Friday Night Lights V: Jaguars win fourth straight (VIDEO, UPDATES)

Yes, indeed! It's four in a row!

Tonight at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, the B-B-E Jaguars football team won their fourth straight game by defeating the Thunder 30-14. It was not the stellar performance they had worked for all week in practice, but they got the job done and had their JV unit on the field to start the fourth quarter. That's a great day in the office in high school football any way you cut it! One downer for the game: B-B-E was 0-for-5 on extra-point conversions. That cannot happen in the final three regular season games. (More on that later.)

After they struggled on their opening series, the Jaguars drilled down and scored on their next four possessions. B-B-E's first scoring drive covered 77 yards and started with 5:31 left in the first quarter. With 1:54 on the clock, quarterback Luke Dingmann scored on a fourth-and-four play for a 27-yard touchdown! B-B-E 6, LP-GE 0.

*In this 10-minute long video, you can watch B-B-E stop LP-GE on downs on the Thunder's first drive; the Jaguars proceed to march downfield for their first score of the game:


B-B-E's second scoring drive covered 67 yards and culminated with Jamison Reed's 57-yard touchdown catch with 10:25 left in the second quarter. B-B-E 12, LP-GE 0.

B-B-E's third scoring drive covered 45 yards and culminated with an eight-yard touchdown reception by Luke Illies with 4:17 left before halftime. B-B-E 18, LP-GE 0.

Finally, to wrap up the second quarter, the Jaguars scored on a 74-yard touchdown drive that culminated with Talen Kampsen's four-yard touchdown reception with 20 seconds on the clock. The Jaguars took a 24-0 lead into halftime.

To start the third quarter, LP-GE gained just three net yards on three plays and punted with 10:28 on the clock. Their punt got a hugely favorable roll towards the end zone, and the Jaguars started their first drive of the third quarter on their own 11-yard line. They malfunctioned on three plays and gained just one net yard before punting with 9:05 on the clock.

LP-GE gained eight yards on their second series of the third quarter, which started with advantageous field position on B-B-E's 37-yard line. On fourth-and-two, LP-GE lost a fumble, giving B-B-E possession on the Jaguar 30 with 7:09 on the clock. The Jaguars then mounted a 70-yard scoring drive using 15 plays to find the end zone. Luke Dingmann capped the drive with a seven-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown with 1:03 on the clock. B-B-E 30, LP-GE 0.

The severely undermanned Thunder scored twice in the fourth quarter when their first team offense faced B-B-E's JV defense. B-B-E's first team defense held LP-GE to no touchdowns and just 103 net yards across the first three quarters of the game.

For the game, B-B-E totaled 379 yards of offense, which included 222 passing yards on Luke Dingmann's outstanding 18-of-27 performance with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Of LP-GE's 238 total yards of offense, 135 yards came on their two fourth-quarter scoring drives when the first team offense faced B-B-E's JV defense. The first drive covered 75 yards and resulted with an eight-yard touchdown run. The second scoring drive covered 60 yards and resulted with a 12-yard touchdown with 1:23 left in the game.

More to come. Time to upload some video! That was a fun game to take in! I will be recording a sports show video early Saturday morning. Not enough gas in the tank to pull it off tonight.

NEXT: the Jaguars put their four-game winning streak on the line when they host Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City for Homecoming on Friday, October 7. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. against a brawny, physical Falcons team that lost 30-12 tonight to Upsala/Swanville Area. A-C-GC is a load and a half. They will be a very formidable opponent. 

Around the Mid-State, Sub-District III tonight...
No. 1-ranked BOLD traveled to Maple Lake and won 28-6 over the winless Irish. Their head coach, Derek Flann, earned his 100th career win. The Warriors led 14-0 at halftime.

At Benson, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg got back in the win column with a 28-0 win over the neighboring rival Braves. (Fighting Saints hold the Braves to 56 rushing yards and 47 passing yards)

At Kimball, the state-ranked Class 2A Cubs won 42-0 against visiting Browerville. The Jaguars travel to face the Tigers in Browerville in Week Seven on Friday, October 14. That is shaping up to a huge, huge game!

At Swanville, the Upsala/Swanville Area Patriots wo n 30-12 against Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. The Falcons fall to 2-3 overall, but they are much, much tougher than their record says!

Area Week Five football scores on September 30:
Melrose Area 19, Montevideo 12
Rockford Area 43, Minnewaska Area 0
Royalton 22, Paynesville Area 16
Dawson-Boyd 16, Lakeview 8
Yellow Medicine East 48, Lac qui Parle Valley 19
Canby 14, MACCRAY 0

GAME NIGHT! Friday Night Lights V! Updates

It's game day! This time, for the second straight week, game night is not in Jaguar Country. Instead, tonight the B-B-E Jaguars football team travels north as they did last week. This week they face Long Prairie-Grey Eagle in Todd County after heading into Morrison County last week to Swanville. *Tonight's game will be played at the LP-GE football stadium, which is adjacent to their elementary school in the heart of town. It's roughly due south by a couple blocks from main street Long Prairie. This will be my first visit to their football stadium since either the fall of 1993 or 1994. That was quite awhile ago!

The Long Prairie-Grey Eagle Thunder are 0-4 on the season but pose a threatening passing attack. It will be a fun game, and I hope you can take it in by being there!

*Here's a pretty rough video featuring the final 50 seconds or so of the game. I was having major problems with a wet viewfinder on my videocamera, and then I was completely (100%) off the mark for U/SA's final play of the game. Anyway, here it is:


Game updates to follow below.

 
UPDATE: the Jaguars are ahead 6-0 late in the first quarter. B-B-E scored with 1:54 left in the first quarter on a 27-yard run by quarterback Luke Dingmann, who was trying to convert 4th down and four to go.

Halftime: B-B-E 24, LP-GE 0.

UPDATE: look Dingman scored on a 7-yard quarterback carry with 63 seconds left in the third quarter. A failed two-point conversion left the score at 30 to 0. Final score and more in a new blog post!!!

Incredible goal line stand (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars football team stopped Upsala/Swanville Area five times on fourth down last Friday, including four times in the red zone, in their 16-12 win. They improved to 3-1 on the season with that dramatic win.

Here's a video featuring one of those defensive stops, this at the two-yard line!


Coming tonight: Friday Night Lights V!!! Be there! At Long Prairie! A new blog post will be created tonight that will feature game updates.

Volleyball at Maple Lake

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team traveled to Maple Lake high school tonight to resume Central Minnesota Conference action. They are looking to stay in the race for the conference title, which means all remaining CMC matches are must-wins!

Update: after winning game one 25-20, the Jaguars slugged through a wild, record-setting game two and won 35-33. Yes!! 35 to 33!!!!!! Crazy. Just nuts. As of 8:20 p.m., game three is underway.

More to come.

UPDATE: the No. 11-ranked Jaguars settled in and won handily by a 25-15 score in game three to complete the sweep and improve to 3-1 in the CMC and 14-5 overall. They keep pace with Paynesville Area in second place. Eden Valley-Watkins entered the night with an undefeated CMC record. With tonight's loss, Maple Lake falls to 7-11 overall and 1-3 in the CMC. In spite of their sub-.500 record, the Irish are currently the No. 6-ranked team in the 16-team Section 5AA.

*Here's a video from the final moments of the first half of Monday's Junior Varsity football game in Belgrade:


The varsity football team travels to Long Prairie tomorrow. I hope you can make it!! Bring a vehicle's worth of fans with you!

ANOTHER late update on Thursday night: I finally got around to publishing a handful of web articles at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website tonight. You can click over to check them out! Click here! Right here! Right now! Check it out! (LINK: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.)

Going to need some luck...

I'm going to need a little luck and a few breaks going my way tonight, but I am working on a 16-page issue to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. I want to get extra sports coverage in, including cross country coverage, and many other news-related items. Also, I am excited to resume the Jaguar Spotlight profiles of seniors at B-B-E who are in 2 or more MSHSL-sponsored activities.

Everything is basically ready to go, it's just a matter of getting it all to fall into place...

*Update: we pulled it off, somehow! It was not what I hoped for, however, and we ended up "short-changed" on volleyball and tennis coverage. We'll try better next week.

Volleyball takes down the Panthers (VIDEOS)

It had its moments tonight, and at times it felt like the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team was flirting with a fifth game, but in the end they sealed a 3-1 win over Parkers Prairie on Parents and Seniors night.

Other updates to this blog post will be delayed until after 10 p.m. I am currently working on some Parents Night-related photography for a few families. It was a special night as members of the varsity volleyball program (grades 9-12) were able to get hugs and well wishes from parents and grandparents! None of our sports would be possible without the support of Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and others!!!

Altogether tonight, the volleyball teams up and down the ranks all defeated Parkers Prairie. The junior high teams won in sweeps at the high school earlier tonight. Then at the elementary, the C-squad and JV teams earned match wins against the Panthers.

**Here's a video recorded as the varsity team took the court for pre-match drills tonight:


**Here's a video featuring the final point scored in game one, which happened on a Panthers hitting error:


What happened in game one, an easy 25-12 win, was not a sign of things to come the rest of the night. The Panthers won game two 25-22, but the Jaguars were able to close out the win in four sets by taking game three 25-19 and game four 25-23.

The Jaguars improve to 13-5 overall with the win. They next have a huge, HUGE match at Maple Lake (7-9, 1-2) this Thursday night as they resume Central Minnesota Conference action.

Parkers Prairie, a fellow Sub-Section 6A-South member, falls to 5-6 overall. They are a potential playoff opponent, and they were fired up in sets two, three and four. This was a hard-earned win for our Jaguars, and now they set their sights on the Irish!

In football news...
Today on the home gridiron, the B-B-E Jaguars JV football team remained undefeated on the season with a 22-6 win over Upsala/Swanville Area. The game had scoreless at halftime. It was an outstanding win for our JV team. Good job! They are 4-0 overall and play at Long Prairie next Monday, October 3.

Girls' tennis season continues on the road (VIDEO) ...and volleyball

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team continues their season on the road this week as the regular season concludes on Thursday, September 29 at MACCRAY (in Clara City).

Video from the No. 1 doubles match last Thursday is posted below:


Parkers Prairie won that match by a 6-1 score. Time to run off to the JV football game in Belgrade!!

The B-B-E Jaguars varsity volleyball team hosts Parker's Prairie in a subsection match tonight. The match will also serve as Parents and Seniors night. **Update: the Jaguars trail 16-11 in the second set...they won game one 25-12, but the Panthers are much more fired up in game two. **Final score: Panthers 25, Jaguars 22.

**This match is being aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.

In game three, the Panthers have an early 8-5 lead. They are playing some inspired volleyball.

Game three final score: B-B-E 25, Parkers Prairie 19.

**Game four update: the Jaguars trail 10-8. Updates and the final outcome in a new blog post.

Victory on a rain-soaked night (VIDEO, UPDATED)

I'll be taking "quite a bit" of my Saturday off from work before resuming my reporting later tonight. Below is a video from the second quarter last night. The B-B-E Jaguars football team gained the lead with this two-point conversion reception.

B-B-E pulls ahead 8-6 on this play at Swanville:


Final score: B-B-E 16, Upsala/Swanville Area 12. The Jaguars played their hearts out against a team that was equally worthy of the win.

**Be sure to get out to Swift Falls today, as Brinks Beer Joint hosts their annual Turkey Fest celebration. This is always a great event, as Ben Honebrink and his friendly staff do a fabulous job as hosts. 

We also have the Braaten Barn Dance starting at 4:00 p.m. in Eastern Pope County. These events have been published/advertised in recent newspaper issues!!!

 
The B-B-E Jaguars JV football team is set to host Upsala/Swanville Area on Monday at 4:30 p.m. at the high school football stadium.

At the midpoint of the regular season, the varsity football team sits in a tie for third place with Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in the Mid-State, Sub-District III standings. Each team has a 3-1 record. Tied for first place are the undefeated teams of No. 2-ranked (Class 1A) BOLD and No. 9-ranked (Class 2A) Kimball Area. Tied for fifth place in Sub-District III are Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City and Browerville, who are both 2-2 overall.

Friday Night Lights IV: Jaguars win unforgettable, dramatic defensive game (VIDEOS*)

This game was one for the ages! A night that we will never forget.

In a steady rain on a soaked gridiron, the B-B-E Jaguars football team settled in for a grind-it-out game against an Upsala/Swanville Area team desperately trying to avoid falling to 1-3 on the season. The Patriots, who coming in were one of the best 1-2 teams in Class 1A, punched the Jaguars in the throat right off the bat with a big defensive stop (just seven yards gained for the Jaguars) and then promptly drove 84 yards on their first drive of the game for pay dirt. Fortunately, their two-point conversion failed, and the Jaguars later gained the lead at 8-6 in the second quarter.

*Here's a defensive stop made with under a minute to go in the first quarter tonight:


**And here's another defensive stop, this time with just over 8 minutes to go in the second quarter:


B-B-E's 8-6 halftime lead grew to 16-6 in the third quarter.

U/SA scored the lone touchdown of the fourth quarter, but their last-ditch try at a third touchdown stalled out on downs after B-B-E made one of the most incredible and/or simply crazy defensive stops in the program's history. The Patriots ran their final play with 57 seconds to go, but they fell short of converting and turned the ball over on downs. B-B-E's Luke Dingmann took a knee twice with the final 51 seconds on the clock, and the Jaguars were winners for the third straight time! ***That last defensive stand is outlined in detail during my sports show, the video of which is posted further below.

Final score: B-B-E 16, Upsala/Swanville Area 12. Overall, U/SA outgained the Jaguars by a whopping 311-to-153 yard margin. That's right. The losing team had 311 total yards of offense compared to the winner's 153 yards. The Jaguars stopped U/SA multiple times in the red zone and on fourth down. It was an unforgettable defensive performance. They did what they had to in order to win.

Next: the Jaguars can't let off the gas one bit as they prepare for Week Five...their next opponent is Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, who will play host to B-B-E next Friday, September 30. *Update: the LP-GE Thunder got whipped by No. 9-ranked Class 2A Kimball Area 50-0 in Kimball tonight. The Cubs improved to 4-0 with the win.

Make no mistake: B-B-E has to continue improving. And they are. But they can't let up on the gains. Yes, they are 3-1 overall, but they have to get better if they want to keep this rolling. They were outgained 293 yards to 110 yards on the ground tonight. On first downs, U/SA had 17 compared to just six for B-B-E.

This is just the fourth time in B-B-E history that the football team has started 3-1 in the first four games! The other years were 1988, 2013 and 2017.


**Here's my fourth-ever sports show, this one based on Friday Night Lights IV:


The show was recorded a little after midnight. This has been a super long day! It started with taking a picture of our Homecoming royalty candidates before 8 a.m. "No rest for the wicked!"

Mid-State, Sub-District III scores in Week Four on September 23:
Browerville 43, Benson 0 (at Benson, where the Braves fell to 1-3)
#2 BOLD 26, #8 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 6
#9 Kimball Area 50, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 0
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 36, Maple Lake 14 (at Grove City)

Friday Night Lights IV is coming! Tonight!

We have a BIG, big night ahead of us! It's time for Friday Night Lights IV! This will be a tough, tough game.

The B-B-E Jaguars football team travels to Swanville tonight to face Upsala/Swanville Area. The U/SA Patriots are perhaps one of the toughest 1-2 teams in the state right now, as their two losses are at the hands of Top 10 teams: No. 3 BOLD and No. 9 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The K-M-S Fighting Saints won their Homecoming game last week against U/SA by a 14-8 score. K-M-S scored on their first two touchdown drives and then hung on for the close win.

Against K-M-S, U/SA gave up 255 total yards, including 163 rushing yards. The Patriots defense forced one fumble and earned one interception. Offensively, U/SA struggled to gain yards beyond what Tyson Leners earned (127 yards, one TD on 27 carries). The other main ball carrier was Nick Kedrowski (4 carries for 18 yards). Quarterback Jack Primus had one successful pass for 15 yards.

Additional information on U/SA's football team was published in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. If you haven't subscribed, you really should do that! More to come after kickoff!! *This blog post will include game updates.

Update: the Patriots scored on their first possession after the Jaguars went three and out on the first series of the game. U/SA scored on an 84 yard touchdown drive capped by a 32-yard run for six points by Tyson Leners. With 7:41 on the clock in the first quarter, the Patriots were ahead 6-0 while the Jaguars had just 7 yards of net offense to that point.

The first half finally broke in the Jaguars' favor when they scored on a 37-yard touchdown drive on their fourth series of the game. Luke Dingmann scored on a quarterback keeper with 7:23 left in the half. Jamison Reed''s two-point conversion catch put the Jaguars ahead 8-6.

Halftime: B-B-E 8, U/SA 6. We have had a steady rain throughout most of the first half. This will be a very memorable night.

With under 4 minutes to go in the game, the Jaguars are ahead 16 to 6. More to come, including the final score, in a new blog post.

Girls' tennis falls to Panthers (VIDEOS)

In their Parents and Seniors Night match on the home courts, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team fell 6-1 to Parkers Prairie yesterday. Earning B-B-E's lone point were No. 1 doubles players Tiyana Schwinghammer and Presley Detloff. The match concludes the Prairie Conference schedule for the Jaguars. They wrap up their regular season next Thursday, September 22 at non-conference MACCRAY. 

**Here's a video from No. 1 singles action last night:


**Here's a video from game two last night against Eden Valley-Watkins:


As I said in my blog post last night, the Jaguars played a great brand of volleyball in game two and were in charge that whole set. Had that been the case in the opening set, I believe the Jaguars would have won in a sweep. That didn't happen. You have to move on. And they will be better for it! You learn from loss, whether it's in sports or in real life. That's how it goes.

Additional tennis coverage will be posted this weekend.

Eagles take it to the Jaguars in disappointing volleyball loss (VIDEO)

(Scoreboard is posted below as of late Friday afternoon.)

An incredible winning streak has come to a close for the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team. For the first time since at least 2001, the Eden Valley-Watkins Eagles have defeated our Jaguars in Central Minnesota Conference action. The last time EV-W won over B-B-E in the CMC in volleyball was long before any of our current players were born. Many of their parents were still in high school. The winning streak lasted at least 20 years. 

Let's try that again! My memory was jogged back to life when I recalled the 2006 season...the year 2006 was the last year that EV-W defeated our Jaguars in the CMC. That's been confirmed. EV-W came to B-B-E during Homecoming week and won a wild, crazy 3-2 match on September 28, 2006. I can't believe I forgot about that night. It was a bizarre night during which the actual net in the main gymasium malfunctioned. It took a while to get it fixed and "square" and official and ready for a varsity match. B-B-E was "off" the entire night and lost to a team they had no business losing to.

Anyway! That is that. B-B-E's winning streak over EV-W lasted from 2007 through 2021 in Central Minnesota Conference action.

Some other history:

B-B-E joined the CMC in 1999, and they went 4-3 in the first year as part of this league. B-B-E was a perfect 8-0 in 2000 and then went 4-4 in the 2001 season. They were 6-1 in the CMC in 2002, and the team that beat them in the CMC in 2002 was Pierz, who tied for first place with the Jaguars. B-B-E was a perfect 7-0 in the CMC in 2003. They were 6-1 in the CMC in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

The GOOD news for this season is that the CMC is not lost for the Jaguars. The difficult part, however, is that they'll need some help in order to at least win a share of the CMC this year. More on that later.

**Here's a shabbily recorded video recorded when the team ran in for prematch drills; it features a glimpse of the Future Volleyball Star camp members, who were all very excited to greet their varsity counterparts:


In tonight's match...
The Eagles won 26-24 in a wild game one during which the Jaguars trailed by seven points before coming back to gain a late 23-22 lead. B-B-E then played an excellent brand of volleyball and took game two 25-18 with a performance far superior to what they showed in game one. I think the most disappointing part of tonight's loss was that they did not play that hard in game one as they did in game two.

Speaking of game one...here's video featuring B-B-E's late comeback that fell short:
8

The video above begins with the Jaguars trailing by two points in game one. I believe the score was EV-W 20, B-B-E 18. I don't know why I didn't say the actual score at the start of the video. It was a crazy game to watch. Our Jaguars looked pretty rough in the early stages. EV-W had a kill and an ace serve in successive order to built a 15-8 lead. Ouch. The Jaguars later trailed 17-12 and then 18-14 before rallying. Ava's ace tip for a kill put the Jaguars up 23-22, and they were looking sharp and on the verge of taking that ever-important opening set. The Eagles then got a kill and an ace serve back-to-back to gain game point at 24-23. Mueller launched an ace attack to tie it at 24-24, but the Eagles got back-to-back kills, including a tip of the ball off the net, to win 26-24.

The rubber set in game three was won by EV-W 25-23 to put the Jaguars into the difficult spot of having to win the fourth and fifth sets to come out as winners. Game four went to the Eagles by a 25-21 margin. At times the Jaguars were on their way to going quietly in that final set, and a couple late rallies came too little and far too late. The Eagles were tenacious the entire night and defeated B-B-E even though the Jaguars had a very strong hitting percentage of 26. I'm going to track down EV-W's statistics, because it will be interesting to see what their stat figures show.

B-B-E falls to 12-5 overall and 2-1 in the Central Minnesota Conference. EV-W is now in the driver's seat and in first place alone. This is based on the assumption that Holdingford lost at Paynesville tonight...we'll see if I'm right.

Next: the Jaguars host Parkers Prairie next Monday in an important sub-section match up. It's without a doubt a must-win situation if the Jaguars want to earn a lock on the No. 1 playoff seed in Sub-Section 6A-South. That's not something to mess around with.

Central Minnesota Conference volleyball scores on September 22:
Paynesville Area 3, Holdingford 1
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 3, Royalton 1
Kimball Area 3, Maple Lake 0


More to come. I still hope to record a short sports show yet tonight.

Volleyball night

The first set of the night went to the Eden Valley-Watkins Eagles by a 26 to 24 score. The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team had trailed by as much as six points earlier in the game and then briefly held a 23 to 22 lead.

Both teams entered the night with an unblemished conference record.

Game 2 final: B-B-E 25, EVW 18.

Update: the Jaguars Trail 24-21 in game 3.

More to come...closer to 10 p.m. tonight. I have had a long day!!! A new blog post will feature additional information from tonight's match.

Catching up (VIDEOS)

We are back in some severe "catching up" work at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's news and sports departments.

While writing this week's sports stories for the Bonanza Valley Voice, I did not take time to catch up to the latest Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association state rankings. I haven't looked at that in over a week. I do not put much stock in rankings, but I also find it important to make note of it when I can where the Jaguars stand. We have had a variety of teams ranked in the Top 10 over the years: football (2013 and 2017 most recently), volleyball, wrestling, boys' basketball, girls' basketball and girls' golf. Our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team began this year ranked No. 10 in the preseason and currently sit at No. 9 in the September 18 poll. The next poll will be released by the MNVBCA on September 25.

Here's a video that's almost one week old now, recorded at the Kimball match last Thursday:


Below is a video from late in the fourth quarter at Friday Night Lights II on September 9:


The video begins while the Jaguars hold a 23-12 lead over the Cubs in the opening set.

That was quite the experience to be a part of! Friday Night Lights II was electric from start to finish. The B-B-E Jaguars football team found themselves in a must-win situation after a very disappointing performance in the season opener. Their 32-12 win against Maple Lake "righted" the ship, and they are now 2-1 overall and have tough-as-nails, supremely talented Upsala/Swanville Area in their sights this Friday night in Swanville.

Click on the following link to view the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's photo gallery from Friday Night Lights II (short link): https://bit.ly/3UwqPw2.

**On Thursday, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team hosts Parkers Prairie at 4 p.m. in the final home match of the season.

Home cooking in volleyball (RESULTS)

Tonight we have another home volleyball match on hand. The B-B-E Jaguars host Pine River-Backus in non-conference action. The Tigers were 8-1 going into this past weekend's tournament in Crosby, during which they met our Jaguars and lost in straight sets during pool play. In the finals, the Tigers met Section 5A rival Verndale and won to take third place overall. They are 11-2 coming into tonight.

I'll get results posted closer to 9 p.m.

 
Game one final: BBE won 25-14.

Game two: BBE 25, PRB 23.

UPDATE:

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team won 3-0 against Pine River-Backus, a top team out of Section 5A. Game scores were 25-14, 25-23, 25-12. Ava Mueller led the team with 15 kills, and she now has an unofficial career kill total of 821. Brooklyn Fischer added 10 kills, Harley Roering had 20 digs and Kylie Weller guided the offense with 35 set assists.

Next: the Jaguars (12-4) host Eden Valley-Watkins on Thursday this week as they resume Central Minnesota Conference play.

*Before it gets too old in our memory, here's the video featuring the late comeback by our Jaguars over Kimball Area in game three last Thursday night:


More to come in the morning. I have a 14-page newspaper to finish for the printing press!!

Football salt sales continue!

 SALT FOR SALE! (Continued!)

Delivery included!

The B-B-E Jaguars football team is selling salt once again. Delivery is free! To place an order, contact any football player or email Chris Moscho at cmoscho@bbejaguars.org or call him at school 320-254-8211 ext 1148 and leave a message. We are selling Morton Softener Salt. Blue crystal price is $8.00, Yellow Pellets are $8.50 and Green Rust Buster is $9.50. 

*Delivery will be discussed with you on the phone. 

Volleyball sweeps again, wins sixth straight

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team made it six in a row with a quick 3-0 sweep over visiting Kerhoven-Murdock-Sunburg tonight. Game scores were 25-9, 25-17 and 25-10.

Next: the Jaguars, 11-4 overall, host Pine River-Backus tomorrow night.

In football news...the JV Jaguars football team improved to 3-0 on their season with a 24-0 win at Benson today.

Last Thursday at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle high school, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team picked up a 5-2 win over LP-GE/Upsala-Swanville Area in a Prairie Conference dual.

Success in Crosby

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team went 4-0 at a tournament in Crosby on Saturday. I'm still going through the results and will post more later this morning.

**In the championship, the Jaguars faced previously undefeated Class 3A Hermantown, who was 7-0 entering the day. The teams split the first two sets before the Jaguars claimed a 15-12 win in the third set to improve to 10-4 overall and earn the tournament title.

Next: the Jaguars host Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg tonight in a border battle. The varsity match is set for 7 p.m.

Digging potatoes in Bangor Township...and music in Hayes Township (VIDEOS**)

This weekend only! The public is invited to the heart of Bangor Township, eastern Pope County, rural Brooten, where they can dig their own potatoes! This is courtesy of R.D. Offutt Company, who has been a long-time supporter of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. You can see a glimpse of this in the video below.

VIDEO from Saturday morning:


This event was publicized in the September 15 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. It pays to subscribe! I'm heading back out to this plot this afternoon to get more potatoes...after I eat dinner in Padua with the St. Donatus Catholic church parish!

If I totaled up all the townships I traverse across in any given week, we'd likely have a double-digit number on a regular basis. I was fortunate enough to drive down to Hayes Township, rural Sunburg, on Saturday, September 10 for the Monson Lake Opry music festival. I have not given much newspaper coverage to that event, and that's unfortunate. Below you can watch part of the final show, which featured Brad Danielson and Brian Danielson (Minnewaska Area high school Class of 1996 graduates) performing on stage.

VIDEO from September 10:


Time to get back to sports writing.

That was a blast! (VIDEOS)

Last night was a BLAST! And it will take the whole weekend to recover! That's not a bad thing!

*Here's a first quarter video from last night:


**Here's a video from the second quarter of the Maple Lake game in Friday Night Lights II:


Today is another great day. Lots of sunshine out there. I hope you're getting your share of sun! Winter is coming, and you need to keep your Vitamin D levels up in order to stay in proper health.

Friday Night Lights III: Jaguars put the hurt on Benson (VIDEOS!)

Two in a row! TWO in a row! And it's TWO IN A ROW in a BIG WAY!

Update after I recorded my sports show: I'm over three hours past the end of the game, and I'm still jacked up on adrenaline because I had an absolute blast trying to keep up with all the incredibly great things happening on the football field tonight!!! (Sports show video added below)

The B-B-E Jaguars football team played four quarters of hard-nosed, smash mouth football with offense coming in waves as they completely dismantled the Benson Braves tonight by a final score of 52-6. With 6:04 left in the first quarter, the Jaguars had already built a 14-0 lead. The anticipation of what was coming continued building throughout the rest of the first half, and after the first 24 minutes of action, the Jaguars expanded the lead to 28-0.

*Here's a video from the first quarter on B-B-E's first offensive series of the game:


Just how thorough was the first-half whipping? B-B-E had 284 yards of offense by halftime, while Benson managed just 69 yards. B-B-E had averaged 11.4 yards per play in that first half! Dingmann's quarterback numbers were 7-of-11 for 161 yards. B-B-E's rushing stats were equally impressive: 115 rushing yards with 8.2 yards per carry.

The third quarter brought more of the same. As Benson tried valiantly to turn the game in their favor, the outlook got bleaker and bleaker. By the time the fourth quarter was approaching, the Jaguars were up 34-0 after quarterback Luke Dingmann scored from just a few inches out on first-and-goal with 1:40 left. That play was set up by a 24-yard catch by Talen Kampsen on the first play of the series. B-B-E's defense had just held Benson on fourth-and-two from the Benson 27-yard line to set up the short field. After Dingmann's quarterback sneak, Wyatt Lewis ran in the two-point conversion to make it 36-0.

B-B-E's lead grew to 44-0 with just 16 seconds remaining in the third quarter after the Jaguars scored on an 11-second touchdown drive from 51 yards out. Owen Paulson ran the drive's lone play off right tackle for the touchdown, and Jamison Reed caught the two-point conversion pass on a pitch-and-pass play from Toby Cebulla. Read that again: by the time the fourth quarter started, B-B-E led 44-0. That's right!

The Jaguars immediately began subbing down after they took that 44-0 lead. Their JV squad got knocked around a couple times by Benson, but they dug in and more than held their own in the fourth quarter. When the dust settled on the final 12 minutes, they had outscored the Braves by an 8-6 margin.

FINAL: B-B-E 52, Benson 6. That's right! This was a win to savor, and it helps erase the bad memory of last year's 40-12 hammering they endured at Benson in Week Three.

Mid-State, Sub-District III football scores on September 16:
No. 3-ranked BOLD 30, Browerville 8 (at Browerville)
No. 9 K-M-S 14, Upsala/Swanville Area 8
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 28, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 8


For the game, B-B-E tallied a whopping 480 yards of offense, including 247 rushing yards. Luke Dingmann was 11-of-16 at quarterback for 233 yards and four touchdowns. They had 15 first downs compared to nine for Benson. One of the most important defensive stats of the game was 0-for-4...that represents Benson's fourth-down conversion rate. That was a huge storyline in this big win!

The Braves fall to 1-2 overall, and they host Browerville next Friday after being on the road for Week Two and Week Three.

Next for B-B-E: the Jaguars have a huge, HUGE test ahead of them for Week Four as they travel to Upsala/Swanville Area next Friday, September 23. The game will be played in Swanville. Let's start planning NOW to make the big road trip to that game! UPDATE: the Upsala/Swanville Area Patriots lost 14-8 tonight at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in Murdock in what was K-M-S's Homecoming game. The Fighting Saints scored on their first two possessions of the game and held on for the win to improve to 3-0. You have to go all the way back to 2008 to see the last time K-M-S won their first three games of the regular season. They started 4-0 that year and ultimately went 12-2 overall while winning the Class 1A state title.

**Here's my third-ever recorded sports show! It recaps Friday Night Lights III!


Looking back the past three years for B-B-E: during Week Two of the COVID season in 2020, the Jaguars were dismantled by the Braves and then-sophomore Thomas Dineen. The final score on October 16, 2020 in Belgrade was 48-12. Benson led 42-12 at halftime in that game where they essentially named the score. Going back to Week Seven of the 2019 season, the Jaguars traveled to Benson seeking their first win of the year...in a snowstorm no less. The Braves pulled off a 33-0 shut out for their second straight win, while the Jaguars were on their way to a winless season. Benson went 3-7 that year with a 1-1 showing in the Section 4A playoffs. The sum total of all of this if you're tracking it is that Benson has beaten the Jaguars by a cumulative score of 121-24 in the past three seasons. They put the gauntlet down tonight, though, in what was a huge, huge statement win.

More to come. Video is uploading, and I'm putting together notes for a mini sports show!

It's GAME night again!

Tonight on the home gridiron, the B-B-E Jaguars football team looks for their second win of the young season as they host Benson. Both teams are 1-1 and want to keep climbing up the Section 4A standings.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. in Belgrade. The game will be aired on Smmooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. More to come, including updates during the game.

GAME UPDATES:
After the first quarter of the Jaguars had 14 to 0.

Halftime: B-B-E 28, Benson 0.

Updates from the second half and the final score, etc. will come in a new Friday Night Lights III blog post!

Volleyball sweeps in CMC action (VIDEOS*)

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team made it two in a row for Central Minnesota Conference opponents as they charge ahead in the 2022 regular season. Tonight in a home match against Kimball Area, the Jaguars won 25-12, 25-21, 26-24 against a Cubs team that played inspired volleyball in the third set before blowing a 22-17 lead.

Both teams started out playing tight, and the Jaguars were shaking off a bit of rust as they had not been in action since last Saturday in Marshall. Once the Jaguars got a couple errors out of their system, they expanded from a 4-3 lead to a 12-4 lead. Both teams traded punches which made for a 14-7 score, the Jaguars got kills from Adley Hagen and Brooklyn Fischer to make it a 17-7 lead. Errors down the stretch led to the Cubs' demise in a 25-12 game one loss.

The Jaguars led 8-3 early in game two, but the Cubs utilized three different scoring runs to stay within reach. Two late kills by Ava Mueller helped the Jaguars close out a 25-21 win. Kimball Area was much sharper in game two, and that set up what was a very entertaining and well-played game three.

The Cubs presented challenges for the Jaguars in game three. They feature an experienced, senior setter in Olivia Mortenson and also have two six-foot tall senior hitters to contend with. Kimball Area's speed and agility was on display in game three, but the Jaguars turned it up right when they had to after trailing 22-17 to close out the 26-24 win.

The Cubs fall to 7-6 overall and 0-2 in the CMC. Last week at Eden Valley-Watkins (7-5), Kimball Area lost 3-1 in their CMC opener.

As a team, the Jaguars hit at a 15.5 percent clip with sophomore setter Kylie Weller earning 32 set assists. Ava Mueller led the team with 12 kills, while Brooklyn Fischer added eight kills. Allison Dingmann had six kills.

**Here's a post-match interview with senior Abby Berge tonight:


Next: the Jaguars (6-4, 2-0) travel to the Crosby-Ironton tournament on Saturday; they host Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in a border battle contest next Monday night. The Fighting Saints are 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the Camden North Conference.

**Added Friday...here's video featuring starter introductions and the start of game one against Kimball:


Central Minnesota Conference volleyball scores on September 15:
Eden Valley-Watkins 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Holdingford 3, Royalton 0
Paynesville Area 3, Maple Lake 0 (at Maple Lake)

Volleyball updates

Tonight's volleyball match is on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is hosting Kimball Area in Central Minnesota Conference action.

Update: the Jaguars are ahead 19 to 9 in game one. Final: B-B-E 25, Cubs 12.

Final score in game two: B-B-E 25, Cubs 21.

Final outcome and more in a new blog post after 9:00 p.m.

Jaguar Sports update, upcoming home events (VIDEOS**)

On Tuesday in a home match that also was Teachers Appreciation night, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team fell 5-2 to St. John's Prep in a Prairie Conference match. Today, Thursday, the Jaguars have a big rematch with Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Upsala-Swanville Area that will also be a Prairie Conference match. The match will be played at LP-GE high school in Long Prairie.

Also tonight! The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team hosts Kimball Area in a Central Minnesota Conference match.

Here's a video from the third quarter of Friday Night Lights II with Maple Lake:


The Jaguars punched in their fourth touchdown of the game in that video clip and led 32-6 with 6:23 on the clock.

*Here's a video interview of Coach Moscho after last Friday's game:


**Here's a video interview of Ava Mueller following last week's exciting barn burner, border battle win at Paynesville...my ears have finally stopped ringing! The video includes footage from a few photo shoots she did with family and friends, and Mueller starts talking at the 1:00 mark:


More to come later. Another very busy day here at The Voice.

Home tennis today

Come out to the high school courts today and cheer on our B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team! They host St. John's Prep in a Prairie Conference meet starting at 4:30 p.m.

Also! I learned that the B-B-E Jaguars JV football team won by an approximate score of 22-0 yesterday at Maple Lake to improve to 2-0 on the season. This is awesome!

More to come.

Volleyball at Marshall

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has gone 1-1 so far at today's Southwest Challenge Invitational in Marshall. They defeated Sioux Falls Roosevelt in three sets after winning the third set by a 15-12 margin. The next opponent was Class 4A Lakeville South, who beat the Jaguars in straight sets.

The Jaguars now face one of the top Class 1A teams in southwest Minnesota, as they take on Russel-Tyler-Ruthton at 2:30 p.m. today in the final match of the tournament. R-T-R is where Mr. Gossen is now the high school principal.

Last night in the first round, Sioux Falls Roosevelt defeated No. 2-ranked Minneota in three sets.

*Here's an exciting video featuring the final points scored in game two on Thursday at Paynesville:


The Jaguars pulled out a wild 28-26 win in game two that evened up the sets at one apiece against the Bulldogs.

**Update from Marshall: the Jaguars battled No. 4-ranked R-T-R out of the Camden Conference in the 11th-place match. They won the first set 25-19 before the Knights won 25-21. In the third and deciding set, the Knights took it by a 15-5 score. Overall in the tournament, the Jaguars hit with a 14.7 percent efficiency, which is a terrific number considering the strength of their opponents. B-B-E finished the 32-team tournament with a 2-3 record and now sits at 5-4 overall going into next week. The Jaguars host Kimball Area next Thursday, September 15 as they resume Central Minnesota Conference play.

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team hosts St. John's Prep next Tuesday in a Prairie Conference match. It begins at 4:30 p.m. It will be Teacher Appreciation and Parents night for the team.

Friday Night Lights II: Jaguars right the ship, blast Irish (VIDEOS)

A major course correction took place tonight for the B-B-E Jaguars football team, who picked up their first win of the season in their home opener. It was a much-needed win, as it helped remove the bad taste in their mouth left in the wake of a subpar performance in Friday Night Lights I. At halftime tonight, the Jaguars led 24-6 after they initially led 16-0.

Final score: B-B-E 32, Maple Lake 12.

Next: the Jaguars host Benson next week in a rivalry game with a Braves team that has manhandled B-B-E each of the past three seasons. Tonight at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, I expect that the Braves will come home with a lopsided win. UPDATE: it shows that I don't know everything by seeing the score out of Long Prairie...tonight at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, Benson defeated the Thunder 30-22. Senior running back Thomas Dineen ran for 173 yards and three touchdowns to lead Benson to their first win of the season.

*Late Friday update: at Browerville tonight, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg has shown they are for real this season after they hammered the host Tigers by a 31-14 score. They have a big test next week when they host Upsala/Swanville Area in Murdock.

Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City lost 28-12 at Kimball Area tonight.

BOLD demolished Upsala/Swanville Area tonight by a 43-14 score. Wow.

*Here's a video that features the first touchdown scored by B-B-E:


Luke Dingmann passed for 199 yards while adding 60 rushing yards and passing for three touchdowns. Jamison Reed was his main target, as the senior wide receiver had 118 yards on eight catches. The Jaguars (1-1) had 316 total yards of offense, which included 117 rushing yards. Maple Lake (0-2) was held to 240 yards, and the Jaguars will have to toughen up on the run defense, as the Irish ran for 209 yards.

Game video is uploading. Stay tuned.

**Here's my Friday Night Lights II commentary after tonight's game:


At Marshall tonight for the Southwest Minnesota Challenge, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team split their two matches of the night. They beat Class 3A Totino-Grace in straight sets before falling to Class 4A unbeaten and defending Class 4A state champion Wayzata (7-0) in straight sets. The Jaguars (4-2) begin tomorrow's action at 9:30 a.m. at Marshall Area high school.

GAME NIGHT on the gridiron!!

This is a must-win game! The Jaguars host Maple Lake on the gridiron in Belgrade. Game updates to follow.

*With 7:34 left in the second quarter, the Jaguars are ahead 16 to 6 over the Irish.

Halftime: B-B-E 24, Maple Lake 6. The second half is starting at 8:20 p.m. with the Jaguars kicking off.

**After three quarters, the Jaguars are ahead 32 to 6.

Final score and more in a new Friday Night Lights blog post! 

YES! THEY DID THAT AGAIN! Jaguars win spectacular five-game barn burner (VIDEOS)

Don't look now, but our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has done it again! They pulled out another classic border battle slug fest for the second time in three nights. They did so with their backs to the wall almost the entire night. It was a heavy lift, but the Jaguars pulled out a 3-2 win at Paynesville Area that also started the Central Minnesota Conference schedule.

GAME SCORES! What a night! They fell behind in sets by a 2-1 margin and had to gut it out the rest of the way.
Game one: Paynesville Area 25, B-B-E 20.
Game two: B-B-E 28, Paynesville Area 26.
Game three: Paynesville Area 25, B-B-E 20.
Game four: B-B-E 27, Paynesville Area 25.

**Here's a video clip from game four tonight; this begins with the game tied at 5-5 after Brooklyn Fischer's kill:


Game five! What can I say? I can say so much about it. The Jaguars had a tough start to game five and played from one point down for an extended period of time. Once they tied it at 6-6 with a kill by Ava Mueller, they went on a run and built a 9-6 lead. The Bulldogs got a side out, but the Jaguars then reeled off three straight points to take a solid lead at 12-7. Things got sticky from there, with Paynesville reeling off five points in a row at one stretch to tie it at 13-13 after B-B-E had a 13-8 lead.

Game five! WOW! GAME FIVE FINAL SCORE: B-B-E 18, Paynesville Area 16! That's right! The Bulldogs held game and match point at a 15-14 lead, being at the precipice of pushing the Jaguars over the edge. The Jaguars then scored three of the last 4 points of the game to close out the heart-stopping win.

Game two also brought its share of drama, as the Jaguars had built a 15-5 lead at one point. When that was the score, they appeared as if they could do no wrong. The Bulldogs scored two points after that coming out of a timeout to make it 15-7. The Jaguars then reeled off four straight points on consecutive tip attacks by Adley Hagen, an ace block by Brooklyn Fischer and the Bulldogs hitting long. A lead of 19-7 is very commanding...but enter rally scoring volleyball drama! Sure enough, Paynesville found another gear and proceeded to score six straight points to get back into it. Suddenly the Bulldogs could do no wrong, and they eventually tied game two at 20-20 and then took a 21-20 lead on a "double" call against B-B-E. At that point all I could think was, "Someone find me some valium!" That insurmountable 19-7 lead was long gone. Fischer then earned a tip kill to tie it, and Ava Mueller had a kill for a 22-21 lead. The Jaguars took leads of 23-21 and 24-22 only to see the Bulldogs score two in a row. Tie game at 24-24! A Bulldogs net violation brought game point to B-B-E at 25-24, but Paynesville super star Kyleigh Tangen hit back-to-back kills to give her team game point at 26-25. The Jaguars were that close to going down 2-0 in sets. Enter sophomore Hagen! She had a kill to tie it, the Bulldogs committed another net violation, and BOOM! There were the Jaguars at game point ahead 27-26. Tangen then had an attack, but Kylie Weller dug it out and passed it to libero Harley Roering, who hit the ball in a straight shot back over the net. The Bulldogs were not prepared for it, and the ball was dug out of bounds to give the Jaguars the crazy, wild 28-26 win. Sidebar: Tangen finished with 29 kills and 18 digs! She is the real deal.

The match statistics showed B-B-E had a total of seven solo blocks, 52 kills and a team hitting percentage of 18.8 percent. As a team, the Jaguars had a 93.8 percent serving clip.

**Trying out something new here...here's my firsthand comments from tonight's win:


The Jaguars now have an incredibly short amount of time to rest, as they head to Marshall tomorrow for the grueling 32-team Southwest Minnesota Challenge tournament. Their first match is at 5 p.m. from Marshall Area high school.

One match video from tonight is uploading. Stay tuned. I'm in my makeshift "sports studio" right now (the family camper) over two hours after the match ended, and my ears are STILL RINGING! What a crazy night. And now storms are moving in, so I have to get the yard cleared up and try to pick a few tomatoes from the garden.

AND for the record! I've been sports reporting for the Jaguars for 19 years now...yes, 19 years ago I first began covering B-B-E varsity sports. The number of "16 years" that I had in my head while I made that video represents the length of time that I've operated this Jaguars Sports blog. The first blog post here was in October of 2006.

Border Battle No. 2 of the week!

What a week we are having! Let's hope it keeps up tonight! Tonight is the trip to Paynesville!

I hope you're making tracks to Paynesville Area high school! The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team opens Central Minnesota Conference action with a road match against the Bulldogs. First serve is set for 7 p.m. The Bulldogs were 23-4 a year ago and missed out on the state tournament by one match (just like the Jaguars did)...this year they are 4-2 overall so far and have two three-set sweeps in their last two outings against Yellow Medicine East and Dassel-Cokato.

Click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to read more about Tuesday night's win at NL-S...also you can watch a video clip from the last two points scored! (Short link) https://bit.ly/3qmMqtl.

MATCH UPDATES to follow below!

**This match is tied at one set apiece! The Bulldogs won the first set 25 to 20 after the Jaguars were ahead 18 to 15. (Ouch)

Game 2 final: B-B-E 28, Paynesville 26. Wow.

GAME 3 final: Paynesville 25, B-B-E 20. (Double ouch!) The Jaguars have their backs firmly against the wall at PAHS.

MORE TO COME IN A NEW BLOG POST!


THANK YOU TO Bonanza Valley State Bank for sponsoring this blog post!

Cross Country meet cancelled

Due to the excessive heat and wind today, the Holdingford cross country meet has been cancelled. The B-B-E/Paynesville cross country team was set to run there today. Just shy of 2 p.m. this afternoon, the temperature reading was 85 degrees. We also have a hot, dry wind coming out of the south at about 15 to 20 miles an hour.

The forecast calls for a high of 88 degrees today, which tops out a string of three days of high temperatures for this time of the year.

BLAST FROM THE PAST! Let's go back to 2018 (VIDEO)

Four years ago! Let's go back to September 25, 2018, when the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team hosted New London-Spicer in a border battle. The match went a full five games that night, and the outcome was in the balance late in game five...

Video from game five starting with the Jaguars holding an 11-9 lead:


That year the Jaguars went to the state tournament and ultimately took fourth place.

FIVE GAME thriller goes to the Jaguars! (VIDEOS)

Was that fun or what!!!

I say it was loads of fun! Wow!

Trailing 13-11 in game five at No. 12-ranked (Class 2A) New London-Spicer tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team had their backs to the wall but proceeded to score the last four points of the night and put a huge exclamation mark on a 3-2 win over a very talented Wildcats team. The Jaguars had built an 8-4 lead with a kill by Ava Mueller and a block from Allison Dingmann to force NL-S into a timeout. The Wildcats then outscored the Jaguars by a 9-3 margin to put a firm grip on the final set ahead 13-11.

Then the epic comeback!

Mueller had a kill, and Dingmann had a tip to tie it up at 13-13. NL-S called their final timeout, but it was too late to slow B-B-E's attack. Mueller fired off another kill to bring game and match point. Dingmann finished the night off with an ace block on an attack that just barely cleared the net. BOOM! Final score: B-B-E 15, NL-S 13. The Jaguars improved to 2-1 with the win! NL-S falls to 3-2 overall.

After B-B-E won two nailbiters in games one and two by scores of 26-24 and 27-25, the Wildcats stormed back and punched the Jaguars in the mouth with a 25-15 win. The fourth set was much closer, but the Wildcats were just better down the stretch in a 25-21 win.

How grueling was the match? For starters, game one lasted a full 27 minutes! The match started at 19:07 and ended at 21:17. Two hours and 10 minutes! Crazy.

**Here's a video clip from game one tonight at NL-S high school; this begins with the opening serve of the match:


*Here's a video featuring the final points scored in game one tonight:


Tonight's win was remarkable considering that NL-S entered the night with an impressive resume. They are the real deal and sit just outside the latest Class 2A coaches association Top 10 rankings. The NL-S gym was very, very warm as outside temperatures climbed into the mid-80s today. It was hot! The Jaguars hung together and showed what hard work and true dedication to improving yourself can do in high school sports. I am very, very proud of this team!

In other news...the JV volleyball Jaguars won tonight at NL-S, although I don't have game scores from that match. Back on the home gridiron, the JV Jaguars football team defeated Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 34-16 for a terrific start to their season!

Time to get back to newspaper publishing! The presses run in less than eight hours...