Back in the win column

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team stormed back into the win column tonight with a 75-47 win at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. At least 11 players played tonight for the Jaguars, who snapped a four-game losing streak. They are now 12-7 overall and 6-3 in the Central Minnesota Conference. The win lifts B-B-E into a tie with Holdingford for fourth place. A-C-GC falls to 2-15 overall and 0-9 in the CMC. 

Next for the Jaguars is a home game on Friday this week against Maple Lake.

I'm finally ramping up B-B-E Resistance Robotics coverage for the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. It was exciting to be able to attend their build session this morning at the high school shop. The robotics team has 19 students on it this year, which is a terrific number. We are very excited about their 2022 season!

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 31:
Kimball Area 40, Paynesville Area 34
Eden Valley-Watkins 43, Maple Lake 33

Central MN Conference girls' basketball standings as of January 31:
1. Kimball Area (14-3, 7-1)
2. Eden Valley-Watkins (10-7, 6-2)
3. Royalton (8-8, 5-2)
4. (tie) B-B-E (12-7, 6-3)
4. (tie) Holdingford (12-6, 6-3)
6. Paynesville Area (4-12, 2-6)
7. Maple Lake (4-13, 2-8)
8. A-C-GC (2-14, 0-8)

Area girls' basketball scores on January 31:
Montevideo 56, West Central Area 52
New London-Spicer 57, Rockford Area 41
Royalton 53, St. Cloud Cathedral 45
Litchfield 50, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 24
Minnewaska Area 55, Barnesville 46

Border Battle! and wrestling results (VIDEOS)

Here's one video clip from Friday night in Sauk Centre...can you say PACKED HOUSE!!! Tip-off takes place at about the 3:35 mark on the video.


More to come later today.

At the Mankato East invitational yesterday, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team took runner-up honors in a nine-team field that included seven Class 2A or Class 3A teams. Madelia-Truman-Martin Luther, who took ninth place, is also a Class 1A team. Class 3A Waconia, who is ranked No. 3 in state polls, was team champion with 204.5 points. The Jaguars had 200 points, while third-place Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran had 183.5 points.

Here's how the Jaguars fared in their weight brackets:
106: Louie Tensen - 6th place
113: Brett DeRoo - 3rd (finished with a 7-5 sudden-victory first OT decision win)
120: Ethan Mueller - 3rd
126: Ryan Jensen - 2nd
132: Walker Bents - 1st
138: Tyler Jensen - 2nd
138 extra: Wyatt Engen - 4th
145: Tanner Viessman - 4th
152: Blaine Fischer - 1st
160: Maximus Hanson - 2nd
170: Talen Kampsen - 5th
182: Carson Gilbert - 2nd
195: open
220: Ethan Spanier - 3rd
285: Bryce Feuerhake - 2nd


Here's another video from the first half of that Sauk Centre boys' basketball game:


The Jaguars were on fire in the middle of the first half. With 4:32 left before halftime, they had a 27-11 lead with the Mainstreeters on their heels. Junior Matt Warring had just scored by that point to end a near-seven minute long scoring drought. That is brutal in a high school basketball game.

B-B-E Class of 2021 Hall of Fame banquet (LIVE VIDEO)

Here's the live video player for tonight's ceremony at Olson Auditorium, B-B-E high school:


Extended coverage will follow in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

**Update: this was a truly tremendous night to be a part of. Wow. The speeches given were outstanding. I've got a lot to chew through in order to prepare for the upcoming issue of The Voice. If I have enough gas in the tank tonight, I'll splice a couple highlight reels out of my banquet video and get them posted here.

"To a valiant heart, nothing is impossible." - Henry IV of France (1553-1610 A.D.) and later re-stated by Chuck Sagedahl, Brooten Class of 1948.

A busy Saturday (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is getting a huge day of action today at Mankato East high school. They're in a JV and varsity invitational down in the Minnesota River valley. *UPDATE: the varsity Jaguars sit in second place with 164 team points out of 9 total teams. Waconia, a Class 3A team ranked No. 3 in the Top 10 Guillotine rankings, sits in first place with 169 points. *UPDATE: with another round of wrestling in the book, the Jaguars have narrowed the deficit at Mankato East. The current standings as of 3 p.m. show Waconia in front with 177 points, while the Jaguars sit in second place with 175 points. In third place is Watertown-Mayer/Mayer Lutheran with 164.5 points. **FINAL results: the Jaguars took second place behind Waconia. I'll get more posted on this later tonight after the Hall of Fame banquet.

I heard that the B-B-E Jaguars 7th grade girls' basketball team will battle for third place in the Central Minnesota Conference. Also, the B-B-E Jaguars 6th grade girls' basketball team went 2-0 in scrimmages played at Maple Lake this morning. *UPDATE: the 7th grade girls' basketball team took third place in the CMC tournament. They defeated Kimball Area 28-23 in the third-place game.

**Here's video starting with under 2 minutes to go in the Eden Valley-Watkins girls' basketball game from a couple nights ago:


The Eagles hold a 43-39 lead when the video started.

**Added Saturday night: here's a video featuring the playing of the National Anthem, the starter introductions and then game tip-off and the opening minutes of the girls' basketball game:


Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on January 28:
Royalton 58, Maple Lake 33
Kimball Area 51, Eden Valley-Watkins 50 (this upset win by the Cubs drops EV-W back to third place in the CMC behind our Jaguars and Paynesville Area)

More to come....***in a new blog post.

Border battle night! Final results

What a night! Wow! What can I say?? The games were played tonight in front of a near-capacity crowd at Sauk Centre high school!

At halftime, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team trails 40-19 at Sauk Centre. FINAL: Sauk Centre 65, B-B-E 50 in girls' basketball action. Tiyana Schwinghammer led the Jaguars with 14 points, and Brooklyn Fischer was also in double figures with 13 points. Next: the Jaguars (11-6) travel to Falcons Country on Monday, January 31 for a Central Minnesota Conference game with host Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.

In the boys' basketball game, the B-B-E Jaguars won a hard-fought battle by a 49-40 score to improve to 13-3 overall with their sixth win in a row. They led 30-16 at halftime and withstood numerous pushes by Sauk Centre that closed the gap into single digits. Balanced scoring was the hallmark of B-B-E's effort, as they had five players scored seven or more points. The Mainstreeters had two main scorers: Matthew Warring with 16 points and Jay Neubert with 17 points. The next leading scorer was Ethan Riley with 5 points. Both teams were hot from beyond the arc with a combined 15 three-pointers. The Jaguars went 9-of-13 at the free throw line, while the Mainstreeters were 5-for-5 on foul shots in the game. Sauk Centre's three-game winning streak is snapped, and they hold an 11-5 overall record.

More to come in a new blog post on Saturday.

Border battle night! (and RADIO coverage *UPDATES)

It's border battle night tonight! The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team and B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team travels to Sauk Centre for non-conference doubleheader border basketball action.

The Mainstreeters boys' basketball team is coached by 2011 B-B-E graduate and former three-sport star Jaguar student-athlete Kevin Kuefler. His team has built an impressive resume so far this season with an 11-4 overall record.

Their girls' basketball team is also very good, and they are ranked No. 8 in the latest Minnesota Basketball News state rankings with an 11-5 overall record.

Tip-off for the varsity girls' basketball game is at 6 p.m., while the boys' basketball varsity game is set to begin at 7:30 p.m. *Both radio stations will carry the game: Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood as well as 106.5 FM The Train, who both stream on their websites and on the radio.

More to come.

Here's video from the second half of last night's Eden Valley-Watkins game:


**At halftime tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team trails 40-19 at Sauk Centre. The Mainstreeters had just four first half turnovers, although the Jaguars also were strong in that respect with just six turnovers. B-B-E shot just 2-of-7 at the free throw line. More to come later in a new blog post.

At halftime in the boys' basketball game: B-B-E 30, Sauk Centre 16. **Second half update: with 11:37 left in the game, the Jaguars hold a 37-28 lead. UPDATE: with 51 seconds left, the Mainstreeters scored on a three-point shot to narrow the deficit to 46-40. 

Two wins and a loss (VIDEOS - *UPDATED)

I'll get more added here later tonight.

In their home game tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team fell 47-44 to Eden Valley-Watkins in a Central Minnesota Conference clash. The Jaguars (11-6, 5-3 CMC) displayed outstanding defense from wire to wire. However, ice cold 25-percent field goal shooting ultimately led to their demise. Tiyana Schwinghammer gave a near-Hurculean effort with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals. EV-W improves to 9-7 overall and 5-2 in the CMC.

The boys' basketball team defeated Royalton, although I don't have a final score yet. *Final score: B-B-E 73, Royalton 51. The Jaguars (12-3, 6-1) shot a robust 52 percent from the floor while making seven of 10 free throw shots in the Central Minnesota Conference game. They keep pace with Eden Valley-Watkins, who is also 6-1 in the CMC.

At Benson, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team defeated the Braves 61-15 to improve to 11-0 in dual meets. Next for the wrestlers is a huge, huge quadrangular at West Central Area high school, Barrett, MN on Thursday, February 3. Other teams included are Central Minnesota Conference teams Royalton-Upsala and Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.

**Here's a video from one week ago at Paynesville:


*Here's a video from the first half of tonight's girls' basketball game:


Here's a video from the final 3 minutes of the first half of tonight's girls' basketball game against EV-W:


More to come with area scores to be posted on Friday.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 27:
Kimball Area 65, Maple Lake 26
Holdingford 81, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 49
Royalton 56, Paynesville Area 34

Area girls' basketball scores on January 27:
Central MN Christian 45, Lac qui Parle Valley 26
Springfield 38, Wabasso 35
Browerville 62, Upsala 45
Osakis 48, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 17
Minneota 72, Yellow Medicine East 58
Battle Lake 43, Parkers Prairie 35
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 47, MACCRAY 44
Pillager 54, Henning 40
Nevis 33, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 31
New York Mills 45, Wadena-Deer Creek 39

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on January 27:
Rockford 63, Litchfield 38
Annandale 80, Eden Valley-Watkins 48
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 65, Redwood Valley 63
Osakis 74, Holdingford 49
Swanville 66, Benson 60
Albany 75, Foley 52
West Central Area 84, Ortonville 45
Henning 63, Lake Park-Audubon 37
Ashby 63, Rothsay 30
Parkers Prairie 66, Menahga 56
Sauk Centre 74, Minnewaska Area 58
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 59, Brandon-Evansville 52

GAME NIGHT in Jaguar Country (VIDEO)

Two home games tonight at both the elementary school and high school! Also, the wrestlers compete in a dual meet at Section 5A rival Benson. Game updates will be posted further below on this blog post.

Here's a video I haven't posted yet from over two weeks ago at the high school:


**Here's the live video player for the boys' basketball game:


More to come.

GAME UPDATES...
With 9:10 left in the first half, the girls' basketball Jaguars are trailing Eden Valley-Watkins by an 11-9 score. Halftime: EV-W 18, B-B-E 17.

At halftime, the boys' basketball Jaguars hold a 31-29 lead over Royalton.

**With 1:24 left in the game, the girls' basketball team trails 43-39. It's been a wild second half. 

B-B-E zip codes post a 54

Almost exactly to the day 14 months after the Belgrade, Brooten and Elrosa zip codes posted a 50 for new COVID-19 case counts (November 26, 2020), the 56312, 56316 and 56325 zip codes have posted a 54 for new cases in the January 27, 2022 Minnesota Department of Health report. I looked back at previous surges in the past two years, and I could not find a one-week total greater than 50 in the archives. What's very interesting to note is that in the December 3 report, which came on the heels of the Thanksgiving 2020 weekend, local case count totals declined sharply to 27.

What a difference 14 months makes, however, as we have widespread vaccination among senior citizens combined with widespread natural immunity across all age groups in Jaguar Country. Another huge, huge difference is the variant of COVID-19 that is dominant today: omicron. This is a vastly different variant than the wild type SARS-COV2 virus that was circulating in the fall of 2020. The top three symptoms for omicron are: runny nose, headache, sneezing. Other symptoms less frequently reported are fatigue (mild or severe depending on your personal metabolic health) and a sore throat. Every report shown in the past 6 weeks suggests omicron is predominantly an upper respiratory tract pathogen, which is good news.

Your personal metabolic health is your responsibility, so I hope by now you've gotten the message that you can't run around with poor metabolic health and think life is going to be peaches and cream and a walk in the park. Also, if you have a cold or a case of omicron coming on and you don't dramatically increase your water intake, my two cents' worth of advice is to get your information from a new medical provider, because yours is failing you.

To the numbers...
The case counts over the past three weeks in the 56312, 56316 and 56325 zip codes are as follows: January 06 was 9 cases, January 13 was 18 cases, January 20 was 27 cases and now January 27 has 54 cases on record.

A full list of area COVID-19 zip code figures have been posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website. You can find that by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3IMuf7d.

Tonight in Jaguar Country we have two home games for the basketball teams. The boys' basketball team hosts Royalton in a makeup game, while the girls' basketball team hosts Eden Valley-Watkins at the high school. Both are Central Minnesota Conference contests. More to come later on those games...and I believe the boys' basketball team will be broadcast on YouTube. I'll check and get that info posted in a new blog post.

Good news Wednesday

Today is good news Wednesday...here's the first piece.

1. At B-B-E schools, active COVID-19 case counts for the past week declined by 20 percent compared to the prior week. This information was released today by the district's health office. Bravo!

2. The upcoming B-B-E Hall of Fame banquet has over 130 tickets sold. The event will be hosted at the high school's Olson Auditorium with a meal served in the cafeteria. I am terribly excited about this!

3. The B-B-E Speech team has an increase in turnout with growth by about 33 percent in team members. They open the 2022 speech season this Saturday at Fergus Falls. The 2022 speech season is another item that I'm terribly excited about!

4. Spotify took a "pass" on suspending Joe Rogan from its platform, despite numerous pleas from wildly ignorant people who told them to do just that. They are instead removing, at his choice, the music of Neil Young, a wildly ignorant person. Young complained about Rogan, but those complaints fell on deaf ears. (Too bad, so sad, Neil!)

5. Denmark is the latest country in Europe to end their COVID-19 restrictions. They will be nullified as of February 1. This follows a trend of numerous countries around the world who are reverting back to life as we knew it in 2019. The population of Denmark is within 100,000 people of the population of the state of Minnesota.

6. Sweden is not recommending to vaccinated children under the age of 12 against COVID-19. This is a very wise move, and I tip my hat to them for reading the science and data and concluding that it is not worth the risk. This decision mirrors what numerous other European countries have made this winter. (Ireland and the United Kingdom are two others that come to mind.)

I have more good news, but I won't have time to write about it until later today. **The last sports post has been updated with a basketball scoreboard. See below on this blog.

Another CMC win (UPDATED)

The 18th-ranked (Minnesota Basketball News) B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team picked up a big Central Minnesota Conference road win tonight at Kimball Area. The Jaguars won 63-50 to improve to 5-1 in the CMC and 11-3 overall. More to come later.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on January 25:
Paynesville Area 61, Holdingford 35
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 58, Maple Lake 37

Area boys' basketball scores on January 25:
New London-Spicer 56, Litchfield 51
Parkers Prairie 67, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 53
Osakis 57, Little Falls 42
Dawson-Boyd 78, Canby 56
Lac qui Parle Valley 75, Minneota 57
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 77, Yellow Medicine East 47
Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 78, MACCRAY 62
Montevideo 72, BOLD 59
Lakeview 65, Central MN Christian 57
Henning 67, Pillager 54
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 96, Melrose Area 50
Hancock 65, Battle Lake 50
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 52, Breckenridge 49
Sauk Centre 56, Benson 27
New York Mills 74, Wadena-Deer Creek 68
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 73, Renville County West 56
Royalton 59, Upsala 50

Area girls' basketball scores on January 25
Sauk Centre 60, Minnewaska Area 47
BOLD 57, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 45
Litchfield 37, New London-Spicer 25
Ogilvie 69, Hinckley-Finlayson 60
Albany 43, Eden Valley-Watkins 22
Osakis 51, Royalton 46
Swanville 62, Bertha-Hewitt 26
Brandon-Evansville 51, Upsala 43
Pine River-Backus 59, Nevis 47
West Central Area 73, Hancock 64
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 92, Ashby 20
Pine City 49, Braham 48
Rush City 54, East Central 37
Underwood 67, Parkers Prairie 37
Brainerd 48, Willmar 30
Alexandria 78, Sauk Rapids-Rice 44

Late start

B-B-E schools is in a two-hour late start today, Tuesday, January 25, due to the cold weather. The low reached about minus 20 around sunrise.

Here's video from the halftime performance by the Pirouettes dance team last Thursday in Paynesville:


More to come in the newspaper this week.

Make tracks to Sauk Centre on January 28

 Make tracks to Sauk Centre on Friday, January 28

A boys' and girls' basketball doubleheader is next week on Friday, January 28 at Sauk Centre high school. 

Action begins at 4:30 p.m. with four games in play at four gymnasiums: the C- and JV-squad girls' basketball and the C- and JV-squad boys' basketball teams.

The varsity girls' basketball game is set for 5:45 p.m. in the main SCHS gymnasium. The boys' basketball varsity game will follow at 7:30 p.m.

Both varsity games will be broadcast on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood and 106.5 FM The Train of Norway Lake-Sunburg.

Here's a huge shout out to the Sauk Centre school board, who recently voted down forced masking of their school children by a 5-2 margin. Wise comments were provided by Brooten high school Class of 1987 graduate Brad Kirckof, who is their school board chairman. He shot down comments from fellow school board member Margy Umhoefer. Her genius comments said that because taxpayers supported the sacrifice of paying extra taxes in last fall's positive vote for a school referendum, therefore school children should have no problem chipping in their own level of sacrifice of adhering to forced masking in school. Chairman Kirckof pointed out that taxpayers had months and months of opportunities to provide their input on the referendum before an actual public vote last November. With forced masking of school children, parents had virtually no warning or input for the impending vote at the school board meeting. It was a complete non-starter of a comparison. Another smart-aleck school board member (John Drevlow) provided his two cents, which spoke volumes for the arrogance of his position. He said that his son had no problem wearing a mask "90 percent" of the time while in school, therefore all school children should do the same. I can't even begin with these people...my head hurts...

In other news...
The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website community calendar has been updated for events coming in February. You can find that by clicking through this link: https://bit.ly/3KFhld5.

A win and a loss (*Updated)

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team won 89-50 tonight over Pine River-Backus in a home game. B-B-E led 57-24 at halftime and was never in trouble in the second half. The Tigers fall to 7-8 overall, and they are 4-2 in the Northland Conference. In tonight's game, junior Kaden Pieper scored his 1,000th point of his stellar career.

At Holdingford, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team lost 75-58. The Huskers led 37-23 at halftime and improved to 4-3 in the Central Minnesota Conference and 9-6 overall. The Jaguars are 11-5 overall and 5-2 (third) in the CMC. Eden Valley-Watkins earned a big upset win over first-place Kimball Area tonight to put Royalton into a virtual tie with the Cubs. Even with tonight's loss, the Jaguars are just one game out of first place. However, they have basically no room for error the rest of the way. Up next is a huge, HUGE game with Eden Valley-Watkins on Thursday, January 27. That game will go a long ways towards whether or not the Jaguars have a shot at repeating as CMC champions.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 21:
Royalton 49, Maple Lake 31
Paynesville Area 68, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 39
Eden Valley-Watkins 54, Kimball Area 26 (and suddenly we have effectively five teams in the hunt for the CMC title)

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on January 21:
Eden Valley-Watkins 59, Kimball Area 47


Area girls' basketball scores on January 21:
Minnewaska Area 41, Osakis 35
Mayer Lutheran 67, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 57
Lac qui Parle Valley 66, Yellow Medicine East 56
Sauk Centre 60, BOLD 26
Ogilvie 65, East Central 31
Minneota 71, MACCRAY 49
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 43, Central MN Christian 40
Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 68, Renville County West 33
Lakeview 47, Dawson-Boyd 31
Menahga 50, Henning 33
New York Mills 67, Sebeka 42

Area boys' basketball scores on January 21:
Montevideo 64, Paynesville Area 62 (OT)
Albany 69, Milaca 61
Upsala 78, Braham 68
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 63, Rothsay 60
Fergus Falls 58, Willmar 51
Sauk Centre 58, BOLD 43

At New London-Spicer tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team won the title in runaway fashion by piling up 251.5 points. In second place were the host Wildcats with 130.5 points. More details to come.

Jaguars whip the Bulldogs (VIDEOS)

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team put on a defensive clinic to start the second half tonight at Paynesville Area high school. The game's opening minutes were played at a frantic pace, as both teams tried to push the tempo for easier layup shots. The Jaguars continually locked down on defense and denied numerous attempts to drive the ball inside, especially early in the second half.

B-B-E led 40-31 at halftime after maintaining at least a five-point lead through the final 14 minutes of the first half. Paynesville started with early leads of 2-0 and 4-3, but a three-pointer with 16:18 left by Ashton Dingmann at the top of the key put the Jaguars in front for good. A three-pointer by Gannon Walsh made it 11-6, and a baseline left move by Kaden Pieper made it 13-8 with 13:39 left. Paynesville Area would get no closer than five points for the remainder of the game.

Two free throws by Dingmann with 6 minutes to go put the Jaguars up 28-19. Pieper drained two free throws for a 36-23 lead with 2:52 left for the biggest lead of the first half. 

Out of the break, the Jaguars punched down with lockdown defense while scoring 11 unanswered points before the Bulldogs knew what hit them. Will VanBeck's steal and layup with 14:40 left made it 51-31. Gannon Walsh's three-pointer put the Jaguars ahead 59-33 with 12:22 left. The Bulldogs never recovered while struggling through most of the second half against B-B-E's relentless in-your-face defense.

Final score at Paynesville: 81-50, Jaguars win! They are now 9-3 overall and 4-1 in the Central Minnesota Conference. The Bulldogs fall to 9-6 overall and 3-1 in the CMC.

Hot field goal shooting, including an outstanding 45-percent clip on three-pointers, propelled the Jaguars to the big CMC win.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on January 20:
Holdingford 44, Maple Lake 31
Eden Valley-Watkins 80, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 57
Kimball Area 73, Royalton 69


Here's a short post-game video clip at Paynesville:


*Here's a video featuring the playing of the National Anthem, the starter introductions, the tip-off and the game's opening minutes:


*Here's a shorter video featuring the final few minutes of the first half of the game:


More to come.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 20:
Eden Valley-Watkins 41, Maple Lake 33

Area boys' basketball scores on January 20:
St. Cloud Cathedral 49, Melrose Area 43
Parkers Prairie 54, Rothsay 46
Ashby 57, Brandon-Evansville 40 (Ashby is currently the top-ranked team in Sub-Section 6A-South; our Jaguars are at No. 2)
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 62, Battle Lake 39
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 66, MACCRAY 46
Henning 49, Menahga 37
West Central Area 58, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 53
Lakeview 74, Renville County West 61
Underwood 62, Sebeka 49
Pillager 77, Bertha-Hewitt 61

Border battle tonight (*updates)

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has one of their biggest games of the season coming tonight when they travel down Highway 55 to Paynesville Area. The Jaguars (3-1 Central Minnesota Conference) are in a virtual tie for first place with Eden Valley-Watkins (4-1), and they both trail front-runner Paynesville (9-5 overall, 3-0 CMC).

In other news...the Belgrade Lions has tentatively set a date of Sunday, March 6 for the annual Family Fun Day at B-B-E high school. Additional information about the event is forthcoming.

Tomorrow (Friday), the wrestling team is at the New London-Spicer invitational, and the girls' basketball team has a key conference game at Holdingford. The boys' basketball team has their second game in two nights as they host Pine River-Backus.

The latest COVID numbers are in from the state...read more at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website (short link): https://bit.ly/3qOhcfK.

I may post game updates tonight on this blog post or a new one. It's time to get ready for the big game at Paynesville! 

**Update: with 7 minutes left in the first half, the Jaguars hold a 23 to 16 lead at Paynesville.

Halftime: B-B-E 40, Paynesville 31.

The Jaguars are running away with it in the second half. More to come in a new blog post.

Just keep shaking my head

The latest news reports show that the federal government is now attacking extra-curricular activities in the United States. This affects sports and non-sports activities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided "guidance" on January 6 that extra-curricular activities be closed down in approximately 99 percent of U.S. counties. This is absolute madness.

When will enough of us stand up and tell the government to stop, to go back to the rocks they crawled out from under, and to please leave us alone?

We're going to continue on with our wrestling, basketball and dance, among other activities...as well as speech, robotics, FCCLA and BPA. These activities are terrific outlets for a student's time and energy. They help keep students focused on self-improvement as well as improving their mental and physical health.

Tuesday night sports action

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team defeated Eden Valley-Watkins 66-12 tonight to stay undefeated in the Central Minnesota Conference. In the second dual of tonight's triangular, EV-W will take on Osakis.

More to come.

*Update: through 138 pounds, the Jaguars hold a 24-7 lead over Osakis in the final match of the triangular.  

At Kimball, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team lost 55-52 to fall into second place in the Central Minnesota Conference. The Cubs take over first place alone and are 6-0 in the CMC and 12-1 overall.

An area scoreboard will be posted on Wednesday night to this blog post.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 18:
Paynesville Area 63, Holdingford 41
Maple Lake 44, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 27

Area girls' basketball scores on January 18:
Willmar 56, Mount Westonka 36
Pierz 69, Zimmerman 62
Staples-Motley 50, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 30
Swanville 56, Mille Lacs 31
Melrose Area 50, Upsala 47
MACCRAY 59, Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 54
Minneota 58, Lac qui Parle Valley 52
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 69, Renville County West 37
Yellow Medicine East 77, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 39
Central MN Christian 65, Lakeview 27
Battle Lake 50, Frazee 18
Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 88, Springfield 52
Henning 63, Bertha-Hewitt 26
New York Mills 45, Verndale 33

(VIDEO) B-B-E home wrestling triangular

Tonight the wrestling triangular starts at 5 p.m.

Here's the live video player:


Updates to come much later tonight.

Tough day

Today's been a tough day. My dad died 17 years ago today. 

"Not a day goes by."

Coming on Tuesday

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team hosts a triangular on Tuesday this week that includes Eden Valley-Watkins and Osakis. Action begins at 5 p.m. Spread the word! The Jaguars have seven state-ranked wrestlers at the current time. In dual meets, the No. 1-ranked Jaguars are 8-0 overall.

Wrestling action (*VIDEOS)

Finally getting to more from last night. I've been busy moving snow much of today.

Here's video from early in last night's dual meet:


In the video, Brett DeRoo is battling at 113 pounds. He eventually won an 11-2 decision.

**Here's a video added on Saturday night that features Maximus Hanson's win at 182 pounds:


More to come later.

Jaguar wrestlers pummel MAHCA, Girls' Hoops win

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team put on a display of outstanding performances up and down the lineup tonight as they dismantled Class 2A Morris Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta. The visitors earned just two varsity wins out of the 14 matches, and the Jaguars won 58-9.

The trip to New London-Spicer tomorrow has been cancelled, as B-B-E schools has closed for Friday, January 14 due to the oncoming snowstorm.

*Here's video from Tuesday featuring tip-off and the opening minute of the girls' basketball game:


At Paynesville Area tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team gutted out a 37-30 grinder of a win over the Bulldogs in a conference border battle. The Jaguars, who led 26-14 at halftime, were paced by Kailey Fischer's nine points. As a team, the Jaguars shot 27 percent from the floor (14-51) and made three of 14 three-point attempts. At the free throw line, the Jaguars made six of 13 attempts. They take an 11-3 overall record into next week's action.

B-B-E scoring: Kailey Fischer 9, Brooklyn Fischer 6, Shelby Anderson 2, Anna Jaeger 3, Tiyana Schwinghammer 6, Allison Dingmann 6, Ella Halvorson 2, Bree Thieschafer 3.

**Here's a video featuring the last part of Ethan Spanier's final match in the 220-pound bracket last Friday at the Jaguar Invitational:


Spanier, a junior, won the title with two wins in a round-robin style bracket.

More to come later tonight. Wrestling video is uploading.


I have gotten very, very delinquent on reporting for the B-B-E speech and robotics teams. I've finally caught up with the coaches this week and hope to ramp up coverage for them in January. This is without a doubt shaping up to be one of the busiest January months I've had while owning the newspaper. And this is a very, very good thing!!!! I am thrilled to report that speech team turnout has increased to 21. That is up from around 15 on the team during the COVID-19 season last winter. I hope we get turnout back to 30 or more in the coming years. I am dumbfounded why more parents don't get their high school children into the B-B-E speech program. I am absolutely flabbergasted by that. In our home, speech is a required activity...and that is not up for discussion. Our children have to learn to love speech...because they have to be in it.

Athletic schedule change for wrestling

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team will not travel to Minnewaska Area tonight. Instead, the Jaguars will host Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta/Hancock in a dual meet starting at 6 p.m.

*The match is being aired on KKOK 95.7 FM of Morris.

*Through 182 pounds, the Jaguars have a 43-9 lead.

B-B-E zip codes post an 18

The zip code areas of Belgrade, Brooten and Elrosa have posted the number 18 for new COVID-19 cases in the past week.

The report showed a strange phenomenon where the numbers climbed by a large proportion in the Belgrade 56312 zip code while falling by half in the Brooten 56316 zip code. For the second straight week, the village of Elrosa posted a one.

Here's the breakdown:
Belgrade 56312: 15 new cases (4 last week)
Brooten 56316: 2 new cases (4 last week)
Elrosa 56325: 1 new case (1 new last week)

Most weeks in the past 22 months of my life have surprised me in one way or another. This week is no different. Maybe "Omicron" has gotten to Belgrade but hasn't worked its way over to Brooten? It's only six-and-a-half miles. Maybe omicron is leery of the Skunk Creek? I point this out because it's worth noting that omicron is less dangerous than delta. All the data you find out there says that. Locally, if people are still getting sick with delta, that is much more serious. If our COVID-19 numbers aren't skyrocketing, it's a sign that omicron isn't here yet. Numbers have been skyrocketing in the Metro Area for the past two weeks, but that's not the case out here (yet).

This is just flabbergasting: this is from the nearby Alexandria school district and comes from trucker Robert Nieland of Garfield. At the elementary school in Garfield, which is part of the Alexandria school district, the school has a basket where kids throw their facemasks when they eat lunch. Once lunch is over, they go back to that basket to locate and grab their masks. Let that sink in for a moment.

MEANWHILE, the Alexandria school board has voted to close any public comment period at their board meeting. This means a well-meaning parent can't go to a board meeting and address them in person.

How many ways can you spell coward?

Back to the issue that's dominating our lives and we just can't get away from in our schools...

Area COVID-19 zip code case increases for the period January 6 to January 12:
Willmar 56201: 253 new cases (39 new last week)
Benson 56215: 13 new cases (3 new last week)
Clara City 56222: 7 new cases (2 new last week)
Kandiyohi 56251: 8 new cases (zero new last week)
Kerkhoven 56252: 2 new cases (1 new last week)
Maynard 56260: 4 new cases (3 new last week)
Morris 56267: 98 new cases (36 new last week)
Murdock 56271: 1 new case (2 new last week)
New London 56273: 38 new cases (3 new last week)
Pennock 56279: 5 new cases (zero new last week)
Raymond 56282: 13 new cases (2 new last week)
Spicer 56288: 39 new cases (8 new last week)
Sunburg 56289: 3 new cases (2 new last week)
Alexandria 56308: 247 new cases (54 new last week)
Glenwood 56334: 28 new cases (22 new last week)
Lowry 56349: 7 new cases (4 new last week)
Melrose 56352: 73 new cases (2 new last week)
Osakis 56360: 32 new cases (11 new last week)
Paynesville 56362: 51 new cases (9 new last week)
Sauk Centre 56378: 87 new cases (5 new last week)
Starbuck 56378: 17 new cases (4 new last week)
Villard 56385: 6 new cases (5 new last week)

Fascinating to see the COVID-19 "spread" is almost identical between the Alexandria and Willmar zip codes. Both zip code areas have about 23,000 people, but the Willmar elementary schools don't force masks on their children. Look at the COVID-19 figures for those two zip codes, and let that sink in.

In other news: BRAVO to the Osakis school board, as they tabled the "jab-or-mask" mandate pushed down from Walz and his state machinery. In their meeting on Monday this week (January 10), board members discussed the "jab-or-mask" mandate for school employees and decided to table it instead of moving forward on it. The superintendent and board members raised many concerns about the policy. I am always fascinated to learn about people in power (even lowly school board members) standing up to the bigger wheels in the machine of government. You can read more about this at the Echo Press newspaper website (short link): https://bit.ly/3Kknag2.

Catching up on the dance team

The B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team travels to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City on Saturday for an invitational. Teams included at the A-C-GC meet are Litchfield, MACCRAY, New London-Spicer, PACT Charter, Southwest Christian, Spectrum and Wabasso. The Pirouettes travel to the Camden Conference dance championships at Canby high school on Friday, January 28 (6 p.m. start).

The regular season concludes on Saturday, January 29 at New London-Spicer (10 a.m. start).

Almost a month after their home dance competition, I've finally uploaded the photo gallery to the Bonanza Valley Voice Smugmug gallery (short link) = https://bit.ly/31UpN6T.

A win and a loss

In a Central Minnesota Conference game at Maple Lake tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team got back on the winning track with a 71-14 defeat of the Irish. Maple Lake, whose football team struggled with low turnout and a difficult season last fall, is experiencing a lull in boys' basketball this winter. They are unable to field a JV team. The varsity offense averages 24 points a game. "How the other half lives." That is something we have to work hard at to prevent from happening in Jaguar Country!

  Next: the Jaguars (8-3, 3-1) host Royalton (5-6, 2-0) on Friday this week in another CMC game. The Royals have won three straight; they beat host Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 84-66 tonight.

In a home non-conference border battle, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team suffered a 57-33 defeat to Minnewaska Area. The Jaguars led 9-5 in the opening stage of the game before trailing 23-19 at halftime. Next: the Jaguars (10-3) travel to Paynesville Area for a border battle with the Bulldogs. The game will be carried by 106.5 FM The Train of Norway Lake/Sunburg.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on January 11:
Paynesville Area 90, Eden Valley-Watkins 84 (2 OT! Wow)
Royalton 84, A-C-GC 66
Kimball Area 66, Holdingford 47

Area boys' basketball scores on January 11:
New London-Spicer 64, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 57
Albany 70, Minnewaska Area 62
Upsala 72, Pierz 70
Canby 61, MACCRAY 59
Browerville 58, Staples-Motley 52
New York Mills 58, Henning 56 OT (NYM remains undefeated at 10-0, while Henning falls to 9-1 after this battle of top Park Region Conference teams)
Melrose Area 59, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 25
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 76, Benson 54
West Central Area 58, Brandon-Evansville 43

Area girls' basketball scores on January 11:
Osakis 65, Browerville 41
BOLD 57, Benson 38
Annandale 39, Litchfield 31
Montevideo 61, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 45
Providence Academy 69, Royalton 32
Eden Valley-Watkins 54, Monticello 53
Parkers Prairie 38, Brandon-Evansville 23
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 38, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 37
New Ulm Cathedral 55, Renville County West 44
Minneota 73, Pipestone Area 49
Sauk Centre 59, Melrose Area 29
MACCRAY 53, A-C-GC 19
Swanville 62, LP-GE 30

Disheartening statistic from December 2021: just four percent of the federal government's American Rescue Plan funds for school districts had been touched by public schools; these funds were earmarked by the feds to help schools "safely stay open" during the 2021-2022 school year. In the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, a total of $123 billion was earmarked for K-12 education. This data is from the U.S. Department of Education. (What a gross oxymoron) We are nearly halfway through the 2021-2022 school year, and data shows that most schools across America have remained safely open to any family who wants to send their children to a public school without spending billions and billions of dollars. This begs the question: where's the rest of the money going that was earmarked for schools? Are any of you paying attention out there to what the feds are doing? This madness affects all aspects of public education in America today, including high school activities. Now we see many schools closing to school children, even right here in Minnesota. This is all absolutely crazy.

We have real problems when the government lies to us and tries to buffalo the public. The credibility they lose is almost impossible to get back. For example, in the United Kingdom, they are not pushing COVID jabs onto children under 12. They allow jabbing younger children, but they recommend it only in certain cases. Are their scientists and doctors just that much smarter than what we have in the United States? Our own federal government routinely uses flawed studies to back up their decrees. It is getting to a point that is beyond shameless. In the video below, the flawed study regarding jabbing 5 to 11 year olds is outlined. This is a really big deal. It's a 12-minute long video. Highly recommend...

VIDEO:


That's all for this blog post. I have a massive headache because I watched too much news today. It's all so sickening.

Game night: border battle

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team hosts Minnewaska Area tonight in a border battle. The Lakers are 6-5 overall and hold the No. 5 ranking currently in Sub-Section 3AA-North.

Here's the live video player for tonight's game:


More to come, including game updates. Updates in a new blog post.

Gingerbread houses (VIDEO)

It took three minutes to record this video, two more weeks to upload it and then another week beyond that to get it posted...but here it is. This is a video featuring many familiar faces for B-B-E Jaguar fans of Mrs. Hagemeyer's Foods Class students who built gingerbread houses just before Christmas.

Video:


Pictures of the students with their gingerbread houses were published in the December 30 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

In other news...everyone is invited to the upcoming Hopes and Dreams Community meeting on January 24. To read more, click on the following short link: https://bit.ly/3tcOWVG.

A busy night of varsity sports (VIDEO)

Returning to their home mats for the first time since December 3 of last year, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team went toe-to-toe with No. 3-ranked Becker in the six-team Jaguar Invitational. The Bulldogs had 236.5 points compared to 232 for the Jaguars. Eden Valley-Watkins took third place with 112 points. Ottertail Central was fourth with 93 points, Frazee was fifth with 72 points and Quad County had 68.5 points for sixth place.

*Here's a video featuring numerous matches tonight:


At Royalton tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team remained undefeated in the Central Minnesota Conference with a 62-52 win over the Royals. This was a key game of two teams who entered the night with 3-0 CMC records. B-B-E is 10-2 overall and keeps pace with fellow CMC front-runner Kimball Area (9-1, 3-0), who played at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City tonight.

At home, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost a heartbreaker 58-56 to New London-Spicer in a back-and-forth game. The five-game winning streak ends, and the Jaguars take a 7-3 record into next week's CMC game at Maple Lake (0-4, 0-1). The Wildcats improved to 6-3 overall; they've won six of their last seven games after an 0-2 start to the season. On Tuesday this week at home against Paynesville, NL-S won 62-45.

More to come. I'll get the area scoreboard posted later on Saturday.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on January 7:
Holdingford 72, Eden Valley-Watkins 50
Kimball Area 58, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 30

Area boys' basketball scores on January 7:
Browerville 58, Menahga 55
Royalton 68, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 57
Albany 62, Pierz 56
Paynesville Area 75, Yellow Medicine East 41
Ashby 62, Bertha-Hewitt 33
Melrose Area 62, Minnewaska Area 45
Montevideo 66, Sauk Centre 62
Brandon-Evansville 84, Underwood 40
Lac qui Parle Valley 60, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 59
Osakis 66, Staples-Motley 58

Area girls' basketball scores on January 7: Montevideo 47, Sauk Centre 44
Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 69, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 62
Hancock 58, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 26
Minnewaska Area 60, Melrose Area 38
MACCRAY 71, Lakeview 24
Verndale 45, Bertha-Hewitt 40
Menahga 68, Sebeka 33
Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 57, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 36
Henning 51, New York Mills 48
Cass Lake-Bena 65, Pine River-Backus 53
Minneota 86, Dawson-Boyd 11
Braham 67, Ogivlie 59
Central MN Christian 59, Yellow Medicine East 41
New London-Spicer 68, Rockford Area 36

Wrestling updates and more (Live Videos)

I'll get wrestling updates here as frequently as possible. Lots happening today, especially behind the scenes. We are living in a crazy, crazy world where the public gets dumber by the day and almost by the hour. 

I am THRILLED to hear that all announced teams will be attending the tournament today at the B-B-E high school. This is awesome! I expect a very large crowd of people!!! ***I was given bad intelligence on the teams...Wabasso and Red Rock Central are not here. In fact, RRC pulled out of the tournament a couple weeks ago.

Becker is ranked No. 3 in the latest Class 2A team rankings. Our B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is ranked No. 1 in Class 1A.

**Updates: Tyler Jensen won his semifinal match by a 3-2 decision over a Frazee wrestler. It is fabulous to see him back in action! Blaine Fischer won his semi by an 8-0 major decision. Maximus Hanson won by pin in the 160-pound semifinals. Ethan Spanier won in his semifinal match.

The Jaguars ultiately earned a string of semifinal wins. The final portion of the tournament will begin at about 5:45 p.m., including the final wrestlebacks and the finals. TEAM SCORING: Becker Bulldogs hold first place at this point with 183 points. The Jaguars sit in second place with 175 points. In a distant third is Eden Valley-Watkins with 94 points. Ottertail Central is in fourth with 71 points.

More to come. The boys' basketball team faces New London-Spicer tonight at home. Below is that video player. The game will also be aired on 106.5 FM The Train of Norway Lake/Sunburg. Also, the girls' basketball team is playing at Royalton.

*Here's the live video player for the boys' basketball border battle:


This is the live video player for the girls' basketball game:


More updates to come. This is a crazy, crazy busy night.

**At halftime, the Jaguars have a 29 to 23 lead over the Wildcats. More updates to follow in a new blog post, including final scores from the wrestling invitational.

Three varsity wins (VIDEOS)

It was a good night for Jaguar teams on one of the coldest nights of the winter. (And coldest by far so far in 2022!)

The B-B-E Jaguars boys’ basketball team defeated Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 68-56 in a rough-and-tumble Central Minnesota Conference game tonight. The Jaguars, who led 37-26 at halftime, pushed the lead to 48-28 with 15:15 left in the second half and later 59-39 with 8:42 to go. The Falcons, who fell to 2-6 overall, rallied in the closing minutes but were unable to get within single digits.

The Jaguars shot 43 percent from the field and were 19-of-31 from the free throw line.

*Here's video from the first half of the game beginning with about 6 minutes left:


*Here's a video from the second half of the game:


In a triangular at Holdingford, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team won two more duals to improve to 7-0 overall. The Jaguars beat Holdingford 44-24 before defeating Albany Area 49-21. They are excited to see a huge crowd of hometown fans attend their Jaguar Invitational tomorrow at the high school. Action begins at 2:30 p.m. Teams included are Becker, Eden Valley-Watkins, Frazee, Ottertail Central, Quad County, Red Rock Central and Wabasso.

**UPDATE: B-B-E schools will open two hours late for the third day in a row. It's that time of year.

Thursday night wrestling and boys' basketball action

This blog post will be updated throughout the evening. **The boys' basketball game is on 106.5 FM The Train.

At the Holdingford triangular, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team defeated the host Huskers 44-24 in the first of two matches tonight. The win also counts in the Central Minnesota Conference standings. The third team there is Albany Area.

*Here's a video featuring the final 95 seconds of the Upsala game two nights ago:


*Here's the live video player for tonight's home varsity boys' basketball game:


Tonight the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team is hosting Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in a conference game. The Falcons are 2-5 overall. This will be their Central Minnesota Conference opener.

Updates to follow here as the night develops. They will be done from a cell phone, so the formatting may appear goofy.

**The boys' basketball team has an 18-14 lead over ACGC with 8:25 to go in the first half.

The wrestlers wrapped up the triangular by defeating Albany 49-21.

More to come in a new blog post tonight.

B-B-E zip codes post a 9

In the January 6 zip code report, the Minnesota Department of Health reported nine new cases of COVID-19 in the Belgrade, Brooten and Elrosa zip code areas This is an increase from just four reported in the December 30 report during a time when parts of the United States and the rest of the world are going stark-raving mad. Today's report of nine new cases (positive symptomatic and asymptomatic test results) is in a population of about 4,300 adults and children. For now, the oncoming Omicron surge is not here...yet.

The breakdown is as follows:
Belgrade 56312: 4 new cases (2 the previous week)
Brooten 56316: 4 new cases (1 the previous week)
Elrosa 56325: 1 new case (1 the previous week)

Almost every week, this report includes surprises. Some weeks in 2021 included very small increases across west central Minnesota. There's no real pattern that can be ascertained by the numbers, but they are important to know nonetheless. Here's where it is goofy...

In the Melrose 56352 zip code area, they had just two new cases reported today. In the Sauk Centre 56378 zip code, they had just five new cases reported. The total population in those two areas is about 13,900 adults and children. So take a moment to take that in. In the past week, those zip code areas of almost 14,000 people (8,000 for Sauk Centre and 5,900 for Melrose) had just seven new COVID-19 cases reported. Will that go up? There's very little doubt in anyone's mind the numbers will climb again, but to come out of the Christmas holidays with such a low number is outstanding. It's crazy good news that you will never read about in the doom-and-gloom-filled mainstream press of Minnesota.

In Glenwood, their zip code population had 22 new cases compared to 8 in the December 30 report.

More to come in a new web article at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website later today. **That article is posted and has more information to be added this afternoon. You can find it by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3HEWLY3. This article has been updated with all area zip codes that I gathered across what is generally about a 40-mile radius of Brooten.

I learned that things have gotten past the point of absurd and crazy in Alexandria, where they force masks on their elementary school kids. The Alexandria school board voted 6-1 to end the ability for the public to give "public comment" in person at their board meetings because they don't like what the public was telling them. I have spoken to a handful of people from Alexandria who have kids in the school system there who are extremely upset with this. It would be great if those pushing forced masking on their younger children would resign their school board seats. That would be a good start for the Alexandria community. They don't force masks in children in the Willmar school district, and their COVID-19 numbers are no different than the numbers in Alexandria. Both zip code populations have about 23,000 adults and children. THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A MOMENT!

Two hours late again

School will open two hours late tomorrow, Thursday, January 6.

Here's video from the last part of the first half of Tuesday night's boys' basketball game against Upsala:


The Jaguars won that game 65-43 to improve to 6-2 overall.

Two basketball wins (*And school is 2 hours late) (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team defeated visiting Upsala 65-43 tonight for their fourth straight win. After leading 43-28 at halftime, the Jaguars kept their foot on the gas and as they added seven points to their lead before the final buzzer. Now 6-2 overall, the Jaguars are set to host Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City on Thursday this week in a Central Minnesota Conference game.

At Maple Lake tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team picked up their third CMC win of the year with a 59-43 win. The Jaguars led 31-18 at halftime and improve to 9-2 overall. Next: the Jaguars travel to Royalton on Friday this week.

More to come. Busy night...time to button up the newspaper for the printing press!

**UPDATE** B-B-E schools will open two hours late tomorrow, Wednesday, January 5. It's getting very windy outside, and snow is supposed to fall the entire night. Get ready!

*Here's video from late in the second half of tonight's game:


Central MN Christian girls' basketball scores on January 4:
Royalton 64, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 33
Eden Valley-Watkins 52, Paynesville Area 35
Holdingford 63, Pierz 57
Hancock 57, Battle Lake 46
Menahga 56, Verndale 24

Area boys' basketball scores on January 4:
New London-Spicer 62, Paynesville Area 45
Watertown-Mayer 61, Eden Valley-Watkins 40
Redwood Valley 78, Montevideo 62
Parkers Prairie 56, Battle Lake 53
Osakis 65, Royalton 49
Sauk Centre 62, Litchfield 49

Area girls' basketball scores on January 4:
Minneota 63, Central MN Christian 56
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 53, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 13
MACCRAY 50, Canby 44
Willmar 74, Becker 64

B-B-E boys' basketball hosts Upsala

Here's the live video player for tonight's game:


The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team looks to improve on their three-game winning streak!

Halftime: B-B-E 43, Upsala 28.  

Updates and more in a new blog post.

Some fun Belgrade Redmen history

Here's part of a story that just could not fit into print, for a story that will be published this week. This part begins with mention of the newly-paired Belgrade and Brooten track and field teams in the spring of 1982.

In 1983, the B/B girls' team won the Prairie Conference and District 20 titles while also earning the runner-up trophy in Region 5. Over the next three years, the B/B girls' team continued winning conference titles while climbing the ranks at the state meet. They took 10th at state in 1984, sixth at state in 1985 and then won the Class 1A title in 1986.

Redmen volleyball went undefeated all the way to the state semifinals in 1984, where they lost to Concordia Academy. Belgrade finished 25-1 while earning third place. Two years later they earned the program's third District 20 title.

Belgrade wrestling had its share of state qualifiers beginning with Ron Weller in 1972 when Minnesota had just one class. Other state entrants included Brian Weller, Jon Anderson, Marlyn Marquardt, Kevin Weller, Randy Larson (state runner-up) and Gregg Weller. (Records for the 1988 season were unavailable.)

One of the highest points for the Belgrade athletic program came under the head coaching of the late Dennis Weimerskirch, who led the program from 1988 through the pairing in 1988-1989.

Happy New Year (VIDEO)

To everyone in Jaguar Country, and to those near and far who support those of us living here, Happy New Year!

According to our governor, we live in the land of Rocks and Cows, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Announcement: worship services for Trinity Lutheran and West Lake Johanna Lutheran churches of Brooten have been cancelled for January 2 (tomorrow) due to the bitterly cold weather we are currently experiencing. Remember to add extra to the offering plate when you attend worship on January 9!

Heres's a video with the Christmas weekend worship at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church on Sunday, December 26:


The reading of the lessons by Sam Sanders begins at about the 4:00 mark. Just past the 7:00 mark, Interim Pastor Gary Mills begins reading the Holy Gospel. Right around the 9:00 mark, Pastor Mills begins his sermon.

My very first day of 2022 has been a super busy one. I have added more information on my latest Bonanza Valley Voice COVID-19 article that includes local zip code information. You can find that by clicking on this short link: https://bit.ly/3qz6A2Q. Unfortunately, just as I see calm on the horizon, when I see a chance for me to find peace and time to relax, I learn more troubling information on Governor Walz and his minions. It continues to be deeply disturbing. I can give one positive comment about him: he has the sense to realize if he re-enacted his emergency powers and tried forcing masks on school children across the state, it would not go well for him. We can all be grateful that he sees the huge risks involved with such a move.