(VIDEOS) Friday and Saturday action...and Monday updates

First I've got this video clip to post, taken during the second half of Friday night's girls' basketball game:


More to come. Today is catch-up day!

And here's video from yesterday's 182-pound match featuring B-B-E's Cooper Wold battling in the third period of his match against Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie.

More to come. (Monday morning)

We're teetering on the edge of being overrun with good news, positive news, good things to report on...all great!! Some are "needs" such as asking for donations for the Belgrade Museum renovation project...there's a TON of wonderful things going on locally either in the general community, B-B-E school, our school activities and in our local business community.

I'm going from working 8 days a week to 9 days a week and hoping to get caught up in March.

If you click on the following link, and you'll be redirected to a newly-updated web article at the Bonanza Valley Voice website that outlines local COVID-19 data...which is a few days old by now (February 25) = https://bit.ly/3sKbvxv.

Tonight the girls' basketball team is at Paynesville Area. I'll get that video player posted in a new blog post along with any other updates I have tonight. Also, the band concert starts at 6 p.m. tonight! 

That's all for this blog post!

Wrestling dual today

Action starts at 12 p.m. today from our high school. Video player coming.

Update: this is all I've got, and I don't have time to check for more information, for the video player:

I hope to get to the dual shortly after 12 p.m.

**Update: through 182 pounds, the B-B-E Jaguars have a 37-15 lead. Their 23rd team win is clinched! At 182 pounds, Cooper Wold won a thriller by a 4-3 decision to get the Jaguars to 37 points.

Final score: B-B-E 37, Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie 30.  BH/V/PP is ranked fifth in Class 1A (February 21 rankings). They are a very good team and a contender in Section 6A. This was a huge win for the Jaguars. They are now 23-2 overall.

More to come later.

Busy day! We had a speech meet (four place winners) plus the Brooten Fire Department meat raffle is coming up tonight. Not to mention...the Prairie View Community Golf Course hosts their annual meeting as well. All good things. It's good to be busy.

Two wins!

We had a terrific night in Jaguar Country! 

Two wins for the basketball teams, and a great night for the Knights of Columbus fish fry! I spent way too much time at the fish fry before the game, and I barely managed to post the video players just before the tip-offs took place. It's been a very fun night. We are having a wonderful Lenten worship season in the Bonanza Valley.

After the girls' basketball game, I made a return trip to the KaDe Shack and visited with a very nice crowd gathered there. The K of C folks were all smiling. They were thrilled by the turnout. Officially they served 120 fish fry meals. That's a wonderful turnout considering that a typical night is in the 140 to 160 range (pre-pandemic).

More to come. I'll get a video up but it will be much later tonight.

From the top!

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team earned a very important sub-section win over visiting Pine River-Backus in a battle of Top 10 teams. After posting a 34-27 lead at halftime, the Jaguars led by no fewer than four points on their way to a 67-56 win. The Jaguars built a nice double-digit lead in the closing minutes, but the Tigers (9-3) never backed down and fought to the final buzzer. Allisa Knight had a career night with 25 points, two blocked shots, 11 rebounds and two steals to lead the Jaguars.

In a huge Central Minnesota Conference border battle, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team earned a 64-61 win at Paynesville Area. The closing minutes were nip-and-tuck all the way. They won with the help of "guts and defense" and some key baskets down the home stretch. With the win, the Jaguars stay within reach of CMC leader Eden Valley-Watkins. The Eagles won 85-35 over A-C-GC tonight to improve to 9-1 in the CMC. The Jaguars are one game behind at 8-2.

Kaden Pieper led the Jaguars with 23 points, three assists and five rebounds. Next was Luke Dingmann with 17 points.

Paynesville Area falls to 7-6 overall and 6-4 in the CMC.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on February 26:

EV-W 85, A-C-GC 35

Holdingford 35, Maple Lake 31

For tomorrow: the wrestling team hosts a dual meet, not a triangular. I have to confirm when it begins. I do have a firm date on the beginning of team playoffs! The wrestlers will host the first round of the Section 5A playoffs on Wednesday, March 10.

More to come. Time to check out the area scoreboard.

Area girls' basketball scores on February 26:

Maple Lake 53, A-C-GC 27 (a Central MN Conference game)
Sauk Centre 60, Benson 26
New London-Spicer 78, Glencoe-Silver Lake 55
Annandale 52, Rockford 39
Willmar 61, Bemidji 48
Albany 67, Milaca 23
Pierz 57, Mora 30
New York Mills 68, Battle Lake 50

Area boys' basketball scores on February 26:

Melrose Area 72, Sauk Centre 48

Menahga 47, Henning 46

New York Mills 75, Sebeka 33

Verndale 47, Wadena-Deer Creek 44

Nevis 80, Red Lake 47

Parkers Prairie 65, Underwood 24

Upsala 79, Swanville 57

Braham 54, Onamia 36

Albany 71, Osakis 62

Browerville 45, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 44

Ogilvie 64, Isle 54

Glencoe Silver Lake 66, New London-Spicer 56

Annandale 77, Rockford 35

Litchfield 49, Watertown-Mayer 46

Two games tonight...and a fish fry in Brooten! (LIVE VIDEOS**)

On tap for tonight:

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team hosts Pine River-Backus in a rematch of last year's sub-section semifinals. PR-B (9-2) is the second-best team in the QRF rankings in Sub-Section 5A-West. They have just taken their two losses of the season last week: 58-46 to Esko and 62-52 to Cass Lake-Bena.

The girls' basketball game will be carried on air by 106.5 FM The Train.

Down Highway 55 a short spell, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team is at Paynesville in a highly-anticipated border battle and rematch of the game won by B-B-E on January 26 by a 73-54 score.

More to come, including the video players to be posted by 5:30 p.m. I'm gonna add them here on this blog post (below).

And don't forget! Tonight is fish fry night! Come to the KaDe Shack and take that in! Here's more details on that (also on page 4 this week) ...short link: https://bit.ly/2ZRqyZE.

Let's reward the B-B-E Knights of Columbus for hosting this event!

They serve at the KaDe Shack until 8:30 p.m.! And take-outs are available, as always.

Here's the boys' basketball game live video:


Here's the girls' basketball game live video:

With 13:44 left in the first half, the B-B-E boys' basketball team has a 7-3 lead.

The girls' basketball game won't tip off until about 7:22 p.m.

With just under 12 minutes left in the boys' basketball game, Kaden Pieper hit a tough floating shot along the right baseline between two defenders to put his team up 9-3.

With 16:44 left in the first half, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 4-2 lead after Karissa Jones made a nice, aggressive move to the basket. Then with 16:06 left, Jackie Lindsay canned two free throws for a 6-2 lead. Then with 15:50 left, Allisa Knight hit a weakside rebound shot for an 8-2 lead. Later, with 12 minutes left, B-B-E has an 11-4 lead. With 11:54 left, Josie Knutson shot two free throws and made one for a 12-4 lead.

Just inside 11 minutes to go, Paynesville's Chase Bayer hit a long, bombing down town three-pointer to make it B-B-E 11, Paynesville 9. Then with 9:12 to go, B-B-E went into a timeout trailing 12 to 11, the first time of the night that the Bulldogs had the lead. Out of the timeout, Pieper hit a long three-pointer for a 14-12 lead at the nine-minute mark. Pieper then made it back-to-back with a running layup on the left side to put the Jaguars ahead 16-12. Luke Dingmann, left alone on the right side, made a quick back door shot and was fouled with 8:06 left. The free throw was no good, but the Jaguars held an 18-12 lead. With 7:30 left, a great Ryan Schwinghammer-to-Kaden Pieper dish led to a Pieper bucket on the left block. He was fouled, but the Bulldogs called a timeout.

Too much to keep up to online! I am headed to Belgrade.

Two big wins tonight

In road action tonight, two of our teams earned impressive wins!

The No. 4-ranked B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team won 78-33 at Kimball Area to improve to 10-1 on the season. Abby Berge led the Jaguars with 18 points on red-hot 62.5 percent field goal shooting plus a terrific seven-of-eight performance at the free throw line. Also in double figures were Allisa Knight with 16 points and Josie Knutson with 10 points. Karissa Jones also had a strong game with eight points and a team-leading nine rebounds.

At Morris Area high school, the No. 2-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team earned a 49-20 win over Class 2A Morris Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta. They now hold a 22-2 record.

More to come.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on February 25:
Holdingford 61, Paynesville Area 32
Eden Valley-Watkins 49, Royalton 34

Area girls' basketball scores on February 25:
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 51, Melrose Area 34
BOLD 71, Renville County West 42
Osakis 54, Swanville 46
Browerville 71, Nevis 48
Braham 70, Onamia 45
Parkers Prairie 65, Rothsay 28
Hinckley-Finlayson 50, East Central 35
West Central Area 60, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 34
Pillager 51, Menahga 49
MACCRAY 55, Central MN Christian 46
Ogilvie 62, Isle 25

Area boys' basketball scores on February 25:

Benson 72, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 60

Albany 76, Pierz 70

Alexandria 56, Fergus Falls 40

Pequot Lakes 73, Pine River-Backus 44

Sauk Rapids-Rice 67, Willmar 63

Lac qui Parle Valley 74, MACCRAY 42

(LIVE VIDEO) Wrestling at Morris *with updates

Here's the live video player from Morris, Minnesota at Morris Area high school:


Based on the information I have, this will go live at 6 p.m. The YouTube reminder is set for 5 p.m., but I don't think they've updated that yet to reflect that Perham is not in attendance. It will just be a dual meet between MA/H/CA and our B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team.

More to come later. We're back to life in the fast lane around here! Zoom, zoom, zoom.

**Wrestling update: Maximus Hanson at 160 pounds has built a 5-1 lead across his first two periods.

B-B-E holds a 24-15 lead at this point. Morris high school is using KKOK 95.7 broadcasters, and they're doing a great job of play-by-play coverage.

*Update: B-B-E has a 27-15 lead after Maximus Hanson won a 5-1 decision at 160 pounds.4

*Update: senior Dylan Kampsen took care of business in quick order at 170 pounds! He won by pin in just 54 seconds to expand B-B-E's lead to 33-15.

*Update: at 220 pounds, Ethan Spanier won a battle of two sophomores with a 16-3 major decision.

And! To cap it all off, Bryce Feuerhake won by pin with just five seconds to spare in the first period against MAHCA's Carter Gibson. At the end of the match, for an undisclosed reason, the referee took one point away from MAHCA's team score due to unsportsmanlike conduct by Gibson.

Final score: B-B-E 49, MAHCA 20.

The Jaguars are now 22-2 overall and is riding a 14-match winning streak.

Delay in the MDH weekly COVID report *Updated...the number is SIX

I'm seeing a problem with the latest COVID-19 weekly report released by the Minnesota Department of Health. The report released today is showing zero increase for COVID cases in the last week for Alexandria, Belgrade, Brooten, Elrosa, Willmar, Spicer, Morris and New London. I'm not buying it...someone didn't upload the correct file at the MDH office. At first I thought it was good news to report, but now I am realizing that it's fake news being given out by the state. 

They somehow uploaded old data and labeled it as February 25 data....the only problem is that it is identical data to the February 18 report.

Hopefully they fix it!! These weekly reports are super important for the public. They show the level of COVID spread throughout all zip code areas of the state. Every day our lives are affected in large and small ways by the government's response to COVID. We need this data, and we need it reported in a timely fashion.

I am also learning more about the HORRIFIC and UNBELIEVABLE invasions of privacy that is taking place when a person tries signing up for a COVID vaccination on the MDH website(s)...this is unreal. I learned today that the MDH is violating the state's data privacy act, which dates back to 1974.

Our state's department of health is unhinged. They are really losing it. I don't know why we continue to put up with such a terribly run state government. It's sad, pathetic and embarrassing.

UPDATE: here's the new COVID numbers for the last week: Belgrade 6, Brooten 0, Elrosa 0.

Other area zip code increases for the past week (zip code = rural and city residents)

Willmar 23

Glenwood 4

Benson 1 

Kerkhoven 0

Kandiyohi 4

Spicer 6

Sunburg 0

Murdock 1

New London 1

Pennock 3

Sauk Centre 4

Alexandria 21

More to come after I review more of our local zip code COVID data...I am getting the sports video posted in a new blog post for tonight's road match at Morris, Minnesota.

Midweek Lent worship

Where are you worshiping tonight? Some area churches are hosting midweek Lenten season worship services. I'll be out west in eastern Pope County, West Lake Johanna Lutheran, where they are hosting worship starting at 7 p.m.

Below is video from worship at West Lake Johanna Lutheran on January 31, featuring the reading of the lesson, Gospel as well as Pastor Steve's sermon:


I'm back into catch-up mode on many fronts. We published a 12-page issue this morning. It was a huge lift! Yikes! 

On the COVID front, it's worth noting that Minnesota has recently fallen "sharply" behind South Dakota in the race to vaccinate the public. As of today, South Dakota reports that 22 percent of their state has received at least one jab. In Minnesota, if 22 percent of the public had at least one dose, we'd have over 1.24 million with the first jab complete. Instead, we're hovering around 800,000 people who have had at least one jab. 

We all need to keep asking the question: why is Governor Walz so bad at his job? Why is his state health department so bad at their job? Why do we accept a failed governor? It is really aggravating.

Also, the area scoreboard from last night's basketball games was updated and posted on the previous blog post here. See below.

Also, I learned tonight that Perham will not be attending the wrestling triangular tomorrow at Morris Area high school. The event will be a dual between our B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team and Morris Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta. The JV wrestlers will start competing at 6 p.m., and once that wraps up, the varsity dual will begin. On Thursday afternoon I'll get a live video player posted on this blog in a new blog post.

Second straight

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team made it two straight against Central Minnesota Conference opponents with a 62-36 win over visiting Royalton tonight. They led 35-16 at the break and expanded the lead to 49-18 with 10:27 left to go.

The Jaguars shot an extremely solid 56 percent from the floor, including 22-of-33 on two-point attempts.

Next: the Jaguars (9-3, 7-2) make the short trip east to Paynesville Area this Friday for a border battle with the Bulldogs. It's a huge game! Paynesville will be keyed up to defeat the Jaguars after B-B-E handled them with a convincing win in Jaguar Country on January 26.

No word yet on Paynesville's home game against Maple Lake tonight. **Update: I learned that the Bulldogs won, but I don't have a score.

More to come much later tonight.

Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on Feb. 23:
Eden Valley-Watkins 70, Holdingford 48
Paynesville Area 58, Maple Lake 44
Kimball Area 72, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 65 OT

In a Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball game tonight, Eden Valley-Watkins defeated Royalton 59-36.

Below, video from late in the second half against Royalton tonight:


Area boys' basketball scores on February 23:
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 75, Minnewaska Area 35
Melrose Area 71, Benson 49
Rockford Area 36, Watertown-Mayer 33
Annandale 81, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 41
Osakis 54, Little Falls 41
Pierz 69, Crosby-Ironton 63 OT
Alexandria 62, Bemidji 61 OT
Parkers Prairie 82, Battle Lake 55
Pine City 75, Hinckley-Finlayson 72 OT
Ashby 72, Rothsay 45
Rocori 70, Willmar 40
Henning 72, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 57
Menahga 66, Pillager 58
Sleepy Eye 71, Springfield 63
New York Mills 69, Verndale 59
Wadena-Deer Creek 60, Sebeka 48
Hancock 75, Brandon-Evansville 54
West Central Area 75, Underwood 32

Area girls' basketball scores on February 23:
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 32, Renville County West 30
New London-Spicer 83, Dassel-Cokato 35
Watertown-Mayer 61, Rockford Area 47
Annandale 57, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 18
Underwood 55, Parkers Prairie 53
Braham 68, Isle 10
Zimmeran 65, Pierz 61
Upsala 52, A-C-GC 24
Minnewaska Area 40, Osakis 28
Pine City 106, Ogilvie 46
Onamia 50, East Central 45
Sauk Centre 67, Holdingford 31
Minneota 55, Southwest MN Christian 46
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 52, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 50
Lac qui Parle Valley 65, MACCRAY 61
Benson 53, Ortonville 18
BOLD 73, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 44

That's it for updates today. Anything else will be added in a new blog post on Wednesday night.

(LIVE VIDEO) Boys' basketball hosts Royalton

Below, here's the live video player for the home boys' basketball game tonight:


The JV and C-squad games tip off at 5:45 p.m. against Royalton.

The varsity game should tip off by 7:20 p.m.

*Updates: with about seven minutes left in the first half, the Jaguars hold a 19-10 lead. They built a quick 7-2 lead over the first two minutes.

And going inside four minutes left before halftime, the Jaguars have built a 24-10 lead.

A corner three-pointer by Will VanBeck with 3:30 to go made it 27-10.

More updates in a new blog post.

Wrestling update

The latest Guillotine state rankings were released over the weekend. The No. 2-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team has six wrestlers in the Top 10 of their respective weights. That is remarkable!

B-B-E is 21-2 overall with the most wins in any season in school history.

That's it for blogging for Monday, as I doubt I'll get much more posted here. We have to bring our 11-year old black lab in for non-emergency surgery with Doc Wohlin early in the morning.

Here's some very fun local trivia: the second starting pitcher for the B-B-E Jaguars fastpitch softball program was Toni Zehrer, who graduated in 1991 and pitched the 1991 fastpitch team into the District 20 championship game. That team was coached by Jerry Lindstrom and Brad Goodwin.

Toni Zehrer was the youngest of six daughters born to Doc Zehrer, the large animal veterinarian in Brooten over many decades in the last half of the 20th century. The second-youngest Zehrer daughter was Amy, who graduated in 1988 and played for Coach Greg Hagen's Buccaneers girls' basketball teams.

Doc Zehrer was a mentor to Doc Wohlin a "long, long time ago." It's a very safe bet that you can read more about this in the upcoming issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Tight ball game

The Minneota Vikings won their 37th straight home game by defeating the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team 42-38 today. B-B-E's nine-game winning streak comes to an end. It was a superb, terrific ball game from start to finish. The Jaguars suffered a very difficult scoring drought from the 12:25 mark to the 6:04 mark of the second half. That ultimately spelled doom, but they stayed in the game with guts and defense.

Minneota (10-0) built a lead as large as 42-33 before the Jaguars mounted an ill-fated comeback. Allisa Knight's three-point play capped the scoring to bring the Jaguars within the final deficit of 42-38.

Neither team scored a single point over the fnal two-and-a-half minutes of the game.

Abby Berge and Allisa Knight led the Jaguars with 12 points each.

*Below, here's video featuring the final minutes of the game:


Area girls' basketball scores on February 20:
Sauk Centre 68, Melrose Area 37
Underwood 54, Ada-Borup 28
Lakeview 67, Renville County West 49

More to come after I make a pit stop at the KaDe Shack to check on the Bar Bingo session!

And now there will be another delay on blogging...it's time to head to Rooney's Bar in Sedan. It is good to be busy!

Here's a link to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website where you can read more about the upcoming Knights of Columbus fish fry fundraiser nights: https://bit.ly/3bvy29Y. This is a fabulous local organization to support!

(LIVE VIDEO) No. 1 Minneota vs. No. 4 B-B-E Jaguars

Here's the video player from Minneota:


Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. Remember! You can also follow the game via The Train 106.5 FM or Smooth Magic 107 FM.

In the JV game, the Jaguars have an 8-6 lead with 9:30 left in the first half.

Going under six minutes left, and now the JV game is tied at 8-8.

With 3:25 left, the game is still tied at 8-8. The tie was broken up by a free throw by Brooklyn Fischer.

With 3:16 left, Minneota pulled ahead with two free throws for a 10-9 lead.

Later, with 28 seconds left in the first half, the game was tied at 14-14. **And that was the halftime score.

With 11:28 left in the JV game's second half, the Jaguars had opened up a small 21-17 lead.

With 10:45 left, the JV Jaguars led 25-19.

With 8:14 left, the JV Jaguars led 25-23. On the next series, Allison Dingmann hit a close-range bank shot for a 27-23 lead.

I didn't get the final score of the JV game, as the live stream broadcast consistently did not pan up to the scoreboard. "Don't quote me" but I believe the final score was B-B-E 35, Minneota 29.

**Update: the varsity game will tip off at about 1:25 p.m. You can catch great play-by-play coverage with Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood or with 106.5 FM The Train.

*Scoring update from the first half...the Vikings have a 10-5 lead with 11 minutes to go.

HALFTIME: Minneota 21, B-B-E 20. This has been a crazy good game so far, an incredibly well-played game by both teams.

*Update in the second half...with two minutes played, the Vikings have a 25-20 lead.

And with 7:36 left in the second half, Minneota has forged a 35-29 lead. B-B-E has called a timeout.

And inside six minutes left in the second half, the Minneota Vikings hold a 39-31 lead.

Final score in a new blog post.

Area notebook (sometimes we just don't know how good we've got it!)

This blog post will expand today. I have one quick item to mention right away this morning.

I read in the most recent issue of the Dawson Sentinel newspaper that the Dawson-Boyd school district has paid a private company called NFHS to help broadcast their athletic games this year. According to the article, the broadcasts have had numerous technical issues and even failures. Worse yet, the public pays to watch. The school has had to file complaints with the company. 

Good grief!! That's crazy. 

We are fortunate at B-B-E, where we've had broadcasting in effect since the 2014-2015 school year.

I read about another issue at Dawson-Boyd where they are moving elementary players up to fill junior high teams. That's tough. Ouch! The article said that "sixth grade girls primarily make up the junior high teams." The school is researching low participation numbers and hoping to address it and solve the problems.

On a much more positive note, I was happy to read that Dawson-Boyd is currently planning to hold prom this spring as well as a full outdoor graduation ceremony at their football stadium. Bravo!

Later this morning I'll try posting a live video player for the Minneota game. Remember: you can listen to the game on both local radio stations: The Train and Smooth Magic!

Also, added Saturday morning...here's a web article containing area COVID-19 figure summaries...basically all the town/rural areas that surround the B-B-E school district (short link): https://bit.ly/37xxcZm. Remember - knowledge is power! It's important to see the government-reported statistics showing that we're not getting community spread of COVID-19, even though most schools are open, almost every business is open...all while we're in the "unhealthiest" time of the year in the heart of winter where we're mostly indoors.

More to come.

In the C-squad game at Minneota, Coach Borgerding's Jaguars hold a 33-29 lead with just over one minute to go in regulation. Final score: B-B-E 36, Minneota 29.

Just in case I don't get it posted separately, here's the video player from Minneota:


I want to wish best of luck to all the predator hunters in Pope County today! The annual Pope County Predator Hunt is taking place today. They will culminate the activity at Rooney's Bar tonight.

More updates in a new blog post, including the video player posted again.

Back-to-back conference champs!

With their 54-9 win over Royalton/Upsala in the book tonight, the No. 2-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team has earned back-to-back Central Minnesota Conference championships! This is awesome! The Jaguars defeated the Royals 54-9 to complete the CMC schedule with a 6-0 record for the second year in a row.

This is just the fifth time in B-B-E school history that they have earned a team conference title. Now B-B-E's first two teams, the 1996-1997 team and latest two teams have won titles in the 33-year history of the program.

The Jaguars (20-2) take on Ottertail Central (8-8) later tonight to finish the triangular.

Below is a video clip from tonight's action against Royalton/Upsala:

In the second dual of tonight's action at B-B-E high school, Royalton/Upsala (10-8) has a 48-3 lead over OTC through the 170-pound weight.

Final score: Royalton/Upsala defeated the OTC Bulldogs by a 66-9 score.

*Update: the Bulldogs are currently a struggling program, and they gave up the first five weights with forfeits to the Jaguars. Entering the 132-pound match, the Jaguars have a 30-0 lead with No. 6-ranked Tyler Jensen facing off with an OTC senior to start the actual wrestling of the dual.

Tyler Jensen won by pin with an unofficial time of 2:25. Now the Jaguars are ahead 36-0.

No. 3-ranked Blaine Fischer won by fall (1:06) at 145 pounds. At 152, Maximus Hanson won a 12-5 decision. At 160 pounds, Dylan Kampsen lost a 6-2 decision. At 170, the Bulldogs made it two in a row when Wyatt Lewis lost by fall (1:39). At 182, Cooper Wold lost a 10-7 decision. At 195, Carson Gilbert put the Jaguars back on track with a win by fall (2:34). At 220, Mark Jenniges won by fall in just 40 seconds. At heavyweight, Ethan Spanier won by forfeit.

Final score: B-B-E 63, OTC 12. The Jaguars are now 21-2 overall with a new school record for most wins in a season! The old record was 20 wins, which they earned in the 2017-2018 and 2019-2020 seasons.

More to come.

(LIVE VIDEO) Home wrestling triangular (FIXED)

Here's varsity video:


Here's the live video player for JV wrestling:


Action begins at the B-B-E high school tonight at 5 p.m.

*Update: at 126 pounds against Royalton/Upsala, Wyatt Engen earned a pin with a time of 5:18 to give the Jaguars a 21-0 lead.

At 132 pounds, Walker Bents won a 17-8 major decision.

*Update: through 145 pounds, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team has a 31-0 over Royalton/Upsala.

**Final score: the Jaguars won 54-9 over Royalton/Upsala.

More updates will follow in a new blog post.

Radio coverage on Saturday

Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood will carry tomorrow's girls' basketball game at No. 1-ranked Minneota. The varsity game starts at 1 p.m. Please pass the word! (Thanks, Brady!)

Also, I learned that 106.5 FM The Train will carry tomorrow's game at Minneota.

Also, a quick reminder, tonight! The Belgrade V.F.W. will hold a meat raffle fundraiser that starts at 6 p.m. You can also see that advertised on page 2 of this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Please remember! Advertising in the newspaper by groups such as the Belgrade V.F.W. contributes to the ability to operate The Voice's sports department, which also operates this sports blog.

More to come.

Thursday night results

At Frazee tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team won 60-3 to improve to 18-2 overall. They are taking on United Clay Becker right now to finish their part of the triangular.

*Update: in their final dual, the Jaguars won 64-16 over United Clay/Becker to improve to 19-2 on the season. 

They have a home triangular tomorrow night.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team won 69-31 tonight at Maple Lake. The Irish fell to 3-8 overall. By focusing on the home dance comp, I completely spaced out on the boys' basketball team and getting their live video player posted. Gosh, darn it anyhow! That's how it goes. They are 8-3 overall now. Very noteworthy to see Eden Valley-Watkins assert themselves as the top team in the Central Minnesota Conference with a 66-58 win at Paynesville tonight. The Eagles led 39-22 at halftime, but the Bulldogs cut that down to nine points just six minutes after halftime. EV-W then surged ahead by as many as 17 points before Paynesville stormed back to get within five points with under a minute to go. 

With this win, the EV-W Eagles (11-1, 8-1) avenged their only loss of the year so far and stayed a half-game ahead of Kimball Area in the conference race. Paynesville Area beat EV-W 67-66 at Eden Valley in the season opener.

B-B-E's next boys' basketball game is at home next Tuesday against Royalton.

The Nevis Tigers boys' basketball team took their second loss in a row when they lost at home to Mahnomen/Waubun by an 83-78 score in overtime on Tuesday this week. Nevis is 8-2 overall and was ranked No. 1 in the last set of Class 1A state rankings. Mahnomen/Waubun was ranked No. 4 in that same poll (February 3)...the M/W Thunderbirds are now 10-0 and may grab the top ranking in the next state rankings. Ashby (9-0) is also highly rated.

I want to give a huge shout out to the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team! They were awesome tonight!! I was thoroughly impressed. I've got video, and I was happy to get some very good pictures during their performance.

More to come. **Area scoreboard posted late Thursday night...see below.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on Feb. 18:
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 51, Royalton 45
Eden Valley-Watkins 66, Paynesville Area 58

Kimball Area 39, Holdingford 26

Area boys' basketball scores on February 18:
Melrose Area 74, Albany 57 (Huge border battle win for Coach Duscha's Dutchmen)
Upsala 57, Browerville 55
Osakis 73, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 44
Hinckley-Finlayson 58, Isle 39
East Central 58, Onamia 45 (No. 10-ranked East Central is 9-1 and one of the top teams in Sub-Section 5A-East )
Henning 45, Verndale 33
Wadena-Deer Creek, Menahga 58
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 57, Rothsay 52

Area girls' basketball scores on February 18:
Central MN Christian 61, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 45
Minnewaska Area 53, Benson 21
Montevideo 55, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 54
Esko 58, Pine River-Backus 46 (Esko gives PR-B their first loss of the season, dropping the No. 9-ranked Tigers to 9-1; Class 2A Esko is now 8-0)
Willmar 58, Brainerd 50
Parkers Prairie 69, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 43
Osakis 60, Melrose Area 39
Alexandria 73, Rocori 42
Swanville 57, Onamia 27
Minneota 60, Lakeview 29
Isle 42, Barnum 41
Rush City 58, East Central 44
Ogilvie 62, Braham 46 (Ogilvie is now 8-2
MACCRAY 59, Renville County West 23
BOLD 65, Sleepy Eye 57
Underwood 50, Brandon-Evansville 39
West Central Area 48, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 36
Lac qui Parle Valley 60, Dawson-Boyd 17

(LIVE VIDEOS POSTED!) Home dance comp and wrestling on the road

*Wrestling added! Both a YouTube feed and a feed on Facebook...see below.

The home dance comp is tonight at 6 p.m. Here's the live video player:


The Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa/Paynesville dance team hosts Holdingford and Albany tonight. I don't have their exact schedule. I hope to update this blog when I get it tonight.

**Also...I need to post the live video player from Frazee high school, where the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team will compete tonight. Stay tuned.

**Click on this and you'll at least get to the Frazee high school YouTube page. They don't have a live video player posted yet. I am guessing, and hoping, that they would have something up by 5 o'clock (short link) = https://bit.ly/3bkUeDM.

**Below, here's the live video player for wrestling action at Frazee!


Take your pick! You can watch dance or wrestling right here.

**Update on Thursday night...you can click through to this Facebook link to see a better view of the wrestling action at Frazee: https://www.facebook.com/frazeehornets.

And in COVID news...our new number for this week is four. That's right! Just four new cases reported for the zip code areas of Belgrade (4), Brooten (0) and Elrosa (0) for the past seven days....Elrosa has now gone at least eight weeks with no COVID cases. That is amazing.

Last week's number was three, which gives us a 14-day number of seven. That is a very good number. If only the kids could play without masks on. They do in South Dakota, and it's wonderful. What Minnesota is doing is absolutely vile. Remember: wrestling teams all across Minnesota are able to have wrestlers in action twice a week, and during their six-minute matches, they can compete without masks. 

There's NO REASON that a dance team can't perform without masks on. NONE. NADA.

More to come later.

It's Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of the 40-day journey for the Easter season. Today is a day of fasting and repentance for Christians, where we acknowledge that upon death, our bodies return to the earth. The sign of the cross marked on our foreheads marks the same sign of the cross marked at the time of our baptism into the Christian faith.

Click on the following short link to watch the online worship at Norway Lake Lutheran parish for Ash Wednesday: https://bit.ly/3qwRoSv.

Tuesday night results, scores

Here I'll post more from last night's action with the basketball teams. I've also added a new blog post marking today's significance as Ash Wednesday.

Last night, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team suffered just their third loss of the season at Sauk Centre. The Mainstreeters won 52-50 after leading 23-17 at halftime. Sauk Centre, improving to 4-5, had led by as many as 15 points in the second half. B-B-E closed it to 49-49 in the final two minutes.

Next: the boys' basketball team (7-3) travels to Maple Lake (3-7, 3-5) on Thursday this week.

On the home court last night, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team made it nine straight when they defeated visiting Royalton 50-25. Their 9-0 record is the best in school history to start a girls' basketball season. The best start came in the 1996-1997 season when they went 5-0 before taking their first loss.

Against Royalton, the girls' basketball team had a very sluggish start and actually trailed 4-2 about five minutes into the game. The Jaguars rallied over the home stretch of the first half and led 19-8 at halftime.

Next: the girls' basketball team (7-3) travels to top-ranked Minneota (8-0, 8-0) on Saturday, February 20 for a 1 p.m. game. The C-squad tips off at 10:30 a.m., while the JV team tips off at 11:45 a.m. at Minneota high school. The varsity game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. (Thanks, Brady!)

Complete game recaps from both teams are published in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

More to follow.

Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball scores on Feb. 16:
Kimball Area 69, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 33
Paynesville Area 50, Maple Lake 40
Holdingford 55, Eden Valley-Watkins 40

Area girls' basketball scores on February 16:
Swanville 57, Browerville 48
Montevideo 68, Benson 34
BOLD 65, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 57
Albany 53, Pierz 41
Brainerd 53, Willmar 52
Ogilvie 72, Barnum 33 Parkers Prairie 69, West Central Area 65
MACCRAY 49, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 44
Renville County West 46, Dawson-Boyd 32
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 51, Brandon-Evansville 40

No luck with live stream (boys' basketball) **UPDATE: we have live video

I could not find a live video player for the game in Sauk Centre tonight...and I don't have time to keep digging. 

My apologies.

Looked again around 8 o'clock and came up empty...I saw that MidMNSports-dot-Come is broadcasting the Melrose vs. St. Cloud Cathedral game.

The Train 106.5 FM is covering New London-Spicer vs. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted.

Bummer!

The JV Jaguars won 48-35 tonight at Sauk Centre.

**FOUND IT. Just wasn't looking in the right place. Here it is...it's now halftime.


The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team trails 23-17 at halftime at Sauk Centre.

Time to get their "A" game going!

*Update: just over a minute into the second half, and now it's 28-17.

And 90 seconds in...now it's 30-17, and B-B-E is in a timeout.

*Update: with 15:22 left, Kaden Pieper canned a three-pointer to get it back to a 10-point game, 32-22. Then the Mainstreeters answered 20 seconds later with a corner three-pointer to get it to a 35-22 deficit.

*Update: with 8:30 left in the game, Sauk Centre has a 45-33 lead.

*Final score: Sauk Centre 52, B-B-E 50.

And I forgot all about the girls' basketball game at the high school. That's just how my week has gone so far! But I am happy to report that they won 50-25 over Royalton to improve to 9-0.

Time to get back to this week's newspaper. That's all for the night.

**Update: we've stretched out to a full 14-page issue this week. I can't even believe it. I hope you can get your hands on a copy. We went to four and a half pages of sports coverage.

Business Professionals of America...and band!

A grand total of 15 members of the B-B-E Business Professionals of America (BPA) team earned state berths after outstanding showings at the region competition. The region competition was held over the second week of January in a virtual format.

Read more in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Also!

B-B-E Band Concert is March 1

The Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 5th through 12th grade band concert was originally scheduled for February 22nd this year. A few adjustments have been made, but the music department is thrilled to announce the concert will still be taking place! The Band concert has been rescheduled to Monday, March 1 of this year with a slightly different look.

The 5th and 6th grade bands will perform at 6:00, the 7th and 8th grade band will perform at 7:00, and the 9th - 12th grade band will perform at 7:45. Each performer will be able to have limited family members attend the performance. For those interested in listening but not permitted to be in attendance, the concert will be streamed and recorded. More details to come!

(VIDEO) B-B-E vs. Kimball

The Kimball Area Cubs boys' basketball team stayed near the top of the Central Minnesota Conference with a win over Paynesville Area on Friday night. They have just one loss along with Eden Valley-Watkins in the standings to this point.

Below is video from Kimball's game with the B-B-E Jaguars on January 29:

The next game for the Jaguars (7-2) is a non-conference border battle at Sauk Centre on Tuesday this week. The Mainstreeters are coached by 2011 B-B-E graduate and former three-sport star student-athlete Kevin Kuefler.

B-B-E is on the road this entire week, and they only have three more home games on the schedule before they open playoffs in March.

Also, in a post from the weekend...I said that the wrestling team is 15-2. They are actually 17-2! Clearly having one of the better regular seasons in school history. I am 99% sure that the record for most regular season wins for wrestling is 19. I'm gonna double check on that.

It was over in a flash

And bang! Just like that, the home triangular lasted just over two hours flat with the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team, No. 9-ranked Thief River Falls and BOLD. It had to be one of the shortest triangulars we've seen locally.

B-B-E won 48-30 in their match with Class 2A TRF.

The Jaguars made quick work of the BOLD Warriors in the final dual of the afternoon. The final score was 70-12. The Warriors (4-14) gave up five weights to forfeits at 120, 132, 138, 195 and 220 pounds.

B-B-E raises their record to 17-2 overall. They are 5-0 in the Central Minnesota Conference. The Jaguars complete the CMC schedule at a home triangular next Friday, February 19. The first dual that night features B-B-E taking on Royalton at 5 p.m. If the Jaguars win, they will be sole champions of the CMC for the second year in a row. (They went 6-0 last year in the CMC.)

Getting out quickly isn't all that bad of a thing considering the weather we're facing: the low tonight is predicted to drop to 25 below zero. Ouch!

In other news...one of the top playoff competitors, if not the very best competition, for the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team was handed its first loss of the season today. Top-ranked Nevis lost 55-49 today on their home court to Cass Lake-Bena, who avenged an earlier season 52-48 loss to the Tigers. Nevis is the defending Sub-Section 5A-West champion who beat our Jaguars 61-58 on the last "normal" day of our lives last year...March 11, 2020.

Nevis is 8-1 overall, while CL-B is now 8-2. Both teams are tied for first place in the Northland Conference with 7-1 records.

More to come later.

(LIVE VIDEO) Home wrestling triangular on Saturday

Below is the live video player that lights up at approximately 12:30 p.m. today:

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team (13-2) hosts Thief River Falls and BOLD (4-12). The dual with BOLD counts in the Section 5A standings, both team-wise and individually. Thief River Falls is a very good Class 2A team with a 10-5 record this year. They are ranked second in Sub-section 8AA-West. Also, TRF is ranked No. 9 in the latest Class 2A state rankings at The Guillotine. 

Ranked for TRF are the following wrestlers: freshmen Griffin Lundeen at 138 (7th) and junior Brady Kasprick at 145 (5th).

BOLD also has two ranked wrestlers (Class 1A): freshmen Austin Kiecker at 132 (8th) and senior Tim Peppel at 285 (5th).

• While you're waiting for wrestling to start, check out this very special video posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice website...click on this short link to re-direct there: https://bit.ly/3tVI24Z. I'll re-post this again this weekend.

That was the only video clip I could find in my archives from that pep fest.

**Back to 2021! Here's a quick update for wrestling action...

At 106, Brett DeRoo had to give an injury default as the Jaguars take on No. 9-ranked Class 2A Thief River Falls. The early 6-0 deficit was quickly erased when Tanner Viessman earned a 39-second pin at 113 pounds! And to top that off, Ryan Jensen earned a pin in just 15 seconds at 120 pounds! That makes the score 12-6 in favor of the B-B-E Jaguars.

Wyatt Engen kept the juice on for the Jaguars as he earned a very early first-period pin at 126 pounds. Awesome! The Jaguars are ahead 18-6.

**Final score: the Jaguars won 48-30! It was a wild win with a high level of scoring. At 285 pounds, Ethan Spanier earned a pin (2:42) to cap the scoring after the Jaguars built a 42-30 lead through the first 13 weights.

Other updates to follow in a new blog post.

Friday night wins in contrasting styles

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team stayed within reach in their hunt for a Central Minnesota Conference title with an 87-47 win over Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City tonight. The Jaguars shot a red-hot 55 percent from the floor and were led by Ashton Dingmann's 24 points.

Up next: the Jaguars (7-2, 5-2) travel to Sauk Centre next Tuesday for a border battle.

**Saturday update: I see that Kimball Area handed Paynesville a close loss in a high-scoring game last night...this puts Paynesville into a tie with the Jaguars for third place at 5-2 each. Kimball Area (6-1) is in second place, with Eden Valley-Watkins (7-1) in first place with a half-game lead over the Cubs. This is quite a race shaping up in the CMC!

At Minnewaska Area, a lay-up by Abby Berge put the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team ahead 31-18 with 8 minutes to go in the game. Hurting the cause for the Lakers is foul trouble, as their two biggest players have fouled out of the game.

AND...FYI...tomorrow's home wrestling triangular begins at 12:30 p.m.

Final score: B-B-E 49, Minnewaska Area 22. Up next is a home game next Tuesday against Royalton to resume Central Minnesota Conference action.

The Lakers fell to 2-6 overall with the loss. 

More to come. Time for a break.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on February 12:
Kimball Area 76, Paynesville Area 69
Eden Valley-Watkins 64, Maple Lake 25
Royalton 61, Holdingford 30

Area boys' basketball scores on February 12:
Rockford 74, New London-Spicer 56
Litchfield 63, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 44
Osakis 62, Upsala 51
Albany 77, Foley 45
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 73, St. John’s Prep 52
Browerville 53, Swanville 46
Ashby 61, Parkers Prairie 48
Battle Lake 77, Underwood 46

Area girls' basketball scores on February 12:
Sauk Centre 61, Melrose Area 14
Lac qui Parle Valley 57, Central MN Christian 40
Montevideo 81, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 68
Minneota 92, Yellow Medicine East 34

**Saturday morning update: I've gotten more scores added here, and I'll get more updates in a new blog post, including the video player for home wrestling action today.

Radio coverage and (LIVE VIDEO) on Friday night

Tonight's girls' basketball game will be aired on smooth magic 107 FM of Glenwood. Tip-off will be at 7:20 p.m at Minnewaska Area high school. Thanks, Brady!

Below, here's the live video player for the home boys' basketball game:


Go Jags!

More to come.

**Update: the girls' basketball team has a 19-12 lead at halftime.

More updates in a new blog post****

Two exciting items to share

I have a double dose of great news to share in Jaguar Country.

First, I'm thrilled that Cheryl Kampsen will be at tonight's home boys' basketball game! She is a beloved member of our B-B-E community who has devoted countless hours to promoting Jaguar sports over the better part of the last 15 years. Her four children were all B-B-E Jaguar student-athletes back in the 2000s.

The COVID-19 rules and other related matters have made it very difficult for reporters and photographers to do their thing. I talked to Cheryl this morning, and she's really excited to come and take in a basketball game! Tonight the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team hosts Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. Cheryl has taken all the pressure off of me in terms of promoting the Jaguars via social media. (And we all know how good she is at what she does!)  And when asked, she is always gracious enough to share pictures with the school.

In other news, B-B-E is promoting the idea of more collaboration amongst the youngest students in the classroom, news that parents across the district are celebrating as we speak. This issue was given light reference in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper in the school board story. I am absolutely thrilled to see the school pushing ahead on it.

At B-B-E, we don't settle for status quo or "the bare minimum" whether it's in academics or our activities!

More updates to follow in a new blog post.

Thursday night results

The 5th-ranked B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team picked up a huge 63-26 win at Maple Lake. The Jaguars shot 50 percent from the floor and were led by an 18-point performance by Allisa Knight, while Karissa Jones had 12 points and Abby Berge scored 10.

B-B-E is now 7-0 overall and in the Central Minnesota Conference. Maple Lake falls to 4-5 overall and 1-5 in the CMC.

More to come.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on February 11:
Holdingford 68, Kimball Area 44
Eden Valley-Watkins 57, Paynesville Area 30
Royalton 77, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 18

Area girls' basketball scores on February 11:
Ashby 50, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 23
Upsala 53, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 45
Braham 76, Hinckley-Finlayson 53
Ogilvie 54, East Central 35
Parkers Prairie 63, Brandon-Evansville 36
Battle Lake 62, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 53
Sebeka 44, Bertha-Hewitt 30
Henning 81, Wadena-Deer Creek 31
Pine City 86, Isle 20
Albany 77, Foley 52
Osakis 50, Swanville 44

Area boys' basketball scores on February 11:
Renville County West 75, Central MN Christian 66
Dawson-Boyd 72, MACCRAY 57
Lac qui Parle Valley 56, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 46
Lakeview 86, Yellow Medicine County East 58
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 66, Benson 49
Melrose Area 67, Minnewaska Area 50 (Coach Ryan Duscha's Dutchmen are 8-0)
Montevideo 68, Sauk Centre 51

(LIVE VIDEO) Thursday night game night

Here's the video player for the girls' basketball game tonight at Maple Lake...click on the following (short) link and it should re-direct you to the player that goes live at 5:30 p.m.

Link = https://bit.ly/2OlPXYS.

**Update: all I'm getting on that video player is a Maple Lake football game. I'm gonna try again and see if I can get it to work.

**Another update: I got it to work out. I hope you can too! The Jaguars have an early 11-6 lead, although I don't know how much time is left in the first half.

The live video player for wrestling is in an older blog post further below.

*Update: the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team defeated Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted by a 62-7 score in the first dual tonight.

**Update: the final score of the Benson vs. B-B-E match was 69-5 in favor of the state-ranked Jaguars. At 220 pounds, Carson Gilbert trailed 1-0 going into the last 10 seconds of the third period. He earned a reversal in the final seconds for an exciting 2-1 win. Then at 285, Bryce Feuerhake earned a forfeit win to cap the scoring.

The wrestling team hosts another triangular this Saturday starting at noon.

**Girls' basketball update: in the second half with under two minutes to go, the Jaguars hold a 61-26 lead.

2, 1, 0

The numbers 2, 1 and 0 take new significance for the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa community. For the latest one-week period, the zip code areas of Belgrade, Brooten and Elrosa (population ~ 4,285) had a total of just three COVID-19 cases added to the cumulative case load: 2 in 56312, one in 56316 and none in 56325. Elrosa has gone at least seven weeks now with no COVID cases. 

These numbers were reported to the Minnesota Department of Health for the period of Thursday, February 4 through Wednesday, February 10 and released on February 11 (today).

In spite of the state of Minnesota completely and totally botching their vaccine rollout with their pure asinine and inexplicably stupid "hospital lottery" scam that was unleashed on us in January...I am happy to hear more and more locals are receiving at least the first "jab" of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

The state's hospital lottery scam really screwed with outstate Minnesota's smaller hospitals. No one should be surprised by that. Our governor is as sharp as a bowling ball.

I've got more to say about our state, but I'll save that for next week's newspaper issue.

At today's home triangular, the No. 2-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team hosts Benson and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. The match with Benson is a section match, while the HL-W-W match is non-conference. This is the first year that HL-W-W is part of the Wright County Conference.

B-B-E has just one Central Minnesota Conference dual left in the regular season. That takes place at a home triangular on Friday, February 19 with Royalton. The other team coming to town that night is Ottertail Central.

Thursday updates, etc. and (LIVE VIDEO)

I just looked at the February 10 state rankings that were just released by Minnesota Basketball News. The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has climbed one spot to No. 5 in the Top 10! That is amazing!

I also found it noteworthy to see that Hancock's girls' basketball team has cracked the Top 10 and stands at the No. 10 spot with an 8-0 record.

Section 5A rival Pine River-Backus is ranked No. 9 with a 7-0 record.

In Class 2A, New London-Spicer holds the No. 1 ranking, while Sauk Centre sits at No. 4. Both teams are 6-0.

I've added at least a couple more photo albums to the 2021 winter sports folder on the Bonanza Valley Voice SmugMug gallery. Here's the master link: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/BBE-Jaguar-20-21-winter-sports.

And in case you were wondering, right about when school started on Thursday morning, the temperature has climbed to 10 below zero. Yikes! Today we are expected to get up to four below zero as a high. Tonight the temperature has been forecast to drop to 22 below zero.

**Just in case I don't get it added later today...below is the live video player for the home wrestling triangular. It begins at 5 p.m.

Action at 5 p.m. will feature the Jaguars taking on Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted. The last dual will include B-B-E and Benson.

*Update: more updates in a new blog post.

One point loss...and some startling vote totals from BOLD

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team fell in an incredibly close and hard-fought battle at Eden Valley-Watkins tonight by a 62-61 score. The Eagles led 22-21 at halftime, and both teams posted 40 points in a wild second half. The Jaguars shot a solid 40 percent on field goals, making 22 of 54 shots from the floor. Next: the Jaguars (6-2, 4-2) host Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City on Friday this week.

More to come in the morning.

*Okay, well it's Wednesday night and I'm finally getting around to adding updates here. Further below are recent basketball and wrestling scores from last night (Tuesday).

I just read about what happened at the BOLD (Bird Island, Olivia, Lake Lillian) school district yesterday (again, Tuesday)...it was rather shocking. I'm not really shocked that voters said "No" to a huge tax increase for building construction. The shocking part to me is the volume at which they delivered their message. It was a resounding "NO!" from voters. On their first question, which was the most important question, voters turned down a $57.4 million project to build a new preK-12 school building by a 1,549 to 366 vote margin.

I empathize with the leaders of the BOLD district, from administration to teachers to non-licensed staff to school board members. This is an extremely difficult time to be asking taxpayers for a tax hike.

To be clear: I have only loosely followed the building drama of the BOLD school district. I am not well-versed on all of their issues. I know the building in Bird Island is very outdated. Just getting it up to "code" would cost upwards of $20 million from the last articles I've read. 

Yikes! To show how outdated my information is...I read that the campus in Bird Island was closed last year due to mold issues. That figure of $20 million still stands. That's roughly what it WOULD have cost if they went ahead and updated the building to get it up to code and make it useable again. As it stands, the pre-K-12 students at BOLD are housed at the Olivia campus.

The BOLD schools building soap opera reminds me in very clear terms that we are so extremely blessed and fortunate to have what we have at B-B-E schools. Our $20 million project is moving along nicely. All signs suggest it should be completed by September.

I can't wait!

Central Minnesota Conference boys' basketball scores on Feb. 9:
Kimball Area 43, Maple Lake 39
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 55, Holdingford 54
Paynesville Area 68, Royalton 49

Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball scores on Feb. 9:
Kimball Area 71, A-C-GC 31
Paynesville Area 42, Royalton 34

Area boys' basketball scores on February 9:
Renville County West 62, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 57
Minnewaska Area 50, Sauk Centre 41
Litchfield 56, New London-Spicer 50
Watertown-Mayer 54, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 52
Hinckley-Finlayson 58, Rush City 51
Rothsay 61, Battle Lake 57
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 84, Underwood 47
Central MN Christian 61, Dawson-Boyd 50
Sebeka 54, Bertha-Hewitt 40
New York Mills 92, Pillager 68
Barnesville 65, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 52
Parkers Prairie 57, West Central Area 51 OT
Lakeview 63, Canby 56
Ashby 60, Brandon-Evansville 35
Minneota 56, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 54
Henning 52, Wadena-Deer Creekk 40
Nevis 57, Nashwauk-Keewatin 43

Area girls' basketball scores on February 9:
Mayer Lutheran 63, Eden Valley-Watkins 39
Maple Lake 70, Rush City 59
Pine River-Backus 73, Nevis 34
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 74, Verndale 35
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 37, Ashby 29
West Central Area 70, Battle Lake 55
Central MN Christian 49, MACCRAY 43
Albany 68, St. Cloud Cathedral 25
Marshall Area 58, Willmar 49
Browerville 52, Osakis 46
Ogilvie 60, Swanville 54
Braham 54, Upsala 52
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 61, Benson 47
Lac qui Parle Valley 58, Renville CountY West 35
Minnewaska Area 50, Melrose Area 40
Sauk Centre 63, Montevideo 57
New London-Spicer 63, Litchfield 40
Watertown-Mayer 67, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 27

CMC wrestling scores on February 9:
Eden Valley-Watkins 40, Holdingford 37

Area wrestling scores on February 9:
Willmar 57, Alexandria 18
West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville 63, Benson 14
WCA/A/BE 45, Crookston 29
Crookston 51, Benson 27
EV-W 60, Osakis 12
Holdingford 60, Osakis 18
Minneota 44, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove 27
Jackson County Central 54, Minneota 19
New London-Spicer 40, Morris Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta 27
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 43, MA/H/CA 26
K-M-S 34, NL-S 31
Dawson-Boyd/Montevideo/Lac qui Parle Valley United 71, Ortonville 6
Minnewaska Area 34, DB/M/LQPV United 26
Minnewaska Area 70, Ortonville 6
BOLD 44, Norwood-Young America 36
Tri City United 52, BOLD 14
Bertha-Hewitt/Parkers Prairie 58, Staples-Motley 12
BH/PP 60, Pelican Rapids 20
Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville 60, Aitkin 13
LPGE/B 51, Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus 12
Albany 53, Milaca/Faith Christian 15

Getting caught up, desk clearing

This folder is up to date through the January 29 boys' basketball game with Kimball Area. It includes the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's winter sports photos from the month of January 2021 (short link): https://bit.ly/3p7h1bi.

Tonight the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team has a dance comp at Holdingford. Pierz is the third team that will be there, and the comp starts at 6:30 p.m. I'll try digging up any possible live streaming that they'll have and post it on a new blog post.

*Here's a link you can use to at least find the Holdingford high school broadcasting page. I'm guessing they'll have a video player posted later today for the dance comp.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJb_Tk7aOjMKdy3RJ6Hlpg/featured.

• And it's not too early to start thinking about Valentine's Day weekend! Click here on the following short link to read about what the Padua Pub has cooking for this weekend (four days to choose from!)  https://bit.ly/2Nccqaw.

Time to tend to other matters laying around on my desks (virtual and real) and see what I can get caught up on today!!!