Section 5A wrestling playoffs

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team earned the No. 2 seed for the upcoming 10-team Section 5A tournament. The playoff rankings and bracket was released yesterday by section officials. B-B-E is 15-3 overall and 5-1 against section opponents.

The Jaguars will host a wrestle-in qualifier to the Round of Eight that features No. 7-seeded Benson and No. 10-seeded Ortonville. That match starts at 6 p.m. at the B-B-E high school next Tuesday, February 11. The winner of Benson-vs.-Ortonville will face the B-B-E Jaguars in the section quarterfinals right after that 6 o'clock match at the same location.

Benson, the No. 7 seed, is 3-10 overall and 3-4 against section opponents. Ortonville, the No. 10 seed, is 3-16 overall and 0-6 against section opponents.

The Section 5A Final Four is on Friday, February 14 at Minnewaska Area high school. The semifinal matches start at 6 p.m. that night.

Defending Section 5A champion and Class 1A state champion Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville has the No. 1 seed. They hold a 27-3 overall record.

Minnewaska Area, 21-5 overall, is the No. 2 seed. They are 4-1 against section opponents, with the one loss coming to the B-B-E Jaguars on January 16 in Sauk Centre.
Paynesville Area is the No. 4 seed and 12-15 overall; they are 4-4 against section opponents.
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, 10-12 overall, is the No. 5 seed. They lost 37-36 to Paynesville in Paynesville on January 3.
BOLD is the No. 6 seed. They hold a 7-14 overall record and a 5-3 mark against section opponents.

**Here's a fun Blast from the Past...back to the 2012-2013 season. It was a memorable but bittersweet season for the B-B-E wrestling program. In October 2012, head coach Rich Vos was killed in an accident. He was extremely excited about that wrestling season, and he felt his Jaguars had a legitimate shot at a state tournament trip. His assessment was not wrong, and the Jaguars ultimately went 1-1 in the section and lost 35-27 in the section semifinals hosted in Belgrade. B-B-E finished 14-5 overall in what was their best season of the century to that point. The team that defeated the Jaguars, Kimball Area, then lost 34-27 to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in the section finals. A-C-GC went 2-1 at state that year, finishing in fifth place after losing 30-24 to Sibley East in the state quarterfinals. Click here (short link) for a blog post from the night of the section quarterfinals: https://bit.ly/2OsIRiD.

While I've got your attention...here's a web article posted online at the Bonanza Valley Voice website on the B-B-E Business Professionals of America team (short link) https://bit.ly/2UGIJA7. Coach Goodwin has done a remarkable job building up this group of students. They are on a good run with 10 students advancing to state! Bravo!!