Three videos were added here early Sunday morning...ALSO! Don't forget the Brooten American Legion pancake breakfast, which is served until 1 p.m. at Legion Hall on Central Avenue in Brooten. If you don't know where it is, they are located near the Bonanza Valley State Bank and Brooten Auto. Come show your support!!
**Sunday night...a few updates have been added throughout this blog post. Also, my 10th sports show of the season was just added, and it can be viewed below.
While ultimately it ended up as a tale of two halves, the big storyline is that the B-B-E Jaguars football team duked it out with a team that won the state title just two years ago and put on a defensive clinic all game on their way to a 28-6 win to open the Class 1A state tournament.
The Jaguars scored on their third, sixth and seventh drives of the first half while taking a 22-0 lead after the third touchdown, which came with 3:25 on the clock in the second quarter. This was the score at halftime.
You can click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website for a short game recap from Friday's game and also see a video clip recorded when members of the B-B-E Class of 2024 gathered for a group photo at St. Cloud Apollo: https://tinyurl.com/5z5sp9sa. It is always special and heartwarming to see the love and comeraderie shown by B-B-E seniors year to year. They are family.
I've finally gotten close to being "caught up" on adding sports photos to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's SmugMug online photo gallery for the Fall 2023 albums...pictures from Fergus Falls and Fargo were just added today. You can find all fall sports folders at the following link: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/B-B-E-Fall-Sports-2023.
I had one error in the sports show...Minneota is playing in their 17th state football tournament. They won the Section 5A title in 2020, but the state tournament was not held due to state decree by the Minnesota government. I mis-counted when I read the full list, which is conveniently and proudly displayed on the Minneota public schools website. Bravo to Minneota for the work they put into promoting their teams! We are doing our best to do the same at B-B-E. It is always a work in progress.
**Added Sunday night...here's my 10th installment of the Fall Sports Show:
In the sports show video, I talked mostly about the state football game, but I also added comments about the upcoming fall musical. It is very important that you heed my call to come out and support our theater students!! I am going harp on this for the next 6 days almost nonstop. So be ready.
You can buy your musical tickets after clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website here: https://tinyurl.com/2kztc3fa. Then find the ticket purchase link to find which night and which seats you want to sign up for.
*Below, this video features a first-quarter defensive stop by the Jaguars...
Mayer Lutheran had 8 possessions in the first half while being held out of the end zone. They punted on six of them while also having one lost fumble. Their eighth series of the first half was what brought the action to a close before halftime after they ran three plays in the last 23 seconds while gaining eight yards on that possession. The most successful drive in the first half for the Crusaders was their first one, which started on their own 4-yard line. They gained 39 yards on 8 plays before punting from their own 43-yard line with 6:41 left in the opening quarter.
Altogether in the first half, Mayer Lutheran ran 36 plays that yielded a total of 74 yards of offense. They gained 11 yards on their 4th possession, but across the 5th and 6th possessions, they lost a net 11 yards. B-B-E's defense was unflappable in those first 24 minutes of the game. It was a sight!
The second half was a different story, but the Jaguars were able to answer Mayer Lutheran's lone touchdown of the game early in the fourth quarter. Altogether, Mayer Lutheran had 17 possessions and came up with points on just one of them.
Below is the video featuring Mayer Lutheran's extra-points try in the fourth quarter...
The entire game was a battle of field position...here's a clip from later in the fourth quarter...
Up next is the top-ranked team in Minnesota, and a team that is also the defending Class 1A state champions: Minneota. The Minneota Vikings will be playing in their 17th state football tournament. Their first was in 1985, when they lost in the Class C state semifinals. They proceeded to win three straight Class C state titles from 1986 through 1988, which is the stuff of legend. They were also a state semifinalist in 1989, which means they played in five straight state tournaments in that era. More recently, Minneota has been dominant again at the state tournament level and is in the big show for the third straight season. They were also state champions in 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2017...and most recently in 2022. B-B-E and Minneota last met in the playoffs in the 2008 Section 5A semifinals, when the Jaguars lost 55-6 in Minneota on a sunny, mild Saturday afternoon. I vividly remember that game!
The Vikings have out-rushed their opponents by a massive 72.2 points per game compared to 314.4 points per game average. Overall in 12 games, Minneota has outscored their opponents 602 to 93. Throughout the 12 games, Minneota's defense has given up just 7 points in the first quarter...all year long. Let that sink in! Yikes, they are good. Their roster features 11 seniors, including senior 6'1" 175-pound quarterback Ryan Dalager.
More to come. I've got lots more game tape to review tonight! It was a long day with many hours of office work completed, and tonight I was proud to support the Arts via an event at Central Square and Civic Center in Glenwood! They hosted the Great Dubois variety show. More on that in next week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
A quick volleyball state update...Russel-Tyler-Ruthton defeated Mayer Lutheran 3-1 in the state championship! I rate this as outstanding news. Mayer Lutheran was favored in this match based on how they were ranked, but the R-T-R Knights came to play and had a 19 percent hitting efficiency compared to Mayer Lutheran's 12 percent. Game scores were 25-13, 32-30, 17-25, 25-22. Their high school principal is Rick Gossen, who was at B-B-E from 2006 through 2022.
I'm excited to report that the University of Minnesota-Morris Cougars football team is heading to the NCAA Division III 32-team national playoffs! The Cougars defeated the University of Northwestern_St. Paul 42-39 yesterday at Big Cat Stadium in Morris. The win gave the Cougars the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season title and automatic bid to the NCAAs. Both teams combined to roll up over 900 yards of offense: 513 for UNW and 453 for UMM. The Cougars (7-3) are having their best season since 2006, when they went 7-0 in the UMAC before the conference had automatic bid rights to the national playoffs. This marks the first time since 1981 that the UMM Cougars will play in the NCAA playoffs.
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| Luke Dingmann sits back for a pass attempt during B-B-E's first scoring drive of the Section 4A semifinals on October 28 against A-C-GC. |
Sunday afternoon update: I've got a few notes to go over and add to this blog post. I also will have a 9th installment of my fall sports show videos to record and post. In that I will talk about our team's "QB1" and basically share the fact that I have no news to report. There's no news to report because QB1's status is something you can refer to as a "state secret"! Google that phrase...a state secret is classified information. This means everyone is on a need-to-know basis. Currently, no one in the public needs to know. However, I can say, and I will say often, that we can continue praying for QB1. Think "Texas football"!!! What would they do in Texas? They would pray.
College notes update...
The Alexandria Technical and Community College volleyball team finished in third place on Saturday in the NJCAA Division III national tournament. The Legends (21-7) defeated Owens Community College 3-1 in the third-place match. B-B-E Class of 2022 graduate Kailey Fischer had a terrific match with 24 set assists, 6 kills on 23 attacks with just two errors, one ace serve on 100 percent serving, 16 digs and one block assist. She was also named the region MVP on October 28! Congratulations! What a terrific season for a program that was just in their second season since it was founded in 2021.
