. on our home mats. At stake is first place in the Central Minnesota Conference.

Area girls' basketball scores on January 14:
Albany 52, Holdingford 51 (Albany's Paige Meyer hit a runner that banked off the glass with 5.2 seconds left to lift the Huskies over the Huskers in a border battle)
Eden Valley-Watkins 83, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 28
Parkers Prairie 49, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 33
BOLD 68, Renville County West 39

Area boys' basketball scores on January 14:
Hancock 67, Benson 54
Henning 84, Browerville 55
Lakeview 64, Yellow Medicine East 55
Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 57, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 49

Halftime

At halftime against No. 1-ranked (Class 2A) Sauk Centre, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is trailing 22-15.

A three-pointer by Jacqueline Gossen gave the Jaguars a 15-12 lead. It's been all Mainstreeters since then.

Radio

Tonight's home girls' basketball game with Sauk Centre will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM and also 106.5 FM The Train. This information was omitted from last week's Bonanza Valley Voice, and I apologize for that.

This week's January 17 issue will include a list of upcoming radio broadcasts for our Jaguars.

Game rescheduled

The non-conference game against Lac qui Parle Valley for our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has been rescheduled to Thursday, January 17. The game will be played at the University of Minnesota-Morris P.E. Center.

LQPV is 9-4 overall and 6-2 (first place) in the Camden North Conference. They are tough! It will be a great game...with luck I hope to get out to Morris to watch it.

Not sure if this was posted a few days ago or not...here's footage of the Trinity Lutheran (Brooten) Youth Bell Choir performing at Sunday worship on January 6. Many of these students are multi-sport athletes at B-B-E! Click here to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://bit.ly/2QGHXxm.

Faltering down the stretch

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team had undefeated Menahga right in their crosshairs in the final minutes of today's non-conference game. At the wrong time, the Braves went on a 10-0 run to erase B-B-E's 46-41 lead.

B-B-E led 36-28 with 12:38 left in the second half. The Braves had a 7-0 run to narrow it to 36-35 with 10:44 left. With 9:20 to go, Macie Kirckof scored on a layup to put the Jaguars ahead 41-35, but less than two minutes later, the game was knotted up at 41-all.

With 4:44 left, the Braves tied the game at 46-46 during their 10-0 run. They led 51-46 with 2:57 to go when sophomore guard Timbr Berttunen went two-for-two at the line on a bonus opportunity.
Final score: Menahga 58, B-B-E 51.

*Below, video from the end of the first half tonight; it started with 3:34 left on the clock and ended right after the halftime buzzer:


The Jaguars take an 9-3 overall record into Monday night's home game against top-ranked (Class 2A) Sauk Centre. Menahga is 13-0 overall.

Area girls' basketball scores on January 12:
Pierz 45, Melrose 42 OT
Minnewaska Area 61, Benson 37
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 55, Lac qui Parle Valley 51
Yellow Medicine East 76, Westbrook-Walnut Grove 43
East Central 59, Upsala 49

Central Minnesota Conference girls' BB scores on Jan. 11:
Pierz 66, Kimball Area 58
Maple Lake 62, Paynesville Area 48
Eden Valley-Watkins 63, Holdingford 20

Area boys' basketball scores on January 12:
Delano 64, Albany 51
Annandale 59, Melrose Area 54
Osakis 55, Minnewaska Area 48
Upsala 61, East Central 59
MA/CA 72, LQPV 68
Dassel-Cokato 45, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 38

Thank you to Coop's Corner of Belgrade for being our premier sponsor of today's Jaguar Sports blog coverage! We love local businesses! Coop's Corner is owned and operated by 2008 B-B-E graduate Danielle Davis, who is also a former Jaguar student-athlete.

More to follow later, including video from today's game.

##ConquerEveryDay

Halftime

At halftime, our B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 28-25 lead over state-ranked Menahga.

The Jaguars led 4-0 with 12 minutes left.

*Update....with 1:51 left, the Jaguars trail 51-48.

More to follow in a new blog post.

A NEEDLE

Nothing less than a needle in his arm.

Fox News: Jayme Closs suspect wasn’t home when she escaped, ‘appeared to be out looking for her,’ authorities say as .... https://www.foxnews.com/us/jayme-closs-suspect-wasnt-home-when-she-escaped-appeared-to-be-out-looking-for-her-authorities

Justice must be served. I'm tired of this. It just sickens me.

Another title

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team won their fourth tournament title of the season tonight with a first-place finish at Paynesville and 221 points. They beat back a strong challenge by Class 2A Sartell-St. Stephen, who took second with 192.5 points.

The Jaguars, ranked No. 9 in today's Guillotine Class 1A team state rankings, had four individual champions: Tyler Bents at 145, Canon Swanson at 126, Mark Jenniges at 182 and Michael Koubek at 195.

*Below is a video of the end of Thaniel Cebulla's fifth-place match at 220 pounds:


Cebulla pinned Eden Valley-Watkins senior Peyton Thul in 45 seconds to claim fifth place.

*Below, video from the 195-pound title match with B-B-E's Michael Koubek winning by fall:


While leaving the Paynesville high school tonight, I overheard that Pierz defeated Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove at the Bemidji duals. I didn't get a score.

Pierz visits our house next Tuesday for a conference triangular. It will be a battle for the ages between our Jaguars and the Pioneers. The tri starts at 5 p.m. with a dual between Pierz and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. Next is the big one: B-B-E vs. Pierz! I expect that will be underway by 6 p.m.

Team scoring from third to 10th:
3. Grand Rapids 167.5
4. (tie) Milaca-Faith Christian and Paynesville, 105 each
6. Holdingford 89
7. Barnesville 84
8. Eden Valley-Watkins 77
9. Sauk Centre/Melrose 74
10. Spectrum 19

Time for another break from work and then back at it in the morning! I have some nice video from tonight to post throughout the weekend.

##ConquerEveryDay

Robotics season lift-off!...and wrestling

Click here to see the video on the B-B-E Resistance Robotics team season 'lift-off' from this past Saturday in Staples: https://bit.ly/2FpzfBw.

*And wrestling updates will follow...I will add a new blog post after it's all done. Currently at Paynesville, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team sits in first place with 194 points. In second is Sartell-St. Stephen with 163.5 points. In third is Grand Rapids with 141.5 points.

More to come!!

At 106, Walker Bents is going for first place.

*Update: in championship matches, the Jaguars lost at 106, 113, 120 and 132 pounds. They finally got a win at 145, with Tyler Bents winning a 12-4 major decision. 

Photo finish!!!

The game went down to the wire tonight on our home court, with our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team shutting the door on Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted in a 44-43 win.

The first half brought a mighty struggle for the Jaguars, who trailed 12-5 with 11 minutes left. Dylan Meyer's three-pointer a minute later cut it to 12-8, but the Lakers responded with an 8-0 run over the next four minutes of play. Will VanBeck's three-pointer with three minutes left cut it to 20-11, and a minute later a shot by Ashton Dingmann made the score 20-13. That was also the halftime score.

Evan Wiener scored four straight in the opening minutes of the second half to make it a five-point game, 22-17. Each team fought through multiple empty possessions. With 10:39 left, Meyer canned another three-pointer to put the Jaguars ahead for the first time all night at 23-22. It was a back-and-forth battle the rest of the way.

The Jaguars trailed 43-41 heading into the final minute. Ashton Dingmann canned a three-pointer that he released with 7.3 seconds left. The Lakers called a timeout right after the ball went through the hoop. They inbounded the ball with 3.7 seconds on the clock, got it past half court and promptly called another timeout.

With one second left, they got a long three-point attempt off before the horn. The ball hit the rim, bounced many feet straight above the rim as the buzzer sounded. Game over. Jaguars win!!

For the game, the Lakers shot 2-of-10 at the free throw line. B-B-E missed both free throw attempts in the first half and made five of seven free throws in the second period. HL-W-W had 16 turnovers to 11 for B-B-E. Overall, the Jaguars made nine of 22 three-point shots.

The Jaguars improve to 7-3 overall with the win. Next is a big game at Maple Lake next Tuesday night in continued Central Minnesota Conference action.

*Below, video from the final minutes of tonight's game, brought to you by the business advertisers of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper!


At Upsala, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 58-34 tonight. They improve to 11-2 overall with the win. Next is a huge game on Saturday with state-ranked Menahga! We need a huge home crowd to cheer on the Jaguars! Tip-off for the varsity game will be at approximately 16:45.

More to follow in the morning. Minnesota-scores.net is down right now so I am unable to get a good read on area scores.

Good night!

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on Jan. 10:
Pierz 47, Holdingford 44
Eden Valley-Watkins 63, Maple Lake 56

Area boys' basketball scores on January 10:
Osakis 62, Royalton 38
BOLD 74, Sauk Centre 57

Area girls' basketball scores on January 10:
New London-Spicer 60, Watertown-Mayer 38
BOLD 70, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 44
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 61, Benson 33 (K-M-S improves to 8-4)
Sauk Centre 51, Minnewaska Area 41
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 50, Hancock 34
Swanville 75, Kimball Area 63

##ConquerEveryDay

Basketball

Tonight's home game will not be on any radio stations. I'll get updates posted as I am able to on this blog (on this post)...and as always, the game will be live streamed on the B-B-E school website: https://sites.google.com/a/bbejaguars.org/bbe-broadcasting.

The varsity game is scheduled to start at approximately 7:15 p.m.

Once I hear any news out of Upsala, I'll get girls' basketball updates posted as well.

*Update: tip-off for the boys' basketball game will be shortly after 19:20. Stay tuned!

Halftime: Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 20, B-B-E 13.

At Upsala, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 36-20 halftime lead.

Further updates will be in a new blog post!!!

(HD VIDEO) Surging past Pierz

Here's some exciting video from the last six minutes or so of the boys' basketball game last night:


With 5:42 left, Pierz scored on a layup shot to make it 52-49. They were limited to just three points the rest of the way as B-B-E won 68-52.

Next: the Jaguars host HL-W-W (4-6, 1-1) on Thursday this week! I hope we can get a nice crowd on hand! HL-W-W lost 51-42 to Watertown-Mayer on Tuesday this week.

This video is made possible by the business advertisers who support the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper and our news and sports coverage!

A summary of the area scoreboard from Tuesday is forthcoming. Still playing catch-up in our sports department after a busy start to this week!

*Added Thursday afternoon...here's video of the Youth Bell Choir at Trinity Lutheran church, featured on the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://bit.ly/2QGHXxm.

Central Minnesota Conference girls' Bball scores on Jan. 8:
Eden Valley-Watkins 79, Paynesville Area 19
Pierz 57, HL-W-W 53

Area girls' basketball scores on January 8:

Canby 48, MACCRAY 42

Hancock 36, Benson 33

K-M-S 61, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 48

Area boys' basketball scores on January 8:
Osakis 62, Holdingford 41
Milaca 59, Kimball Area 45
Foley 69, Royalton 57
T-M-B 64, K-M-S 56
West Central Area 56, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 41

##ConquerEveryDay