State wrestling finals...HUGE news!

Two B-B-E Jaguars went 1-1 in the third-place matches today in St. Paul...Blaine Fischer lost a 2-1 decision at 132 pounds. He battled to the very end and definitely left it all on the mat.

Canon Swanson won an 8 to 4 decision in the 145-pound third-place match. He finished the winningest season by any B-B-E Jaguar wrestler with state medals in five state appearances. That is amazing! He took sixth place in eighth grade, then fifth, second, second and now third place.

Jaguar Country is proud of them!!!

After 6 p.m., the mats at Xcel Energy Center will be re-arranged. Then the first-place matches will go in all three classes at the same time.

Walker Bents will be up first at 106 pounds.

*Update: the championship matches should be underway by 6:15 p.m. or soon thereafter. (Looks like 6:25)  In spite of the best efforts of the local mafia in Little Chicago (also known as Brooten), the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's sports department has been able to cover the state finals this evening in person. This was not easy. Every year it's difficult to have a one-person newspaper news and sports department cover a high school sports state tournament (any sport)...this year was as challenging as it gets to make it down to St. Paul. We take what life throws at us, we chew on it, but we won't allow it to take us down.

STATE FINALS UPDATE!

Jaguar Country has its third state wrestling champion!!

It happened so fast. It was incredible.

Walker Bents won by fall in just 30 seconds to claim the 106-lb. state title!! He defeated the No. 2 seed in the bracket, junior Anthony Romero (44-4) of Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander.

Bents joins Brendan Bogart (1989) and Adam Jaeger (2018) as state wrestling champion donning the Jaguar uniform.


Meanwhile, at Wadena...the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 34-26 lead over Pine River-Backus with 2:42 left in the first half. The Jaguars built the lead up to 12 points, and PR-B then cut it down to eight points going into the final 30 seconds. At halftime: B-B-E 38, PR-B 30.

In the earlier game in Wadena tonight, top-seeded Walker-Hackensack-Akeley defeated Sebeka in the other sub-section semifinal game. I didn't catch the score. W-H-A is now 27-2 overall. We're passing on state wrestling news to Bill Dean and the Lakeland Broadcasting sports department. Thanks, Bill, for covering the girls' basketball playoffs!

An early three-pointer by Jacqueline Gossen extended B-B-E's lead to 41-30 in the second half. That's the last I heard...time to get back to Xcel Energy Center's arena floor for the state medals ceremony!

**Update: the girls basketball team won 77 to 52. Their next game is on Wednesday, March 4. Additional updates will follow in a new blog post.

And THANK YOU to Paul Gruber Farms, Bonanza Valley State Bank and Integrity Home Investments for extended sports playoff sponsoring of the Bonanza Valley Voice sports department. They should all be given a huge THANK YOU to their loyal and reliable support.