extended sports coverage for the B-B-E community brought to you by the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper in Brooten, MN. (Address: P.O. Box 250, Brooten) http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. ALL VIEWS posted are strictly and without exception the opinions of the newspaper owner and no one else; they're written in first hand format. Please submit feedback in writing to the address posted above. **This is Minnesota's oldest varsity high school sports blog. We hope to keep it going into the future!
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Back to winning
After taking a tough loss on Wednesday, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team picked up a marquee win against state-ranked Cass Lake-Bena to conclude their two-day tournament in the St. Cloud Metro area. The Jaguars rocked CL-B in the first half while forging a 49-24 lead by halftime. The final score was 81-57 against a team that entered the game ranked No. 3 in the latest state polls with a 7-0 overall record. The Jaguars, who shot a robust 49 percent from the field and went 23-of-33 at the free throw line, improved to 8-2 with the win.
Here's a video recorded last Thursday, one week ago, when the Jaguars faced Litchfield:
Thursday night update: in their second game of the week, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team defeated Nevis 60-57 in a game played at Sartell-St. Stephen high school tonight. The Jaguars (5-2) held a 60-54 lead in the final seconds, when the Tigers (8-2) made an uncontested three-pointer at the buzzer.
More to come later. My day went off the rails this morning, and it won't be on track until much later tonight. I was able to finally get new COVID-19 case zip code information posted on the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website. You can see that by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3sMEfce.
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team picked up another non-conference win. They played Mountain Iron-Buhl in an evening contest at St. Cloud Tech high school and won 67-58. MI-B fell to 5-2 overall with the loss after coming into the game with an 87 points-per-game offensive average.
The Jaguars (4-2 overall) face former sub-section rival Nevis tomorrow at Sartell-St. Stephen high school. The Tigers are 8-0 overall and are averaging 73.2 points per game this season.
Early in the summer of 1988, the initial name for the new athletic pairing between Belgrade-Elrosa and Brooten was "Minnesota Central" - I didn't see exactly how that name came about, but there was quite an outcry about it. A few weeks later, the joint school boards selected "Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa" as the name of the pairing. The name stuck...and since that time we've been the B-B-E Jaguars.
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' and boys' basketball teams each have two games this week in the St. Cloud Metropolitan area.
Wednesday, December 29 schedule:
The JV girls' basketball team takes on Mountain Iron-Buhl with tip-off on Court 1 at Whitney Center in St. Cloud at 11:30 a.m.
The varsity girls' basketball team faces Mountain Iron-Buhl (6-1) with tip-off at 1:15 p.m. at St. Ben's University in St. Joseph. MI-B played into the state semifinals in last season's Class 1A state tournament, where they lost 54-53 to Minneota.
The JV boys' basketball team faces Mountain Iron-Buhl at 2 p.m. on Court 3 at Whitney Center in St. Cloud.
The varsity boys' basketball team faces Mountain Iron-Buhl at 5:30 p.m. at St. Cloud Tech.
Thursday, December 30 schedule:
The JV girls' basketball team takes on Buffalo with tip-off on Court 2 at Whitney Center in St. Cloud at 10:15 a.m.
The varsity girls' basketball team faces Cass Lake-Bena with tip-off at 12:30 p.m. at St. Cloud Tech high school. CL-B lost in the state quarterfinals last season to Mountain Iron-Buhl.
The JV boys' basketball team faces St. Francis at 2 p.m. on Court 3 at Whitney Center in St. Cloud.
The varsity boys' basketball team faces Nevis at 5:45 p.m. at Sartell-St. Stephen high school.
Here's a video clip from the Christmas program at Grace Lutheran church in Belgrade on Wednesday, December 8:
The clip features singing of the song "Away in a Manger" that was led by the Grahn Sisters of Kandiyohi.
These tips may be a little late for your Christmas family gatherings, and honestly, I wish I would've watched this before the weekend began. However, this video still provides good tips on how to not over-eat over the Christmas season (and any season for that matter). The video is only about 5 minutes long.
Video:
I've got one more day of family Christmas before jumping head first back into work.
This is all I can get posted for now on Christmas Eve...some sports and some non-sports videos.
This video starts with 5 minutes left in the game against A-C-GC on December 16:
The clip begins with the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team ahead 73-38 in the conference game with the Falcons.
This video was recorded at Big Grove Lutheran church in North Fork Township last Sunday:
In the video, Pastor Lisa gives an Advent/Christmas message based on Luke 1: 39-55.
Merry, Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah and all that goes with it!
Added late on Christmas Eve night: I posted a three-year old video at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website where you can watch Laverne Reining give a Christmas reading. She is married to Belgrade native Clem Reining, and they have lived in Brooten since the mid-1980s. I graduated with their daughter Tammy, who now lives in Milaca. Click on the following short link to re-direct to the newspaper's website: https://bit.ly/33WuIF0.
We had two non-conference wins on the basketball courts tonight for the local varsity teams. Both were against Class 2A schools, and both took place at what Dr. Tony Fauci would consider "large gatherings" of adults and children in which he believes no one should be a part of and should not happen as we go into the Christmas weekend. Based on everything I have seen with my own eyes, what he says is falling on deaf ears in the land of Rocks and Cows, as it well should. Hallelujah!
In a home contest, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team defeated Litchfield 59-44 to improve to 7-1 overall going into Christmas vacation. They shot a poor 10-of-18 at the free throw line.
In a border battle at Minnewaska Area, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team picked up a 70-44 win over the Lakers. That game was carried by our two local radio stations. The Jaguars, who led 28-19 at halftime, poured on the oats in the second half while putting up 42 more points. They are 3-2 heading into Christmas.
I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas weekend! I need to rest before I jump back into videos, other game reporting and the area scoreboard.
Area girls' basketball scores on December 23:
Sauk Centre 65, Royalton 44
Kimball Area 47, Dassel-Cokato 39
Central MN Christian 47, MACCRAY 45
Area boys' basketball scores on December 23:
Eden Valley-Watkins 81, Pierz 63
Dassel-Cokato 77, Kimball Area 53
BOLD 75, Yellow Medicine East 49
Sauk Centre 55, Royalton 50 (Coach Kevin Kuefler's Mainstreeters are 6-0)
That's all for this blog post. On Friday afternoon I hope to post video and more coverage. Still a very, very busy time as I wind down to take some time off over the weekend for family Christmas time.
Radio coverage, etc. for Thursday night (and updates)
Tonight's boys' basketball game at Minnewaska Area will be broadcast on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood and 106.5 FM the Train of Norway Lake-Sunburg. The Jaguars enter the game 2-2 overall, while the Laker are 1-5.
Here's the live video player for the home varsity girls' basketball game:
The video player goes "live" at 7 p.m. More to come on this post with game updates. The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team faces the Litchfield Dragons, who sport a 4-4 record (0-1 Wright County West).
The JV Jaguars girls' basketball team won by a large margin in their game against Litchfield.
HALFTIME of the girls' basketball game: B-B-E 33, Litchfield 15.
HALFTIME of the boys' basketball game: B-B-E 28, Minnewaska Area 19. *Update: late in the second half, the boys' basketball team is ahead 67-38. More to come in a new blog post. Time to pack up and head home.
We saw a major decline in new COVID-19 case counts for the zip codes (city and rural areas) of Brooten, Belgrade and Elrosa between the Minnesota Department of Health December 16 report and their December 23 report. The decline was approximately by 44 percent. I am actually, honestly stunned by the drop. Remember: we live in the land of "Rocks and Cows" according to Governor Tim Walz, and the COVID-19 surges should rage week to week in our local communities in uncontrollable fashion with our unmasked school children and completely wide-open businesses that operate with few, if any, COVID-19 restrictions.
Last week we had another "surge" of cases (asymptomatic and symptomatic) with a total figure of 43 new between 56312, 56316 and 56325. I honestly had no idea what to expect this week. I was optimistically hoping for something in the 30s or at least low 40s to show that there was no continued increase of new cases.
Here's the new case count: Belgrade 56312: 14 new cases (27 new last week) Brooten 56316: 8 new cases (14 new last week) Elrosa 56325: 2 new cases (2 new last week) TOTAL new cases between December 16 and December 22: 24 new cases (43 last week and 32 for the December 9 report)
It's worth noting that the Glenwood 56334 zip code also saw a huge drop, going from 63 new cases in their December 16 report to 16 new cases in today's report. Their new case number for December 9 was 12. The New London 56273 zip code had 13 new cases in today's report and 21 in the December 9 report.
Please do not interpret any of this information in a way that confuses you to the point that you think I am downplaying the severity of COVID-19 and what it can do to those who are susceptible to the negative effects of this pathogen or any other respiratory infection. Do not put words in my mouth. On the ground in our local towns, COVID-19 is spreading in quite similar fashion with quite similar numbers that it did in November and December of 2020. That is almost stunning beyond belief, but that is what the MDH numbers tell us.
Time to gear up for tonight and get another blog post up with sports-related information (forthcoming later this afternoon).
Coach Mueller after wrestlers beat Kimball (VIDEO)
I had the good fortune of attending the start of practice today for the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team at the high school. I caught up with Coach Mueller to get some highlights and his thoughts on last night's huge win over Kimball.
Video:
In case you didn't hear, the Jaguars knocked off the No. 1-ranked and defending Class 1A state champion Kimball Area Cubs by a 32-25 score. They are 5-0 overall going into the Christmas break with two tournament titles to their credit (West Central Area and Pequot Lakes invitationals).
It is just so interesting and intriguing to me that on today's COVID-19 report in Minnesota, a full 29 percent of the new "cases" originated in Hennepin County, where approximately 22 percent of the residents of Minnesota live. I have to wonder why all of their mitigation efforts are not working? They are utilizing just about every COVID-19 mitigation idea under the sun short of full lock downs and business closures. Perhaps they should mitigate better? Maybe triple mask and mandate quadruple jabs?
This is just so fascinating to me: if you extrapolated that out for Pope County (population 11,557 and 5 new cases today), you'd get 545 cases in Hennepin County...instead, Hennepin County's number today is 804 new cases. Keep in mind: the COVID-19 mitigation in Pope County is almost nil. One would understand if there's what experts call an "abnormally high" level of COVID-19 where there's little to no mitigation. Why is there high COVID-19 spread in areas with high (extreme?) levels of mitigation?
Speaking of Pope County, our B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team gets back in action with a non-conference border battle game at Minnewaska Area high school tomorrow night. They have every expectation that if they play hard for both halves of the game, they will improve to 3-2 going into the Christmas vacation. They have two games next week, which is outlined in this week's December 23 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper (page 9).
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team knocked off the No. 1-ranked team in Class 1A tonight. Making it even sweeter was that it happened on the opponent's home mats.
In a Central Minnesota Conference dual at Kimball Area, the Jaguars won 32-25 to remain undefeated in dual meets. Two wins by decisions by Carson Gilbert (9-7 score at 195) and Ethan Spanier (13-11 sudden victory overtime score at 220) handed the Jaguars the win.
*Update: in the second dual of the Kimball triangular, the Jaguars (5-0) thrashed Paynesville Area 62-8 to start the CMC schedule with a 2-0 mark.
*Another update: the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team got back on the winning track with a 53-35 section win at Upsala. The Jaguars, who are now 6-1 overall, led 29-16 at halftime. More to come in this week's Voice.
The Bonanza Valley area has numerous job openings across a wide array of industries. You can see a few of them at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://bit.ly/3ea97L3. The jobs are there for those who want to work!
Monday night update: the grades 5-12 band concert was wonderful! I am thrilled that they pulled this off. Thank you thank you to Director Sean Biehn! It took a little extra work, but I was able to get numerous pretty good pictures for the newspaper. It helped greatly that I had extensive experience in Olson Auditorium for the fall musical. Look for coverage in the December 23 and December 30 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspapers.
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team picked up another huge tournament win this weekend with a first-place finish at the 28-team Jackhammer Invitational at Pequot Lakes high school.
The Jaguars earned 227 team points compared to runner-up Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus, who had 215.5 points. In third place was Thief River Falls with 213.5 points. Big Lake took fourth with 204.5 points.
That's all for now. Time to get to open gym!
And the Santa Day events in Brooten could not have gone better! THANK YOU to everyone who came to town!
Here's a video clip from the first half of today's game against Minneota:
Tomorrow is a big day for Big Grove Lutheran Church, where their Sunday School students will hold their Christmas program! What a wonderful time of the year we are in right now!!!!
It's game day in Jaguar Country! On a typically cold December day. We're getting geared up for defending state champion Minneota, who's already in town for the preliminary games at the high school. Our B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team (5-0, 2-0 Central MN Conference) tips off with Minneota at 1 p.m. in the varsity game.
The Vikings are also 5-0 overall. As of Monday this past week, they had the fourth-best defensive average in Class 1A. They have yet to be challenged on the basketball court this season. The closest win they have was by an 83-56 score over Yellow Medicine East (3-4, 1-3) in a Camden Conference game on December 7 in Granite Falls.
Don't forget about the open house at Fauskee Oil in Brooten. Jane Fauskee is hosting an open house for her Hopeful Hills Ranch products. This has been advertised in the past three issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper issue. Randy and Jane Fauskee are two of the most loyal supporters of this newspaper. Fauskee Oil and Hopeful Hills Ranch have helped keep us going! We appreciate all the support. Again, her website is: https://www.hopefulhillsranchalpacas.com. The open house at Fauskee Oil runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and they are located on the eastern edge of Brooten along Highway 55.
Here's a video from last Friday's game (December 10) against Osakis:
The video starts with the playing of the National Anthem, and then the starters are introduced and tip-off takes place. Since that night, Osakis beat Staples-Motley 62-33 and Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 62-23.
**Here's the live video player for today's game:
The JV Jaguars won a thriller 42-41 today in the preliminary game.
VARSITY updates:
With 6:47 left, the Jaguars are in their second timeout of the first half, and Minneota has a 20-8 lead.
HALFTIME: Minneota 35, B-B-E 21. The Jaguars struggled mightily on the offensive end, and they managed just three field goals in the final 5 minutes, 37 seconds of the half. After trailing 29-11 with 3:20 left, the Jaguars got three-pointers from Shelby Anderson, Kailey Fischer and Tiyana Schwinghammer. By that point, they trailed 31-20.
Final score: Minneota 63, B-B-E 48. It's time to shift gears 110% to Santa Day in Brooten!!
A quick note: it appears that the wrestling team won the Jackhammer Invitational in Pequot Lakes! I see they have 210 team points compared to PL/PRB's 202.5 points. That's all for now, signing off.
Friday was super, super busy *And wrestling update
Friday was an extremely super, super busy day. On the heels of a 16-page December 16 issue, the machinery that makes up the news and sports departments of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper is gearing up for another issue that will include "at least" 16 pages next week.
It was terrific to hear that over 50 students participated in the middle school (grades 5-8) dance at the high school tonight. What a magnificent addition to their December activities! This was actually their second high school dance of this school year, as one was also held in the fall. From firsthand reports I heard from students who attended, they all had a great time. We are so extremely fortunate to live in Minnesota's land of Rocks and Cows, where our kids can live entirely normal lives.
I hope to see many of you in Brooten for Santa Day on Saturday! (Read more here = https://bit.ly/3F42gP4.
Holy cow! The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team currently leads the field in the 28-team Jackhammer Invitational at Pequot Lakes high school. The event runs tonight and tomorrow. I'll get more posted in the morning on that. They have 124 team points compared to Big Lake and Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus, who sit tied for second place with 115 points. Crazy stat: Big Lake, a Section 6AA school, has a grades 9-12 enrollment of 877. B-B-E's hovers around 170.
Also worth noting: Big Lake is the No. 4-ranked team in Class 2A, while PL/PRB is ranked No. 5 in Class 2A.
The B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team hosted a six-team competition last night. They appeared in top form for both jazz and kick divisions. The team has a wide range of experienced, veteran dance team student-athletes and junior high-age members. I was thoroughly impressed by both squads!
Here's the team lined up for the National Anthem last night:
Don't forget to stop by the Bonanza Valley State Bank today! Their big event was advertised on page 5 of the December 9 and December 16 Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper issues.
And!! Tomorrow! It's the big day in Brooten! Santa Claus is coming to town...that was on page 8 this week, where the full-size poster was published. You can read more here at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website:https://bit.ly/3F6L8Za.
In a home game with Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team improved to 2-0 in the Central Minnesota Conference with a 74-40 win over the Falcons. Three players scored in double figures, and the Jaguars led 55-25 at halftime. Next: the Jaguars have a huge battle coming up on Saturday with state-ranked Minneota coming to town. The schedule of Saturday's games was published in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Hopefully you're a subscriber!
Noteworthy: the top four girls' basketball teams in the CMC are currently a combined 21-2 overall. They include B-B-E, Kimball Area, Royalton and Holdingford. The one loss in that mix is from B-B-E defeating Holdingford.
No word yet on the boys' basketball game at Eden Valley. UPDATE: the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team led 30-22 at halftime at Eden Valley...but unfortunately, they were outscored badly in the second half and went on to lose by a 60-54 score. They are 2-2 overall and have a break in competition until next Thursday, December 23, when they travel to Minnewaska Area for a border battle.
More to come. It was a "double duty" night that began with the home dance competition at the elementary school.
***And don't forget! This Saturday is Santa Day in Brooten. The full schedule with everything you need to know was published on page 8 in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. (Again, I hope you're a subscriber!)
*Here's a video from last Friday's Osakis game. I have more work on uploading video from tonight's action:
Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on December 16:
Kimball Area 45, Paynesville Area 40 (the Cubs are 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the CMC)
Area girls' basketball scores on December 16:
Pine River-Backus 45, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 41
Montevideo 68, New London-Spicer 54 (Montevideo trailed 37-28 at halftime on their home floor before coming back to knock off the No. 6-ranked Wildcats)
Yellow Medicine East 65, Lakeview 33
Willmar 51, St. Cloud Conglomerate 45
BOLD 54, Melrose Area 45
Area boys' basketball scores on December 16:
Osakis 62, Browerville 38
Central MN Christian 84, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 79 OT (Bluejays improve to 5-0; Fighting Saints slip to 2-3 overall)
The Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team hosts their home competition tonight at the B-B-E elementary school. Doors open at 5 p.m., the National Anthem will be performed at 5:55 p.m., and the competition starts at 6 p.m.
Teams included are Canby-Minneota, Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd, Sauk Centre, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton and Yellow Medicine East. All six teams will compete in varsity jazz and varsity kick divisions.
*Below is a dance comp video from all the way back to February 8, 2020 in Montevideo:
The B-B-E/Paynsville dance team was competing at the Section 3A meet in that video. That was the last time I watched our dance team perform without facemasks. Certainly looking forward to tonight!
And we are in the season of Christmas right now! I am uploading a video recorded last Wednesday night at Grace Lutheran church in Belgrade. It features music from the Grace Lutheran WELCA Christmas program with The Grahn Sisters from the Kandiyohi area. They are singing "Go Tell it on the Mountain" with the audience.
Video (processed shortly after 4 p.m.):
I have much more video from that event but won't get to it until tomorrow.
Winter punching us in the mouth, and a 43 is posted
We're getting a good, old-fashioned punch in the mouth from winter right now. Fortunately, conditions are supposed to improve as the day goes on. Last night the temperature plummeted from near 40 degrees to about 12 degrees by 8 a.m. this morning.
The latest COVID-19 data has been released, and you can see the summary at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://bit.ly/3GQFLNY.At B-B-E schools, the COVID-19 numbers (dated December 14) are 2, 2 and 2 between the Jaguar Kids Connection, elementary and high school populations, which totals about 800 men, women and children. This is down dramatically from three weeks ago when that figure totaled 15.
The Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team hosts their home competition tonight at the B-B-E elementary school. Doors open at 5 p.m., the National Anthem will be performed at 5:55 p.m., and the competition starts at 6 p.m. This will be re-posted in a new blog post.
CMC boys' basketball opener (VIDEO) and school is 2 hours late
The Central Minnesota Conference opener went to the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team last night as they defeated visiting Holdingford 83-29.
Here's video from the final minutes of the game:
The area scoreboard will be posted much later tonight. The Belgrade Lions Christmas party is tonight, so that's next on my agenda. We are keeping super busy in the land of Rocks and Cows!
Wednesday night update: B-B-E schools will begin with a 2-hour late start on Thursday, December 16. Buckle up! It could get wild in the morning. *At midnight, the temperature dropped below freezing after spending most of the day around 40 degrees. The sun even came out for a brief period of time in the late afternoon. The wind is gusting past 25 miles an hour right now.
Area boys' basketball scores on December 14:
Litchfield 50, Eden Valley-Watkins 36 (EV-W falls to 2-2 overall; Litchfield is 1-3)
Nevis 66, Pequot Lakes 65 OT
Central MN Christian 85, BOLD 57
Pine River-Backus 61, Upsala 58
Henning 67, Sebeka 24
Dassel-Cokato 69, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 55
Kimball Area 63, Foley 43
Sauk Centre 65, Albany 59
New York Mills 66, Menahga 52
Melrose Area 70, Paynesville Area 66
Dawson-Boyd 67, Montevideo 64
West Central Area 58, Minnewaska Area 39
Benson 77, Ortonville 36
I have been side tracked today, outside of my regular newspaper work, by reading and studying more about reports about extreme increases in gaming usage and gaming addiction due to COVID-19 lock downs.
The Epoch Times newspaper published a story today with the headline "Pandemic Lockdowns Fueled Massive Rise in Gaming and Addiction, Experts Say" that is extremely disturbing. I know next to nothing about "gaming" other than it is a supreme waste of time if you don't keep your gaming time to a reasonably low level.
This part of the story pinned my ears back:
The gaming features that make the most money were born in the casino. They are designed to be habit-forming.
“Gaming, like gambling, uses what’s called an intermittent reward schedule, which happens to be the most habit-forming kind,” said Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, who is a psychologist, digital addiction expert and award-winning author.
“This is the slot machine reward schedule. Slot machines wouldn’t be as habit-forming if you won every time.”
There's just too much in this story to wrap my head around right now. It's all very disturbing. I am deeply troubled by this. I wonder what factor gaming has on damaging the will of young girls and boys to take up activities such as athletics or Fine Arts. Beyond that, how many student-athletes waste their time gaming instead of improving their athletic skills and physical health? This is a very sad rabbit hole to go down.
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball teamwon tonight by an 83-29 score over Holdingford to open the Central Minnesota Conference schedule. Kaden Pieper with 21 points and Luke Dingmann with 17 points were leading scorers for the Jaguars, who are 2-1 on the season. The Huskers fall to 0-5.
How amazing is modern technology? Well, it can be pretty amazing if you use it correctly. (It has huge downsides, too.) Tonight in a span of 10 minutes, I shot 59 "pretty good" pictures at the tail end of the basketball game with a Nikon camera that's 13 years old. I knew by that point the reserves would be playing, so I made a point to get pictures of them. They played terrific with a ton of hustle. Great job! I'm working to get as many pictures as I can to fit into this week's monster 16-page Bonanza Valley Voice issue.
Here's worship video posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper from Sunday, December 5, at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church in Gilchrist Township (short link): https://bit.ly/3IIXoRFf.
Where are you worshiping today? Today is the third Sunday of Advent.
Monday update: I'm thrilled to report that the youth of Trinity Lutheran, West Lake Johanna Lutheran and Crow River Lutheran churches did marvelous job during their Christmas programs they presented on Sunday morning. Look for coverage in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
Here's a video from the second half of the Friday night home game with Osakis:
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has three days of much-needed practice before the Thursday night contest back on the home floor with Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.
And in the spirit of Christmas...here's a video recorded on Friday night in Elrosa; Santa Claus was escorted through town by a Welle Farms team of horses and trailer with the assistance of the Elrosa Commercial Club.
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team earned a big first-place finish at the West Central Area invitational today at WCA high school in Barrett. The Jaguars scored 204 points compared to runner-up West Central Area/Ashby's 196 points. In third place was Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd/Montevideo United with 183 points.
Blaine Fischer was champion at 152 pounds, Maximus Hanson was champion at 170 pounds, and Ethan Spanier was champion at 220 pounds.
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa varsity teams recorded four wins tonight!
On the home court, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team overcame a strong challenge from Osakis to record a 47-41 non-conference win. This improves their overall record to 4-0 as they have a six-day layoff from competition before hosting Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City next Thursday, December 16. Seven players scored tonight for B-B-E, with Abby Berge leading the way with 18 points.
Osakis is 2-2 overall; they are 1-0 in the Prairie Conference after beating Upsala 55-37 last night.
At a dual tournament hosted at Bertha-Hewitt high school tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team picked up three non-conference wins. They started with a 60-15 win over Hibbing. Next was a big 61-18 win over Section 5A rival Minnewaska Area. They finished with a convincing 55-18 win over state-ranked Minneota, who is a new member of Section 5A this year. Tonight's action was the first competition of the season for Minneota, whose football team played in the Prep Bowl just two weeks ago.
B-B-E is 3-0 going into tomorrow's varsity and JV invitational at West Central Area high school (JV starts at 9 a.m.; varsity starts at 9:30 a.m.).
*Here's a video that starts about halfway through the first half tonight against Osakis:
More to come. Time to take a look at the area scoreboard. I did see that Royalton's girls' basketball team defeated Paynesville Area 64-41 in a Central Minnesota Conference game tonight in Royalton. The Royals are 2-0 in the CMC and 4-1 overall. They appear to be the main threat to our Jaguars in the conference.
Area girls' basketball scores on December 10:
Underwood 63, Brandon-Evansville 44
Battle Lake 48, Parkers Prairie 40
Menahga 78, Bertha-Hewitt 37
Verndale 48, Sebeka 46
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 61, Melrose Area 41
Area girls' basketball scores on December 10:
Sauk Centre 72, Holdingford 22
Foley 47, Maple Lake 26
Albany 59, Melrose Area 50
Browerville 67, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 37
MACCRAY 60, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 48
Let's all tip our hats to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court! This past week, their state's highest court struck down their vile and shameful school mask mandate. Hallelujah. It's ironic that states like Pennsylvania, who are doing utterly vile things to their school children, are seeing worsened COVID-19 cases. Yesterday in Pennsylvania, population 12.8 million, they had 11,628 new COVID-19 cases. In Minnesota, where we do not have a statewide mask mandate, we reported 4,429 new cases in a population of 5.7 million. The per capita rate is higher in Pennsylvania.
Look around the country, especially at these blue states: Pennsylvania, New York and Commie-fornia. Those states speak for themselves. In New York state, school children eat lunch outside in freezing temperatures "to keep them safe" - according to that utterly vile White House press secretary Jen Psaki. These people are insane. We can look in our own backyard here in Minnesota in blue counties like Hennepin, which have multiple schools who enforce a mask mandate regardless of vaccination status. Their COVID-19 numbers are no better than outstate Minnesota. There's still a high level of COVID-19 in those areas where they have an endless list of COVID-19 mandates. What gives? With all that masking and the vaccine mandates in place in countless colleges and public schools in the Twin Cities, they should have a firm handle on COVID-19, right? Compare that to our B-B-E school district, where our COVID-19 numbers aren't running through the roof. In fact, week to week, they've been in the same range for the past 8 weeks. This is all while we have perfectly normal, gatherings-allowed, mask mandate-free public school. Just this past August, our overlords predicted that we would be trampled by COVID-19 if we did not follow all of their rules and recommendations. We've had 14 weeks of school now, which represents approximately 36 percent of the 2021-2022 school year. There's no more or no less COVID-19 in our local communities than there was 4 weeks ago. In fact, our latest COVID-19 weekly case counts across the area are lower now than they were prior to the Thanksgiving break. Those are facts. Our overlords' predictions did not come true. They were completely wrong. Color me shocked.
Please spread the word! Mark your calendars if you haven't already...Saturday, December 18 in Brooten. Everyone is invited! More details are at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website, and more are forthcoming (short link): https://bit.ly/3DDpNVy. This also includes a correction to what was printed in the December 9 newspaper issue.
In a rough-and-tumble home battle against a very good Osakis team, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team fell 71-66 in their first loss of the year. Kaden Pieper led the way with 28 points.
The Silverstreaks, Prairie Conference champions last year and 14-6 overall, improve to 3-1 on the season. They made it tough on the Jaguars with 6-of-13 three-point shooting and multiple high-percentage field goals in the low block area.
*Here's a video from the first half of the game; it begins at about the 6:30 mark:
Osakis has not lost a Prairie Conference game since the 2016-2017 season. That year they finished 11-1 as co-champions of the Prairie with Browerville. They were 10-17 overall and 6-8 (sixth) in the Prairie in 2015-2016.
The Jaguars (1-1) host Holdingford (0-3) next Tuesday for the Central Minnesota Conference opener.
Area boys' basketball scores on December 9:
Milaca 62, Royalton 50
Paynesville Area 52, Minnewaska Area 39
Rothsay 69, Battle Lake 42
Parkers Prairie 78, Underwood 53
New London-Spicer 77, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 48
Sauk Centre 63, Kimball Area 41
Morris Area 43, Litchfield 32
West Central Area 62, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 42
Dawson-Boyd 70, Benson 32
Game updates to follow tonight, as those of us living out in the land of Rocks and Cows are set to enjoy a home boys' basketball game.
With 3 minutes left, the JV Jaguars trail 46-41 to Osakis. *With 1:20 left, the Silverstreaks have a 47-41 lead. Update: with 27 seconds left, the Jaguars trail 49-46. *Update: with 7.2 seconds left, the Silverstreaks have a 50-46 lead. They had missed three free throws in a row, but they sank the fourth try to give them the two-possession lead. Final score: Osakis JV 50, B-B-E JV 46.
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team is hosting Osakis tonight. Tip-off for the varsity game should start around 7:15 p.m. It is being aired on 106.5 FM The Train of Norway Lake-Sunburg. Osakis is 1-1 overall and averages 68.5 points a game. They gave up an average of 64 points a game to this point. In their season opener on December 3 against Eden Valley-Watkins, Osakis lost 58-56. On Tuesday this week at Paynesville Area, the Silverstreaks won 81-70.
The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website has a video posted from the second half of the Holdingford girls' basketball game on Tuesday. You can find that by clicking here (short link): https://bit.ly/33iy3Oj.
Varsity updates to follow.
**With 11 minutes left in the first half, Osakis holds a 19-16 lead.
HALFTIME: Jaguars 38, Osakis 36.
**In the 2nd half, the Silverstreaks are ahead 64-60 with 3:32 left.
Today is game day in Jaguar Country with a home boys' basketball non-conference game against Osakis. The game will be aired on 106.5 FM The Train of Norway Lake-Sunburg. The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has one game under their belt, and tonight they look to improve to 2-0 against a Mainstreeters team that's also 1-0 after beating Legacy Christian 60-38 last Friday in Sauk Centre.
Today's Minnesota Department of Health COVID-19 zip code report shows 32 new cases added over the past week for the 56312, 56316 and 56325 zip codes. That figure breaks down as follows: Belgrade 56312 - 18 new cases; Brooten 56316 - 8 new cases; Elrosa 56325 - 6 new cases;
The figure of 32 compares to last week's figure (December 2 report) of 23 new cases. That figure of 23 was a decline from the previous week's figure (November 29 report) of 26 new cases. Compared to the November 18 report, all weekly reports have been significantly smaller to that week's figure of 40 new cases. It is very interesting and noteworthy that we had a pretty rough-looking figure going into the Thanksgiving weekend. Following the Thanksgiving weekend, the weekly figures have hovered in the 20s. The number of 40 cases has, so far, been our biggest weekly number during the current surge. This is all happening while our communities, our churches and our school are completely wide open with almost 100 percent normal, regular activity and gatherings. Adherence to the government's "masking" recommendations hovers in the 5 percent range, at best, in just about any setting in our local area.
To review, here are the weekly new COVID-19 case totals for the B-B-E zip codes across the past five weeks. This is a cumulative figure per week:
November 11 - 25 new cases
November 18 - 40 new cases
November 29 - 26 new cases
December 2 - 23 new cases
December 9 - 32 new cases
I quick looked at the Glenwood 56334 zip code figures, and they showed a sharp decline from the past weeks' trends. The new number for Glenwood is 12 new cases. Their December 2 figure was 29 new cases. Their biggest number was posted before the Thanksgiving weekend with 53 new cases reported in the November 18 report. Their December 2 figure was 29 new cases.
In terms of B-B-E schools, their COVID-19 figure for active cases in a population of about 800 adult workers and children showed 16 cases on December 1. The school's latest number, which was posted earlier this morning, shows 9 active cases broken out as follows: 2 in the Jaguar Kids Connection program, 3 in the elementary and 4 in the high school. So there's another example where post-Thanksgiving numbers show a decline. Will numbers rise again in the coming weeks as we get deeper into winter? Time will tell. In December 2020, local COVID-19 figures dropped each week and then continued to drop in January. There was no Christmas-related increase in COVID-19 cases for our local towns. Figures stayed unusually low in February before climbing again in March and then in April of this spring when another wave swept across the upper Midwest.
The Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball schedule got underway on Tuesday this week. The defending champion B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team prevailed 62-52 to start 1-0 (3-0 overall). At halftime, the sixth grade girls' basketball team played a scrimmage.
*Here's video from the final minute of the first half:
Click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to see a video showing footage from the second half. It features the moment when the Jaguars gained the lead for the first time with about 6 minutes remaining. (Short link) https://bit.ly/33iy3Oj.
Central Minnesota Conference girls'BBall scores on December 7:
Kimball Area 66, Eden Valley-Watkins 59
Royalton 63, Maple Lake 29
EV-W has started 1-2 this season. The Eagles won 55-32 against former CMC rival Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted at HL-W-W high school in the season opener. In their second game that was also their home opener, the Eagles lost 44-36 to Minnewaska Area.
Royalton, who appears to be the biggest threat to the Jaguars in the CMC, sits at 3-1 overall. They lost at defending Class 2A state champion Albany in the season opener by a 64-52 score. The Royals beat Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 70-24 in their second game. Last Saturday at St. Cloud Apollo high school, the Royals won 75-42 against the St. Cloud Crush co-op. I read a couple articles recently about the St. Cloud Crush co-op, and it is just crazy. It boggles my mind that St. Cloud Apollo and St. Cloud Tech high schools have paired a handful of their athletic teams. What on earth is going wrong in that city? Where to begin.
Paynesville Area (0-2) and Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (1-2) don't start their CMC games until Friday this week.
Here's a note to share from our high school band department:
Dear members of the BBE community,
The BBE senior high, junior high and 5th grade bands are proud to announce that they will be performing a holiday concert on Monday, December 20th, 2021. The concert will begin at 7:00 p.m., and will be performed in the new Olson Auditorium at the BBE high school. There is no admission fee for the concert, however, donations to the music department are always welcome. Bring your holiday spirit, festive cheer and colorful attire as we celebrate a wonderful holiday season together with a few classic tunes. We hope to see you there but if we miss you; happy holidays and a happy new year!
A wild win for the conference opener (VIDEO ADDED)*
That was one crazy game.
Trailing by as much as 32-13 in the opening half, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team fought and fought to close the gap to a more manageable deficit of 34-25 at halftime.
In the second half, the Jaguars traded baskets for most of the first six minutes of play. They began cutting into the double-digit deficit with 11:40 to go, when Abby Berge scored on a fastbreak and drained an and-one opportunity at the line: Holdingford 43, B-B-E 36.
A steal and layup by Tiyana Schwinghammer with 6 minutes left in the game tied it at 48-48. B-B-E's defense took over, and the Huskers were ultimately held to just four points in the game's final 6 minutes and 54 seconds.
Final score:B-B-E 62, Holdingford 52.
**Here's video from before and during the start of the game:
More to come on Wednesday night after the Christmas program at Grace Lutheran church; a new blog post will be added.
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is hosting Holdingford tonight for the home and conference opener. In the JV game, with 13:49 left in the second half, the Jaguars hold a 15-14 lead. *With 11:40 left, the Jaguars are ahead 17-16.
*Here's the live video player to watch the game remotely:
Updates to follow.
**Varsity update: with seven minutes left in the first half, the Huskers have a 31 to 13 lead.
HALFTIME: Huskers 34, Jaguars 25.
In the 2nd half with 7 minutes to go, the Huskers are ahead 48-43. More updates and the final score to come in a new blog post.
Here's the schedule for this Friday at Bertha-Hewitt high school, where the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team will take on three teams:
4:00 vs. Hibbing
5:45 vs. Minnewaska
7:30 vs. Minneota
Today is the 80th anniversary of the Japan Imperial Navy's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. May we never forget the sacrifices of our American soldiers and their families on that day and throughout the remainder of World War II.
Home dance comp: circle your calendars! (December 16)
The B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team will hold a home dance competition on Thursday, December 16 at the B-B-E elementary school in Brooten. Doors open at 5 p.m., and the comp starts promptly at 6 p.m. Teams included are Canby/Minneota, Litchfield, Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd, Minnewaska Area, Sauk Centre, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton and Yellow Medicine East. It will be a very exciting night of dance teams competing!! Spread the word.
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team had a great start to their season with a home win over Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg last Thursday. The Jaguars are looking to match or exceed what they accomplished last year, when they went 16-5 and finished in second place in the Central Minnesota Conference and Sub-Section 5A-West.
*Here's a video recorded late in the second half that night:
Have you cranked up your home's humidifier? It's important to at least try keeping your home humidity above 40 percent in the winter months while the furnace runs. We are at 2 degrees above zero right now just shy of 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon.
The Minnesota Department of Health posted the incorrect file last Thursday, so there's been a delay in reporting the zip code COVID case count increases. I finally saw the latest report today, which is dated December 2. It shows that Belgrade, Brooten and Elrosa's zip codes posted 23 new COVID-19 cases in the week ending December 1. (Belgrade 17 new, Brooten 6 new, Elrosa zero new) This represents a decline of three compared to the November 25 figure, which showed 26 new cases in the prior week's period. I don't think this suggests a specific trend of ongoing decline, but it is promising that the case counts are not rising more and more. The data shows that in the past two weeks, new case count figures for our local zip codes are declining. And that is good news.
The land of Rocks and Cows was revved up for the past two nights in Jaguar Country as the boys' basketball team and the wrestling team both opened their 2021-2021 winter seasons.
Here's a video featuring the Pep Band performing as the boys' basketball team went through pre-game drills on Thursday night:
**Here's a video featuring Walker Bents in the 138-pound semifinals yesterday:
Senior Walker Bents won his semifinal match against Everett Halvorson, a sophomore from NL-S.
Exciting night of wrestling, and a blowout basketball win
Lots to catch up on!
At Pine River-Backus tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team thrashed a very good PR-B Tigers squad by a 77-58 score. A big factor in the win was 60 percent field goal shooting, including a red-hot 65 percent shooting percentage inside the arc. Abby Berge lit up the court with 37 points, including 23 in the first half. The Jaguars, who are now 2-0 overall, have scored 147 points in just two games.
At their home Early Invite to start their season, the No. 2-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team took second place behind a very strong Class 3A Willmar team. The Cardinals had 230 points to 190 for the Jaguars, while a vastly improved New London-Spicer had 146 points for third place.
Top finishers for the Jaguars by weight:
132 - Wyatt Engen finished in second place.
138 - Walker Bents took first place.
145 - Tanner Viessman took second place.
152 - Blaine Fischer took first place.
170 - Maximus Hanson took second place.
182 - Talen Kampsen took first place.
195 - Carson Gilbert took third place.
220 - Ethan Spanier finished in second place.
285 - Bryce Feuerhake finished in second place.
No word yet on the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team, who opened their season at Minnewaska tonight. They are at Rocori tomorrow afternoon.
We have a very nice crowd here for the six-team Jaguar invitational. This is the season opener for our Jaguars.
Brett DeRoo finished in 2nd place at 120 pounds.
Wyatt Lewis is battling for 3rd place at 182. *Update: Wyatt lost by a 4-2 decision.
At 195, Carson Gilbert is battling for 3rd place.
**At Pine River tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 40-30 lead at halftime. The game is being aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.
In their season opener tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team defeated KMS 56-43. They quickly expanded on a 27-23 halftime score by knocking down three early 3-pointers to start the second half.
The Jaguars shot a very solid 39 percent from the field while draining eight three-pointers overall. Kaden Pieper led the scoring with 20 points, and Luke Dingmann was also in double figures with 12 points. Rounding out the scoring: Gannon Walsh 9, Gavin Kampsen 6, Easton Hagen 3, Will VanBeck 2, Tanner Shelton 2, Ben Thonvold 2.
Next is another non-conference home game next Thursday night against Osakis.
Just in case I don't get this posted in another blog post, here's the live video player for Friday night's girls' basketball game at Pine River-Backus:
Also tomorrow...the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team opens the season with a home invitational starting at 3 p.m. Teams included are Holdingford, Milaca, New London-Spicer, Ortonville and Willmar.
Today is the season opener for the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team. The Jaguars host neighboring rival Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in a border battle. The game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood, both on the radio (107.1 FM) and online via their website. Pre-game coverage will begin at approximately 7 p.m.
*Here's the live video player:
The JV Jaguars won by an approximate score of 59 to 44, which was the score going into the final minute of the game.
Varsity update: with 13 minutes left in the first half, the Jaguars have a 7-5 lead.
**With 6 minutes left before halftime, the game is tied at 18-all.
I hope it doesn't lead to any problems with drivers, but we have black ice conditions across the area. Black ice jumps up at you and hits you in the face. It's a very unpleasant experience to encounter it while you're driving too fast to keep your vehicle under control.
