Looking at upcoming playoff games (VIDEOS)

I'll get scouting information posted here as I find it for football and volleyball.

In yesterday's Section 4A football semifinal game at Upsala/Swanville Area, the Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg Fighting Saints trailed 24-0 at halftime. K-M-S found a spark in the third quarter, when quarterback Jared Cortez connected with Hunter Kallstrom for a 20-yard touchdown reception. The two-point conversion was successful for a 24-8 score. U/SA then scored a touchdown in the third quarter to make the score 32-8. K-M-S responded with Isaac Rudningen hauling in a 72-yard pass from Cortez for a touchdown and a 32-16 score at the end of three quarters. U/SA (8-2) posted eight more points in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring in the 40-16 win.

K-M-S (3-7) finished with just 24 rushing yards as their running backs were completely unable to see daylight. Quarterback Cortez was their leading rusher with 15 yards on four carries.

The Section 4A football championship is at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, November 5 at the FargoDome. The B-B-E Jaguars football team faces Upsala/Swanville Area for a state tournament berth!

The Sub-Section 6A-South volleyball championship is at 7:30 p.m. the night before, Thursday, November 4 at Fergus Falls high school. The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team faces Wheaton/Herman-Norcross. At 6 p.m. at Fergus Falls on Thursday, the North teams of Breckenridge and Henning will square off in their sub-section title match. When our match starts ultimately depends on how late that match goes.

**Here's a video from the third quarter of the football playoff opener; it features Luke Dingmann scoring on a 16-yard keeper:


Shifting to W/HN volleyball notes...the W/H-N Warriors defeated Hancock in a 3-2 match at Herman High School on Tuesday, October 12. The win clinched the Pheasant Conference title for W/HN with a 6-2 record, one match better than runner-up West Central Area. The Warriors won the Pheasant Conference for the first time since 2016, when they went 24-4 overall and finished as Sub-Section 6A-South runners-up to Underwood. W/HN was conference runners-up in 2017, 2018 and 2019 behind their rival neighbors to the south, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley. W/H-N went 19-9 in 2017 and finished in second place behind Underwood in the sub-section. W/H-N's 2012 squad had a 26-1 record going into the Sub-Section 6A-South championship, but they lost in that match by a 3-2 margin to Underwood to finish 26-2. The 2011 team was W/H-N's last squad to play in a section championship match, as the Warriors won Sub-Section 6A-South with a 3-2 win over Underwood. Ada-Borup defeated W/H-N in the 2011 Section 6A finals.

In the Hancock match on October 12, the Warriors were led by Brylie Schultz with 14 kills and a whopping 10 ace serves. The junior middle hitter/middle blocker also had one solo block, one block assist, 4 set assists and 9 digs. Schultz led the Warriors in their win over C-G-B last Friday with 16 kills plus three ace serves and just one service error on 18 serves. Against K-M-S in the playoff opener last Wednesday, Schultz was the leading hitter with 14 kills, 3 solo blocks and 2 block assists.

W/HN's seniors are hitter Kyah Thomas, defensive specialist Asia Schmidt, setter Emily Berger, hitter Ellissa Rinke, setter Lesley Rinke and defensive specialist Avah Sykora. Ellissa Rinke is another big gun for W/H-N, and she had 11 kills and 3 ace serves in the October 12 match with Hancock. I'm guessing they run a 6-2 offense, as Berger had 15 set assists and Lesley Rinke had 9 set assists with 13 digs.

*Here's a cell phone video from the last points scored in game one of the Benson match last Wednesday night:


In the October 27 match with K-M-S in Wheaton, the Warriors' stats sheet showed: Brylie Schultz led the Warriors attack with 14 kills, 3 solo blocks and 2 block assists. Megyn Kelly added 7 kills and Kyah Thomas had 5 kills. Emily Berger distributed 18 set assists and Lesley Rinke added 9 set assists.

During the C-G-B match in the semifinals on October 29 in Wheaton, the Warriors' stats sheet showed a very balanced offensive attack with outstanding serving: top servers were Kyah Thomas (19/19, 3 aces), Brylie Schultz (17/18, 3 aces), Ellissa Rinke (13/14, 3 aces), Emily Berger (13/14, 2 aces), Lesley Rinke (13/14, 1 ace) and Avah Sykora (16/18, 2 aces). Schultz led the attack with 16 kills and Ellissa Rinke added 13. Thomas contributed 7 kills, while Zaundra Determan and Megyn Kelly had six apiece. Berger (23) and Lesley Rinke (15) combined for 38 set assists in the match. Dig leaders were Ellissa Rinke with 20, Sykora with 19, Thomas with 17 and Lesley Rinke with 10. Anna Bright added 9 kills and Berger finished with 6.

Time to call it a night. Most of my Sunday evening was spent in the garden. We'll be getting multiple killing frosts in the next few nights.