Step III: Jaguars power their way to another 'Ship!!

It's another sweep for the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team to advance in the playoffs. They won game three 25-18 to claim the Sub-Section 5A-South championship tonight over neighboring rival Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The spacious gymnasium at Little Falls high school was rocking, and both fan sections were vocal and proud as the match wore on.

Scores of the first two sets were 25-12 and 25-23.

As a team, the Jaguars hit at a solid 22 percent clip. They looked sharp from start to finish! Hitting, blocking, passing...all the nuts and bolts fit together and responded to everything the Fighting Saints threw their way.

IT'S A THREE-PEAT! They are now winners of three straight sub-section titles!

ON TO THE NEXT 'SHIP!!!!

B-B-E (21-7-1) plays next on Saturday night, November 2 back at Little Falls high school at 7 p.m. against Sub-Section 5A-North champion Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (24-6). That match will not be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM.

Walker-Hackensack-Akeley was an underdog to some extent against state-ranked Pine River-Backus tonight. They came out firing on all cylinders and put the Tigers back on their heels. After a hiccup in a game three loss, WHA put the hammer down and blew PR-B away in game four. They will certainly be tough as nails on Saturday night***! For the record, game scores in the North title match were 25-11, 25-20, 18-25, 25-16.

PR-B finishes 28-4 overall. They put a young and inexperienced team on the court this year that shattered all expectations of a "rebuilding" season. That is one heck of a strong volleyball program.

Also noteworthy: the North sub-section title match included two teams who have just five seniors in total...two on PR-B's roster and three on WHA's roster. From what I am reading, WHA's setter is one of their three seniors. The other two are a back row player and an outside hitter.

For comparison, the South sub-section title match included two teams who had 11 seniors altogether.

K-M-S finishes one of their better seasons in school history with a 17-12 overall record. They graduate four seniors and two very skilled, experienced players out of their top rotation.

**Here's video taken between games two and three:


**Here's a really neat video clip from tonight...quite a feat to celebrate for B-B-E head coach Steve Waddell!


In other action tonight...
Minnewaska Area beat New London-Spicer 3-0 tonight to claim the north subsection title in Section 3AA. Smooth Magic will carry that match on Saturday night. NL-S's loss was a huge upset, as I doubt many prognosticators outside of Pope County thought the Lakers had a chance. It shows that when you're hot, you are hot! Volleyball is especially that way.

Game scores in the incredible upset were 28-26, 25-21, 25-23. The Wildcats had no business losing game one after building a 16-8 lead...but that's what happened. The Lakers fought back to tie it at 17-17 and then took a 20-19 lead. When you have a 16-8 lead in the opening set of a huge playoff match, you find another gear and put your foot on the throat of the other team!

NL-S led 4-1 early in game two but then fell behind on Minnewaska's 6-0 run that put the Lakers on top for good. The Lakers led 23-18 in game three before falling into a 23-23 tie. Minnewaska took the last two points of the match to earn their first sub-section volleyball title in a long, long time.

I don't remember the last time Minnewaska Area played in a volleyball section final. One may have to go back to the 1990s to find that on the record book.

NL-S finishes 27-3 overall. They were the No. 6-ranked team out of 126 teams in the Class 2A QRF scale. Earlier in the season at the Minnewaska Invitational, the Wildcats swept the Lakers 25-17, 25-18.

The Lakers, who were a fifth-place team in the West Central Conference with a 7-7 mark, improve to 16-10 overall and now face a tall task of dethroning Big South Conference-West champion Marshall Area (27-5) in the Section 3AA championship match. Could they do it? I think they can.

In Section 6AA, I saw that Royalton lost to top-seeded Annandale. The Cardinals won 25-15, 25-22, 25-21. They are the No. 7-ranked team in Class 2A on the QRF scale.

The Royals, ranked No. 20 on the Class 2A QRF scale, had their best season in school history with a final record of 25-4 overall. They were tri-champions in the Central Minnesota Conference after exiting the Prairie Conference last season. I believe they have three conference titles in a row to their credit.

In the other 6AA semifinal, Maple Lake (23-7) ended Sauk Centre's season with a 3-1 win. Way to represent the Central Minnesota Conference! Sauk Centre was solo champions of the West Central Conference this season. Tonight at Sauk Rapids-Rice high school, the Irish took a 2-0 lead in sets, got knocked around in game three and then won a close game four by a 25-23 score. Game scores were 26-24, 25-19, 16-25, 25-23. Sauk Centre finishes 27-3 overall with their only other two losses coming in regular season tournament play.

In the Sub-Section 3A-South finals at the R/A Facility on the SMSU-Marshall campus, Adrian ended Tracy-Milroy-Balaton's season in a 3-2 barn burner. The Dragons (28-2) won game five by a 16-14 score! T-M-B built a 2-0 lead in sets with early wins of 25-22 and 25-7 before the Dragons ran the table with wins of 25-20, 25-22 and 16-14. T-M-B finishes 20-11 overall; they went 7-4 (fifth place) in the Camden South Conference.

In the Sub-Section 3A-North finals at SMSU, Minneota thrashed Canby in a 25-7, 25-17, 25-11 sweep. The Lancers finish a strong season 23-9 overall. The defending state champion Vikings are 29-3 overall.


**Thank you to Bonanza Valley State Bank as premier corporate sponsors of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's Jaguar volleyball playoff coverage! We appreciate the support of our locally-owned, hometown bank!!

Title match!

Match updates will follow here after 19:30 tonight. The match will be aired on Benson radio, 93.5 FM.

Before that, another iMovie production by the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper sports department will be posted below.

**And here's that video! It's about 112 seconds long...it is best viewed in HD format, at 1080pHD!!!


##JaguarCountry
##JaguarPride
##JaguarStrong
##GoJags!
##ConquerEveryDay


**Update at 19:17: Walker-Hackensack-Akeley has a two-to-one lead in sets over Pine River-Backus. They are familiar conference opponents who went the full five sets on October 15th. PR-B won that match to take the conference title outright.

In tonight's match the Tigers won game three 25 to 18 to fend off a sweep.

**Update: WHA won 3-1 to advance.

**Update: the South title match started at 20:14...

**Update: the Jaguars won game one 25-12.

**Update: the Jaguars have a 16 to 11 lead in game two.

*Update: the Jaguars won game two 25-23. KMS rallied to close the gap to 24-23.

**Update: the Jaguars have a 22 to 15 lead in game 3.

**The outcome will be posted in a new post.

Thank you to Bonanza Valley State Bank as our premier sponsor of Jaguar volleyball playoff coverage! Your support is important and appreciated, and all of us in Jaguar Country thanks you!

The K-M-S Fighting Saints

The Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Fighting Saints volleyball team will be a formidable opponent tonight for our B-B-E Jaguars. I rate them "tough as nails" going into the sub-section finals at Little Falls high school. The Jaguars will have to display a high level of intensity and focus in order to advance to the Section 5A finals. It will be one heck of a great match to take in!!!

K-M-S sports a 17-11 overall record. They went 5-6 in the Camden North Conference, which was good for second place behind North division champion MACCRAY (6-5, 20-11 finish).

In their semifinal match on Tuesday, the Fighting Saints systematically dismantled Browerville with a powerful attack. Haylee Johnson had the hot hand with 12 kills plus an ace block against the Tigers. Lauren Krieger and Maret Gjerde each added six kills, while Gjerde chipped in three ace serves.

The Tigers (14-11) put up a good fight in game one but lost 25-14 after getting worn down late in the set. K-M-S then won games two and three by scores of 25-12 and 25-7.

A much better match took place in K-M-S's playoff opener, when they beat Benson by a 3-1 margin in Kerkhoven on October 25. Gjerde and Halie Nichols each had two ace serves. Grace Collins had 41 set assists on a 117-for-121 effort in guiding the offense. The hitting stats were impressive: Lauren Krieger had eight kills on 26 attacks with just two hitting errors. Johnson had 11 kills on 45 attacks with just five hitting errors. Gjerde had eight kills on 28 attacks with five hitting errors. Makenna Kelley was the hot hitter that night with 16 kills on 37 attacks with just one hitting error. Katie Klaphake added five kills on 12-for-15 hitting.

Nichols had 26 digs with 15 digs from Morgan Lesteberg and also Johnson. Collins had 10 digs.

**Tonight's match starts at about 7:30 p.m. tonight. I hope you will be making the drive! The match will not be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. If it will be on Benson radio, I'll post that as I find out.

**Radio Update! The match tonight in Little Falls will be on Benson radio, 93.5 FM. You'll have to look up their website to see if they are on TuneIn or have a web stream.

Halloween

As a parent and taxpayer, I am proud that our local school district still celebrates Halloween! The P.C. mind set hasn't gotten too far in these parts...hopefully it stays that way.

Here's a perspective from a Jewish adult who grew up with Halloween as the lone holiday that she could celebrate with all of her peers...(short link) https://bit.ly/2Nw8A8i.

For fans in Jaguar Country, many of us will be cheering on our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team tonight instead of taking in the trick-or-treating activities around our towns. I've got more to post on tonight's match later today.

iMovie production

An iMovie production by the Bonanza Valley Voice sports department will soon be posted. It's just the first iMovie of the fall sports season. Finally got it rolling!

Check back soon...putting the finishing touches on it now.

**And here it is! Share as you are able to.


I'm putting together another iMovie tonight that will hopefully be posted in the morning. Thank you to the Bonanza Valley State Bank for sponsoring this extra sports coverage!!

(VIDEO) Winning subsection opener

*Here's the final points scored in the playoff opener last Friday:


Time to gather scouting information on Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg!

Thank you to the Bonanza Valley State Bank of Brooten for helping sponsor our volleyball team's playoff coverage!

Step II: semifinal sweep!

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team won a 3-0 match against No. 2-seeded Osakis tonight in Long Prairie during the semifinal round of the subsection playoffs.

Osakis, champions of the Prairie North Conference, finishes the season 11-17 overall.

Now 21-7-1 overall, the Jaguars advance to the Sub-Section 5A-South championship match. That will be played on Thursday night, October 31 in Little Falls. First serve will be approximately 7:30 p.m. from Little Falls high school. That will follow the Sub-Section 5A-North title match that begins at 6 p.m. at LFHS.

*For a limited time...take in the end of the match tonight:


*In the other semi match in Long Prairie tonight...Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg has a 20-13 lead over Browerville. *Update: the Fighting Saints defeated Browerville 25-14, 25-12, 25-7 and advance to the sub-section finals. They have a 17-11 overall record. Browerville closes out their season at 14-11 overall; they were champions of the Prairie South Conference (6-2).

In Sub-Section 5A-North, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (23-5-1) defeated No. 1-seed Rush City to advance to the finals. In the other semifinal, Pine River-Backus (28-1-2) defeated Onamia in a 3-0 sweep. This sets up a rematch of teams that placed first and second in the Northland Conference this year. On October 15 in Walker, PR-B won 3-2 against W-H-A to claim the Northland Conference title. It was a winner-take-all match.

In Section 6AA, fifth-seeded Royalton won 3-1 over No. 4-seeded Albany to advance to the semifinals. They will face top-seeded Annandale for a berth in the section finals.

Also, I heard that Minnewaska Area earned a huge upset 3-0 win over Redwood Valley down in the Section 3AA tournament. The Lakers (15-10) are the No. 6 seed in Sub-Section 3AA-North. The Cardinals were the No. 2 seed and finish the season 24-6 overall. They went 5-1 in the Big South Conference-West to take second place behind Marshall Area.

In Section 2A, BOLD won a 3-2 match over Minnesota Valley Lutheran to advance to the subsection finals. They will take on Mayer Lutheran in that match. This will be the second year in a row that Mayer Lutheran and BOLD will meet in the subsection finals.

In Section 3A, Canby defeated Lakeview in a 3-2 match. The Lancers won game five by a 17-15 margin! WOW! Even crazier? Lakeview was at match point with a 14-12 lead!!! Later they held a 15-14 lead before giving up three straight points to see their season come to a close. Can you imagine? Canby lost the first two sets to make the night even more interesting at SMSU's R/A Facility in Marshall. Lakeview finishes the season 26-4 overall, while Canby advances to the sub-section finals with a 23-8 overall record.

Minneota swept Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 25-16, 25-18, 25-9 in the other semifinal match at SMSU. The Vikings and Knights were tied at 16-16 in game one before the Vikings closed it out with a 9-0 run.

Thank you to the Bonanza Valley State Bank for underwriting a huge portion of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's volleyball playoff coverage! We couldn't do this without the strong support of loyal, locally-owned businesses like BVSB. Their website link is https://www.bvsb.bank/Pages/Default.html.

Playoff match updates

Here's updates for tonight's match against Osakis...

*Update: the Jaguars have a 20-15 lead in game one against Osakis. **And the Jaguars won the first set by a 25-17 score.

*Game two final score: 25-15 Jaguars!

*Game three final score: 25-15 Jaguars win! It's a sweep!

**Next: the subsection finals at approximately 7:30 p.m. at Little Falls high school on Thursday night this week.

Coming next this evening in Long Prairie is the other subsection semifinal featuring K-M-S vs. Browerville. Updates on that to follow.


Bonanza Valley State Bank...website link: bvsb.bank.

(VIDEO) Post-game with the Jaguars

Here's senior Brittany Berge in a brief Bonanza Valley Voice post-match interview after the B-B-E Jaguars defeated ACGC last Friday night...


THANK YOU to Bonanza Valley State Bank for stepping up to the plate as corporate sponsors of our B-B-E volleyball team's postseason playoff run! Let's hope it continues for many more matches!!

Note: the graphic below has an outdated website link...the link should say "bvsb.bank"

Time to head to Long Prairie! Wheels up in 20 minutes!!! Remember, tonight's match is not on the radio...stay tuned here for updates later on!

##ConquerEveryDay

Spooktacular success

The B-B-E school band's Halloween Spooktacular concert was a smashing success tonight at the high school. Band members in grades 6 to 12 performed throughout the event. The gymnasium was packed the entire night. It was a zoo at times! A good problem to have. People of all ages - mostly parents and young children - took in a wonderful, music-filled atmosphere while B-B-E band students showcased their early-school year prowess.

I am immensely proud of our band program, the Band Boosters volunteer group and, of course, band director Mrs. Tessier.

More coverage will follow in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice issue. At some point in the future (hopefully yet this week) I will have video from tonight's Halloween concert posted online for the public to enjoy.

Website updated...and another church dinner!

We've finally gotten around to another round of updates at the Bonanza Valley Voice website. That's running "about a week" behind schedule.

https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

You can see video from Crow River Lutheran church, the B-B-E elementary school fire safety week and learn about an upcoming event at Central Square and Civic Center in Glenwood. And a host of other items to check out, including the Voice online photo gallery and the B-B-E area community calendar.

One item on the calendar, and one that was advertised with a print ad on page 4 this week, is today's pancake and sausage supper at St. Francis de Sales Catholic church in Belgrade. Head over with family and/or neighbors! Just $10 for adults - all you can eat!!

Off the top of my head, this is the second-to-last fall church event on the Bonanza Valley Voice schedule. The final one is one week from today at Grace Lutheran church in Belgrade. They will hold a soup/sandwich supper.

Time to head to church!


*Added Sunday night...here's video from the playoff opener on Friday:


Remember that the next round of volleyball playoffs has our B-B-E Jaguars traveling to Long Prairie-Grey Eagle high school for the semifinals in Sub-Section 5A-South! They faced Osakis with first serve at 6 p.m. Please spread the word!

Tuesday's playoff match will not be aired on the radio.

The Pavilion

About a month after the Brooten Pavilion turned 90 years old, I spent a good chunk of my evening visiting with numerous Stepans and Terhaars at a post-funeral celebration in honor of Kenny Terhaar, who passed away on October 18. Kenny was a member of the Brooten Class of 1952.

I learned he played not only piano but also trumpet in his high school band. He was an avid singer as well and, naturally, part of the Brooten high school choir back then.

The Stepan and Terhaar families have given so much to the town of Brooten throughout the years. The list of children that those families put through the Brooten school district and more recently the B-B-E school district is a mile long!

In totally unrelated news...I was following the post-season run of Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted's football team. They went 0-8 in the regular season but pulled off a rare upset by defeating Concordia Academy 26-7 in the Section 4AA quarterfinals last Tuesday.

Today they faced a very tall task in the form of No. 2 QRF-ranked St. Agnes in the semifinals. Their game had a 6 p.m. kickoff at Hamline University. Holy moly! Can you imagine? A team that went 0-8 in the regular season was playing at Klas Field Stadium for a berth in the section championship.

Final score? The final score was 14-12. Ouch! HL-W-W finishes the season 1-9. St. Agnes improves to 9-1 overall and now faces Minneapolis North in their section finals. North beat Maple Lake 52-43 in their semifinal game this afternoon.

In Section 4A football...upstart Benson lost 39-14 to Mayer Lutheran in their semifinal game played in St. Bonifacius at Crown College's Old National Bank Stadium tonight. In the other semifinal, top-seeded Browerville defeated Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 34-13.

Step I: volleyball opens strong for subsections

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team prevailed by a 3-0 sweep tonight over Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in their Sub-Section 5A-South playoff quarterfinal match. Game scores were 25-17, 25-9, 25-15.

A-C-GC finishes the season 3-22 overall with a 1-1 showing in the playoffs. They are led by first-year co-head coaches Jamie Tanner and Quincy McNeil. I had a nice, brief visit with Coach Tanner as the Falcons were heading to the player bus. They lose seven seniors, but the program is under going a big overhaul that will pay dividends in future seasons. A-C-GC brought a great deal of spark and hustle to the court tonight. They were a very worthy opponent for the quarterfinal-round match, and I congratulated Coach Tanner on her team's efforts.

Next: the Jaguars (20-7-1) travel to Long Prairie on Tuesday, October 29 for the sub-section semifinals. Their match at LP-GE high school begins at 6 p.m. The match will not be aired on the radio.

I don't have a final score yet from the Osakis vs. Upsala playoff match. The Jaguars get the winner of that one on Tuesday night.

**Update: it's Osakis! The Silverstreaks won in a 3-2 match over Upsala tonight. I don't have game scores yet.

Osakis is now 11-16 overall. They finished 7-1 in the Prairie North Conference standings to claim the title outright.

Upsala closes out their season 8-19 overall; they went 5-3 in the Prairie South Conference, good for second place and one game out of first, a spot occupied by Browerville as sole champions.

Tonight in another Sub-Section 5A-South match, Browerville (14-10) dispatched visiting Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (6-22) in a rare border battle quarterfinal round match via a 3-0 sweep. Game scores were 25-20, 25-19, 25-17.

Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg defeated neighboring Benson 3-1 in a sub-section quarterfinal border battle tonight at Kerkhoven. Game scores were 25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 25-20. The Fighting Saints improve to 16-11 overall, while the Braves finish the season 9-16.

K-M-S and Browerville will meet in the semifinals in the late match at LP-GE high school next Tuesday.

...and so goes the playoff march...it's safe to say that all teams at this point are going 'one night at a time'!!!

Venturing northward, in Sub-Section 5A-North...
Pine River-Backus won their playoff opener tonight by a 3-1 score over No. 5-seeded Bertha-Hewitt. The Bears set the Tigers back on their heels after winning game one 25-18. PR-B (27-1-2) proceeded to win the next three games 25-17, 25-22, 25-13. Bertha-Hewitt closes out the 2019 season with a fine 17-11 overall record (2-5 Park Region Conference). They were ranked No. 88 in the latest QRF ranking for Class 1A.

The PR-B Tigers advance to face Onamia next Tuesday in their semifinal round of subsections. That match will start at approximately 7:30 p.m. at Aitkin. The Panthers are 19-9 overall and have a 2-0 record so far in the playoffs. They went 8-2 (third place) in the Great River Conference, and the latest QRF rankings put them at No. 59 in Class 1A.

The Great River Conference title was shared this year by Pine City and Rush City, who both finished 9-1. Our B-B-E Jaguars played Rush City a couple weeks ago at SCSU and won 3-0.

PR-B is ranked No. 9 in the QRF scale. B-B-E is ranked No. 25. Minnesota's Class 1A includes 188 volleyball teams.

*Here's a short video clip featuring the player introductions for the team tonight:


*Here's video from the end of game one tonight:



Other updates will follow later tonight. Much to work with including photos, player interviews and match statistics. Plus random checks of the area scoreboard!

Down in the ultra-competitive Section 3A playoffs...
Minneota won 25-12, 25-13, 25-9 over Lac qui Parle Valley. Lakeview swept Yellow Medicine East 26-24, 25-8, 25-9 in a border battle match up. Canby swept Central MN Christian 25-14, 25-16, 25-22. Finally, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton swept Camden Conference North champion MACCRAY 25-16, 25-20, 25-18.

##ConquerEveryDay

Playoff opener

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has a 2-0 lead in sets. Game two had a 25-9 score against No. 5-seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.

Final score and more in a new blog post.

It's the Falcons

For the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team, their sub-section quarterfinal opponent will be Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. The Falcons downed Kimball Area in a 3-2 barn burner tonight at Kimball. The Falcons took game five by a 16-14 score! The Cubs finish the season 2-22 overall.

B-B-E (19-7-1) hosts A-C-GC (3-21) on Friday night, October 25, with first serve at 7 p.m. The match will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.

##JaguarCountry
##FullThrottle
##LetsDoThis
##YouGotThis
##Believe
##ConquerEveryDay


*Here's a short video clip from Tuesday's scrimmage on the home court against Eden Valley-Watkins. The Jaguars also faced neighboring Melrose Area that night:



Sub-Section 5A-South first-round (play-in) results:
Benson 3, Kaleidoscope Charter 0 (25-6, 25-10, 25-8)
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 3, Swanville 2 (20-25, 25-16, 25-15, 20-25, 15-6)

In the north half of Section 5A, winners in the play-in round were Nevis, Braham, Isle and Onamia. The lone lower seeded team to win out of that group was Isle, who won 3-2 over Hinckley-Finlayson.

At Royalton tonight, the Royals (24-1-2) defeated St. Cloud Cathedral in a 3-2 match to open the Section 6AA playoffs. The Royals won game five by a 15-11 score. Royalton won the first and third games, and the Crusaders won sets No. 2 and No. 4, with game four bringing a 25-15 score to force the fifth set.

At Maple Lake, the Irish (21-7) defeated Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted by a 3-0 margin in another Section 6AA first-round match.

At Melrose tonight, the Dutchmen defeated Rocori in another Section 6AA first-round match. Game scores were 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 25-15. Melrose advances to face Maple Lake in next Tuesday's quarterfinals.

Minnewaska Area earned an upset 3-0 win over Eden Valley-Watkins tonight in the Sub-Section 3AA-North playoffs. Game scores were 25-19, 25-20, 28-26.

(VIDEO) Dig Pink night

Here's a video clip from the Dig Pink volleyball night...held a couple Tuesdays ago before the final match of Central Minnesota Conference play took place:


Reminder! The volleyball team's playoff opener is tomorrow night on the home court with first serve at 7 p.m.

A passing grade!

The Bonanza Valley Voice received a passing grade in the annual U.S. Post Office audit that every legal newspaper is required to do in America. The audit was performed by staff of the Brooten Post Office earlier today. Our respective counts were off by just one newspaper out of 1,520 paid subscribers on the mailing list.

Circulation hovers between 1,580 and 1,600 readers per week. We are hanging in there...the circulation figures have remained steady all year. We were hoping to "punch it hard" this year and see a big gain in circulation, but that wasn't in the cards.

Instead we've been fighting to keep our "mo jo" at a high level ...I'm happy to say that the "mo jo" is slowly coming back to this newspaper operation. It is not an easy process...but this is happening just in time for section volleyball playoffs!!!

GO JAGUARS!

##ConquerEveryDay

Volleyball playoffs

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is seeded No. 1 in the upcoming Sub-Section 5A-South playoffs. Other top seeds in Section 5A are Pine River-Backus (26-3), Browerville (13-10) and Rush City (14-8). The Jaguars open playoffs with a sub-section quarterfinal match this Friday at home at 7 p.m. against either No. 4-seeded Kimball Area or No. 5-seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. Those two teams will square off in the play-in round this week Thursday in Kimball.

Other notes:
Friday's playoff match will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.

Osakis is the No. 2 seed in B-B-E's side of the sub-section, with Upsala the No. 3 seed.

The sub-section semifinals will be held at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle high school on Tuesday, October 29. B-B-E's match has a 6 p.m. start time that night, and they will face the winner of the Osakis vs. Upsala match.

**Update: in tonight's regular season finale, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team (19-8) defeated Swanville Area by sweep; game scores were 25-9, 25-6, 25-6. As a team, the Jaguars had a 33.8 hitting percentage on a night when all 14 varsity players played in at least one set and seven players recorded one or more kills.

Operation Warm

Operation Warm continues in Brooten this week...click your way over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website for more details (short link): https://bit.ly/31zIXsv.

With great sadness, we learned this morning about the sudden and unexpected passing of Kenny Terhaar of rural Brooten. He passed away this past Friday. A truly great and wonderful man, he was a member of the Brooten Class of 1952. His funeral is this Saturday at St. Donatus Catholic church in Brooten at 1 p.m., with visitation the evening before at the church.

Read more in this week's Voice, which could have as many as six obituaries.

• Here's a few job openings for our local area...posted at the Voice website: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/classifieds/category/employment.

More video...clinching a share

Here's the end of the HLWW volleyball match on Tuesday night...the Jaguars won a share of the school's 15th conference title!


Next for the Jaguars (18-8) is a road trip to Swanville on Monday to conclude the regular season. Playoffs begin on the home court on Friday, October 25 at 7 p.m. That playoff match will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.

Below is a video clip I forgot to get posted online...back from Homecoming week, which was a few weeks ago now. Uffda! We're still in catch up mode here.


*And here's the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's photo gallery from the Pep Fest (short link): https://bit.ly/2p15tNv.

Much to do!

A very busy weekend lies ahead across the Bonanza Valley area...catch up on all the details in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper or follow along and check your schedules with what's listed at the newspaper's community calendar page (short link): https://bit.ly/2EvexOA.

On another note...I thought this was a good read...hopefully you do too! https://bit.ly/33G1QeG.

(VIDEO) Jaguars vs. Lakers

Here's the final points scored in game two on Tuesday night.


The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team completes the regular season next Monday at Swanville. Playoff seeding will be determined by the QRF scale that day as well.

Friday Night Lights XIII: Fighting Saints come to town

At halftime the Fighting Saints are ahead 23-0 over the B-B-E Jaguars football team.

Final: K-M-S 25, B-B-E 6. The Jaguars got on the scoreboard on freshmen quarterback Jamison Reed's 67-yard touchdown run. The Jaguars totaled 134 yards of offense and managed seven first downs for the game. They were hampered by three turnovers. The Fighting Saints take a 4-4 record into the Section 4A playoffs as the No. 5 seed. They open at No. 4-seeded Parkers Prairie (5-3) next Tuesday night for the quarterfinal round.

This puts a book end to the 2019 season. The Jaguars will forfeit the Section 4A playoff opener due to  the long list of injuries sustained to the team this fall. I counted at least six varsity-level, starter-level players on the sideline who were in street clothes tonight due to injury. In at least one case, the injury sustained erased athletics for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.

This was an especially challenging season, as if the football gods were working against us. Sometimes that's how it goes - when it rains it pours. I know all about that. That happens in life. You have to fight through it, work to make yourself better - and move on.

The cupboard is anything but bare for future seasons! "Best foot forward"

Back-to-back!

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team earned a share of the Central Minnesota Conference title tonight by virtue of a 3-1 win over visiting Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted! Game scores were 21-25, 25-16, 25-18, 25-20.

The Jaguars finish in a three-way tie for first with Royalton and Maple Lake. The Royals earned a 3-1 win at Maple Lake tonight to force the log jam at the top of the CMC. Those three teams all finish 6-1 in the league. Last year, B-B-E and Maple Lake tied for the CMC title with 6-1 records. Eden Valley-Watkins finished in fourth place alone (4-3), while HL-W-W finished in fifth place at 2-5.

"Don't quote me" but I believe this marks the 13th time since 2000 that the Jaguars have won at least a share of the conference title in the CMC.

B-B-E also won two conference titles in the former West Central South in 1994 and 1995. The Jaguars ran the table in the WCCS in 1994 (14-0) and shared the title in 1995 with NL-S (13-1 each).

*Update: here's video from the player introductions tonight plus the first few minutes of game one...


In a match that determined the Northland Conference title, Pine River-Backus defeated Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in a 3-2 barn burner played at Walker. I don't have a game five score yet. PR-B improves to 24-3-2 overall and finishes 7-0 in the Northland Conference for the second straight year. W-H-A finishes in second place alone with a 6-1 mark.

...back to central Minnesota volleyball...ponder this! Look at the hot bed of volleyball we have in the area this fall. Sauk Centre won the West Central Conference title with a 14-0 mark. Melrose Area was runners-up in the WCC at 11-3. Then over at Albany, the Huskies went 11-0 to win the Granite Ridge Conference title outright. B-B-E won a share of the CMC title (6-1)...and then New London-Spicer took second place (6-1) in the very tough Wright County West Conference. Add that all up, and those teams went a combined 48-5 in conference play! Wow!!!

More to follow later! Time to jump on finishing this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper issue!

##ConquerEveryDay

Match updates

HLWW won game one 25-21 over our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team tonight.

The Jaguars built a 16-10 lead in game two. A kill by Ava Mueller made it 17-11. Berge with a block and Deters with a kill made it 19-11.

Berge's kill made it 21-12.

The lead grew to 22-13 before the Lakers got a kill for a side out.

A kill by Grace Illies handed the Jaguars a 25-16 win in game two to even up the sets at one apiece.

Game three is set to begin at 5 after 8.

*In game three, Karsee Kampsen's kill made it 17-8 with the Jaguars ahead. Later the lead was 20-12. Then the lead was 21-17. Then 24-17!!!

**Update: the Jaguars won game three 25-18.

**Update: the Jaguars have a 19 to 14 lead in game four.

Two net violations by the Lakers shifted the momentum back to the Jaguars.

**Update!! The Jaguars won game four by a 25-20 margin. Now we wait for the outcome at Maple Lake...!!

**At Maple Lake, the match is tied one set apiece between the Irish and Royalton.

Outcomes to follow in a new blog post.

Radio

Tonight's home volleyball match is on Glenwood radio.

Four straight

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team won their fourth straight match via sweep tonight. The opponent and host was Browerville, a potential sub-section opponent. Game scores were 25-6, 25-23, 25-16.

Now 17-8 overall, the Jaguars host Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted tomorrow night. It will be Senior Night and the final home and conference match of the regular season.

Fruit drive underway

The B-B-E school district's fall Fruit Drive sales are currently underway. Read more about it online at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper (short link): https://bit.ly/2Bbldjv.

This story will also be published in this week's October 17 issue.

The school's activities fund is important for the entire student body at B-B-E. It supports a lengthy list of co- and extra-curricular activities. For 11 straight years, the activities fund has covered the full cost of busing and camp costs for fifth graders attending Camp Foley! That is just one example of what this fund is used for.

Side bar: fundraising-related information from the 2019 B-B-E Color FUND Run will be published in this week's Voice.

Another sweep

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team defeated another strong team by sweep today. Rush City was the opponent, and they were no match. The Jaguars (16-8) utilized 27 percent hitting. Game scores were 25-13, 25-14, 25-13 from Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud.

The Tigers (13-7) were runners-up in the north side of Section 5A last year. Today's loss was their first loss against Section 5A opponents; now that mark is 10-1. Rush City is currently tied for first place with Pine City (9-1 each) in the Great River Conference. Last year, Rush City won the GRC title outright while going 19-8 overall.

Next: the Jaguars head to Browerville (12-9) on Monday night. They host Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted on Tuesday night to wrap up the Central Minnesota Conference schedule.

Football radio coverage

Tonight's game at Benson between our B-B-E Jaguars football team and the host Braves will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.

Pre-game coverage will begin at 6:45 p.m.

Thanks, Brady!

**Update: after the first quarter ended, the Benson Braves have a 7-0 lead. The Braves scored on the game's opening kickoff with a 90-yard touchdown run.

**Update: with 3:44 left in the second quarter, Benson freshmen running back Thomas Dineen scored on a 38-yard touchdown run. The PAT kick was wide right, making the score 13-0 in favor of Benson. B-B-E's offense has struggled in many ways, but their defense has kept them in the game up to this point. This 38-yard scamper came after B-B-E's defense had mostly kept Benson's offense in check.

**Update: the Braves scored again, and they hold a 19-0 lead with 23 seconds left in the second quarter.

Final: Benson 33, B-B-E 0. The Braves picked up their second straight win.

Next for the Jaguars: they will host Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg next Wednesday night, October 16, in the final regular season game. Kickoff is at 7 p.m., and it will be Parents Night.

Tonight in Murdock, K-M-S (3-4) lost 12-0 to Parkers Prairie for their second loss in a row.

Jaguars vs. Royals

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is in Royalton tonight for a Central Minnesota Conference contest. The Royals are a CMC member for the first time ever this year, having replaced Pierz's spot.

B-B-E won the first set by a 25-11 score.

Update: the Jaguars won the match by a 3-0 sweep! They hit at a robust 22.1 percent clip for the match.

The Jaguars are now 5-1 in the CMC and tied with the Royals for second place. Maple Lake (18-4, 6-0) won by sweep over Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted to clinch a share of the CMC title.

Next: the Jaguars (15-8) face Rush City in a Section 5A match up at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Halenbeck Hall on the campus of St. Cloud State University. The Tigers are 13-6 overall and 9-1 in the Great River Conference. Rush City recently swept Pine City (15-7) on October 8 to pull into a tie for first place with the Dragons. Rush City won the GRC title in 2018 with a perfect 10-0 mark, while Pine City was second at 8-2.

*Click here to the Bonanza Valley Voice website and take in some video from the Terrace Mill Bluegrass Festival. Finally got around to uploading this! The event was held on September 29 (short link): https://bit.ly/2OCklMQ.

On a completely different note, can you believe the NBA? To bow down to communist China like they have is disgusting. I am disgusted. Wow. Just wow.

Passionate support

Small towns are a thing of wonder. They can be inspirational and wonderful, and they can also be terrible and shameful. With certainty I can say that, in my life, small towns are more the former than the latter.

I have a middle-aged friend whose father was once a school principal "back in the day" in a small, rural Minnesota school. This principal went to great lengths to keep school matters at school and keep them from interfering with his personal or family life. When asked about a school issue "off grounds" or "off the clock" this man took great care to be professional about how he spoke of school issues and especially about school staff. That's not always easy to do in a small town.

The same can be said about leaders of small town business leaders/owners. You go to great lengths to keep work at work and not let it interfere with your family life. I believe it's important that we allow people to conduct their business and their family life in a way that the two don't completely run over the other. You have to allow people to live - and, of course, hope that everyone is playing nicely and doing the right thing.

If you've known me for any amount of time, I hope that you can attest to the fact that I am very passionate about small towns in many ways. I'm very passionate about the ability and freedom to choose to guide my family to living in a small town. I have much pride in the fact that in a small town, you have many other families "carrying the load" of raising your children. We work hard at working together to raise our kids in a unique, collective manner.

To be sure, this can happen in any sized town or type of setting. You can band together with friends and neighbors with the daily and weekly work of raising children if you live in Roseville or Edina or Starbuck or Elbow Lake.

Earlier this week, I went into our family's main bank with one of our kids who made what I'd call a nice-sized cash deposit to her savings account. (Full disclosure: we conduct banking business in multiple, local banks) While raising the risk of showing bias or playing favorites, I have to say, the staff at Bonanza Valley State Bank are flat out amazing. They're just really amazing people. They have "been in the trenches" with me as I've tried to manage and operate and keep my newspaper business afloat over the last (almost) five years.

I know our other small town banks/credit unions have really amazing people too. I know some of them very personally as well. I don't want to type this and hurt feelings. That's not my intention.

On Monday at Bonanza Valley State Bank, they were just so extremely kind and sincere with my daughter during this small, quaint banking transaction. I was so proud of that moment, I almost started crying right in the middle of the bank lobby. She worked very diligently selling lemonade and most recently garden tomatoes to build up her little nest egg that's being kept safe at Bonanza Valley State Bank.

I am so proud of our community's Bonanza Valley State Bank. They have been there for me, and they will continue to be there for me. Thank you in so many ways. We will carry on through all that we're going through. We are strong, and we will persevere.

Stopping the Thunder

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team picked up their 14th win of the season by sweeping Long Prairie-Grey Eagle tonight on the home court. Game scores were 25-9, 25-19, 25-11.

Next: a road trip on Thursday this week to Royalton to face the Royals in a Central Minnesota Conference match.

**Below, video from the third set tonight:


We hit about 70 degrees today in the Bonanza Valley! That was nice!

Never get discouraged

On Saturday night I enjoyed watching a couple documentaries on President Richard Nixon. Historians already have and will continue to have plenty to say about him. It is what it is. The Watergate scandal was a tremendously crazy ordeal for our nation.

On the day he resigned, he provided this incredible quote that is absolutely loaded with wisdom. It is really, really deep and very important for any person to take to heart.

"Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember: others may hate you. Those who hate you won't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself." - Richard Nixon. August 9, 1974.

I wasn't alive during that period in our nation's history. Quite honestly, I don't have much of an opinion about President Nixon beyond knowing he took actions that led to his own demise. He hurt a lot of people along the way. It is what it is. So after getting past that and putting all that aside, you cannot help but admit that what he was quoted as saying above is very, very noteworthy. I'll be reflecting on it for quite some time.

A long, long list of local events are coming up across the Bonanza Valley area. I am doing my best to promote them in the Bonanza Valley Voice. One of the many events that I look forward to each fall (and that list is also very long) is the Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters membership banquet. They have a really incredible group that does so much for our area. Conservation and hunting are very, very important - especially if you live in rural areas. Here's information on the group's upcoming 2019 banquet...click to read more (short link): https://bit.ly/2IxHYlR.

Parent-teacher conferences...and the sun is out!

Blue skies and sunshine as far as the eye can see is what we've got today across the Bonanza Valley area! Good gravy! October 7 and we'll see a high in the 60 to 65 degree range (forecast says 64 as a high)...we're busy harvesting another batch of tomatoes from the garden.

The September 2 hail storm took out at least 200 of our tomatoes. We were lucky to have quite a few that avoided damage from that storm. It's taken awhile for many of them to ripen.

Today is a big day for B-B-E schools, with fall parent-teacher conferences starting at noon.

Looking ahead: one to three inches of snow is in the forecast for Saturday, October 12! Uffda!!!!!!

(VIDEO) Terrace Mill Bluegrass Festival

Here's video from the final two songs at the Terrace Mill Bluegrass Festival.


The event was held last Sunday on a cloudy, cool day. Those who made it took in really, really terrific music!!! Coverage on the Bluegrass Festival will be published in the October 10 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice.

Alexandria tourney success

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team handed Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta their only loss of the day in Alexandria yesterday for the Cardinal Classic invitational. The Jaguars beat the MA/CA Tigers 15-9 in a deciding third set to open the tournament.

The Jaguars then split in their next two matches against Big Lake and Alexandria. They fell to the host Cardinals 15-12 in a very tight third set loss after beating the Hornets in straight sets. Alexandria (14-10) is currently tied for second place at 8-2 with Brainerd in the tough Class 3A Central Lakes Conference. Sartell-St. Stephen (17-1) is in first place in the CLC at 9-0. Willmar (10-5) is in fourth place at 6-3. Alexandria went 3-1 in the Cardinal Classic with their lone loss being a 2-1 set back against MA/CA. The Cardinals also beat Big Lake and Mounds View.

B-B-E (13-7) finished the invitational with a match against Rocori. Results have not been reported yet. Next: a home match on Tuesday, October 8 against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle. Looming large on the horizon is a tough road match at Royalton on Thursday night as the Jaguars attempt to stay in the hunt for a share of the Central Minnesota Conference title. Royalton (20-1-2) is currently riding a 16-match winning streak. Their lone loss was by a 2-0 margin to Pipestone Area (10-11, 2-3) in their opening match of the Sauk Rapids-Rice invitational on September 7.

Friday Night Lights VI: long trip home

Final: Parkers Prairie 49, B-B-E 0. The final score made for a long trip home from Panthers territory tonight. The Panthers limited the Jaguars to 127 yards of offense.  A five-to-two disparity in turnovers also caused big troubles for the Jaguars.

Next: a road trip to Benson to face the Braves for the first time on the gridiron since the fall of 1998. Benson picked up their first win of the season tonight by winning a border battle game on Brock Field with Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. That final score was 32-12.

Match updates

In game one at Maple Lake, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is trailing 17-14. They did have a 10-9 lead earlier in the set. Coach Waddell has called his first timeout of the night.

Update: the Irish won the first set by a 25-20 score. It was a pretty rough set for both teams as they combined for eight serving errors.

Update: in game two, the Irish hold a 14-11 lead, and Coach Waddell called his first timeout of the set. Later in the set, the Irish built a 21-13 lead. Later a B-B-E hitting error made it 24-13 Irish. By this point, both team had a combined 13 service errors (Maple Lake 7, B-B-E 6).

Update: the Irish won game two 25-14. They are backed up by a loud, proud Homecoming crowd on their home court.

Update: the Jaguars nearly blew a 16-10 lead in the third set. After trailing 23-22 late in the set, the Jaguars rallied back for a thrilling 27-25 win to avoid the sweep. The fourth set is set to begin at 20:39.

*Final score of game four: Maple Lake 25, B-B-E 14. The last set got away from the Jaguars after they fell into an early 10-5 hole.

Next: the Jaguars travel to Alexandria on Saturday for the Cardinal Classic Invitational.

Remembering Crow Lake Lutheran church

I was hoping to get coverage on this and also the Terrace Mill's Bluegrass Festival in today's issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice. That all got pushed to next week. But you can take in the sermon given at Crow Lake Lutheran church's afternoon service on Sunday. It was a fundraiser event for the church's cemetery board.


In sports, tonight the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team travels to Maple Lake to try and remain undefeated in the Central Minnesota Conference. The three top teams in the CMC will all collide in these last three weeks of the regular season, with Royalton also being 4-0 in the league. Something's gotta give! Let's hope for a successful night for our Jaguars! **Update: tonight's volleyball match at Maple Lake will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM.


*On a more philosophical note... for church-going people out there, while you're sitting through a service each Sunday, how often do you think about the people who are not going to church?

Does that not concern you at all? I think we sell God short when we are not out inviting people into the fold. There's nothing good at all about that.

When I think about people I know who are unchurched, I get very sad. I believe it's absolutely vital that churches figure out how to get more people involved in what goes on in the walls of the church building week-to-week.

Catching up

Playing major catch-up here. It's been a good week but a very busy week. That will be the trend for the upcoming weeks as fall continues to fly by us at a rapid pace. We are "drowing" in work right now. There's something in the neighborhood of 500 Homecoming week photos to process. That's just one example of a mountain of work to push through in the coming days and weeks.

Yes, fall is finally here, and it has bit down with cold temperatures! We settled down to about a low of 40 degrees tonight.

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team completed the regular season with a 6-1 loss at Melrose Area on Tuesday. They open the Section 5A team playoffs today (Thursday). Unfortunately, the MSHSL website is not updated with current brackets, so I have no more information to post. The individual portion of the Section 5A playoffs will be held on October 10 and October 14 at StayFit in Sartell.

*Update: the Jaguars face Pierz in the Section 5A quarterfinals today in Pierz. If they beat the Pioneers, the Jaguars will face the winner of St. John's Prep/St. Cloud Cathedral vs. Staples-Motley in the semifinal round next Tuesday, site TBA.


The coming weeks and weekends have numerous terrific entertainment options on the schedule. The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper has recently been filled with some of them, cover to cover. This week is no different. One event that is coming on Saturday this weekend is the Oktoberfest celebration at Goat Ridge Brewing in New London. You can see their large ad on page 7.

Another Saturday, October 5 event is the 10-year anniversary and Customer Appreciation Day at Brink's Beer Joint in Swift Falls. Those details are advertised on page 6 this week and can also be found (along with Goat Ridge) on the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website community calendar, which you can find here (short link): https://bit.ly/2EvexOA.

Also, you can find online stories about Goat Ridge and Central Square activities at the "regional" page of the Bonanza Valley Voice website: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/section/regional.

And, I want to share the website that's been created for Saucedos Mexican Restaurant in Belgrade. You can find it by clicking on the following short link: https://bit.ly/2n8EfUg. I provided them news coverage last April when they first opened, but since then I've been unable to follow up with them. I hope to remedy that this fall.