Winter choir concert!

It was a smashing success! They were terrific.

I managed to snap 78 pictures at the concert. I'm combing through them now. I am flirting with the idea of a 16-page newspaper this week with extensive wrestling and choir coverage. We'll see how the next 24 hours go for this operation. The pictures turned out far and above better than I could have hoped for, but I'm getting the hang of shooting pictures in Olson Auditorium.

B-B-E girls' basketball vs. Kimball (HD VIDEO) and wrestling

I hope to get some sports-related items posted here tonight. I also have the choir concert and the school board meeting happening at 7 p.m.

OH, and it gets better...there's also a Brooten city council meeting at 7 p.m. How's this gonna go?

*Here's a short video clip from early in the second half of the girls' basketball game last Friday against Kimball Area:


The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team was battling back from a six-point deficit at halftime. You can read more about the game in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. The Jaguars open playoffs on Thursday this week at home.

**Here's another video clip from Minnewaska Area high school on Saturday:


The video features medals awarded following the Section 5A wrestling tournament. It begins with Blaine Fischer receiving his championship medal at 152 pounds.

This is STATE wrestling week! And more

Lordy, Lordy! Don't look now, but this is STATE WRESTLING week! 

On top of multiple other events such as the end of the boys' basketball regular season, continued success by our speech team, the girls' basketball playoffs getting underway AND the robotics team heading to Duluth for regionals...this is the week that Jaguar Country has been building up to for over 30 years: the team state wrestling tournament in St. Paul.

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team will compete in their second straight state tournament. Last year they had a very short window to enjoy state, with the pandemic forcing big changes to the winter sports playoffs. This year, the Jaguars will be at the "BIG SHOW" under the bright lights of Xcel Energy Center. The Jaguars open state at 11 a.m. against Dover-Eyota, Section 1A champions, at the X. The full state schedule was published in a large graphic in the February 24 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

BIG, BIG ticket items to have on your radar:
1. On Wednesday, March 2, the B-B-E high school will hold a State Wrestling Pep Fest from 12:50 to 1:20 p.m. in the gymnasium. The team departs for the X soon after that. It's Day One of a four-day stretch of a high level of excitement.

2. Bucky's Bar in Elrosa will live stream the state wrestling matches on Thursday for those who can't make the trip down there and still want to gather and enjoy a great atmosphere of Jaguar fans. The live stream will be sponsored by Paul Gruber Farms and Custom Baling. ALSO! The individual state tournament matches will be live streamed on Friday and Saturday at Bucky's Bar as much as possible.

3. Throughout the month of March, I'll be working with the B-B-E Area Food Shelf and the Minnesota Foodshare program to promote their March fundraising campaign. You can read more about it by clicking here = https://bit.ly/3K3aVmT. If you don't need the food shelf, consider yourself lucky and please consider helping them out!

4. Tonight (Monday) is the B-B-E grades 6-12 choir concert. This winter concert begins at 7 p.m. at Olson Auditorium at B-B-E high school.

THANK YOU to Paul Gruber Farms and Custom Baling for sponsoring this Jaguars Sports state tournament update!

Sub-Section 5A-West girls' basketball playoffs

First, the girls' basketball Central Minnesota Conference season has concluded, and Holdingford and Kimball Area finished as co-champions with 11-3 records. Holdingford defeated visiting Royalton 68-53 yesterday to conclude the regular season schedule. Holdingford takes a 17-8 record into the Section 6AA playoffs as the No. 6 seed, while Kimball Area is 18-7 going into the Section 6AA playoffs as the No. 5 seed.

The Section 5A girls' basketball seedings are complete, and the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team earned the No. 1 seed in Sub-Section 5A-West. B-B-E finished the CMC schedule with a 10-4 record in third place alone. Royalton (13-13) took fourth place with a 9-5 mark. The Jaguars open the playoffs with a home quarterfinal game at B-B-E high school in Belgrade on Thursday, March 3 at 7 p.m. Their opponent will be either No. 8-seeded Bertha-Hewitt or No. 9-seeded Long Prairie-Grey Eagle. Those two teams will compete in a play-in round game on Monday, February 28 at 7 p.m. at Bertha-Hewitt high school.

Browerville is the No. 2 seed in Sub-Section 5A-West. In the east half of Section 5A, Braham (14-11) is the top seed, and Ogilvie (15-10) is the No. 2 seed. Ogilvie was the team that the Jaguars defeated in the 2020 Section 5A championship to advance to the state tournament for the first time ever. 

If the Jaguars win their playoff opener, they advance to the semifinal round on Saturday, March 5 at 6 p.m. at Wadena-Deer Creek high school. The next two playoff dates beyond that are March 9 and March 11, but those games don't matter because it's one-game-at-a-time in the postseason!

2022 Sub-Section 5A-West girls' basketball seedings:
1. B-B-E (16-9)
2. Browerville (18-7)
3. Nevis (15-7)
4. Pine River-Backus (12-12)
5. Walker-Hackensack-Akeley (13-10)
6. Verndale (7-17)
7. Sebeka (6-19)
8. Bertha-Hewitt (2-20)
9. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (2-20)
10. Laporte (1-19)


More to come.

SIX to state! It's gonna be GREAT! (Updates, VIDEOS)

Here's the rundown of the B-B-E Jaguars going to the state individual wrestling tournament:
Ryan Jensen (126), Walker Bents (132), Blaine Fischer (152), Maximus Hanson (160), Carson Gilbert (182) and Ethan Spanier (220). They will compete at Xcel Energy Center in the individual tournament on Friday and Saturday, March 4 and 5 in St. Paul.

More to come after open gym, including some video highlights from today's wrestling action.

At 220 pounds, Ethan Spanier faced No. 1-seeded Jaxon Behm in the championship. Behm won a 9-4 decision.

**Here's video featuring B-B-E Jaguars competing in the finals at 120, 126 and 132 pounds at the Section 5A tournament:


**Here's video from the 152-pound championship match with Blaine Fischer:


Here's notes from the true second matches...
At 160 pounds, Maximus Hanson faced Canby sophomore Nick Wagner (13-7) with a state trip on the line. Hanson got a takedown 30 seconds into the first period and took a 2-0 lead into the second period. Hanson started down in the second period and was given an escape to start out. Just 20 seconds into the second period, Hanson got a takedown for a 7-0 lead, which stood into the third period. In the third, Hanson got an early takedown for a 7-0 lead. Hanson won by an 8-0 major decision. He takes a 34-8 record into state.

At 182 pounds, Carson Gilbert faced Logan Straumann (32-6) of A-C-GC with a state trip on the line. Straumann struck first with a takedown with just 14 seconds left in the opening period. Gilbert earned a reversal just 10 seconds into the second period for a 2-2 tie. As time expired in the second period, Gilbert earned two back points to take a 4-2 lead. Early in the third period, Gilbert earned three back points for a 7-2 lead. Gilbert earned three more back points to make it a 10-2 lead. With 45 seconds left in the third period, the action was blown dead by the referee, at which point Gilbert was awarded multiple penalty points on technical violations. The match was ruled a win in favor of Gilbert, handing him a second straight state tournament berth.

Area girls' basketball scores on February 26:
Sauk Centre 48, Osakis 45
Minneota 66, Lakeview 23
Russel-Tyler-Ruthton 74, Yellow Medicine East 62
Lac qui Parle Valley 53, Wabasso 26
MACCRAY 51, Canby 42
Litchfield 45, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 42
New London-Spicer 72, Paynesville Area 43
West Central Area 60, Minnewaska Area 39
Montevideo 65, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 34
Ogilvie 71, Barnum 59

Section 5A wrestling individuals (updates, VIDEOS)

I'll do my best to post reports here throughout the afternoon. You can also listen to live updates at Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood (both online and on the radio). **NOTE: the finals round is fully updated as of 16:21. We are about halfway through the finals round with true-second matches to follow from Minnewaska Area high school. *This is fully updated in terms of who won in the finals round. The true second matches are also complete. *Two VIDEOS are below.

**Here's a video recorded just before the finals round started today at Minnewaska Area high school:


At 106, Louie Tensen (20-19) had a first-round bye but then lost in the quarterfinals. He won his first wrestleback match by a 20-4 tech fall (4:27) to stay alive. Tensen will face freshman Eli Greenman (34-10) of Canby in the next round.

At 113, Brett DeRoo (31-10) blazed his way into the quarterfinals after a first-round bye and then a win by fall (0:55) in the second round. He lost in the quarterfinals by a 9-1 major decision to Canby's Isaac Guzman. DeRoo awaits matches in the wrestlebacks before he goes again.

At 120, Ethan Mueller (10-10) is alive in the wrestlebacks after losing in the quarterfinals by a 5-2 decision to junior Noah Johnson (24-20) of Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. He will face * sophomore Preston Welling of Paynesville in his next match. **UPDATE: Mueller won by pin (2:29) to stay alive in wrestlebacks! He needs one more win to get into the third-place match.

At 126, Ryan Jensen (40-3) had a first-round bye and then won two pins in his next two matches. He got a pin in just 23 seconds in the quarterfinals, and he pinned in just 1:23 in the semifinals to get into the championship match.

At 132, Walker Bents (39-1) mirrored the success of Ryan Jensen with a quarterfinal pin with a time of 2:55 and then a semifinal pin with a time of 4:58 to get into the championship.

At 138, Tyler Jensen (14-7) had a first-round bye and then won an 8-4 decision in the quarterfinals. He will face A-C-GC's Jevon Williams in the semifinals. *Update: Tyler Jensen lost a 9-2 decision to Williams in the semifinals. He now faces Minneota's Kade Lozinski (24-13) in the wrestlebacks.

At 145, Tanner Viessman (18-17) lost in the quarterfinals and awaits a wrestleback match where he will face Paynesville's Grant Wendlandt (7-13).

At 152, Blaine Fischer (38-1) had a first-round bye and then won by fall (1:11) in the quarterfinals. He awaits his semifinal match where he'll take on K-M-S's senior Ely Johnson (24-18). **Update!: Fischer pinned Johnson with a time of 3:58 to advance to the championship!

At 160, Maximus Hanson (32-7) is competing in a seven-man bracket and had two byes and awaits the semifinals. **Update: Hanson won with a pin in a time of just 1:07 to get into the championship match! He defeated Benson junior Preston Mcgee (26-21) to get into the championship.

At 170, Talen Kampsen (14-20) had a first-round bye and then lost in the quarterfinals by fall (1:28) to A-C-GC's Jake Mortensen. Kampsen had a bye in the consolation round and now awaits a match with Canby's Alan Malanado (0-2). *Update: Kamspen won by fall (0:44) over Malanado to stay alive in the wrestlebacks!

At 182, Carson Gilbert (33-7) also is competing in a seven-man bracket. He had back-to-back byes and awaits a semifinal match, where he'll take on Benson senior Nathan Bolduc (34-6).

The 195-pound bracket is open for B-B-E.

At 220, Ethan Spanier (30-7) had a first-round bye and then won by fall (1:46) in the quarterfinals. He awaits his semifinal match where he will take on No. 2-seeded junior Spencer Eisenbraun (32-5) of Paynesville Area. *UPDATE: against Eisenbraun in the semis, No. 3-seeded Spanier built a 5-1 lead with a reversal and back points in the third period. He ultimately won by a 6-3 decision to get into the championship!

At 285, Bryce Feuerhake (26-17) had a first-round bye and then won his quarterfinal match by a 5-3 decision over sophomore Gavin Noyes (21-14) of Canby. In the semifinals, Feuerhake will take on No. 1-seeded and No. 10-ranked senior Jackson Esping (8-0) of Minneota. **Update: Feuerhake lost a 4-3 decision to finish in fourth place.

More to come.

**Here's a video that features the 106 and 113 pound matches with Louie Tensen and Brett DeRoo in the finals:


UPDATES from the FINALS:

106: Louie Tensen will go for 5th place against Benson's Max Nygaard. It's time to get ready for the Parade of Champions.

113: Brett DeRoo took third place in his bracket! He won by a 15-0 tech fall late in the second period in the third-place match.

120: Ethan Mueller will go for fifth place.

126: Ryan Jensen won the championship with a 3-0 decision in the finals.

132: Walker Bents won a 5-1 decision in the finals to win the championship.

138: Tyler Jensen is going for third place here. *Update: Tyler Jensen lost an 11-8 decision to finish in fourth place here.

152: Blaine Fischer will face Minnewaska Area senior Jacob Blair (30-5) in the championship. *UPDATE: Fischer won by pin with 42 seconds remaining in the third period to claim the 152-pound title and advance to state.

160: Maximus Hanson will face K-M-S senior Coy Gunderson (42-3) in the championship. Hanson is the No. 1 seed, while Gunderson is the No. 2 seed. *UPDATE: Hanson lost a nailbiter by a 4-3 decision; he will have to win a true second match in order to punch a spot to the state tournament.

170: Talen Kampsen finished in fifth place in this bracket with a final win by injury default. He finishes his junior campaign with a 16-21 overall record.

182: No. 1-seeded Carson Gilbert will wrestle Paynesville Area freshman Peyton Hemmesch (29-5) in the championship. **Update: Gilbert lost a 4-2 decision after three overtime periods. With the first three periods complete, the score was tied at 1-1.

**Gilbert's match ended right at 17:00.

220: No. 3-seeded Ethan Spanier will wrestle top-seeded senior Jaxon Behm (36-4) of A-C-GC in the championship match.

285: Bryce Feuerhake will go for third place in this bracket and will face K-M-S junior Jason Jones (28-19). *UPDATE: in the third-place match, Feuerhake lost by a 4-3 decision to Jones to finish in fourth place at heavyweight.

**True second match updates...

At 160, Maximus Hanson won an 8-0 decision to seal a trip to state!

At 182, Carson Gilbert will wrestle in a true second match for a state trip. *UPDATE: Carson Gilbert won a tech fall in the true second match over A-C-GC's Logan Straumann.

Awards are set to follow at about 18:20 tonight from Minnewaska Area high school.

Now it's time for open gym.

THANK YOU to Paul Gruber Farms and Bucky's Bar of Elrosa for their support of this blog post!

Final scores tonight (VIDEOS)

In their home game with the Kimball Area Cubs, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team fell 64-55 to finish in second place in the Central Minnesota Conference. B-B-E trailed 30-24 at halftime, but a shot in the lane by Tiyana Schwinghammer tied it at 43-43 with 10 minutes left. It was a fierce battle the rest of the way. The Jaguars C-squad team beat Kimball Area 25-23, and the JV Jaguars won 49-46 over Kimball tonight.

Next: the Jaguars (16-9) will host the Sub-Section 5A-West quarterfinals on Thursday, March 3 on the home court.

In another home game tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team defeated Kimball Area 61-39 to improve to 21-3 overall. They travel to Holdingford next Tuesday to wrap up the CMC schedule.

**Below is a video of the tribute given to the seniors on the girls' basketball team tonight:


**Here's action from the first half of the Paynesville boys' basketball game on Thursday:


**Here's the playing of the National Anthem tonight and then the start of the Kimball game:


Central MN Conference boys' basketball results on February 25:
Paynesville Area 68, Holdingford 39
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 66, Maple Lake 41

Area girls' basketball scores on February 26:
Henning 59, Parkers Prairie 37
Hancock 73, Princeton 42
Dassel-Cokato 57, Eden Valley-Watkins 44
Watertown-Mayer 43, Maple Lake 30
Pierz 52, Albany 48
Osakis 69, Holdingford 59

Area boys' basketball scores on February 25:
St. Cloud Cathedral 62, Eden Valley-Watkins 45
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 76, Battle Lake 52
Parkers Prairie 77, Rothsay 70
Sauk Centre 57, Montevideo 49
Osakis 81, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 33
Rockford Area 85, New London-Spicer 56
Melrose Area 72, Benson 49
MACCRAY 64, Lakeview 62 OT
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 60, Ortonville 40
Henning 80, Underwood 34
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 91, BOLD 72
Hancock 58, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 45
New York Mills 77, Barnesville 49
Ashby 60, Brandon-Evansville 44

**Wrestling updates on Saturday will come in a new blog post.

GAME NIGHT !

Tonight is game night in Jaguar Country! 

The boys' and girls' basketball teams both host Kimball Area on their home courts.

Here's the live video player for the girls' basketball game; it goes "live" at 7 p.m.:


UPDATES...
An early 7-2 lead evaporated for the girls' basketball team. With 11:25 left, the Cubs took a 12-11 lead with a three-pointer by junior guard Olivia Mortenson. With 5:15 left, Kimball's six-foot forward/center and junior Kristen Hilbert knocked down a left block shot to give her team a 20-12 lead. With 4:40 left, Harley Roering drained a three-pointer to cut it to five points. At halftime: Kimball Area 30, B-B-E 24.

Update: in the second half, the Jaguars fought back with all they had and took a brief 53-52 lead with just over 4 minutes to go. The final minutes were absolutely crazy.

More to come in a new blog post after 21:30 tonight. It's time to go home.

Two conference basketball wins! Boys' basketball clinches the title!!

Two varsity basketball wins were recorded tonight for the Jaguar Country faithful!

At Eden Valley-Watkins, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team improved to 16-8 on the season with a 59-53 win over the Eagles. Tiyana Schwinghammer led the team with 19 points. They are now 10-3 in the Central Minnesota Conference with just one game remaining!

At home in front of a packed house, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team won 67-39 over Paynesville Area to sweep the season series with the Bulldogs. The Jaguars had great balance with four players scoring nine or more points. The win also gave the Jaguars sole possession of the 2021-2022 CMC title. They are now 11-1 in the CMC and 20-3 overall. The last time the Jaguars won conference title hardware was in 2013-2014, when they also finished as Class 1A state champions.

Next: both the boys' and girls' basketball teams host Kimball Area tomorrow night.

Central MN Conference boys' basketball results on February 24:
Kimball Area 44, Royalton 42

Border Battle! Boys' basketball hosts Bulldogs (LIVE VIDEO)

Here's the live video player for tonight's home boys' basketball game. The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team hosts Paynesville Area in a big border battle!

VIDEO:


Updates to follow after tip-off.

***Halftime: the girls' basketball team is ahead 25-17 at Eden Valley.

***Halftime: the boys' basketball team is ahead 44 to 16 over the Bulldogs. That's correct!

A new blog post will be added soon with final scores from tonight's games.

BOOM! B-B-E zip codes post a two

And BAM! Just like that...an 88-percent decline...what am I talking about? Click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to find out: https://bit.ly/356UAPl.

In other news...tonight the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team travels to Eden Valley-Watkins for a huge Central Minnesota Conference game. Back here in Jaguar Country, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team hosts Paynesville Area in a game that can lock up a share of the CMC title if they win.

More to come. Busy day!

Letting the dust settle

We're letting the dust settle on a second straight 14-page monster of a newspaper issue at the Bonanza Valley Voice. This week's paper has gobs of wrestling coverage! Plus a story on B-B-E's newest 1,000-point basketball scorers. There's no rest for the weary, however, as we ramp back up to 100 miles an hour starting tomorrow. Once again, a 14-page issue was not big enough to fit all of our content that we had ready to publish. That's our version of crazy town.

By the way: I just learned that wrestling action at the Section 5A individual tournament begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday!! Just a few more days...this takes place at Minnewaska Area high school.

State wrestling brackets are in! (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team earned the No. 2 seed for the upcoming Class 1A state tournament. The Jaguars (19-1) compete at the state tournament on Thursday, March 3 at Xcel Energy Center. They face unseeded Dover-Eyota in the quarterfinals at 11 a.m.

If the Jaguars beat Dover-Eyota, they advance to the semifinals that take place that same day at 1 p.m. In the other side of their bracket is No. 3-seeded Royalton/Upsala and unseeded United North Central. If the Jaguars lose the opener, they will get one more match for sure at state with the consolation semifinals starting at 1 p.m. The third-place match is at 5 p.m., and the championship starts at 7 p.m.

**Here's video from the 132-pound match in the Section 5A finals on Saturday at Benson high school:


Two state-ranked wrestlers squared off in that match, and B-B-E's Walker Bents came out on top with a win by pin over Cole Holien.

More to come.

Weather announcements for February 22

B-B-E schools are closed due to the weather for Tuesday, February 22.

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team's game at Eden Valley-Watkins that was scheduled for tonight has been postponed to Thursday this week, February 24. This allows the Jaguars to keep rolling through the tail end of the CMC schedule.

The Thursday non-conference game at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg has been scrubbed.

Section 5A wrestling Final Four (VIDEO)

Here's a video from Benson on Saturday taken during the semifinal match against Minneota.

VIDEO:


More to come in a new blog post on Tuesday....the state seedings/pairings will be announced and added to that new blog post.

Step III: BACK-TO-BACK! Wrestlers advance to the state tournament! (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team won their second straight Section 5A championship today with a 45-17 win over No. 2-seeded and No. 5-ranked Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. A huge crowd of Jaguar fans made the short trip to Benson high school to cheer them on throughout the entire afternoon. It was fantastic!!!!

A-C-GC finishes a superb season with a 29-7 overall record. Their bid for state came up short in the section finals.

The Jaguars (19-1) will compete at the state team tournament on Thursday, March 3 at Xcel Energy Center. State tournament seeding will be posted on Tuesday, February 22. I'm trying to see who else won section titles to advance to state in Class 1A. Stay tuned.

**Here's Coach Mueller talking about the two huge wins following the section finals at Benson:


Click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website for additional coverage of today's action (short link): https://bit.ly/3LHMi0Z.

In Section 4A, Kimball Area blazed its way through three opponents like a hot knife through butter to advance to state. They are the defending state champions. The Cubs beat Norwood-Young America 78-0 in the quarterfinals and then leveled Eden Valley-Watkins 70-7 in the semis. In the Section 4A finals, Kimball Area defeated No. 2-seeded Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 55-8.

Dover-Eyota, who was seeded No. 3 for the playoffs, has won the Section 1A championship. Today at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, they beat No. 1-seeded Chatfield 33-30.

In Section 2A, top-seeded Maple River/United South Central advances to state after beating No. 2-seeded Medford 42-22 in the section finals at St. Clair high school.

In Section 3A, Jackson County Central blasted No. 3-seeded Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 60-6 to claim the championship and clinch a repeat trip to the state tournament.

Royalton, runners-up in the Central Minnesota Conference, defended their top seed while repeating as Section 7A champions with a 40-23 win over No. 3-seeded Holdingford. I'm missing just the Section 6A and Section 8A results. Now it's time to set aside wrestling for the evening and take the family to Open Gym at the high school! Keep this on your calendar: the Section 5A individual tournament is next Saturday, February 26 at Minnewaska Area high school.

In Section 6A, West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville won the championship to advance to the state tournament. WCA/A/BE won 66-12 over New York Mills in the semifinals and then 48-21 against Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie in the finals, which were held at NYM high school today. This is their first state tournament trip since 2017, when they placed fourth.

I saw this late on Saturday night: the River Lakes Stars girls' hockey team avenged two regular season losses to Fergus Falls and defeated the Otters 3-1 in the Section 6A championship on Saturday to advance to the Class 1A state tournament. River Lakes includes B-B-E in their varsity hockey co-op, although it does not have B-B-E girls on its varsity roster at this time. I was unable to find the boys' hockey varsity roster. Fergus Falls beat River Lakes 1-0 in Richmond on November 30 and then 5-1 on its home ice on December 21 to sweep the Central Lakes Conference series. The Otters were co-champions of the CLC with Brainerd/Little Falls. River Lakes takes a 16-12 record into the state tournament.

Fergus Falls (19-6-2) was the number one seed and was ranked No. 8 in the latest Let's Play Hockey rankings. The Stars were the No. 2 seed in Section 6A. They advance to state unseeded and will face top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Warroad (23-3-1) in the quarterfinals on Wednesday this week at 6 p.m. at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

THANK YOU to Paul Gruber Farms for supporting this blog post!

Step II: wrestlers advance to SECTION FINALS! *UPDATES *VIDEO

Here's where I'll get section finals updates posted. We are live at Benson high school. Our B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team (18-1 overall) is prepared for a gigantic battle against No. 2-seeded and No. 5 ranked Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. It's gonna be a doozy. The Jaguars defeated Minneota in today's semifinal by a 47-20 score to get to this point.

**The match can be listened to online at Smooth Magic 107 FM either on their website or at 107.1 FM on your radio dial. WEBSITE: https://www.kmgk1071.com.

**Here's a 27-minute long video from the Minneota match in today's semifinal round:


The video begins with Ryan Jensen earning a pin at 126 pounds. Wyatt Engen then battles through three periods and earns a major decision by a 10-2 score at 132 pounds. This put the Jaguars ahead 16-11.

Updates to come.

Wow!!! Just like that, the Jaguars are ahead 22-0. We have gone through four matches, and the Jaguars have already earned three pins!

After 132: B-B-E 28, A-C-GC 0. Walker Bents won this match with a pin against Cole Holien.

After 145: B-B-E 28, ACGC 7.

After 152: B-B-E 33, ACGC 7.

After 170: B-B-E 36, ACGC 10. The Jaguars advance to state!! The Falcons cannot come back for the win. The Jaguars clinch their second straight section championship with Evan Young's loss by a 5-1 decision at 170.

After 195: B-B-E 42, ACGC 14. Carson Gilbert one by fall at 195 over Isaiah Renne.

More to follow in a new blog post...the third one from Benson.

THANK YOU to Paul Gruber Farms for supporting this blog post!

Wrestling playoffs! FINAL 4! *Updates (VIDEOS)

Today is the big day in Benson! You can hear the action on Smooth Magic 107 FM both on the radio and their website.

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team faces No. 4-seeded Minneota at 12:30 p.m. at Benson high school.

**Here's more video from the section quarterfinal match on Thursday:


Updates to follow.

**With two matches complete, the Jaguars and Vikings are tied 6-6 in the semifinal bout.

With the 132 match completed, the Jaguars are ahead 16 to 11. Wyatt Engen won a key 10-2 major decision at 132 pounds 

After 145: B-B-E 25, Minneota 11.

After 152: B-B-E 25, Minneota 14.

After 160: B-B-E 31, Minneota 14. Blaine Fischer won by pin during the first period in this match.

At 170, Maximus Hanson won a 14-0 major decision. Now we have a 35-14 lead.

****The Jaguars have clinched the section final berth!! Carson Gilbert won by pin at 182 for a 41-14 team score. 

After 220: B-B-E 47, Minneota 20!

FINAL: No. 1-seeded B-B-E 47, No. 4-seeded Minneota 23. The Jaguars advance to the Section 5A championship match!

**Here's video featuring the singing of the National Anthem and then the start of the section semifinals against Minneota:


More to come *IN A NEW blog post!! Hit refresh.

THANK YOU to Paul Gruber Farms for supporting this blog post!

Girls' basketball game postponed

The highly-anticipated game between our B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team and the Kimball Area Cubs that was set for tonight has been postponed. (Due to weather.)

While you're hunkering down tonight, click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website and take in part of the coronation ceremony for B-B-E's Sno Daze week: https://bit.ly/3sR7kS1.

Area girls' basketball scores on February 18:
New London-Spicer 50, Litchfield 29
Montevideo 65, Lac qui Parle Valley 62
Ogilvie 57, Mille Lacs 51

Area girls' basketball scores on February 18:
Litchfield 46, New London-Spicer 44
Montevideo 70, Benson 56

Canada has fallen

In Canada, high school student-athletes still have COVID-19 restrictions on their ability to play sports. Also in the school population, some kids are still scared to hold birthday parties because they "don't want to kill anyone."

One gentleman interviewed just outside Parliament Hill in Ottawa this morning was a young father of a one-year old son and a four-year old daughter. He said he desperately wants his daughter to play soccer this year. All that his son know is facemasks, everywhere they go - it's facemasks on everyone. The dad finds it terribly disturbing.

Let that all sink in! This is happening just across our state border to the north. Meanwhile, life in our towns in our corner of the Bonanza Valley area is "basically" back to normal, as if we were in February 2020.

Canada is a country with 88.56 percent of its population at least partially vaccinated and 79.36 percent fully vaccinated (for population ages 5 and older).

Wrestling Step I: Jaguars throttle Benson (VIDEO added)

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team was successful in a big way in their Section 5A quarterfinal match tonight. The Jaguars won 13 of 14 matches against No. 8-seeded Benson while claiming a 77-6 win. Benson, the No. 8 seed, advanced to the quarterfinals after they defeated No. 9-seeded BOLD by a 53-20 score in the earlier match tonight at B-B-E high school.

In the other quarterfinal hosted by B-B-E tonight, Minneota currently has a 27-9 lead over Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg through 160 pounds. Final score: Minneota 51, K-M-S 15.

**MAKE TRACKS TO BENSON! Let's go, Jaguar Country!!! The big day is Saturday, just two days from now! The wrestlers will compete in the Section 5A Final Four round with a semifinal round match at 12:30 p.m. at Benson high school, where they will face No. 4-seeded Minneota. Let's pack that gym with B-B-E fans!!!!

In the other half of Section 5A tonight:
Paynesville Area advanced to the quarterfinals after receiving a team forfeit from Ortonville.
Minnewaska Area 38, Canby 27
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 53, Paynesville Area 10

In a Central Minnesota Conference game tonight, the No. 5-ranked B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team survived an upset bid by host Royalton and took home a 62-57 win. They're 19-3 overall going into next week's action; the next game is at home on Tuesday, February 22 when they host Paynesville Area in a border battle.

**Here's a video featuring action from the 138 through 160 pound matches tonight against Benson:


An area basketball scoreboard and some playoff wrestling scores will be added here at a future time to this blog post.

THANK YOU to Paul Gruber Farms and Chippewa Valley Bean for sponsoring this Jaguars Sports extended coverage blog post!

Playoffs on the home wrestling mats

Here's where updates from tonight's playoff wrestling action will be posted. The first match started at 6 p.m., and the winner of that match takes on our B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team.

More to come.
Wow!! Just like that the Jaguars have a 42 to 0 lead through 145 pounds against Benson.

In the other quarterfinal on our mats, Minneota is ahead 19-6 over KMS. The Fighting Saints had an early 6-4 lead. *More to come in a new blog post.

THANK YOU to Paul Gruber Farms for your playoff support of this Jaguars Sports extended coverage blog!

PLAYOFFS! Section wrestling postseason begins tonight (VIDEO)

A highly-anticipated postseason journey begins tonight for the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team, as they prepare to defend their Section 5A championship from a year ago. Action begins at 6 p.m. with the wrestle-in round at the B-B-E high school. The winner takes on our B-B-E Jaguars 30 minutes after the conclusion of that match on the same mat. The full schedule and full set of section playoff information was published in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

*Here's the latest update on the local COVID-19 cases (link): https://bit.ly/3uYmqaY.

**Here's a link to a video that's posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://bit.ly/355nsHc. The video is from the Royalton game.

Section 5A playoff seedings:
1. B-B-E
2. A-C-GC
3. Minnewaska Area
4. Minneota
5. K-M-S
6. Canby
7. Paynesville Area
8. Benson
9. BOLD
10. Ortonville

**Here's a video from last week on Friday, February 11, when our B-B-E Jaguars squared off with No. 2-ranked Jackson County Central:


**Here's a video from action with Walker Bents at 132 pounds against Jackson County Central:


More to come in a new blog post tonight. It will get posted before 7 p.m.

THANK YOU to Paul Gruber Farms for your playoff support of this Jaguars Sports extended coverage blog!

ZEROES across the board!

For the first time this entire school year (2021-2022), the B-B-E schools COVID-19 dashboard has posted zeroes across the board! That's right...zero, zero, zero is what you see when looking at active COVID-19 cases among the Jaguar Kids Connection, the elementary and the high school. This is a decline from three, which was the case totals at B-B-E one week ago.

Now the waiting game is on for me as I have high anticipation for the February 17 COVID-19 zip code report that will be released by the Minnesota Department of Health at 11 a.m. on Thursday (tomorrow).

What's going on in Canada is absolutely mind-boggling. It should blow everyone's mind. I listened to a Canadian trucker speak on Wednesday night about his motivation to join the protest in Ottwa. He talked about how his high school-age children are not allowed to play high school sports right now, in spite of the fact that their entire family is perfectly healthy and able to do so. The restrictions in Canada are just absolutely insane. How can anyone think otherwise? I don't know.

So as we cheer on our Jaguars here in the land of Rocks and Cows of Minnesota, remember that high school-age students in Canada are being restricted from playing sports. That is just intensely, wildly insane. We must think and act accordingly to make sure that level of tyranny never, ever, EVER happens here in our part of Minnesota.

B-B-E speech results from STMA

The Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa speech team found a great deal of success at the St. Michael-Albertville invitational on Saturday. Head coach Rachel Clark was thrilled about how her speakers performed in what was a very large meet. 

Top finishers for B-B-E are as follows:
Aynsley Preble - fourth place in extemporaneous reading
Billy Tensen - first place in the merit finals for informative
Jeffrey Cihlar - first place in the honor finals for extemporaneous speaking
Samantha Baker - sixth place in prose
Kara Wold - honorable mention in creative expression
To give an idea of how big the meet was, Jeffrey Cihlar reported that normally his extemporaneous speaking category brings eight to 10 competitors per meet. At STMA, the extemp speaking included 22 competitors.
On Saturday, February 5, the B-B-E speech team traveled to Minnewaska Area. Three speakers earned top-three finishes:
Kara Wold - third in creative expression
Aynsley Preble - third in extemporaneous reading
Jeffrey Cihlar - first place in extemporaneous speaking

Next for the speech team is an invitational at Maple Lake on Saturday, February 26.

Two hard-fought basketball conference wins *UPDATED

We had two home Central Minnesota Conference basketball games tonight in Jaguar Country. It was a crazy busy night.

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team survived a scare from Paynesville Area to remain in the chase for a share of the CMC title. After holding a 19-16 lead at halftime, the Jaguars were outscored by the Bulldogs by a one-point margin while claiming a 54-52 win. B-B-E is now 15-8 overall and 9-3 in the CMC. We are still awaiting a score from Kimball's game at Royalton tonight.

The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team defeated Eden Valley-Watkins 63-49 to continue their hold on first place in the CMC. The Jaguars and Eagles were tied at 30-30 at halftime. B-B-E improves to 9-1 in the CMC and 18-3 overall with their 11th straight win.

More to come in the morning. I may have to add two more pages to my 14-page monster of a newspaper tonight. Uff Da.

Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on February 15:
Kimball Area 54, Royalton 48
Holdingford 53, Maple Lake 42
Eden Valley-Watkins 64, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 46

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on February 15:
Royalton 75, Maple Lake 41

Area boys' basketball scores on February 15:
New London-Spicer 84, Glencoe-Silver Lake 81
BOLD 56, Benson 47
Ashby 52, Parkers Prairie 42
Swanville 62, Holdingford 54
K-M-S 54, Lac qui Parle Valley 50
Brandon-Evansville 68, Rothsay 58 OT
Sauk Centre 63, Melrose Area 57
West Central Area 57, Henning 46
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 77, Montevideo 64

Area girls' basketball scores on February 15:
Glencoe-Silver Lake 52, New London-Spicer 46
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 54, Lac qui Parle Valley 47
Sauk Centre 57, Milaca 46
Browerville 61, Parkers Prairie 56
West Central Area 63, Minnewaska Area 37
Braham 61, Swanville 43
Montevideo 72, Melrose Area 34
Henning 77, Verndale 29
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 60, Brandon-Evansville 22
Sleepy Eye St. Mary's 63, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 53
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 63, Benson 38

Game updates

With 6 minutes left in the game, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has a 52-40 lead over Eden Valley-Watkins. They were in a 30-30 tie at halftime after building an early 10-4 lead in the opening minutes.

In a grinder of a game, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 19-16 lead over visiting Paynesville Area on their home floor.

More to come in a new blog post.

Sno-Daze Coronation at B-B-E high school

The 32nd annual B-B-E Sno Daze coronation took place this morning at Olson Auditorium. Kailey Fischer and Spencer Lundberg were crowned the Sno Daze Queen and King.

Blogging will resume tonight, after I get the February 17 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper out the door. It has grown into a 14-page monster of a newspaper that includes extensive Sno Daze coronation coverage.

Section 5A wrestling seedings are out

The playoff bracket is set!

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team looks to defend their Section 5A championship from last season when they compete in the Section 5A tournament this week. The top-seeded Jaguars (16-1) will host a quarterfinal pod at the B-B-E high school on Thursday this week. Looming large in the other pod is No. 2-seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (27-6), who hosts the rest of the section quarterfinal round Thursday night. The No. 3 seed is Minnewaska Area (11-8).

Here's the Thursday night schedule this week:

• 6 p.m. - No. 8-seeded BOLD and No. 9-seeded Benson square off in Belgrade in a wrestle-in round match.
• 30 minutes after the 6 p.m. match - the Jaguars face the winner of the 6 p.m. match; also taking place at the same time in Belgrade will be a quarterfinal match between No. 5-seeded Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (10-9) and No. 4-seeded Minneota (13-7).

The quarterfinal winners on Thursday then head to the Section 5A Final Four round, which is Saturday, February 19 at Benson high school. The semifinal matches start at 12:30 p.m.

Basketball, wrestling action last week (VIDEOS)

First, I want to say the best of luck and give all kinds of well wishes to the B-B-E high school choir, who will travel to Paynesville high school tomorrow (Monday) for the solo and ensemble district contest.

On Tuesday, we have a big night on deck, when the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team hosts Paynesville Area in a big Central Minnesota Conference game at the high school. I expect a packed house! Let's come out and cheer loud and proud in Jaguar Country! The game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood, and the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team will perform at halftime. This is all very exciting!

**Here's very exciting video from the last 120 seconds of action in regulation play last Thursday against Royalton:


The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team tied the game up at 51-51 before regulation ended against Royalton. This was a key game between two teams who are in the hunt for at least a share of the Central Minnesota Conference title.

**Here's a video from the first half of that Royalton game:


**Here's a video from the West Central Area Quad on February 3...


The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team defeated three state-ranked teams that night. It was well worth the one-hour drive to WCA high school. That was my stomping grounds from 2008 to 2011, when I was editor of the Hoffman Tribune and Herman/Hoffman Tribune newspapers. I covered multiple sporting events, high school Homecoming events, at least one WCA Homecoming coronation program as well as countless other school and community events. 

The Brooten city council meets tomorrow night, so that will tie up part of my Monday night. We have to prepare for an exciting Sno-Daze week at B-B-E schools! The coronation is Tuesday morning at Olson Auditorium. The full Sno-Daze story with a photo of the senior royalty candidates was published on page 5 of the February 10 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Check it out! Be an informed citizen!!!

If you've missed church lately, you can take in worship service at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church from February 6 by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3uPE8O0. Early in the service, Maximus Hanson's grandmother Terri Anderson provided the reading of the lessons that led into the Holy Gospel and the pastor's sermon.

Friday night results (UPDATED)

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team lost 48-19 to No. 2-ranked Jackson County Central for their first loss of the season.

In a home contest, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team won 78-21 over Maple Lake for their 10th straight win. More to come...some time this weekend. A very, very busy Saturday lies ahead!!!!!

Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on February 11:
Kimball Area 47, Holdingford 44
Paynesville Area 80, Eden Valley-Watkins 79 OT! (at Eden Valley)
Royalton 64, A-C-GC 59

The Jaguars are 17-3 overall and 8-1 in the CMC. They hold a two-game lead over Paynesville and EV-W, who are now tied for second place with 7-3 marks.

*Here's a video from the end of the Maple Lake girls' basketball game on February 4:


Area boys' basketball scores on February 11:
New London-Spicer 77, Dassel-Cokato 67
Hancock 81, Ortonville 52
Cass Lake-Bena 77, Pine River-Backus 68
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 70, Renville County West 41

That's all for now. A fourth-through-sixth-grade home girls' basketball tournament takes place on Saturday at the elementary school.

This Jaguars Sports blog update has been sponsored by the proud support of Chippewa Valley Bean, which you can learn more about online at https://www.cvbean.com.

Friday night wrestling change...and Valentine's weekend!! (VIDEO)

Due to school being closed today at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, which is due to the white-out conditions they suffered from overnight in north central Minnesota, tonight's wrestling action at the B-B-E high school is now a dual meet. No. 6-ranked Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville will not be in attendance.

The big news now is that No. 2-ranked Jackson County Central will be coming to town for a huge No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown of the top teams in Class 1A. The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is excited for this challenge, and I hope the gym is packed to the ceiling! Action begins at 6 p.m.!

The boys' basketball game tonight will be aired on 106.5 FM.

Gentle reminder: this is Valentine's weekend! It's started! A huge amount of advertising was published in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper that promotes food and flower/gift options in the Bonanza Valley area. Also, you can learn more about the two locally-owned floral shops by clicking over to The Voice website: https://bit.ly/3HNV3UA. As Julie Lloyd said, "It's Valentine's week! Go BIG or don't go home!"

*Below, here's a video clip from the quadrangular held on February 3 at West Central Area high school. It begins during the 182-pound match with Carson Gilbert in action against Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City:


I will try to get match updates posted here in this blog post during the Jackson County Central dual tonight.

Update: through 138, the Jaguars trail 22-9 on the scoreboard.

Through 160 pounds, the Jaguars trail 28-13. Updates to follow in a new blog post.

An overtime thriller on a crazy February day (*VIDEO, UPDATES)

This has been one of the craziest days I've experienced in a long, long time.

As news continues breaking from around North American and across the globe that COVID-19 is in retreat mode, life as we know it here in our corner of the world that we call Jaguar Country continues to amaze, surprise and inspire me. This is especially true today as news is coming at me from everywhere like a tidal wave (thankfully - mostly good news). Then something truly special takes place tonight at the B-B-E high school.

As close followers of our B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team know, they are pushing through a trying period of the season where junior Abby Berge is unavailable to due an injury. On the plus side, junior Harley Roering has returned to action following her own injury that kept her sidelined from last May until a week ago. While Berge's temporary spot on the sideline has hurt the team's stride in the middle of the season, the team stepped up in grand fashion tonight against Royalton in a game that was clearly going south early in the second half.

In the game's opening minutes, the Jaguars built an 11-5 lead through the first six minutes of play. A three-pointer by Tiyana Schwinghammer with just over 10 minutes left put the Jaguars ahead 16-11.

Then the wheels fell off for about the next 16 to 18 minutes of the game before and after halftime.

For the latter part of the first half, Royalton could not miss. They began draining three-pointers and paint shots and went on a 14-2 run over a six-minute stretch. With 4:38 left, the Royals scored in the paint to lead 25-18. Unfortunately, it was going to get worse from that point until the first buzzer sounded.

Schwinghammer scored on a fast break, and Allie Dingmann scored in the paint to cut the deficit to 28-22 with 3:05 left. Then the Jaguars went stone cold. Six-foot Royalton senior Autumn Schoenrock buried a three-pointer with 1:20 left to stretch the lead to 35-22. They scored in the paint with 16 seconds left to take a 38-22 lead into halftime. The Jaguars had their work cut out for them.

The Jaguars got exactly what they needed when Schwinghammer knocked down an eight-footer a minute into the second half to cut it to 14 points. A comeback was still a pipe dream at that point, however, as Schoenrock buried another three-pointer to push the lead to 17 points. The game began to grind out in a defensive battle, with each team denying the other on offense. Minutes passed by, and with 11:32 left, the Royals had a 42-25 lead.

Enter junior reserve Anna Jaeger, who calmly sank two free throws - nothing but net each time - on the very next possession. With 11:20 left, the Jaguars trailed 42-27. The Royals scored in the paint on the next possession for a 44-27 lead. It felt like time was about to run out on hope for a comeback.

Junior Brooklyn Fischer, also off the bench, provided a spark on B-B-E's next possession after getting fouled and calmly sinking two free throws with 10:28 left. She scored a minute later in the paint to cut the deficit to 44-31. After Royalton went empty on a second straight possession, Schwinghammer drained two free throws with 9:05 left to cut the deficit to 11 at 44-33.

Energy levels for B-B-E fans, players and coaches ramped up in grand fashion, and Royalton promptly threw the ball away while trying to inbound the ball after Schwinghammer's second made free throw. B-B-E regrouped, and junior Harley Roering drove the lane for a layup with 8:45 left. The game was down to single digits! Royalton called a timeout, but they stumbled on their next possession, and Jaeger stole a pass in the high post area. She passed quickly to Roering across the half court line, and Roering drove in a fast break layup with 8:20 to go for a 44-37 score.

The game began to grind again with both defenses trading shots and limiting good looks at the basket. Over two scoreless minutes passed by before the Jaguars chipped away at the hole they were in with Schwinghammer driving through Royalton's tall front line for a layup with 5:53 to go. Suddenly the Jaguars were trailing by just two possessions.

Royalton continued to sputter offensively and play out of sync. The Jaguars got another boost from a key reserve, this time in freshman Bree Thieschafer, who drained two free throws with 5:21 left for a 44-41 score. On cue, Royalton threw the ball away on their next inbounds attempt. The turnover was costly, as B-B-E then got two free throws by Schwinghammer on the next possession with 4:44 left to make it a one-point game.

On Royalton's next possession, they were fouled and had a bonus opportunity in which they missed the front end shot. Across the next 30 seconds, both teams traded baskets. Schwinghammer hit a floater in the lane to put the Jaguars ahead 45-44. Just seconds later, Royalton scored in the paint to regain the lead at 46-44 with 4:07 left.

Almost a minute later, Royalton connected on two bonus free throws to build a 48-45 lead. After B-B-E had an empty possession, the Royals got one of two free throws with 2:35 left to regain a two-possession lead. The Jaguars had yet another empty possession, and the Royals made them pay with a fast break shot with 2:15 left to push their lead to 51-45.

Out of a B-B-E timeout, the Jaguars used a bit of patience and a huge dose of great court sense on their next possession. At the top of the key, Harley Roering threw a bullet-like pass to a wide-open Schwinghammer on the left block. Her quick paint shot went in with 1:50 left to make it a four-point game. Royalton successfully inbounded the ball, but they failed to get the ball down court against B-B-E's press when Roering and Kailey Fischer converged on Royalton junior Mya Wolbeck near half court. Roering forced Wolbeck to change course before crossing the half court line, and Fischer swooped in to knock the ball free, tipping it towards B-B-E's basket. Kailey took two big steps to recover the loose ball and dribbled in for a layup shot. Wolbeck stuck with her to the left block, and the ball rolled across the rim. Roering was Johnny-On-The-Spot to grab the weakside offensive rebound and put it back up for a field goal with 1:32 left...now it was a two-point game! You can watch that sequence play out in the video below.

Here's a video recorded with 2 minutes remaining in regulation play:


As Royalton tried to push the ball inside on their next possession, Jaeger swatted the ball out of Schoenrock's hands at the free throw line. As the ball bounced towards the left wing, Schwinghammer scooped up the ball and sped down court. Her well-guarded layup banged off the glass to tie the game with 1:02 left in regulation play at 51-51!

Royalton got the ball down court and swung it over to a wide-open Schoenrock, who launched a three-pointer from the left wing. With B-B-E fans, players and coaches holding their breath, the ball clanked off the front of the rim and came down on the weak side. Royalton mishandled an offensive rebound attempt and pushed the ball out of bounds! The clock showed 47 seconds left, and the Jaguars had a shot at retaking the lead.

After getting the ball down court, the Jaguars suffered a turnover when Royalton disrupted a pass on the left wing. Royalton eighth grader Haylie Wolbeck scooped up a loose ball, dribbled down court and crossed the half court line with 32 seconds left as her head coach called a quick timeout. Out of the timeout, the Royals attempted to penetrate B-B-E's zone, but Thieschafer intercepted a pass to the low post area and sped out of the back court. Coach Anderson called a timeout with 15.8 seconds left just as she passed the half court line.

A video is being uploaded that shows the final ticks of regulation play...and that video can be found here!


Final score: B-B-E 59, Royalton 57. The Jaguars, who led by as many as five points in the overtime session, improve to 8-3 in the CMC and 14-8 overall. Royalton is 11-10 overall and 7-3 (fourth) in the CMC.

Around the CMC tonight...
Kimball Area (16-6, 9-2) thrashed last-place Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 79-33 tonight to maintain their grip on first place in the Central Minnesota Conference. In a key CMC match up, Holdingford narrowly edged visiting Eden Valley-Watkins 56-55 tonight to remain in a second-place tie with B-B-E. The Huskers and Jaguars are both one game out of first place. The EV-W Eagles are now 7-4 in the CMC in fifth place.

Area girls’ basketball scores on February 10:
Osakis 56, Browerville 55 (the Silverstreaks take control of the Prairie Conference)
New London-Spicer 69, Dassel-Cokato 26
Canby 46, Yellow Medicine East 45
Braham 65, East Central 25
Swanville 58, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 51
Central MN Christian 50, MACCRAY 39

Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 66, Dawson-Boyd 45<br />

Lac qui Parle Valley 59, Renville County West 17

Hancock 74, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 24
Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 50, Minneota 46 (the T-M-B Panthers avenge a 58-41 loss at Minneota on December 21 with this tight win over the No. 4-ranked Vikings, who suffered just their third loss of the season; T-M-B and Minneota ended the Camden Conference schedule as co-champions of the Camden North division)

Game night!!! Jaguars vs. Royals

Tonight's game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 of Glenwood. Tip-off won't take place until approximately 7:35 p.m. The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team hosts Royalton in a huge Central Minnesota Conference game. Both teams are in the hunt for at least a share of the CMC title. The Jaguars are 13-8 overall and 7-3 in the CMC, while Royalton is 7-2 in the CMC and 11-9 overall. Kimball Area currently sits in first place with an 8-2 mark in the CMC.

Updates to follow. We have a terrific crowd on hand tonight!!! This is awesome!

GAME UPDATES...
The Royals have an early 5-3 lead with three minutes played. 

**UPDATE: the game will go to overtime! B-B-E and Royalton played to a 51-51 tie in regulation play. More to come in a new blog post.

B-B-E zip codes post a 22

A whopping 54-percent decline in new COVID-19 cases was reported by the Minnesota Department of Health in the February 10 zip code report. The decline, on a week-over-week basis, shows that the fast-spreading omicron variant of the SARS-COV2 virus is firmly in retreat in the Bonanza Valley area.

The new local number is a 22 for new cases, which compares to 48 new cases reported on February 3 and 54 cases reported on January 27. Please note I am saying omicron is in retreat, and I am not saying that we don't have to worry about omicron. They are two different concepts, so don't suggest I'm saying the latter.

Huge declines also were reported in the zip code areas of Glenwood, Melrose, Osakis and Sauk Centre. Additional details on this news will be published to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website this afternoon (February 10)...http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. **UPDATE: as of 16:00 today, the article posted has been fully updated, including news from Canada that shows how effective the Canada trucker protests have been. Alberta and Saskatchewan have almost immediately began lifting COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine passport programs. HALLELUJAH !!!!! My web article can be found by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3oHCbzj.

To read what is actually happening on the ground in Canada and learn what is not being factually reported at government propaganda outlets such as CNN and MSNBC, click on the following link to read multiple interviews with truckers in Canada, many of whom are vaccinated: https://bit.ly/3BkLI4j.

Also, additional information has been added to yesterday's blog post about Valentine's weekend. Read up and keep yourself informed!