extended sports coverage for the B-B-E community brought to you by the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper in Brooten, MN. (Address: P.O. Box 250, Brooten) http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. ALL VIEWS posted are strictly and without exception the opinions of the newspaper owner and no one else; they're written in first hand format. Please submit feedback in writing to the address posted above. **This is Minnesota's oldest varsity high school sports blog. We hope to keep it going into the future!
Sunday, October 29, 2023
What a game! Section semi win (VIDEOS ADDED*!)
*It's Monday night and I'm updating this blog post after returning home from the high school's 4th annual Spooktacular Halloween concert and carnival. What a night!!! After a long, long day that started at 7 a.m. at the Rochester Mayo Clinic...Video is being added below plus extra volleyball coverage...
Was that a football game or what!
After a careful review of my game notes and game footage, here's my official tally from the first half of the Section 4A semifinal game between our B-B-E Jaguars football team and Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. In the first half, the Falcons ran 18 plays on six separate drives while earning a total of 12 yards from scrimmage. Across the entire first half, the Falcons moved the ball 12 net yards. Their lone series where they had any appreciable time of possession was on their fifth drive, which had a time of possession of 2 minutes, 16 seconds. After A-C-GC converted a fourth down on that series, their momentum vanished thanks largely to a false start penalty plus a Carson Gilbert quarterback sack with a five-yard loss.
Let that sink in! Six drives, 18 plays and 12 yards gained. Their biggest gain on a single play was on that fifth series, when Casey Struthers caught a pass for 9 1/2 yards on 3rd-and-10. I didn't tally how many tackles for losses that the Jaguars earned in the first half, but it was quite a few!
**Here's a wild video to take in from the third quarter on Saturday...
Meanwhile on offense, the Jaguars racked up 212 yards from scrimmage across six drives. They scored on four possessions and had three successful two-point conversion plays for the 30-0 lead at halftime. Across their six drives, the Jaguars ran 34 plays. Their third drive of the game needed just one play to score from 12 yards out with a time of possession of six seconds. The Falcons showed defensive resolve by forcing the Jaguars to punts on their second and sixth series of the game.
I haven't booked my hotel yet for Thursday night in Fergus Falls, but I will get that done tomorrow. We need to pull out all the stops to be able to cheer on both the volleyball and football teams on Thursday and Friday! The football game starts at 10 a.m. at the FargoDome on Friday morning.
That's all for tonight. I am in Rochester with my oldest daughter for a checkup in the morning at the Mayo Clinic. Good night! I hope to see many of you at the B-B-E music program's Spooktacular concert and games and activities in Belgrade (high school) from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
ADDED Monday night...here's additional volleyball coverage with a video clip from the Brandon-Evansville win on Friday night...click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://tinyurl.com/mvhahu7y. A fair amount of West Central Area Knights notes have been added to that web article. Click on over and check it out!
*Here's a short clip from Friday night's volleyball sub-section semifinal match:
Have you made your travel plans out yet for Thursday and Friday? Both teams need you!!! For the Thursday night volleyball match, be sure to arrive by approximately 7 p.m. or so in order to get situated and prepared to get in the gym once space allows. It will be a packed venue. That I already know. Now it's time to get back to sports writing for the newspaper...
Friday Night Lights IX! A complete-game, blowout win - Jaguars heading to the 'Ship! (VIDEOS!!)
This blog post won't be fully updated until after 10 p.m. tonight with additional game notes and video. I am heading to the Padua Pub now for the Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters gun blast!
ROW THAT BOAT! We head to another 'Ship!!! BOOM! Keep on grinding! We now have two fall varsity teams who will play in championship games next week!!!! Is this GREAT or what!!! You cannot beat it.
After what was their most complete start-to-finish performance in a playoff game in school history, the B-B-E Jaguars football team is heading to the Section 4A championship for the fifth time since 2010. The Jaguars have suffered heartache and bitter defeats in section semifinal games going back as far as 1993. In 1993, a senior-dominated Jaguar squad (12 seniors) went head to head with Osakis in Osakis in the Region 5C semifinals before suffering a devastating 28-20 loss. A win in that game would have brought them to the FargoDome. Other difficult (close) semifinal losses came in 2006, 2017 and 2022, and I vividly remember each one of them. Today was not going to be one of those tough second-round defeats, as B-B-E demolished the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons in a 60-8 semifinal win. The Jaguars completely dominated the line of scrimmage and had the upper hand on nearly every one of the game's 114 plays. Other major factors in the win included four fumble recoveries, two punts that put A-C-GC inside the 20, six receivers earning 2 or more catches and no turnovers. The Jaguars had a business-like approach to the game and knew full well that A-C-GC had the talent and ability to make it a tough game. What played out was lopsided football that landed B-B-E in the program's sixth appearance in a section championship (1997, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2021 and now 2023).
The Jaguars struck right away in the game's opening series with a 64-yard scoring drive that used 8 plays and concluded with Luke Dingmann's one-yard touchdown carry with 9:28 on the clock. They expanded that 6-0 lead with a second touchdown on their third series of the game that covered just 12 yards and needed just one play.
Prior to that second touchdown, the Jaguars held A-C-GC on their first series with a three-and-out stop ending with a punt with 7:01 left.
*Here's video of A-C-GC's first offensive series today:
On A-C-GC's second series of the game, Hayden Sobiech recovered a lost fumble at the 12-yard line with 4:11 to go. Sobiech then caught a 12-yard pass from Dingmann to make it 12-0 with 4:11 left. Harley Weber plowed his way in on the two-point carry for a 14-0 lead.
*Here's a video featuring the last 6 plays of B-B-E's first touchdown drive today against A-C-GC:
A-C-GC's third series of the game gained just 5 yards on 3 plays before they punted with 2:17 left. The series started way back on their 6-yard line after a major miscue on B-B-E's touchdown kickoff. B-B-E's fourth offensive series then started on A-C-GC's 39-yard line. A-C-GC showed some defensive resolve, but they were no match as the Jaguars used 10 plays to punch in a third touchdown. With 9:41 on the clock, Dingmann carried into the end zone from 3 yards out, and Braeden Michels added the extra-points run to give the Jaguars a 22-0 lead.
The Jaguars had no let up whatsoever as the second quarter developed. The lead expanded to 30-0 with 4:23 left after Luke Illies caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Luke Dingmann. That score stood until halftime after the Jaguars made a big stop on A-C-GC's sixth series of the game. The Falcons started on B-B-E's 24-yard line with 50 seconds remaining after a punt did not go as planned on B-B-E's sixth series.
**Video added on Sunday afternoon...here's the final series of the first half with A-C-GC fighing to put points on the scoreboard:
The Jaguars made a defensive stop on that series to get the ball back with 23 seconds left before halftime. With a 30-0 lead, Dingmann took a knee to finish out the clock.
SECOND HALF...more of the same!
To open the third quarter, A-C-GC started on their 28-yard line and used 7 plays to advance to the B-B-E 46-yard line. On their next play, A-C-GC coughed up the ball, and Ethan Mueller recovered it with 9:02 left. The Jaguars needed just 2 plays to score on a 69-yard drive as Jack Lundberg hauled in a 60-yard pass to the end zone with 8:16 to go. The Falcons made a stop on the extra-points conversion to leave the score at 36-0.
Later with 5:55 left in the third quarter, Brett DeRoo's 20-yard touchdown catch finished off a 5 play, 36-yard series. Owen Paulson's two-point carry made the score 44-0.
**Here's a video from later in the 3rd quarter as A-C-GC was threatening on their 9th series of the game:
On their 9th series of the game, A-C-GC started on their own 20-yard line after the Jaguars had scored to take a 44-0 lead in the third quarter. Luke Dingmann's kickoff resulted in a touchback with 5:46 on the clock. They gained some momentum and used four plays to advance to B-B-E's 32-yard line. At that point, they got just 2 yards on 4 plays before the turnover on downs that is shown at the beginning of the video clip above.
Dingmann's 8-yard touchdown carry with 2:13 left in the third quarter expanded the lead to 50-0. Maximus Hanson carried in the two-point conversion for a 52-0 lead.
Just shy of one minute later, Hanson ran in a 5-yard touchdown with 1:17 left. Odin Jensen's two-point carry made it a 60-0 lead.
Isaiah Renne's 79-yard touchdown catch with 11:47 remaining in the game broke up the shut out. The talented 6'3" senior wide receiver caught a pass at his fingertips just over the middle and ran the distance to pay dirt.
When the dust settled on the game, the Jaguars had racked up 425 yards of offense split between 175 yards on the ground and 250 through the air. A-C-GC finished with 177 yards, although a bulk of them were earned on one play with Renne's touchdown catch. The Falcons got the extra points carry as well to make the score 60-8.
The Falcons (6-4 final record) earned just 2 successful conversions on 13 third-down tries. They were 1-for-5 on fourth down conversions. Against a team that racked up 233 rushing yards in the quarterfinals, the Jaguars limited the Falcons to 18 rushing yards on 20 carries.
For B-B-E's offense, they did not have to attempt a fourth down conversion in the game. They made good on 5 of 9 third-down conversions, although they generally did what was needed on their first and second down tries.
Dingmann finished with 20 pass completions on 25 throws; four of those 20 completed passes were good for touchdowns.
NEXT: the Jaguars travel to the FargoDome next Friday, November 3 for the Section 4A championship. Kickoff in Fargo is at 10 a.m. for the team's second trip to Fargo in three seasons! Please spread the word and make plans to be there! In the other semifinal game of Section 4A, I heard earlier that Upsala/Swanville Area had an 18-14 lead against Browerville in the second half. FINAL: U/SA 24, Browerville 14. That's that!! The No. 5-ranked Jaguars (9-0) and No. 8-ranked Patriots (8-1) will play for the state tournament.
B-B-E's nine straight wins have set a new school record for consecutive wins in the same season. The Jaguars won 8 straight games in both the 2013 and 2017 seasons.
While preparing to do an oil change on the family Suburban tonight at Chris Jensen Auto Repair, I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with Greg Evenson, a former "QB1" for B-B-E, who graduated in 2000. He served as QB1 in the first half of the 1998 season when he was a junior. That was the final season that B-B-E played in the West Central South Conference during a fall where I saw just one B-B-E football game (their game at Coombe Field in Morris). The Jaguars played in the Central Minnesota Conference from 1999 through 2014. Evenson, son of former Belgrade Redmen and B-B-E Jaguar coach Julius Evenson, is one of countless former Jaguars who still follow the team. They are all immensely proud of what the Jaguars are doing this season on the gridiron!!! We have come a long way.
Area scoreboard for the second round of playoffs on October 28:
Rocori 30, Detroit Lakes 28 (The Spartans avenge a 27-25 loss in the season opener to the Lakers)
Cedar Mountain 32, New Ulm Cathedral 14
Eden Valley-Watkins 52, Royalton 6
New York Mills 26, Breckenridge 18 (In Week 5, NYM lost 32-6 at Breckenridge to start a three-game slide going into the playoffs with a 2-6 record)
Osakis 49, Wadena-Deer Creek 0
Mayer Lutheran 42, United South Central 0
Red Rock Central 20, Renville County West 6
Esko 56, Pierz 8
Holdingford 34, Kimball Area 26 (The Huskers avenge a 30-28 loss in Week 5 at Kimball by defeating the Cubs in Kimball in the Section 5AA semifinals today)
Ottertail Central 52, Hancock 24
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 32, Perham 8
New London-Spicer 48, Sauk Centre 14
Albany 28, Montevideo 0
#1 Minneota 39, Canby 6
Marshall 21, Willmar 7
Hutchinson 52, New Ulm 14
#4 BOLD 40, Dawson-Boyd 7
Alexandria 39, Bemidji 0
**On Sunday afternoon, I think this blog post is a wrap. Here's a link to the newspaper's photo gallery for the fall sports albums. It's been updated with recent events! https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/B-B-E-Fall-Sports-2023.
GAME DAY in Jaguar Country! Let's get this party started! (VIDEO)
Today is the day! It's a HUGE, HUGE day! We are finally able to watch our B-B-E Jaguars football team get the playoffs started. They had a first-round bye with what has been a 10-day layoff from action. Their last game was the regular season finale when they defeated Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 20-7 on October 18. This is the first time in school history that the Jaguars have had a first-round playoff bye.
Here's QB1 talking after that game that night:
B-B-E and No. 4-seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City begin battle at 2 p.m. today in Belgrade. The game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. You can tune in on the radio at 107.1 FM or online at https://www.kmgk1071.com.
The A-C-GC Falcons are 6-3 overall after defeating Benson 34-13 in their playoff opener on Tuesday this week. They have shown a great ability to score points, and they average 33.7 points a game coming into today's semifinal. Defensively, they give up 22.3 points per game. In that Benson game, their lead running back (Jevon Williams) was playing with a slight injury and finished with 30 rushing yards on 8 carries. The Falcons overcame that in a big way by thanks to Brody Straumann's monster game of 20 carries for 151 yards. Altogether, A-C-GC had 233 rushing yards on 41 carries. It also helped that their quarterback, Kyler Pickle, had 43 rushing yards on 11 carries. Pickle also had solid passing numbers with a 13-of-24 completion mark for 109 yards.
In Week 4 against our Jaguars, the Falcons piled up 352 yards of offense while Pickle passed for 242 yards from 19 completions and 34 attempts. His longest pass was good for 44 yards, and he threw one touchdown and one interception. B-B-E led 36-22 at halftime before shutting out the Falcons in one of their best halves of play all season; the final score was 50-22.
It's just shy of noon, which means it's time to start packing up for the big game!!!! We also have a church dinner and bake sale at Trinity Lutheran Church in Brooten. Later tonight we have a long list of activities including the Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters annual banquet and gun blast. I have said it a few times this week and will repeat it: the Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters is one of our premier local conservation and gun safety advocacy organizations. They are a key supporter of the B-B-E Clay Trapshooting team. Numerous members of the football team shoot clays in the spring. That list is too long to mention here!
**Game updates to follow here, although there probably won't be many during the game... **At the end of the first quarter, the Jaguars are ahead 14 to 0.
***With 9:28 left in the first quarter, quarterback Luke Dingman carried in a one-yard touchdown for a 6-0 lead. His carry finished off an 8 play, 64-yard series to open the game. Halftime: BBE 30, ACGC 0. Let's just say that the Jaguars are playing a very good brand of football today!
In the final minute, the Falcons threatened with a short field, having first down with just 24 yards to pay dirt after a BBE punt. The Jaguar defense Rose to the occasion and held them to a turnover on downs with 24 seconds to go.
**Hit refresh to this blog and find the new blog post that was added just before 7 p.m. tonight with the final score of the game.
STEP II: was that crazy or what! On to the 'Ship! (VIDEOS)
NOTE: two more videos were added here on Saturday morning...along with a more complete break down of game five plus the complete area scoreboard at the end of the blog post.
After a see-saw battle played out across four sets of heated playoff volleyball, the B-B-E Jaguars put the hammer down and cruised past upset-minded Brandon-Evansville in the fifth set to claim their sixth straight sub-section championship berth. After missing the sub-section finals in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Jaguars have now made it to a championship playoff match every year since. The exception is 2020, when the volleyball season did not have playoffs. The first season with a sub-section championship berth was 1994, when the Jaguars blazed their way to the Sub-Section 5A-3 finals before losing an excruciating heartbreaker 3-2 to Sauk Centre.
The Jaguars hit just 7 percent in a sluggish game one where they fell 25-23 after being unable to overcome an initial 4-0 deficit. They came alive in the second set and hit a whopping 46 percent while winning 25-15. They kept up the pace and took game two by a 25-22 score. The Chargers came back to win game four 25-19 after the Jaguars held a 19-18 lead.
Game five final score: B-B-E 15, Brandon-Evansville 7. The Jaguars found their spark just in the knick of time. The Chargers got a kill for the first point of the set, but Kadynce Haider smashed one away to tie it. The Chargers got an ace block and a kill to take a 3-1 lead, but that was all the juice they had as the Jaguars took over from that point. Kamie Fischer's ace tip and then a kill by Kacey Fischer tied it at 3-3. The Chargers got a kill for a 4-3 lead, but Kacey Fischer's shot to the back corner tied it. A hitting error put the Jaguars down 5-4, and Brooklyn Fischer had three straight kills to put the Jaguars up 7-5. Out of a Chargers timeout, Kenna Lieser's kill made it four straight points. A kill from Adley Hagen and an ace block by Brooklyn Fischer later put the Jaguars up 12-6 as the Jaguars cruised down the stretch to take the match.
What was clearly illustrated by this night was how nothing is ever promised to you in the playoffs. It can all come to and end just like that. To persevere through a tough match like the Jaguars did tonight was a special sight to take in!! I'm still working through my video clips. The game five footage is really fun to watch.
NEXT: the Jaguars (22-5-1) travel to Fergus Falls senior high school on Thursday, November 2 in the late match that will likely start between 7:30 and 8 p.m. Their opponent will be No. 2-seeded West Central Area (21-9). Please spread the word!! This is HUGE!!! For WCA, a volleyball match at Fergus Falls is as close to a home match in an away gym as you can get. It's a short drive up Highway 59 for the WCA Knights, while it's basically a 1 1/2 hour drive for B-B-E fans.
*Here's my 8th fall sports show of 2023!
*Here's action from early in game one where the Jaguars had fallen behind 3-0...
In game one, the Jaguars fell back 4-0 right away but then scored four straight to tie it up. The Chargers later took early leads of 8-6 and 9-7 before the Jaguars tied it at 9-9. An ace serve by Kylie Weller lifted the Jaguars ahead 11-9.
*Here's action from late in game one:
Here's a video from the last points scored in game two...
The No. 2-seeded WCA Knights defeated No. 3-seeded Parkers Prairie tonight in their semifinal match held at Barrett. They are an outstanding team that played in what was a very good West Central Conference this fall. This year the WCC held multiple very good teams such as BOLD, Sauk Centre and Melrose Area. In the WCC, the WCA Knights went 9-5 while tying Melrose Area for third place.
Big news out of the Sub-Section 6A-North tournament...the No. 5-seeded Hillcrest Lutheran Academy Comets earned their second upset of the playoffs as they beat No. 1-seeded Breckenridge 3-1 to move onto the championship. They won 3-0 at Park Christian in Moorhead in the quarterfinal round. In other North semifinal match, No. 2-seeded Underwood beat No. 6-seeded New York Mills by a score of 3-2.
SPECIAL SHOUT OUT to B-B-E Class of 2023 graduate Tiyana Schwinghammer for her guest appearance tonight in the drum corps of B-B-E's Pep Band!! It was an honor to play with her in the band as she also helped coach my daughter on one of the drum sets during some of the songs. Her college basketball career begins in November! The season opener for her Northland College Pioneer's women's basketball team is on Friday, November 10 at the Anoka-Ramsey tournament, where they take on St. Cloud Technical and Community College at 5 p.m. in Coon Rapids.
Area volleyball playoff scores on October 27:
K-M-S 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 0
Marshall Area 3, Willmar 0
New London-Spicer 3, Montevideo 1
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 3, Litchfield 0
Russel-Tyler-Ruthon 3, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 0
MACCRAY 3, Central MN Christian 0
Canby 3, Lakeview 0
Renville County West 3, Wabasso 0
Minneota 3, Dawson-Boyd 0
Maple Lake 3, Kimball Area 1
Browerville 3, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 0
Ogilvie 3, Braham 2
Sebeka 3, Bertha-Hewitt 2
Verndale 3, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 0
Swanville 3, Hill City 0
We hope for this to happen again and again in the coming weeks! Playoff game after playoff game after playoff game...we are ready! Our football and volleyball teams have trained and worked and practiced and gelled into contenders for their respective section playoffs. It's GO time!
Tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team hosts Brandon-Evansville with first serve at 7 p.m. The match will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood.
Here is a very special video recorded on Dig Pink night...
Of course, there are many things much bigger than sports...and that video shows that. Sports is important too! It's a great way to bring a community together.
Updates to follow! I'm in the pep band tonight, so I won't be blogging much until after it's all concluded.
Game one: the Chargers won the opening set by a 25 to 23 score.
Game two: the Jaguars won the second set by a score of 25 to 15
In game three, the Jaguars jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead. Currently the score is 11-6, and the Chargers called a timeout.
Game 3 final: BBE 25, Chargers 22.
UPDATES and more in a new blog post. Just shy of 10 p.m. and this blog post is a wrap.
On playoff-opening night, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team found success early and often against Ortonville in the Sub-Section 6A-South quarterfinals. With a supportive hometown crowd cheering them on, the Jaguars dismantled the Trojans 25-9 in game one while hitting 44 percent. The final game scores in the 3-0 sweep were 25-14, 25-15.
For the night, the Jaguars hit at 32 percent while racking up 16 ace serves.
Ortonville, which had just one senior in its top rotation, finishes 7-17 overall.
*Here's a video featuring the first points scored in game one tonight:
*Here's a video from late in game two:
NEXT: the Jaguars (22-5-1) host the Sub-Section 6A-South semifinals on Friday this week at 7 p.m. in Brooten. They face either Brandon-Evansville or Hancock. The Chargers were up 2-0 in sets over the Owls at the last time I checked. More to come here with multiple updates and video after 9 p.m.!! UPDATE: the Jaguars will host Brandon-Evansville on Friday this week for Round Two of the postseason. The Chargers swept Hancock tonight to advance to the semifinal round with an 11-11 overall record.
Sub-Section 6A-South volleyball scores on October 25:
West Central Area 3, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 0
Parkers Prairie 3, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 0
This is game night!!! Let the playoffs commence! Henceforth, we are going to cheer and support our team to the max!
The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team hosts No. 9-seeded Ortonville (7-16) tonight in the Sub-Section 6A-South quarterfinal round. The match begins at 7 p.m. and will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood (107.1)...they stream at: https://www.kmgk1071.com.
*Here's footage from game one against Paynesville...
Updates to follow after 8 p.m.! Or sooner, depending on when the match concludes.
***Check the new blog post for more! This blog post is a wrap.
Think of this as the calm before the storm! This is a yearly thing in my world, the day before crazy begins that we know as the fall playoff push with the volleyball and football teams and also the musical cast and crew...throw in Halloween, a number of community events...a "Gun Blast" at the Padua Pub...and it's a perfect recipe for some of the craziest weeks of the year. Trust me! We are in for a wild ride for the next few weeks.
First, let's go back a few weeks to Homecoming week and the night I took a trip north to the FargoDome...
Here's Nickelback performing their smash hit called "Hero" at the FargoDome on October 5:
Next (below) is perhaps Nickelback's most popular song of their music franchise...here's the song "Photograph" performed that night in Fargo.
Nickelback at the FargoDome on October 5:
Let's watch some volleyball! This is one of the most exciting sequences of volleyball I've seen this fall...this is from game one against Paynesville one week ago tonight:
The Jaguars prevailed in game one before losing game two. They won game three but then lost game four. The fifth game went to the Jaguars! They sewed up their fifth conference title in the past six seasons! B-B-E opens playoffs tomorrow night against Ortonville at 7 p.m. in Brooten. The Trojans defeated Benson 3-1 last night in Benson.
More to come in the morning. I have a few light stories to wrap up before the printing press rolls up the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper in the morning. You can catch up on everything that's coming our way by grabbing a copy either in your mailbox or on a newsstand on Wednesday afternoon/evening at RJ's Mini Mart in Brooten, Coop's Corner and the hardware store in Belgrade or Bayer's Gas and Grocery in Elrosa.
LATE tonight after I get some urgent newspaper work done, I'll get an area scoreboard posted with tonight's football playoff results. The big game we are all interested in is the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City vs. Benson game at Grove City. The winner of that game will travel to Belgrade THIS Saturday for the section semis to face our Jaguars!
UPDATE: with 9 minutes to go in their Section 4A quarterfinal game, A-C-GC held a 26-7 lead over visiting Benson.
FINAL SCORE: A-C-GC 34, Benson 13...the Falcons are now 6-3 overall and travel to Belgrade on Saturday for the Section 4A semifinals. They led 20-7 at halftime against the Braves, who finish 1-8.
Area scoreboard for the first round of football playoffs, October 24:
Hermantown 21, Rock Ridge 0
Border West 53, Ortonville 21
New York Mills 35, West Central Area 20
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 15, Fergus Falls 12
Parkers Prairie 50, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 0
Sauk Centre 52, Minnewaska Area 18
Montevideo 40, Melrose Area 16
#1 ranked Minneota 70, Lakeview 8
Pierz 60, Proctor 16
We are in front of one of the busiest weeks of the entire year. In addition to all the community and school events coming, cold weather will arrive on Thursday night and usher in winter-like conditions. The day of Thursday, October 26 appears to be the final day of any appreciable gardening that can take place this year. By that evening, all of my above-ground harvesting has to be completed. You can catch up with the events that are coming at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's website community calendar: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com/page/bonanza-valley-area-community-calendar/102.html.
One event I'd really like to raise the profile of is the Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters upcoming annual banquet and "Gun Blast" at the Padua Pub. This will be held on Saturday, October 28 with doors opening at 5 p.m. You don't have to arrive at that time, however, and they have a very casual evening planned with a dinner served at 7 p.m. (Dave's famous chicken and ribs!) Question can be emailed to BVRS.nwtf@gmail.com. The Bonanza Valley Royal Strutters is one of our premier conservation and gun safety and gun advocacy organizations. Its members are also key supporters of B-B-E high school's Clay Trapshooting team.
More details are coming in this week's The Voice!
On Sunday night, with a light rain coming down, I'm pouring over my football game notes. I thought we scored on our 11th or 12th drive of the game in the second half, but I have since determined that the Jaguars scored on their first, second and 10th drives of the game in the 20-7 win over K-M-S. The Fighting Saints proved to be a formidable opponent, and the game's outcome was not secured until less than 4 minutes remained. The Jaguars gained 4.43 yards per offensive play, while K-M-S gained 3.45 yards per offensive play.
Late Sunday night, the final Class 1A coaches poll was released, and our volleyball team is ranked No. 12 out of 12 total teams receiving votes. On the QRF rankings, B-B-E sits at No. 9 in the latest calculations released. Minnesota's Class 1A in girls' volleyball includes 152 teams. Throughout all four classes, Minnesota has 404 high school varsity volleyball teams.
In Fine Arts news!
The B-B-E high school pep band will perform for the second round of volleyball playoffs if the Jaguars win their opener on Wednesday night. The second round match is in Brooten on Friday, October 27. The music program as a whole is gearing up for the fourth annual B-B-E Spooktacular music night on Monday, October 30 at the high school. More on that was published on page 2 of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper last week.
Jaguar volleyball gearing up for playoffs: seedings are in! (VIDEOS added)
The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team earned the No. 1 seed for the upcoming Sub-Section 6A-South tournament. The conference champion Jaguars, who have won five sub-section titles in a row, will open the playoffs on Wednesday, October 25 on the home court. They will host either Benson or Ortonville for that quarterfinal round match that starts at 7 p.m. at the elementary school.
**Here's a special video featuring the Parents Night held on October 12:
The play-in round match for Benson and Ortonville (hosted in Benson) will be held on Monday, October 23.
If the Jaguars win on October 25, they will host a semifinal round match on Friday, October 27 at 7 p.m. in Brooten.
Here's a video from a September 18 match at Kerkhoven, during which the Jaguars held a 23-21 lead but ultimately fell behind 25-24...
The Jaguars righted the ship and pulled out a thrilling 28-26 win in that game before ultimately sweeping the Fighting Saints.
In case you missed it...the B-B-E Jaguars football team opens their playoffs on Saturday, October 28 in Belgrade!!! Spread the word. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. B-B-E enters the playoffs after scoring 322 regular season points, or over 40 points per game. The previous record for most points scored in a regular season was in 2013, when they had 261 points total before entering the Section 4A playoffs.
For other Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold district teams, I saw that West Central Area (3-5 overall) earned the No. 3 seed in Section 6A and will host a quarterfinal game on October 24 in Barrett. The Knights entertain New York Mills (2-6 overall). In Week 2, WCA lost 44-14 to our Jaguars. Parkers Prairie (6-2) is the top seed in Section 6A.
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (5-3) hosts Royalton in a section 5AA quarterfinal game on October 24 in Murdock.
Community support this fall! Church auction is tonight (VIDEO)
The community support for our events across the Bonanza Valley area has been incredible this entire fall. We saw that on full display on Tuesday night this week for Dig Pink night at the volleyball match against Paynesville. You can read more about that in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
*Here's a video from Saturday night's church auction at Crow River Lutheran church:
Light coverage of the event in the form of just three photos were published from the Crow River Lutheran church auction in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. You can watch another video from that night at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website by clicking here: https://tinyurl.com/36n9c69u. Other coverage is online with a video from the Elrosa Fire Department steak fry.
Big Grove Lutheran church's WELCA invites everyone to their fall dinner and auction fundraiser TONIGHT! The fun begins with dinner starting at 5 p.m., and the live auction follows at 7 p.m. On the menu: roast beef sandwiches (Padua Pub beef), calico beans, Rommegrot, macaroni salad, bars and beverages. The auction includes beautiful quilts, crafts, baked goods and many other must-have items! This is a Thrivent-sponsored event and has been advertised in the October 12 and October 19 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
It's incredibly important for the community to support these events. Advertising from our church auctions helps pay for the coverage you see in the newspaper each week!
Today, Friday, we have hit a high of 73 degrees in Brooten!!! It is likely, with great odds, that this will be the warmest we will be until next spring. I just can't see it getting past 70 degrees between now and next April...we'll see. For now, we know that winter is coming.
**This blog post was updated on Thursday morning with additional game details and playoff seedings.
The B-B-E Jaguars football team just wrapped up the school's first undefeated season on the gridiron. In the 35th edition of B-B-E football, the Jaguars overcame an inspired performance by Class 2A Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg after riding a 14-0 lead into halftime. B-B-E's defense played at an incredible level all night, and the offense punched through an insurance touchdown on their 10th and final series of the game. With 3:17 left in the fourth quarter, Harley Weber bulldozed into the end zone on a one-yard carry to give the Jaguars a 20-7 lead.
Final score: #5 B-B-E 20, K-M-S 7.
The previous school record for regular season wins stood at 7 games, and the previous record for most wins in a row was also 7 wins (earned in 2013 and in 2017). The 1988, 2013 and 2017 squads were the only B-B-E football teams to go 7-1. The 2022 squad went 6-2, but the other 30 seasons of B-B-E football all yielded records of 5-3 or worse going into the postseason.
Simply put: this season has been very, very special, and we're not done! Not remotely close.
Here's another sports show! Just recorded tonight a little before midnight in our recording studio:
The Jaguars built a head of steam in the first quarter with two early touchdown drives. After the game's opening kickoff, they had to first come up with a stop against a fleet-footed K-M-S ground game that had Jett Olson carry the ball three straight times for a total of 18 yards to get to midfield. Three plays later on fourth down, Toby Cebulla came up with a huge knock down to force a turnover on downs at the B-B-E 45-yard line with 7:42 to go.
The familiarity between the teams was on full display after the Fighting Saints held B-B-E to a net loss of one yard on the first two plays. On 3rd-and-11, Luke Illies found a big opening over the middle and caught a 17-yard pass. K-M-S again stymied B-B-E on two straight plays, but the Jaguars got a 13-yard catch by Jack Lundberg on third and long. Illies recovered a loose ball on the next play after a long run by Dingmann, which gave the Jaguars goal-to-go at the nine. Dingmann ran for 4 yards, and Ryan Jensen's 4-yard catch put the Jaguars inches from the goal line. Dingmann scored on a quarterback sneak that gave the Jaguars a 6-0 lead with 3:07 left in the first quarter.
K-M-S had a 9-yard run on the first play of their second series from Olson, but the Jaguars then got a big stop on 3rd down before the Fighting Saints had a false start on fourth down.
Brett DeRoo's 21-yard punt return set the Jaguars at the K-M-S 39-yard line with 1:50 left in the opening quarter. A five-play scoring drive followed that included a 13-yard catch by Illies, an 11-yard run by Ryan Jensen and then an 18-yard carry by Jack Lundberg into the end zone. Owen Paulson's two-point conversion run made it a 14-0 lead with 11:24 left in the second quarter.
Both defenses drilled down on the teams' offense for multiple series stretching across the second and third quarters.
Here's a second quarter video with B-B-E's defense facing K-M-S's offense for the fourth time of the game:
To start the third quarter, the Jaguars began their sixth series of the game on their own 16. They later moved inside K-M-S territory on Dingmann's 12-yard run. Hayden Sobiech's 11-yard catch got them to the K-M-S 25, but the Jaguars lost 8 yards on the next 4 plays to turn the ball over on downs with 6:45 left.
Later on their 9th series, the Jaguars drove from the K-M-S 18-yard line to the goal line, where an interception by Taytan Nielsen ended the drive.
The Fighting Saints broke up B-B-E's shutout bid with an 86-yard scoring drive coming after they intercepted that pass at the goal line with 7:17 left in the game. The scoring drive used 12 plays and was capped by Jett Olson's 10-yard run with 4:28 to go. A successful PAT made the score 14-7.
B-B-E then righted the ship with a 49-yard scoring drive after recovering an onside kick. They used 6 plays to cover the distance, with Lundberg getting a crucial 13-yard run to gain goal-to-go at the K-M-S seven. Back-to-back carries by Harley Weber finished the drive off with 3:17 left. Luke Dingmann earned a huge touchback on the following kickoff to further dim K-M-S's hopes for a comeback. With 2:10 left in the game, Carson Gilbert earned a pass knock down on fourth down to essentially end the game at the K-M-S 47-yard line.
Post-game statistics:
On offense, the Jaguars totaled 260 yards with 155 coming on the ground on 35 carries. Luke Dingmann connected on 13 of his 18 pass attempts for a total of 105 yards. K-M-S struggled most of the night at moving the ball and got a large share of their 199 total yards on their lone scoring drive, good for 86 yards as mentioned above. Of their 199 yards, 112 were through the air on 9 pass completions by quarterback Jared Cortez.
By virtue of their undefeated regular season, the Jaguars earned the No. 1 seed in Section 4A and have a first-round bye. They will be spectators for the quarterfinals, which are on October 24 at the higher seeds. With K-M-S moving to Class 2A and Class 1A having no other teams to move into our section, the top two seeds earn first-round byes. As it stands, No. 9-ranked Upsala/Swanville Area (7-1) will be the No. 2 seed and also will not play on the 24th.
K-M-S takes a 5-3 record into the Section 5AA playoffs. After a 5-0 start that put them in the Top 10 rankings in Class 2A, they take a three-game losing skid into the playoffs. They lost the three games by a total of 23 points. In their section, K-M-S appears to be a lock for the No. 4 seed and would then host No. 5-seeded Royalton (2-6) in their playoff opener. Eden Valley-Watkins (8-0) and Kimball Area (6-2) are the top two teams in Section 5AA.
NEXT: the Jaguars (8-0) host the section semifinals on Saturday, October 28 at 2 p.m. in Belgrade. Spread the word and make sure to mark your calendars! B-B-E will face the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 quarterfinal game. That's all I know at this point. UPDATE: I saw that Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City did what I predicted they would do after we beat them in Week Four: they ran the table heading into playoffs. A-C-GC buried Benson 57-13 tonight to finish with a 5-3 regular season record. They take a four-game winning streak into the Section 4A quarterfinals.
THURSDAY morning update: the Section 4A seedings have gone final, and the Jaguars are indeed the No. 1 seed with a first-round bye.
2023 Section 4A football seedings:
1. B-B-E
2. Upsala/Swanville Area
3. Browerville
4. Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City
5. Benson
6. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle
The Jaguars were also No. 1 seeds for the playoffs in 2013 and 2017.
*Here's a post-game interview with Coach Moscho:
Sidebar: it has been truly special to have a front-row seat to teams coached by Coach Moscho. Across his 14 seasons as head coach, I have missed somewhere between 10 and 15 games. I remember being unable to go to the team's season openers in 2011, 2019 and 2020. I've missed a trip or two to towns such as Parkers Prairie or Browerville. I haven't missed much, though, and so far this season I have watched every single down of football played by this team. It has been so worth it!!!
Mid-Northwest, Gopher Gold District scores on October 18:
Upsala/Swanville Area 40, West Central Area 12 (at Swanville)
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 57, Benson 13 (Uff! Falcons build a head of steam going into playoffs and rack up 417 yards of offense in Grove City)
Browerville 43, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 16
Area football scores on October 18:
MACCRAY 7, Yellow Medicine East 6
#4 BOLD 40, Canby 6
#1 Minneota 50, Dawson-Boyd 6
Minnewaska Area 28, Melrose Area 6
Albany 43, Montevideo 42 (Huskies score 22 fourth quarter points to secure the win)
Tonight's huge border battle game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. Their online link is: https://www.kmgk1071.com. Thanks, Brady! Our B-B-E Jaguars football team is hosting Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg for Parents Night to conclude the regular season!
Here's the final part of Friday Night Lights VI! It was a rain-soaked game...
The online link to the newspaper's fall photo sports gallery is: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/B-B-E-Fall-Sports-2023. Tonight we have amazing fall football weather! It was about 53 degrees at 5 p.m. tonight, with no threat of rain!
GAME updates to follow.
Jaguars are ahead 14-0 at halftime. They played a great first quarter but were quite flat in the second quarter. The second half will have to go much better for the blue and silver!
**At the end of the third quarter, the score is still 14 to 0. UPDATES and more in the Friday Night Lights VIII post coming after 10 p.m. This blog post is a wrap.
Volleyball clash for the ages! What a night! Jaguars are sole CMC champions! (VIDEOS!)
WAS THAT CRAZY, OR WHAT!!?!?!
Through two sets in tonight's Central Minnesota Conference match, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team looked mostly flat and disheveled as they took on bordering rival Paynesville Area in a match that still had big implications. The Bulldogs entered the night just one game out of first place, and a win would have brought a tie for the CMC title for both squads. The match ultimately played out in truly wild, see-saw fashion as the teams traded wins the entire way. Trailing 2-1 in sets, the Bulldogs dominated game four to force a fifth set. B-B-E had the upper hand for most of the final game to claim a 15-10 win and take the match 3-2 to finish 7-0 in the CMC! I still have to tally up how many conference titles the program has earned, solo and shared. This program makes me work, and this NEVER GETS OLD! Not for one second.
Paynesville Area finished second in the CMC with a 6-1 record. Royalton took third place with a 4-3 record. They lost tonight in a 3-1 match to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. CMC match results from tonight are added at the end of this blog post.
Before getting to the nitty gritty on the volleyball match, it must be stated very clearly how overwhelming, unforgettable and unbelievable the entire evening was, especially for the Dustin and Tiffany Breitbach family. There is so much that can be said here, but what everyone needs to know is that our little B-B-E community came together in a truly marvelous way to give the Breitbachs a huge, huge lift with both an enormous financial gift and also a spiritual lift with an untold level of prayers and well wishes as Tiffany fights for her life with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Through various fundraisers that took place today and in days leading up to today, the Breitbachs received a donation of roughly $11,000. Almost $6,700 of that was raised through today's silent auction. There are simply no words to fully explain how incredible that is. And lest anyone forgets, including me! Breitbach was a key leader on the very first B-B-E Jaguar team to advance to a state tournament. She was a senior member of the 2005 volleyball squad that won the Section 6AA title to punch through to state.
And how about tonight's volleyball match...!
The Bulldogs held the upper hand for nearly the entire first set, as B-B-E played uphill starting from a 3-1 deficit. The Jaguars fought for ties at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 7-7 and 11-11. The Bulldogs surged later in that set and built multiple three-point leads. After the Jaguars trailed 18-16, the Bulldogs scored three straight to lead 21-16. Brooklyn Fischer's kill brought a badly needed side out, but the Bulldogs got a kill to take a 22-17 lead. B-B-E then went on an incredible and unforgettable comeback to claim a 25-23 win.
Game two was tough to watch, as the Bulldogs led 3-0 right away and expanded that to 13-2 before the Jaguars began clawing their way back. Paynesville's lead shrunk to 22-19 before they closed it out with three straight points in a 25-19 win.
Here's action from later in game two, where the Jaguars pulled within 22-19...
The Jaguars played much, much better in game three and came out of an early 4-1 deficit to lead 14-7 after Brooklyn Fischer had back-to-back kills. The lead grew to 19-11 and then 21-12 as the Jaguars eventually won the set by a 25-15 score. They hit at an incredible 34.6 percent clip in that set.
As good as the Jaguars looked in game three, the Bulldogs appeared the better unit throughout most of game four and once again took a 3-1 lead out of the gate. The Jaguars rattled off four straight points for a 5-3 lead, but the Bulldogs then scored three straight to regain the upper hand. They pushed further ahead to a 15-9 lead to force B-B-E into their first timeout. Paynesville had an 8-0 run going that put them up 19-9 before Kacey Fischer's kill gave the Jaguars a side out. B-B-E fell back 24-11 and then went into their final timeout. A late surge of four straight points from two Brooklyn Fischer kills and two Kacey Fischer ace serves made it 24-15. The Bulldogs finished off the set with a final kill to tie the match at two sets each.
Game five! As good as it gets...
A perfectly-placed tip by Kylie Weller and an ace serve by Kenna Lieser gave the Jaguars a 2-1 lead early in game two. Back-to-back errors put them behind 3-2, however, before a long hit by Paynesville tied the set at 3-3. Kamie Fischer's ace serve and a kill by Kadynce Haider put the Jaguars ahead 5-3. Paynesville cut it to 5-4, 6-5 and 7-6 before Brooklyn Fischer's kill and Weller's ace serve put the Jaguars ahead 9-6. Another huge kill by Haider in the middle made it 11-8, and the Jaguars were able to cruise from there and play through two Paynesville timeouts while earning the final two points in a crazy 15-10 win.
AND!!!! Here is the complete game five! I thought there's no reason to not post it right away...this was crazy!
For the record! Game scores were 25-23, 19-25, 25-15, 15-25, 15-10.
Paynesville Area takes an 18-5 record into the Section 3AA-North playoffs, where they are the No. 1 seed. They finished 6-1 in the CMC to take second place alone. The last season the Bulldogs defeated the Jaguars was in 2017, when B-B-E went 5-2 in the CMC. In 2018, Paynesville Area gave the Jaguars a huge, huge gift when they earned a 3-2 upset win over Maple Lake on October 2. The Irish later defeated B-B-E in a 3-0 sweep on October 11 to finish as co-champions with the Jaguars.
AND here's the conference championship tally! This year's CMC title marks the 18th time in B-B-E history that the volleyball team has won a share or all of a conference title. The first title was earned with a perfect 14-0 record in the West Central South Conference in 1994. Since 2000, when the Jaguars went 8-0 to claim their first CMC title, they have won a whopping 16 conference titles! That makes it easier to count the years they were not conference champions...which were 2001, 2004, 2005, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2020.
Of B-B-E's 18 volleyball conference titles, 12 have been solo crowns.
NEXT! It is playoff time! Yes, the playoffs are just around the corner. It's really hard to believe. I vividly remember the trip to MACCRAY in the second match of the season way back in late August. Now that is so long ago. The Jaguars (20-5-1) enter the postseason and will host a Sub-Section 6A-South quarterfinal match on Wednesday, October 25 at 7 p.m. in Brooten.
Central Minnesota Conference volleyball scores on October 17:
Maple Lake 3, Kimball Area 2
A-C-GC 3, Royalton 1
Other video will be posted in the morning, as much of the good stuff was recorded on my cell phone. It's now time to get the Bonanza Valley Voice ready for press!!
Tonight we have a classic match up of bordering rivals! The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is up 1-0 in sets on Paynesville Area after an incredible comeback in game one. They took the first set by a 25-23 score after falling behind 22-17.
The Jaguars came out incredible flat in game two, and the Bulldogs raced out to a 13-2 lead. The Jaguars fought back to trail 22-19, but they ultimately lost the second set by a 25-19 score. It was a tough one to watch.
Hit refresh and find the new blog post to see how the rest of the evening went!
Color Run! And tonight is Dig Pink Night for the volleyball team (VIDEO)
It's hard to believe that the Color FUND Run was almost two weeks ago. It's been a wild ride so far in October. Below is a video from that terrific afternoon at the high school campus. I'm not sure how it will all fit, but this week's Bonanza Valley Voice will feature additional Color Run photos and coverage.
Everything is better with music and dancing!!!
Tonight is home volleyball!!! It's Dig Pink Night for the No. 13-ranked B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team! The silent auction benefit in support of Tiffany Breitbach's battle with cancer starts at 3 p.m. at the elementary cafeteria in Brooten. It will conclude at 7 p.m.
The wins keep adding up for the B-B-E Jaguars football team, as they are now 7-0 overall after a 48-7 win at Long Prairie-Grey Eagle on Friday for their Week 7 contest. The Jaguars have only won 7 regular season games in these seasons: 1988, 2013 and 2017. This is quite an achievement! We are going to soak it up and enjoy every moment of this season!
Here's the Jaguars stopping LP-GE after they converted their first first down of the game:
That first down conversion by LP-GE came with under 3 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
*Here's the two-point conversion carry to close out the first half on Friday:
B-B-E led 42-7 at halftime against the Thunder, whose last win over the Jaguars was in the 2019 season in Week 3 by a 26-8 score.
LP-GE's last winning season was in the 2005 season. That was an eternity ago for their program, which has had a long list of 1-8 and 0-9 seasons since 2005. The 2005 season was one to remember, and while they did not earn any championships, LP-GE went 6-4 overall and had a 1-1 mark in the Section 6AAA playoffs. They finished as runners-up with a 5-2 record in the rugged West Central North Conference behind eventual state runner-up Albany. Turnout has been a regular problem for LP-GE in football, as they have only 21 players listed on their official roster. They have 5 seniors in football this fall.
Let's get a HUGE crowd for the last regular season game! This Wednesday night (October 18) against Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The team has earned it. They deserve to have a huge, huge turnout for this game. The weather will be great for a fall football game, so you have no excuse not to be there! Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Here's a related programming note! This is a big one...The B-B-E high school National Honor Society will be fundraising by selling ribbons for Tiffany Breitbach on October 17 and 18 (Tuesday and Wednesday this week) at the B-B-E home volleyball and football games. ALSO! On Tuesday, the volleyball team will have a silent auction of donated items available for bidding in the elementary cafeteria and proceeds to the Breitbachs. That starts at 3 p.m. and will run through 7 p.m. to conclude prior to the varsity match.
*Here's a video from game two in the Royalton volleyball match last Thursday:
**And here's the last points scored in the match in game three:
The girls' tennis team holds their awards banquet tonight to formally conclude their 2023 season. Also, Taylor Nelson and Taylor Pieper will compete with their cross country team at the Central Minnesota Conference championships tomorrow at the Kimball Golf Club. We are proud of the efforts of all our student athletes in Jaguar Country!
The B-B-E Class of 1998 will be celebrating their 25th Class Reunion TONIGHT, Saturday, October 14, 2023 at Extra Innings Bar in Spring Hill. The Class of '98 was the most decorated and talented group to go through the school in the 1990s. They pushed the envelope as an extremely dedicated group of student-athletes. I remember that 1997-1998 year quite well. The boys' wrestlers won the West Central South Conference title for the second straight year, and the football, wrestling and boys' basketball teams all finished runners-up in their respective postseason section tournaments. The volleyball team won the Sub-Section 5AA-20 title for the first time in school history before falling to a powerhouse Delano squad in the Region 5A semifinals. For me it was an unforgettable year.
Reunion schedule:
7 p.m. = Happy hour and Supper
8 p.m. to midnight: DeeJay and dancing
Cost: $15/person paid at the door. Hope to see you there and please spread the word to all classmates!
Friday Night Lights VII: Jaguars win blowout in the rain, earn share of district title! (VIDEO)
Mark it seven in a row! AND!! There's more!!! We are adding a regular season football trophy to the high school's trophy case for just the third time in school history.
In their seventh straight win of the season, the B-B-E Jaguars football team leveled an undermanned Long Prairie-Grey Eagle squad in a 48-7 blowout win tonight in Long Prairie. With the temperatures hovering around 45 degrees at game time with a steady rain coming down and 10 to 15 mile an hour northeast wins, the Jaguars limited turnovers to just one lost fumble while racking up a 42-7 halftime lead.
This win tonight at LP-GE, combined with Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg's loss to Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in Murdock, gives the No. 5-ranked Jaguars just their third conference championship in school history! The Jaguars are at least co-champions of the Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold District with a 6-0 record this fall and one game remaining. The Fighting Saints are 4-2 in the district and out of the race, while Upsala/Swanville Area leveled Benson 52-0 tonight to stay just one game out of first place with a 5-1 mark. The Jaguars can do no worse than a tie for first place with U/SA depending on the outcome of next week's games.
B-B-E won the Prairie Lakes Conference title in 1988 in Year One of Jaguar football with a 4-0 record. They went 7-0 in the Mid-State, Sub-District III schedule to win the district title back in 2017.
The Jaguars received the opening kickoff and needed just two plays to score with 11:10 left in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead on a 59-yard touchdown carry by Jack Lundberg. LP-GE's first series that followed went nowhere, and they miffed the punt to give the Jaguars possession at the Thunder 14-yard line with 9:14 left. Five plays later, Luke Dingmann scored on a one-yard touchdown carry go put the Jaguars ahead 12-0 with 7:01 left.
*Here's a video featuring B-B-E's second touchdown of the game:
Braeden Michels later scored on a 45-yard touchdown carry with 3:56 left in the opening quarter that capped a 57-yard, three-play drive. Owen Paulson ran off left tackle for the two-point conversion that made it a 22-0 lead.
LP-GE then scored on a kickoff return to make it a 22-7 game with a successful PAT kick with 3:45 left...still in the first quarter. The 22-7 score was what stood at the end of the first quarter.
Ryan Jensen's five-yard touchdown reception with 11:15 left in the second quarter made it 28-7 while capping a 54-yard drive in a span of about 4 minutes.
Scoring the last three touchdowns were Owen Paulson, Luke Illies and Luke Dingmann. I'll get more written here on Saturday morning. I have to call it a night...gas tank empty! Good night!
LP-GE falls to 1-6 overall with their sixth straight loss.
For the game, B-B-E limited LP-GE to just 54 total yards of offense, whose ball carriers got tackled behind the line of scrimmage at least 7 times. LP-GE's first series had a net gain of one yard on three plays. Four B-B-E players had 3 or more solo tackles: Harley Weber, Odin Jensen, Jack Lundberg and Carson Gilbert. Ethan Mueller recorded one quarterback sack. Overall, a total of 19 Jaguars earned at least one solo or one assisted tackle. The Thunder are really struggling this year on the gridiron. I counted just 20 players in pads after the game. I haven't checked what was on their official roster, but anything that low is really, really tough for 11-man football.
Luke Dingmann's passing numbers showed 9 completes on 11 attempts for 76 yards with two touchdowns. The team's running game tallied 285 yards on 32 carries. Jack Lundberg had 78 rushing yards on 4 carries with one touchdown, and Braeden Michels had 5 carries for 73 yards with one touchdown.
The Jaguars have shattered the old record of most points scored in the regular season, which was 261 points scored in the regular season of 2013. They entered tonight's game with 254 points scored and now sit at 302 points for the season. Last year's team scored 260 points in the regular season, and the state tournament team of 2021 scored 204 regular season points.
NEXT: the Jaguars (7-0) host Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg for a border battle next Wednesday, October 18 to close out the regular season. I do not have confirmation on a final score of K-M-S's game tonight. I know that at halftime, the Fighting Saints on their Homecoming night trailed to visiting Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City by a 22-7 score. FINAL: A-C-GC 30, K-M-S 26...it was a wild fourth quarter tonight in Murdock. The Fighting Saints closed the deficit to 22-20 with a little over 3 minutes left in the game. After falling behind 30-20, the Fighting Saints scored with 54 seconds left on a two-yard reception by Logan Duke from Jared Cortez. The point-after failed, but they recovered an onside kick but ran out of time while trying to convert fourth down. A-C-GC's Jevon Williams ran 24 times for 213 yards with four touchdowns. K-M-S countered with Jett Olson's 20 carries for 113 yards and one touchdown.
Don't forget on Saturday! the Elrosa Fire Department steak fry as well as the Crow River Lutheran church soup and supper events both begin a 4 p.m. The live auction at Crow River with Mark and Brian Ziemer starts at 7 p.m. sharp. The steak fry ends at 8 p.m. or when supplies run out.
Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold district scores in Week 7 on October 13:
No. 8-ranked Upsala/Swanville Area 52, Benson 0
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 30, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 26
Browerville 30, West Central Area 14
Area football scores for Week 7 on October 13:
Minneota 67, Lac qui Parle Valley 0
Brandon-Evansville/Ashby 56, Ortonville 7
Montevideo 37, Pierz 12
Albany 52, Minnewaska Area 6
Perham 21, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 6
Chisago Lakes Area 42, Willmar 14
Rockford Area 36, Melrose Area 6
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 20, Sauk Centre 14
New London-Spicer 62, St. Cloud Apollo 12
Holdingford 40, Paynesville Area 6
Ready or not, here comes the seventh varsity football game of the season! The B-B-E Jaguars football team is traveling (and has already arrived actually) to Long Prairie-Grey Eagle country where they take on the host Thunder at their elementary football stadium in the center of Long Prairie.
(**At 6:30 p.m. I tried that YouTube link and did not see a video player for the game. However it is possible that they have an activated the stream yet. Brady's pregame coverage will start at 6:45 p.m. on the radio.)
The broadcasting link for LP-GE schools is: https://www.youtube.com/@LPGEVideos/streams. I am not sure if that will get to the broadcasting link. I hope to get this edited at about 6:30 p.m. if I can stay on schedule!! The game is also being aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood, which can be heard at 107.1 FM on your radio dial or on their website: https://www.kmgk1071.com.
*Here's a pregame huddle video from Homecoming night!
The Jaguars were pumped up and ready for Homecoming! They put together their most complete game of the season last week. It needs to continue tonight in Week Seven!!
*Here's a video from the 2nd quarter at Homecoming!
More to come. Time to pack up the Buick! And OH by the way don't forget about the two big community events this weekend: the soup and supper and live auction at Crow River Lutheran church, plus the Elrosa Fire Department steak fry (held at their Catholic church's basement) ...both events have been heavily promoted in the past 2 issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper!
GAME UPDATES to follow after 19:00... **The Jaguars are ahead 22 to 7 inside 4 minutes to go in the first quarter.
At halftime, the Jaguars are ahead 42 to 7. I've gone through one umbrella already, but my other equipment is holding up in a steady rainfall.
I'm heading straight home, and I hope to get pretty exciting news posted on a new blog post after 10:00 p.m..
Jaguars clinch a share! But they're not done yet...(VIDEOS* Sports Show!)
A sports show video plus a football game programming note were added here Friday morning! And I cleaned up some spelling mistakes which are embarrassing.
This never gets old, not for one second!
Powered by a 17-kill effort by Brooklyn Fischer, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team overcame a challenging Royalton Royals squad tonight in a 3-0 sweep to clinch a share of their third straight Central Minnesota Conference title. B-B-E has now claimed conference hardware in five of the past six seasons! Paynesville Area hosted Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City and entered the evening just one match out of first place with a 4-1 CMC mark. UPDATE: the Bulldogs (18-3 overall) kept pace with the Jaguars and are still just one game out of first place after they improved to 5-1 in the CMC with a 3-0 sweep over the Falcons tonight.
**Here's my sixth sports show of this fall season!
Royalton brought a tall front line and had three players listed at 5'10" or more, with 6'1" junior middle Addison Schoenrock being the tallest player on the floor tonight. They put up a tough block that the Jaguars adjusted to well as the match went along.
B-B-E built an early 6-2 lead in game one, and that expanded to 10-4 with kills coming from Kenna Lieser and Kamie Fischer. At that point, the Royals called their first timeout. The Jaguars maintained their momentum and built the lead up to 17-9 before the Royals called their second timeout. A kill from Kacey Fischer and an ace block from Kadynce Haider brought game point at 24-13, and the Royals strung together three straight before Kacey Fischer ended the set with a kill for a 25-16 win.
In game two, the Royals stuck with the Jaguars early on after B-B-E took an early 3-1 lead. Royalton trailed 9-6 before surging ahead to take a 15-11 lead at one point. A kill by Fischer brought the Jaguars within one point, and a four-hit call on the Royals tied it at 15-15. Back-to-back ace serves from Kacey Fischer gave the Jaguars an 18-16 lead as they had a 7-1 run going. The Roayls tied it at 18-18, but a kill from Brooklyn Fischer gave B-B-E a 21-18 lead before the Royals called a timeout. The Jaguars hammered Royalton down the stretch, and Kacey Fischer's ace serve and kill set up game point, and Brooklyn Fischer finished things off with a kill for a 25-18 win.
Royalton held an early 5-4 lead in game three, but Lieser's ace serve put the Jaguars in front at 6-5. The Royals tied it at 6-6, 8-8, 9-9 and later 12-12, but the Jaguars led the rest of the way in what ended up being a tight game up to the end. The Royals whittled down an 18-14 lead to a score of 20-19 before the Jaguars finished things off and earned a sweep with a 25-21 win.
*Here's the start of tonight's match and the early portion of game one:
Now 4-2 in the CMC, the Royals struggled mightily with B-B-E's service game, and the Jaguars hammered down 10 ace serves on 74 total attempts. B-B-E improves to 6-0 in the CMC (20-5-1 overall) with just one match remaining before playoffs: next Tuesday at home against Paynesville (also Dink Pink Night). As part of tonight's Parents Night, the family and memory of Jocelyn Dickhoff was honored by the team. Jocelyn was a member of the Class of 2024 who passed away in second grade after a lengthy battle with cancer. She is missed dearly by all who knew and loved her.
The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website has been updated with a fresh batch of web articles: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. And it's time to give a big, huge shout out to the Elrosa Fire Department for their upcoming steak fry this Saturday! This was advertised in the October 5 and October 12 issues of the newspaper.
**Friday update: tonight's football game in Long Prairie will be streamed on YouTube, courtesy of their high school's broadcasting team. In a new blog post later this afternoon I will get the video player embedded for you to watch it on this blog. Fans can also tune in on the Glenwood radio station at 107.1 FM and at their website.
Central Minnesota Conference volleyball scores on October 12:
Paynesville Area 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Maple Lake 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 0
Area volleyball scores on October 12:
Canby 3, Ortonville 0
Annandale 3, Glencoe-Silver Lake 0
Albany 3, Pequot Lakes 0
Pierz 3, Little Falls 0
Minneota 3, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 0
Underwood 3, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 0
Parkers Prairie 3, Ashby 0
