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!
Thursday, February 29, 2024
A historic win at STATE!
With their backs truly to the wall in the third-place match of the Class 1A state tournament, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team came alive with a full-throated roar in the upper weights after trailing 31-12 through the 152-pound match against Jackson County Central.
Then came the BOOM! The Jaguars won the next three matches by fall, all in the first period, to close the gap to 31-30. Earning the three pins were Brett DeRoo, Ethan Mueller and Maximus Hanson.
At 215, a loss by a decision at 215 put them down 34-30 going into the heavyweight match.
With Carson Gilbert having the weight of the entire match on his shoulders, the junior 215-pound wrestler put the smack down early and won by fall with a time of 1:15. Pandemonium followed!
Final: #2 B-B-E 36, #5 Jackson County Central 34. The Jaguars finish the season 23-2 overall while finishing with a team win! History is made!
B-B-E 36, JCC 34... 107: seventh grader Noah Jensen lost a 10-3 decision vs. No. 6-ranked Kyler Thier. 114: Noah Welte won by fall (1:18) vs. Ever Munoz Mazariegos. 121: Aiden Mueller lost by fall (0:53) vs. Kayden Eller. 127:seventh grader Jace Mueller lost by fall (1:27) vs. No. 10-ranked Isaac Rodriguez. 133: Louie Tensen lost by fall (3:40) vs. Benjamin Dahlin. 139: Ryan Jensen won by fall (1:03) vs. Ulises Bouakham. 145: Andrew Spanier lost by DQ. 152: Tanner Viessman lost a 16-4 major decision to No. 1-ranked Nolan Ambrose. 160: Brett DeRoo won by fall (1:01) vs. Seth Stai. 172: Ethan Mueller won by fall (1:46) vs. Carson Kolander. 189: Maximus Hanson won by fall (0:36) vs. Jack Mix. 215: Hunter Laage lost a 7-1 decision vs. Ryan Haley. 285: Carson Gilbert won by fall (1:15) vs. Michael Hansen.
The win was special for countless reasons, but one of the most wonderful qualities of the win was how the team prover the doubters wrong! In the past 2 weeks, online chatter at the Guillotine site didn't put much weight into B-B-E's fourth straight state appearance. It's great to show they had the mettle to pick up two state wins.
I will post more details on this match after 10 p.m. tonight.
The Huskies, who were state champions in 2022 and 2023, finish the season 20-5.
**In the state championship, Chatfield has a 12 to 7 lead through 145 lb against Staples-Motley. It's been a grinder so far. Final score: Chatfield 47, Staples-Motley 7.
Basketball news...
*At Royalton, the boys' basketball team won 74-42 tonight. No word yet on the girls' basketball game.
In the girls' basketball playoff game, the Jaguars won 86-28 to advance to the semifinals while four players scored in double figures.
In a truly dominating performance to open the state tournament, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team dismantled No. 10-ranked United North Central by a 51-18 score in the Class 1A quarterfinals.
Next: the Jaguars head to the State Final Four, where they take on No. 3-ranked and No. 2-seeded Staples-Motley in the Class 1A semifinals at 1 p.m. today at Xcel Energy Center. In their quarterfinal today, the Cardinals took apart unseeded LeSueur-Henderson by a 51-9 score to advance to the state semis. Staples-Motley, champions of Section 7A, will be a formidable opponent.
Top-ranked and top-seeded Chatfield easily defeated unseeded Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie by a 50-9 score in their quarterfinal dual. They held an initial 31-0 lead through 145 pounds. A win by decision at 152 pounds made it 35-0 before BH/V/PP got on the board with a pin at 160 pounds.
No. 4-seeded and No. 5-ranked Jackson County Central prevailed 36-33 against No. 5-seeded and No. 6-ranked Lake Crystal-Wellcome-Memorial Area to earn a spot in the state semis and a match up with Chatfield.
B-B-E vs. UNC notes...
Ahead 21-12 through the 145-pound match, the Jaguars poured it on in a big way with three straight first-period pins by Brett DeRoo, Ethan Mueller and Maximus Hanson. They continued building on that 39-12 lead with two additional pins at 189 and 215 pounds by Hunter Laage and Carson Gilbert. Laage's pin also was earned in the first period with a time of 1:05. UNC earned a pin at heavyweight with their other state-ranked wrestler, No. 10-ranked junior Kevin Dailey, pinning Harley Weber in a time of 28 seconds.
Onc
Dual updates against Staples-Motley will follow after 1 p.m. on this blog post. The Cardinals are 33-1 overall heading into the state semis.
State semifinal update: through 160 pounds, the Cardinals are ahead 35-7. Through 139, Staples-Motley had a 31-0 lead. They have five ranked wrestlers in the first five weights, and it showed as they won by fall at 107, 114, 121 and 133 pounds. At 172 pounds, Ethan Mueller won a 6-0 decision to cut it to 35-10. Maximus Hanson then won a 21-6 tech fall (5:12) to make it a 35-15 deficit.
At 215, Hunter Laage faced Adrian Gomez and trailed 5-0 after the first period. Update: that 5-0 score stood through the second and third periods, with Laage losing by a 5-0 decision to expand Staples-Motley's lead to 38-15.
At 285 pounds...the dual concludes on a high note...Carson Gilbert faced Steven Petrich and won by fall in the closing seconds (5:58) to make for a final score of 38-21.
Sidebar: it's crazy, but it is likely true...at the MSHSL website with Staples-Motley school information, their wrestling team has 8 coaches listed. Eight coaches!!! B-B-E, meanwhile, has 3 coaches on staff. I also noticed that Staples-Motley finished sixth at the prestigious Rumble on the Red invitational at the FargoDome on December 30. The top five teams at the Rumble on the Red were all Class 3A schools. For what it's worth, Holdingford has six coaches listed on their wrestling staff. The Huskers, runners-up in the Central Minnesota Conference behind our Jaguars, lost 32-25 in the Section 7A championship to Staples-Motley. On January 13 at the Bemidji Duals, Staples-Motley lost 32-22 to Holdingford.
Re-posting...let's go back again to yesterday's elementary pep fest, with this video recorded near the end. It was a great opportunity for elementary students to interact and get an up close look at our outstanding group of wrestling student athletes!
Next at state: the Jaguars (22-3) look to finish the team portion of the 2023-2024 season with a win as they head to the third-place match, which starts at 5 p.m. tonight at Xcel. Once again, the Jaguars will face a formidable opponent as they will take on two-time defending state champion Jackson County Central. The JCC Huskies were roughed up in a 49-12 semifinal loss to Chatfield. The JCC Huskies are 20-4 overall. They won the Big South Conference's West division with a 6-0 record.
Tonight, Chatfield (20-1), champions of the Three Rivers Conference, faces Staples-Motley (34-1) in the Class 1A state championship.
Third place updates vs. JCC:
At 107, Noah Jensen lost by a 10-3 decision.
The Huskies have built a 27-12 lead through 145 pounds. The Jaguars got pins by Noah Welte (114) and Ryan Jensen (139).
At 152, Tanner Viessman is trailing 5-0 in the second period. Final: Viessman lost a 16 to 4 major decision to Nolan Ambrose. The hopes are dimming.
More to follow in a NEW blog post. This blog post is a wrap.
To add to your calendar! And state wrestling is today! (VIDEO, UPDATES!*)
It's very important to take in our local events, whose advertising supports this newspaper. Here's one to get on your calendar for March: the Brooten Ambulance pancake breakfast! This is coming on Sunday, March 17 at the Brooten American Legion hall. I hope to see you there! You can read more here: https://shorturl.at/zGMU5.
If you go about your business locally without supporting our local events, you are missing out! You are cheating yourself, and you are also cheating your community.
Boys' basketball update: the conference action at Royalton has shifted earlier! The JV and C-squad games start at 4:30 p.m. at Royalton high school. The varsity game should tip off at about 6 p.m. For the girls' playoff game, that still has a 7 p.m. tip off in Belgrade.
Meanwhile, today at Xcel Energy Center...the No. 2-ranked B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is facing No. 10-ranked United North Central in the Class 1A state quarterfinals. The UNC Warriors are 25-4 in duals this season after claiming the Section 8A championship. In the Section 8A finals, UNC squeezed out a 27-23 win against perennial state tournament contender Frazee. This is UNC's third straight trip to the team state tournament. Two years ago, UNC earned a 34-30 upset win against our Jaguars in the consolation semifinals of state. They lost 41-24 in the fifth-place dual to Kimball Area.
**Here's a video from the end of yesterday's elementary school pep fest. That was fun!
State wrestling updates will follow later this morning. ALSO! The Elrosa Bar and Lounge, now owned by Jeff and Wanda Arends, will be live streaming the wrestling matches today! I believe the KaDe Shack in Brooten will as well, but I have to double check on that. Confirmed: Tommy is indeed streaming the state wrestling at the KaDe Shack! So there's two options locally to watch it with others if you can't be there in person.
The action can be live streamed via your own device for a very low fee of $30 per year. I find that to be the deal of the century! Here's that link: https://nspn.tv/MSHSL.
Class 1A state quarterfinal dual updates vs. No. 10-ranked UNC: UPDATE: after the 107 and 114-pound matches are complete, the Jaguars hold a 6-0 lead with two decisions in the book: Noah Jensen by an 11-6 score at 107 and Noah Welte by an 8-4 score at 114. This is a great start to the quarterfinals!
At 121 pounds, Aiden Mueller has a 4-0 lead after earning a reversal just 14 seconds into the second period! Update: Aiden Mueller won by fall just 22 seconds into the second period! This gives the Jaguars a 12-0 lead through the first three weights. This is a terrific start!
At 127 pounds...seventh grader Jace Mueller lost by fall (1:03) as the Warriors earned their first team points of the dual.
At 133 pounds...junior Louie Tensen is facing senior and No. 10-ranked Aaron Lake. Tensen battled but ultimately lost by fall in the final minute of the third period (5:18). Through 133 pounds, the dual is tied at 12-12. Lake is one of two state-ranked wrestlers on the UNC squad.
At 139 pounds...Ryan Jensen has built an 11-1 lead in the third period against UNC senior Zach Hendrickson. Final: Ryan Jensen won an 11-2 major decision that gives the Jaguars a 16-12 lead.
At 145 pounds... Tanner Viessman is facing UNC seventh grader Creed Koll. Update:Viessman has built a 6-0 lead in the second period.
BOOM! The Jaguars have clinched the win! The 189, 215 and 285 pound matches are still to come. They advance to the state semis!!! More to come in a new blog post after noon.
THANK YOU TO Bonanza Valley State Bank and Paul J. Gruber for sponsoring this blog post!
The excitement level is building for the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team as they gear up for the state tournament! Below is a video recorded this morning at the elementary school's state pep fest. A high school pep fest follows later today at 1 p.m.
VIDEO:
*Here's another video from the elementary pep fest:
More to come later Wednesday night.
The Jaguars face United North Central in the state quarterfinals in an 11 a.m. dual at Xcel Energy Center. This will be UNC's third straight appearance in the team state tournament and third overall.
I've got a light sports story added to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website that you can see by clicking here: https://rb.gy/echu15. It includes a video clip from the 2023 team state wrestling quarterfinals against Medford.
State wrestling seeding, fan bus, girls' basketball seeding (UPDATES)
**A few updates have been added to this blog post on Tuesday night as I'm finishing up the February 29 issue of the newspaper...some are at the end of the post (see below)...IMPORTANT: you can still sign up for the fan bus early Wednesday morning!!! The new deadline is 10 a.m. at either school office! Remember you need to pay for your bus ride before the deadline, and if you can't, you need to talk to a secetary and arrange the payment in order to get your seat reserved. It's vital to get these buses filled up!
It's Monday night, and there's much to digest and share.
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is seeded No. 3 for the Class 1A state tournament and opens the big show at Xcel Energy Center with an 11 a.m. quarterfinal dual this Thursday against unseeded United North Central, champions of Section 8A with a 25-4 record.
State Fan Bus info! Fans of all ages are invited to join the spectator buses that the school is lining up for the team state tournament on Thursday.
Here's information in the order of its importance! First of all, the sign-up deadline is 4 p.m. on Tuesday! You can sign up in person at the main offices of either the high school or elementary. The cost to ride is $15 per person, and this does not include your ticket to the state tournament. You must purchase your state ticket separately via the MSHSL / Ticketmaster. Children who are in 5th grade or younger must be accompanied by an adult, and parent permission is required for students of any age to ride the bus. The bus departs the elementary in Brooten at 7:45 a.m. on Thursday and 8 a.m. from the high school in Belgrade. The bus will be in St. Paul all day until the final state dual is completed for B-B-E's wrestling team (which could be either the 1 p.m., 5 p.m. or 7 p.m. dual).
Click on this link to re-route to the website where you can purchase state tournament tickets: https://rb.gy/81ed57.
Class 1A state wrestling team seeding:
1. Chatfield
2. Staples-Motley
3. B-B-E
4. Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Area
5. Jackson County Central Unseeded are United North Central, LeSueur-Henderson and Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie
State semifinals for the championship and consolation duals will start at 1 p.m.
The fifth-place and third-place duals start at 5 p.m.
The Class 1A state championship dual starts at 7 p.m. on Thursday night, February 29.
In girls' basketball news... the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team begins the postseason on Thursday this week (February 29) with a home sub-section quarterfinal game starting at 7 p.m. against No. 6-seeded Mille Lacs. The Mille Lacs Raiders are 5-19 overall; they went 2-8 in the Great River Conference to take fifth place in the six-team league. Ogilvie (22-3 overall) won the GRC this year with a 9-1 record. Ogilvie is also the No. 1 seed in Sub-Section 5A-East.
The Mille Lacs Raiders team is a third-year sports co-op from the high schools of the Onamia and Isle school districts. The combined grades 9-12 enrollment of Onamia and Isle high schools is 226. Fun fact: in Coach Kristina Anderson's second year as head coach, her Jaguars faced Isle in the Sub-Section 5A-South championship at Pierz high school on March 11, 2014. The Jaguars lost that game 53-43, and Isle went on to lose 59-47 in the Section 5A championship to Browerville.
Sub-Section 5A-East girls' basketball seeding:
1. Ogilvie
2. Braham
3. B-B-E
4. Upsala
5. Swanville
6. Mille Lacs
7. East Central
8. Maple Lake
9. St. John's Prep
Tuesday night update...Maple Lake defeated visiting St. John's Prep 39-30 in their play-in round game on Monday. They advance to Thursday's quarterfinals, which features a trip north to top-seeded Ogilvie. In Sub-Section 5A-West on Monday, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle beat Laporte 59-36 to advance to the quarterfinals.
In Section 2A playoffs on Monday night...
BOLD defeated neighboring rival Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 57-38 in the quarterfinal round of Sub-Section 2A-North. The Falcons, whose core players were all underclassmen except one talented senior, finished 12-13 overall (5-9 Central Minnesota Conference) and will undoubtedly be a force to reckon with in 2024-2025.
Also...Benson's girls' basketball team defeated Ortonville 72-30 in a play-in round game of Sub-Section 6A-South. They are 9-16 overall after playing a regular season outside of a conference. They are currently rebuilding multiple athletic programs while seeking entrance into the Camden Conference.
This week we have just one home varsity event, and the same follows next week as well. For Jaguar Country, there are only two home events on the docket for our winter sports season. While spring is just around the corner, we hope to have a few more weeks of winter ahead of us!
Coming this week... Wednesday: we can look forward to pep fest activities in support of our B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team, as they prepare for the team state tournament that takes place on Thursday in St. Paul. On Monday, pep fest details should be available to share.
Thursday: state wrestling, a home girls' basketball playoff game plus the boys' basketball travels to Royalton to conclude the Central Minnesota Conference schedule.
Friday: the individual state wrestling tournament begins, and the boys' basketball team travels to Hancock to wrap up the regular season.
Saturday: the individual state wrestling tournament concludes at Xcel Energy Center, and the Sub-Section 5A-East girls' basketball semifinal games will be held in Hinckley.
*Here's a video that's over one month old...featuring the final stretch (last 30 seconds) of the girls' basketball border battle on the home court against Paynesville Area...
The girls' basketball team prevailed 48-45 that night to earn a series split with the Bulldogs in the Central Minnesota Conference. Paynesville Area (15-12 overall) finished 7-7 in the CMC to take fourth place alone. They defeated visiting Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 52-44 yesterday in the Sub-Section 3AA-North quarterfinals. This earns them a match up with state-ranked New London-Spicer in the semifinals next week.
Tonight I'm busy trying to catch up on the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website's SmugMug photo gallery. I'm still uploading photo galleries from January events. The winter sports folder can be found by clicking here: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/B-B-E-Winter-Sports-23-24. Based on some rough estimates after reviewing my camera chips, I'm roughly 2,000 photos behind on the galleries from January and February. Yikes!! I'm currently caught up through January 16...which means I'm over 5 weeks behind.
I have the B-B-E high school Sno-Daze coronation photos uploaded finally; that SmugMug album can be found by clicking here: https://rb.gy/798y7e.
In college basketball news...
Congratulations to Tiyana Schwinghammer and her Northland Technical and Community College Pioneers women's basketball team, as they earned the Minnesota Community Athletic College (MCAC) North division regular season title on Saturday with a 66-59 win against visiting Central Lakes College. The CLC Raiders were just one game out of first place in the MCAC-North, but the win by the Pioneers gave them sole possession of the title. Northland (21-4) opens Region XIIIB action as the No. 1 seed on Saturday, March 2 in Coon Rapids with a 2 p.m. tip-off against No. 4-seeded Minnesota State Community and Technical College of Fergus Falls.
Also! Congratulations to Ashton Dingmann and his Gustavus Adolphus Gusties men's basketball team as they are the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoff champions after they defeated Hamline University in a barn burner 72-71 on Saturday. The win gives them the MIAC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III national tournament. The NCAA's first round for Division III men's basketball is on Friday, March 1. Other details won't be announced until tomorrow. The Gusties are 18-10 overall, and this is their first MIAC playoff title since 2005. Hamline, which trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half, whittled the gap to just one point with 1:07 on the clock. The Gusties missed four field goal attempts in the final minute, and the Pipers had possession with 7 seconds to go. A potential buzzer-beating game winner did not fall, and the Gusties survived the Pipers' comeback bid to advance to nationals for the first time since 2012. Fun fact: attendance at Gustavus topped 3,000 at Gus Young Arena, making for a packed house and an incredible atmosphere.
Also! Congratulations to Abby Berge and her MSU-Moorhead Dragons women's basketball team after they won their regular season finale in Marshall against Southwest State University by a 70-66 score. The Dragons outscored the Mustangs 21-15 in the fourth quarter to pull out the win. MSU-Moorhead (12-15 overall) finished 12-10 in the regular season in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and earned a home playoff game in the process as the No. 8 seed in a 12-team bracket. They host No. 9-seeded Winona State University on Wednesday, February 28 at 6 p.m. at Nemzek Fieldhouse. The SSU Mustangs enter the NSIC playoffs as the No. 5 seed, and they host No. 12-seeded Augustana on February 28 at the R/A Facility with a 7:30 p.m. tip off.
The Brooten city council agenda has finally been posted to my editor's blog: https://shorturl.at/blHIW. They meet on Monday night.
Five punch through to state and girls' basketball seedings (UPDATED)
A total of five members of theB-B-E Jaguars wrestling team have punched through to the Class 1A state individual tournament as the Section 5A tournament in Canby has concluded this evening. Three Jaguars have earned Section 5A titles: Ryan Jensen at 139 pounds, Maximus Hanson at 172 and Carson Gilbert at 215. Ryan Jensen is 43-0, Maximus Hanson is 45-0, and Carson Gilbert is 39-3 as the "Big Three" for the Jaguars who will lead the team into the Class 1A state tournament next Thursday in St. Paul.
Two other Jaguars also advance to state as Section 5A runners-up: Tanner Viessman and Brett DeRoo.
B-B-E's Section 5A true second-place match results:
At 145 pounds, Tanner Viessman won a 4-0 decision in the true second-place match to improve to 38-3 overall in his senior season.
At 152 pounds, Brett DeRoo won a 5-0 decision in the true second-place match to improve to 37-6 in his junior season.
At 189 pounds, Hunter Laage lost a heartbreaker by a 2-1 decision in the true second-place match to Paynesville's Peyton Hemmesch. He finishes in third place at 189 and takes a 32-13 record into the team state tournament.
The Class 1A state individual wrestling tournament runs Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Other results for the Jaguars at the section tournament today: 107: Noah Jensen (21-23) won a 10-9 decision in the fifth-place match against A-C-GC seventh grader Nolan Bierwerth (21-17).
114: Noah Welte (30-14) won by fall (3:41) in the fifth-place match against K-M-S freshman Oswaldo Moreno (19-27).
121: Noah DeRoo (10-15) lost a 5-3 decision in the fifth-place match to Benson sophomore Tate Kobbermann (13-27).
127: Jace Mueller had a 1-2 record at the section tournament, and the seventh grader takes a 12-20 record into the team state tournament.
133: Dylan Koob went 1-2 at the section tournament; he currently has a 4-15 overall record in his eighth-grade season.
160: Ethan Mueller (35-11) finished today with a loss in the third-place match by fall (0:43) to Benson senior Nick Bolduc (12-5).
285: Harley Weber was injured in his section semifinal match today and ultimately finished in sixth place. He is 26-10 going into the team state tournament.
In girls' basketball news...
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has been seeded No. 3 in the upcoming Sub-Section 5A-East tournament. The subsection quarterfinals will be held Thursday, February 29 with a 7 p.m. tip-off at B-B-E high school in Belgrade against No. 6-seeded Mille Lacs. This marks the first time that our Jaguars have been grouped in the eastern half of the Section 5A tournament. I find it completely bizarre. If the Jaguars win on Thursday, their next game (the sub-section semis) is on Saturday, March 2 at Hinckley-Finlayson high school with a 2:45 p.m. tip-off against either Braham (the No. 2 seed) or East Central (the No. 7 seed. The Hinckley-Finlayson high school is located in Hinckley.
Area girls' basketball scores on February 24 (all are playoff games except Mayer Lutheran vs. MI-B):
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 75, Eden Valley-Watkins 57
New London-Spicer 74, Montevideo 36
Minnewaska Area 71, Litchfield 38
Mayer Lutheran 60, Mountain Iron-Buhl 54
MACCRAY 63, Canby 42
Minneota 69, Yellow Medicine East 39
Paynesville Area 52, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 44
Section individual wrestling, robotics and speech today (UPDATES**** and VIDEO)
Today there are three big events taking place, including one that features state qualifiation on the line. Updates are being posted below on this blog post throughout the day. Note: my last morning update for section wrestling was a 11:20 a.m. (See below)
**Saturday mid-afternoon update...I've got additional notes posted below at the bottom of this blog post with wrestling updates out of Canby, where five Jaguars are gunning for a section title; others may be in the running for a state berth, but that's all yet to be determined with much to still shake out.
Final results from the Section 5A individual wrestling tournament will be posted in a new blog post at 7 p.m. tonight. Hit refresh of the blog to check that out and see how many Jaguars have advanced to state.
UPDATE at 5 p.m...more outcomes have been decided for the remaining Jaguars in contention for state...look at the bottom of this blog post for more on that...as of now, Ryan Jensen, Maximus Hanson and Carson Gilbert have earned guaranteed trips to the individual state tournament. Three other Jaguars are still in contention with true second matches forthcoming.
At Maple Lake today, the B-B-E speech team is competing in their fifth meet of the season. I will be reporting on their Browerville trip last weekend plus today's Maple Lake invitational in next week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
In robotics news! Saturday updates...
At Willmar high school, the B-B-E Resistance Robotics team is giving their robot its first run through real competition with the Week Zero scrimmage today. Action concludes before 4 p.m. this afternoo. I hope to be there after lunch! You can read a little about this year's robotics team and competition by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://rb.gy/9xvc12. The full article along with additional feature photos were published in the February 23 issue of The Voice.
**Here's a video from Willmar this afternoon...
At Canby high school...
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is competing in the Section 5A individual tournament. A few results of early matches are posted below. The section is experiencing the lack of wrestlers that has plaqued this sport across all corners of Minnesota. How incredibly lucky are we at B-B-E that we have a full wrestling room and ample depth that can overcome injuries throughout the lineup. We have such great student-athletes! This is not something to be taken for granted. It takes a mountain of hard work to get to where our wrestling program is.
107: Noah Jensen had a first-round bye and then lost a 12-5 decision in the quarterfinals to Paynesville's Jamison Meagher; this bracket has just 8 wrestlers, so he has a couple byes ahead of him in the consolation bracket.
114: Noah Welte (28-12) had a first-round bye in a nine-man bracket; he will face K-M-S's Oswaldo Moreno (18-24) in the quarterfinals. **Welte won by fall (3:14) against Moreno to advance to the championship semifinals, where he will face Benson sophomore Gavin Olson (32-7) for a berth in the championship.
121: Noah DeRoo (10-12) had a first-round bye in what is a six-man bracket; he faces K-M-S's Cole Froehlich (26-16) in the quarterfinals. **Noah DeRoo lost by fall (0:56) to Froehlich and has a least a couple byes in the consolation bracket.
127: in a 10-man bracket, Jace Mueller (12-18) won his opener by a 7-2 decision against K-M-S sophomore Zachary VanHeuveln; he will take on Benson sophomore Max Nygaard (31-8) in the quarterfinals. **Jace Mueller lost a tech fall (4:11) against Nygaard; he faces Quad County freshman James Hardin (9-22) in wrestlebacks. ****Jace Mueller lost by fall (4:46) against Hardin to see his seventh grade varsity season conclude with a final record of 12-20.
133: Dylan Koob (4-14) won his opener by fall (0:49) against Ortonville's Justus Romanoff; in the quarterfinals, Koob lost by fall (1:27) to top-seeded and undefeated K-M-S sophomore Trey Gunderson (47-0) to move into the wrestleback side of his nine-man bracket. **Koob had two byes in wrestlebacks and now faces Benson junior Mu tah Wah (13-26) in the wrestleback bracket.
139: top-seeded senior Ryan Jensen (40-0) had a first-round bye and faces BOLD sophomore Trey Zamarron (5-18) in the quarterfinals of an eight-man bracket. **Ryan Jensen won his quarterfinal match against Zamarron by fall (0:37) to advance to the championship semis. In the semis, he will face A-C-GC sophomore Joseph Sherwood (27-18).
145: senior Tanner Viessman (35-2) had a first-round bye in his nine-man bracket and faces Benson senior Derek Johnson (9-27) in the quarterfinals. **Viessman won his quarterfinal match against Johnson by fall (0:45) and now faces K-M-S freshman Taytan Nielsen (30-14) in the championship semifinals.
152: junior Brett DeRoo (34-5) had a first-round bye in his nine-man bracket and faces Canby senior Brodyrck Gravdal (15-16) in the quarterfinals. **Brett DeRoo won his quarterfinal by a 16-2 major decision against Gravdal and now faces Minneota junior Destin Fier (24-11) in the championship semifinals.
160: Ethan Mueller (33-9) had a first-round bye in his nine-man bracket and faces Minneota freshman Cael Fier (9-4) in the quarterfinals. **In his quarterfinal match, Ethan Mueller won a 5-3 decision against Fier to advance to the championship semifinals.
172 Maximus Hanson (42-0) had a first-round bye in his nine-man bracket and faces Ortonville junior Logan Omundson (10-29) in the quarterfinals. **Hanson won by fall (0:46) in his quarterfinal match against Omundson. His opponent is to-be-determined as of 11:21 a.m.
189: Hunter Laage (29-11) had a first-round bye in a seven-man bracket and faces K-M-S freshman Jake Holtkamp (16-15) in the quarterfinals. **Laage won by fall (1:10) against Holtkamp in the quarterfinals to advance to the championship semifinals; his opponent is to-be-determined as of 11:37 a.m.
215: Carson Gilbert (36-3) had a first-round bye in his nine-man bracket and faces Quad County freshman Owen Slettendahl (15-17) in the quarterfinals.
285: Harley Weber (25-7) had a first-round bye in his eight-man bracket and faces A-C-GC junior Juan Cardenas (12-15) in the quarterfinals.
Updates on Saturday afternoon...in a nutshell...at 107, Noah Jensen will wrestle for fifth place. At 114, Noah Welte will wrestle for fifth place. At 121, Noah DeRoo will wrestle for fifth place. At 160, Ethan Mueller will go for third place. At 189, Hunter Laage will wrestle for third place. At heavyweight, Harley Weber was injured in his semifinal match, and his status is unclear. He has been placed in the fifth-place match.
Going for first place for the Jaguars...at 139, Ryan Jensen will wrestle for a section title while facing Canby junior Blake Giese (26-19) in the finals. At 145, Tanner Viessman will also go for a state title as he is facing No. 2-seeded Sam Drietz (a junior with a 30-9 record) of Canby in the championship. At 152, Brett DeRoo earned an exciting upset semifinal win by a 7-2 decision against No. 2-seeded junior Destin Fier of Minneota. He will wrestle for a section title against BOLD's top-seeded and senior Austin Kiecker (42-4). At 172, Maximus Hanson will wrestle for a section title as he faces No. 2-seeded junior Aaron Jones (35-12) of K-M-S in the championship. At 215, Carson Gilbert will go for a section title against A-C-GC's No. 2-seeded senior Isaiah Renne in the championship.
Championship-round results... Ryan Jensen won the 139-pound section championship to punch his way back to state.
Tanner Viessman lost a hearbreaker in a 3-1 decision in sudden victory overtime to fall into a true second-place match, where he faces Kiecker of BOLD for a trip to state at 145 pounds.
Brett DeRoo also lost a heartbreaker by an identical 3-1 sudden victory decision to fall into a true second match, where he faces Straumann of A-C-GC for state at 152 pounds.
Maximus Hanson won the 172-pound title with a 17-2 technical fall in his championship.
Hunter Laage won the third-place match at 189 pounds and now gets a true second match, where he'll face Peyton Hemmesch of Paynesville for a trip to state. Carson Gilbert won the 215-pound title with a 3-1 decision in his championship.
Tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team is hosting Maple Lake in a Central Minnesota Conference game. It is also Parents Night, Seniors Night and Alumni night! At halftime, past graduates of Belgrade, Brooten and B-B-E high school who played for the boys' basketball teams were honored at mid court.
In the varsity game, the Jaguars led 20-17 with about 8 minutes left in the first half. Their shooting came alive and they expanded the lead to 45-22 at the break.
Final score:B-B-E 81, Maple Lake 47. The Jaguars (16-8) now have a few days of preparation next week before traveling to Royalton (7-17) on Thursday, February 29 to conclude the regular season.
In the Central Minnesota Conference tonight, the Paynesville Area Bulldogs pulled into a tie for first place with a 57-54 win against No. 4-ranked and sub-section and bordering rival Eden Valley-Watkins. Next Monday, the Bulldogs could clinch a share of the title with a win at Maple Lake. The Eagles, meanwhile, need to beat Holdingford next week to earn a share. It is likely that Paynesville and EV-W will each finish 13-1 in the CMC as co-champions.
Here's a special video featuring members of the 4th and 5th grade elementary grades singing the National Anthem last night:
Here's action from last night's game with Brandon-Evansville featuring the tip-off and opening minutes of the first half:
I have to give a huge shout out to the B-B-E Resistance Robotics team! They were featured in a front-page article of this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper. Tomorrow the robotics team travels to Willmar high school for their Week Zero scrimmage. Look for additional robotics coverage in the February 29 issue of The Voice.
More to follow later after I start reviewing the area scoreboard.
Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on February 23:
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 79, Royalton 59
Holdingford 62, Kimball Area 58
Paynesville Area 57, Eden Valley-Watkins 54
Area boys' basketball scores on February 23:
West Central Area 75, BOLD 60
Benson 75, Brandon-Evansville 59
Lac qui Parle Valley 58, Hancock 41
Montevideo 84, MACCRAY 67
Osakis 75, Upsala 69
Browerville 84, Swanville 56
Melrose Area 58, St. Cloud Cathedral 56
In a non-conference home game against Brandon-Evansville, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team notched an important sub-section win by a 69-53 score last night.
The game featured a meeting of the No. 2 and No. 3-ranked teams in Sub-Section 6A-South. It is likely that these teams will meet again in the sub-section semifinals if they win their openers.
Brandon-Evansville (12-12) displayed remarkable resilience after falling behind numerous times by 10 to 15 points in the second half. In the first half, the Chargers fell behind 35-23 with 3:38 to go before cutting the deficit to 38-31 at the break.
Here's the last 40 seconds of the first half last night:
Stinging from that small Chargers' run before halftime, the Jaguars came out of the locker room swinging as Luke Illies scored in the paint on their first possession, and Josh Walstrom followed with a three-pointer with 16:31 left for a 43-31 lead. The Chargers scored on their next possession, but the Jaguars proceeded to score 7 straight points, all by Hayden Sobiech, to go up 50-33 with 12:40 left.
A layup in traffic by Jordan Herickhoff and a three-pointer by Taylor Pieper gave the Jaguars a 57-43 lead with 8:40 to go. The Chargers cut it down to 64-53 on a long three-pointer by junior guard Tanner Riedel, but the Jaguars scored the last 5 points of the game.
Tonight, the Jaguars (15-8) host Maple Lake in a Central Minnesota Conference game. Prior to the game, Parents Night will be held, and I learned that it is also Alumni Appreciation night for the boys' basketball program.
After last night's game, I got pulled away from B-B-E sports by taking in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball playoff action via the Internet. B-B-E's Ashton Dingmann, Class of 2022, is a key reserve for the Gustavus Adolphus Gusties who scored six huge points in overtime action last night. The Gusties won the highest-scoring playoff game in MIAC history by a 124-116 score in double overtime. It was as wild of a game as you can imagine.
***COMMUNITY REMINDER: the B-B-E Knights of Columbus hosts their first of three Lenten season fish fries tonight at the KaDe Shack. They start serving at 5 p.m.!!! So before heading to the home boys' basketball game, stop by the KaDe Shack and show your support for our K of C chapter!
Dingmann and his Gustavus squad now prepare for the MIAC playoff championship game, which will take place at Gus Young Court in St. Peter at 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 24. The No. 2-seeded Gusties (17-10) take on No. 4-seeded Hamline (17-10) for an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III national tournament. Gustavus Adolphus is having their best men's basketball season since 2014-2015, when they lost in the MIAC playoff semifinals. They also had a strong season in 2013-2014 before a MIAC playoff semifinal loss, but between 2015 and 2022, the Gusties had numerous losing seasons. It's remarkable to see their success this year and exciting that one of B-B-E's best players to wear a Jaguar jersey is part of Gustavus's resurgence.
Area boys' basketball scores on February 22:
Paynesville Area 65, Minnewaska Area 51
Melrose Area 63, New London-Spicer 54
Parkers Prairie 61, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 50
Sauk Centre 53, Osakis 45 (a huge Section 6AA win for Coach Kevin Kuefler's Mainstreeters that solidifies their position at No. 3)
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 71, Lakeview 55
Battle Lake 80, New York Mills 46
Montevideo 69, Lac qui Parle Valley 45
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team is hosting Brandon-Evansville tonight. The Chargers are a tough sub-section team who is looking to make noise in the upcoming playoffs. First things first! The teams square off tonight in Brooten, and the Jaguars are looking to keep their momentum going and lock up the No. 2 seed in Sub-Section 6A-South.
The Chargers have lost two in a row coming into tonight's game, and they are currently 12-11 overall and ranked No. 3 in the subsection. The Jaguars, meanwhile, have won 4 of their last 5 games to hold a 14-8 record. They sit in second place in the subsection rankings behind powerhouse West Central Area (20-3). The Knights are rated No. 2 overall in Class 1A by the QRF.
Prior to the varsity pregame drills, Coach Chris Anderson awarded a Distinguished Service Award from the Central Minnesota Conference to Paul and Jane Weller for their many years of dedication to the B-B-E Jaguars athletic program. They are 1983 graduates of Belgrade high school whose sons were all B-B-E graduates.
And! Bonus! Tonight members of the 4th and 5th grade classes at B-B-E elementary will sing the National Anthem!
Halftime: B-B-E 38, Brandon-Evansville 31. The Chargers got a three-pointer just before the buzzer by senior Carter White. B-B-E had a 35-23 lead with 3:38 to go on a rebound shot by Hayden Sobiech.
Later in the evening...I'm watching Ashton Dingmann's Gustavus Adolphus basketball team (via the web) playing in the MIAC playoff semifinals. It's going into double overtime! Gustavus is tied with Carleton in a 103-103 score. You can watch it here: https://www.miacsportsnetwork.com/gustavus. The overtime periods last 5 minutes.
Second overtime updates...
A rebound shot inside the left block by Dingmann gave Gustavus a 107-104 lead. Later, with 2:53 left, a wide-open layup by Brady Kienitz gave Gustavus a 109-104 lead. With 2:43 left, the Knights got two free throws to make it 109-106. Later, with around 2 minutes left, Gustavus got a three-point play to expand the lead to 112-106. With just 63 seconds left, Dingmann canned a three-pointer on the left wing for a 115-107 lead.
Final score: Gustavus Adolphus 124, Carleton 116. This was the highest-scoring MIAC men's basketball playoff game in the history of the conference. It was the second-highest scoring game ever for a Gustavus men's team.
Next for Gustavus Adolphus: the No. 2-seeded Gusties (17-10) host No. 4-seeded Hamline University two nights from now on Saturday, February 24 in St. Peter at 7 p.m. in the MIAC playoff championship. The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA D-III national tournament. The loser will likely see their season conclude. The Hamline University Pipers (also 17-10 overall) stunned top-seeded and heavy favorite St. John's University at Sexton Arena in Collegeville with an 83-80 semifinal win tonight. The Johnnies, 20-6 overall, will likely earn an at-large bid to the NCAAs when that's announced next week.
Dingmann is a 2022 B-B-E graduate and a sophomore for the Gustavus Adolphus men's basketball team. Brady Kienitz, a 2021 MACCRAY graduate, is a junior for the Gusties and a younger brother of B-B-E head tennis coach Katie Hanna. Kienitz poured in a career-high 30 points tonight. Crazy!!! He drained five three-pointers and shot 50 percent from the floor while playing 49 out of 50 possible minutes in the game. Wow. Just wow!!!
On Thursday morning, an additional video was added here. Other updates are forthcoming to this blog post. This is another supremely hectic week for the newspaper. Our Thursday morning is being consumed by a trip to St. Cloud to the CentraCare Plaza near Sartell. My wife has another doctor appointment as we further research why she is battling deadly blood clots.
The Lenten season is now in the second week for the Christian faith. Lenten worship services were held at a few area churches tonight. I've got a video featuring part of the Ash Wednesday Mass one week ago tonight in Brooten at St. Donatus. You can find that at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website by clicking here: https://rb.gy/lx2jlz.
Tonight I took in a soup and sandwich supper plus a joint West Lake Johanna and Trinity Lutheran parish worship service at Trinity in Brooten. One week ago, I enjoyed a soup and sandwich supper at Grace Lutheran church in Belgrade. SUCH good food!!
While it ultimately came at the cost of speech team coverage, I finally got a story written with an ample array of pictures for B-B-E's Resistance Robotics team. You can see that in this week's February 22 issue of The Voice. They have an outstanding group of students on this year's team who are gearing up for the Great Northern Regional to be held in Grand Forks on March 6 to March 9. I am already making plans to travel to Grand Forks that weekend. We'll see how it all pans out.
*Here's a video from the high school shop on Monday this week when robotics team members were working on the robot:
**Here's a video from the girls' basketball game on Tuesday night:
Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on February 20:
Eden Valley-Watkins 88, Maple Lake 33
Paynesville Area 72, Kimball Area 44
Holdingford 77, Royalton 64
Central MN Conference girls' basketball scores on February 20:
Royalton 58, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 44 (the Royals clinched second place in the CMC with this win)
Holdingford 58, Eden Valley-Watkins 37
Area girls' basketball scores on February 20:
Paynesville Area 75, Melrose Area 42
Walker-Hackensack-Akeley 73, Browerville 43
New London-Spicer 49, Watertown-Mayer 43
Sauk Centre 60, Osakis 34
Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 74, Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 66
Kimball Area 52, Upsala 34
Albany 69, Minnewaska Area 43
Verndale 58, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 35
We can chalk up two more wins on the hardwood after tonight! Both in road contests!
In a non-conference border battle at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team gave an outstanding performance while opening up the offense in a 78-69 win. The Fighting Saints (19-8) had nearly erased what was a 15-point deficit and trailed 52-50 with just under 9 minutes remaining. The Jaguars (16-10) have now won six straight heading into the playoffs!
Trailing 33-29 with under 90 seconds to go before halftime, the Fighting Saints tied it at 33-33 in the last 30 seconds. With just 6 seconds remaining, Grace Jackson drove off the left wing between two defenders for a go-ahead basket. Halftime: B-B-E 35, K-M-S 33.
The girls' basketball Jaguars shot a remarkable 50 percent from the floor and had great balance in scoring as 7 players scored 5 or more points. In double figures were Brooklyn Fischer (24), Adley Hagen (12) and Kacey Fischer (10). Next: the Jaguars will host a Sub-Section 5A-East quarterfinal game on Thursday, February 29 at 7 p.m. with an opponent to be determined. They are a lock for the No. 3 playoff seed behind Ogilvie and Braham.
Here's a video from the first half of tonight's game at K-M-S:
The video begins with 9:40 left in the first half and the Jaguars ahead 17-11. They initally built early leads of 5-2 and 11-6. The Fighting Saints then cut it to a 12-11 deficit before the Jaguars scored 5 straight before a K-M-S timeout.
Here's a video featuring the final stretch of the first half tonight:
The Jaguars finished in third place with a 9-5 record in the Central Minnesota Conference. Royalton locked up second place with a 58-44 win against visiting Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City tonight. The Royals went 10-4 in the CMC and hold a 14-10 overall record. Paynesville Area (14-12) took fourth in the CMC with a 7-7 record.
In boys' basketball news...
On the east side of Willmar down Highway 12, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team also gave an outstanding performance while defeating Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 77-66. The win moves them within a half game of third place at 7-5 in the Central Minnesota Conference. A-C-GC (12-11 overall) sits in third with an 8-5 record. The Jaguars (14-8) led 42-33 at halftime and were led by Kaden DeRoo and Luke Illies, who each had 20 points. Overall, they shot 47 percent from the floor while hitting from beyond the arc with a blistering 14-for-26 mark (53 percent).
Now 14-8 overall, the boys' basketball Jaguars have a huge sub-section contest on the home floor this Thursday night, when Brandon-Evansville visits. The Chargers are 12-10 overall and 9-5 (second) in the Little Eight Conference.
Central MN Conference boys' basketball scores on February 20:
Paynesville Area 72, Kimball Area 44
Holdingford 77, Royalton 64
More to come on Wednesday...**Later on Wednesday evening. I have had a terribly busy Wednesday. And there's church tonight!
In a non-conference border battle tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The game is being aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood, which you can also tune in online at https://www.kmgk1071.com. The Fighting Saints (19-7) lost last night to Minneota in the overall Camden Conference championship by a 75-60 score in Kerkhoven.
Update: with 3:26 left before halftime, the Fighting Saints hold a 27-26 lead.
More to come in a new blog post at 10 p.m.!!!
The state wrestling seeds are in, and our Jaguars earned the No. 3 seed and open with United North Central in the quarterfinals. Top-ranked Chatfield earned the No. 1 seed, while Section 7A champion Staples-Motley is the No. 2 seed.
Let's get more buzz going around our state-bound B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team, who won the Section 5A championship for the fourth straight year this past Saturday in Minneota. This is the definition of awesome!
Here's a video featuring action at 172, 189 and 215 pounds against Paynesville Area in Saturday's semifinal round at Minneota:
B-B-E opens the state tournament at 11 a.m. on Thursday, February 29 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. As of tonight, I do not see state seedings posted.
As seen in other section tournaments, being the top seed or even the No. 2 seed is no guarantee of success. Even in our Section 5A, higher seeds fell in the quarterfinals, and the Jaguars ultimately took out the top seed by a healthy margin in the finals on Saturday. In Section 7A, Holdingford has had two state-tournament caliber teams fall in the section tournament last year and this year. The Huskers went 33-8 overall last year but lost in the section semis. This year they had a 36-3 record going into the Section 7A championship, but Staples-Motley defeated them 32-25 to go to state.
In girls' basketball news...
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team (15-10) finishes the regular season with a border battle tomorrow night at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The Fighting Saints won the Camden North Conference title with two narrow victories over an outstanding Central Minnesota Christian squad from Prinsburg. The Bluejays finished the Camden North in second place and are poised to earn the No. 2 seed in Sub-Section 3A-North behind defending Section 3A champion Minneota. K-M-S, meanwhile, looks like they should grab the No. 3 seed in a very tough Sub-Section 3AA-North. Ahead of them will be state-ranked New London-Spicer and then Minnewaska Area. K-M-S has an edge on Paynesville Area with a 70-39 win over the Bulldogs back on January 12. Paynesville Area has been playing remarkably better lately than they were in January, so I would not count them out. A second-round match up with bordering rival NL-S would be a tall task.
Here's a video from February 8 against Eden Valley-Watkins:
Tomorrow's trip to K-M-S marks the end of the regular season and the seasons of our very successful JV and C-squad girls' basketball teams. For our varsity Jaguars, tomorrow's game marks a huge opportunity to show if they are up to the task of blazing through the Section 5A tournament. That will be a tall task with two state-ranked teams sitting above them just in our Sub-Section 5A-East standings.
On a much, much sadder note...
I am grappling with the terrible, awful news from Burnsville about the two police officers and one medical responder who were murdered by a total and complete scumbag (Shannon Gooden was his name, and he apparently shot himself after murdering three men). This is a profound tragedy for Minnesota. I have countless good friends in this state who are police officers, fire fighters and EMT responders. It is heartbreaking to know that in one incident, three such people were gunned down by a total and complete maniac who was banned from owning firearms. He had no right to own guns, yet he got them anyway thanks to the pathetic, toothless justice system in Minnesota.
Later on Saturday night...after returning home from Holdingford high school, video is getting added here and other updates plus other wrestling results from around outstate Minnesota...
YES! A FOUR-peat! Such an honor for the program!
It does not get easier year to year, and it certainly does not get old!
Facing two charged-up Section 5A opponents today, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team has blazed their way into their fourth straight state tournament! They did so by defeating No. 10-ranked Paynesville Area 47-21 in the semifinals earlier today in Minneota and then surging past Lean and Mean and top-seeded Canby 39-21 in the championship.
The Bulldogs finished a fine season with a 19-10 overall record (2-4 Central Minnesota Conference), while Canby finishes the season 12-4. Canby's wrestling program is as strong as ever, as I counted at least 32 wrestlers on their grades 7-12 roster. That is outstanding! B-B-E, meanwhile, has regularly had 28 student-athletes in the wrestling room this winter in grades 7-12.
Against Canby in the finals...
Canby challenged the Jaguars just as they did in the January meeting, but this time, the Jaguars did not fall behind 27-0 through the first five weights. The Jaguars got a huge lift when seventh grader Noah Jensen won a 5-2 decision at 107 pounds. Noah was facing sophomore Cash Antony.
The Jaguars shined in the middle weights as the poured it on with pins at 139, 160 and 172 pounds. At 145, Tanner Viessman slugged out a key win by a 4-3 decision that broke what was a 15-15 tie. At 152, Brett DeRoo earned a hard-fought win by a 3-0 decision. At 160, Ethan Mueller fired up his team with a pin in the second period for a 27-15 team score.
Here's action at 107 pounds against Canby with seventh grader Noah Jensen earning a win!
Next: the Jaguars (21-2) compete in the Section 5A individual wrestling tournament one week from today at Canby high school.
A web article from today's section wrestling at Minneota has been posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website; click on the following short link to view that: https://t.ly/t3jz-. Included in that web article are the results from each weight class between B-B-E and Canby.
Video is getting reviewed and uploaded on Saturday night.
*Here's video from the semifinals against Paynesville at 145 and 152 pounds today in Minneota:
The Class 1A state team tournament is on Thursday, February 29 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Spread the word! The state quarterfinals start at 11 a.m. that day in St. Paul. B-B-E will be the only Central Minnesota Conference team competing at state. It is my opinion that they will earn the No. 2 seed.
In other section wrestling tournaments this weekend...
Holdingford, who was slightly favored to win the Section 7A title, defeated Mille Lacs 52-13 in the semifinals on Friday before losing 32-25 to No. 5-ranked Staples-Motley in the championship. The Huskers finished an incredible season 36-4 in duals. Royalton/Upsala lost 45-15 in the Section 7A semifinals to Staples-Motley. The Cardinals (32-1) avenged their lone dual loss of the season with the win against Holdingford. On January 13 at Bemidji, the Huskers defeated the Cardinals 32-22.
Kimball Area lost 42-33 to St. Agnes in the Section 4A tournament yesterday.
Also yesterday in the Section 4A tournament, Eden Valley-Watkins defeated Sibley East 43-19 before falling in the semifinals 39-31 to LeSueur-Henderson. The Giants (16-10) then punched their ticket to the state tournament with a 35-27 win against Norwood-Young America.
In Class 2A, New London-Spicer finished the dual season 20-7 overall after a first-round loss in Section 3AA to Marshall/Lakeview. Marshall/Lakeview then defeated New Ulm 48-15 in the semis before falling 28-27 to Dawson-Boyd/Lac qui Parle Valley/Montevideo United in the championship, which was held today at NL-S high school. United (26-2) was one of the two teams who defeated our Jaguars this season (39-28 at Minnewaska Area on December 7). They look to improve on last year's fifth-place finish in the Class 2A state tournament.
In Section 3A, defending state champion and No. 4-ranked Jackson County Central (19-3) beat No. 11-ranked Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove 42-28 at T-M-B high school to advance to state.
In Section 1A, No. 6-ranked Kenyon-Wanamingo lost 36-20 in the championship to No. 1-ranked Chatfield.
In Section 2A, No. 8-ranked Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Area (26-3) beat Westfield 63-2 in the championship.
In Section 6A, No. 11-ranked Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie defeated Osakis 33-28 in the championship to advance to state. In the semifinals, BH/V/PP prevailed against West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville 34-31.
United North Central, grouped in the Lean and Mean rankings from the Guillotine, won the Section 8A title with a 27-23 win against No. 9-ranked Frazee.
Today is a huge, HUGE day! HUGE! This is HUGE!!! Today our B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team will battle for a fourth consecutive trip to the Class 1A state tournament. They will do so beginning with a very tough dual against neighboring and conference rival Paynesville Area in the Section 5A semifinals. The action begins at 12:30 p.m. at Minneota high school. The other semifinal takes place at the same time on the second mat in Minneota's high school, where top-seeded Canby faces No. 5-seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.
No. 6-seeded Paynesville Area has a 19-9 dual record after earning an upset quarterfinal win by a 31-27 score against No. 3-seeded Minneota. The Bulldogs, ranked No. 10 in the final Guillotine rankings of the regular season, will be "frothing at the mouth" and jacked sky high to take on our Jaguars. It is going to be an incredible battle. I expect both semifinals to be exciting duals. The winners face off after the semis in the Minneota gym for a berth in the team state tournament.
On December 19 at Kimball, our No. 3-ranked Jaguars defeated Paynesville Area 42-19 in a Central Minnesota Conference triangular. They finished 6-0 in the CMC to win their third conference title in the past four seasons. The Bulldogs are having one of their best winters on the mats in over 10 years. They are a program that's on the rise.
Here's Harley Weber winning his heavyweight championship match at the Jaguar Invite in Belgrade on January 5:
More to come with updates to be posted here at about 1 p.m. Once the semifinals are complete, I'll get the final scores posted here as well.
**Update: after the 133 lb match, the Bulldogs have a 15 to 9 lead over our Jaguars. At 139, Ryan Jensen led 18-9 against Paynesville's Masen Hansen. The Jaguars have a battle on their hands.
Earlier, the Jaguars got a crucial win by Noah Welte at 114 with a pin (3:46).
After 152, the Jaguars are ahead 23 to 15!
Final: B-B-E 47, Paynesville Area 21. The Jaguars head to the finals! They will square off with Canby for a trip to the state tournament at approximately 2:30 p.m. here in Minneota.
In the other semifinal, Canby prevailed 34-27 against A-C-GC to improve to 12-3 in duals. The Jaguars are 20-2, but one of the two losses was to Canby, who beat our Jaguars 38-29 in Canby on January 26.
The Section 5A championship should get started at 2:30 p.m. today in Minneota. Updates to follow. I will not be saying one more word about the state tournament until the 5A finals have concluded. We are not there yet!
**In the finals against the Lancers, the score is tied 9-9 after four weights.
Heading into 160 pounds, the Jaguars are ahead 21-15.
**This blog post is a wrap. Find the new blog post to see more!
FIFTH straight win, CMC schedule is a wrap (VIDEO)
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team successfully concluded their Central Minnesota Conference schedule with a 9-5 record and has five straight wins to their credit.
Tonight at Maple Lake, the Jaguars won 71-37 as 10 players found the scoring column. Sophomore Kacey Fischer had 14 points, and Brooklyn Fischer led the team with 18 points. Senior Faith Radermacher had one of her better games of the season with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.
The Irish fall to 1-23 overall and finish the CMC schedule 0-14.
Next: the Jaguars (15-10) have a short trip southwest for a border battle at Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg on Tuesday, February 20. The Fighting Saints have won three straight to hold a 19-6 overall record. They finished 14-2 in the Camden North Conference to win the title outright. Central MN Christian, who defeated our Jaguars in December, took second in the Camden North with 13-3 mark.
Here's a video featuring starter introductions for the team on January 23:
The B-B-E Class of 2032 girls' basketball players were embedded with the team before the game that night. On Saturday, the 4th graders compete in Holdingford!
Tomorrow will be a 300-mile day for me! I do not experience many of them. The day begins at Grove City, continues at Minneota and concludes in Holdingford. Without any extra errands or detours or jaunts out of my way, my route features 305 miles of driving throughout the day.
Central Minnesota Conference girls' basketball score on February 16:
Holdingford 72, Kimball Area 66
Area girls' basketball scores on February 16:
Sauk Centre 50, Royalton 39
New London-Spicer 60, Dassel-Cokato 40
Parkers Prairie 59, Browerville 48
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 60, Brandon-Evansville 52
In the Section 5A quarterfinals, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team earned a 57-15 win against No. 7-seeded Benson tonight at the high school.
Here's a video featuring the final matches of the night:
Benson (9-20) advanced to the section quarterfinals with a preliminary round win 60-15 tonight against No. 10-seeded Ortonville (3-21).
Next: the Jaguars (19-2) wrestle on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Minneota high school in the section semis against neighboring and conference rival Paynesville Area. If the Jaguars defeat the Bulldogs, they wrestle again at Minneota that afternoon in the section finals.
On the other half of our section bracket tonight, No. 6-seeded Paynesville Area earned a huge upset win by a 31-27 score against No. 3-seeded Minneota. On the other side of the section bracket, No. 9-seeded BOLD defeated No. 8-seeded Quad County 45-30 to advance to face top-seeded Canby in the quarterfinals. The Lancers then beat the Warriors 49-19 to advance to Saturday's semifinals. In another section quarterfinal dual tonight, visiting No. 5-seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City defeated Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 40-27 at Kerkhoven.
In basketball news...
In another home event tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team lost 74-60 to state-ranked Eden Valley-Watkins. The Eagles improve to 20-3 overall, while the Jaguars are 13-8.
The Jaguars played a mostly solid first half, but the Eagles surged ahead 38-20 at halftime. In the latter part of the second half, EV-W opened up a 66-43 lead before the Jaguars caught fire. With under 2 minutes to go, the Eagles had a 68-59 lead.
While I was outside the gym tonight following the boys' basketball game, the one and only Mr. Jim DeRose walked out to the elementary cafeteria and greeted me. I was thrilled to see him! He had traveled to Jaguar Country with his wife, Ann, to watch his oldest grandson play in the C-squad game tonight. His oldest grandson is the son of Joseph DeRose, a 2002 graduate of EV-W. A truly kind, caring gentleman, Mr. DeRose asked how my wife is doing, and we also spoke at length about the B-B-E pep band and how much I enjoy playing my trumpet with the band.
Mr. DeRose taught at Belgrade and B-B-E from 1983 to 2003. I wrote extensively about him and his family a few weeks ago in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
In amateur baseball news...
The Elrosa Saints amateur baseball team is hosting their inaugural Saints Open on Saturday, June 15 at Prairie View Community Golf Course. The 4-person golf scramble has an 11 a.m. shot gun start that day. The entry fee is $50 per golfer, and that includes 18 holes of golf, a cart and a meal to follow. To register, please email Saints manager AJ Hadley at ajhadley3@gmail.com.
We have two home events tonight at both schools. In the high school's gym, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team opens defense of their Section 5A championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023 with the opening rounds of the section tournament. They are ranked No. 2 in Section 5A behind Canby, who defeated the Jaguars 38-29 on January 26 in Canby. The Jaguars are 18-2 in duals this season, while the Lancers are 10-3.
Tonight's wrestling action begins at B-B-E high school at 6 p.m. with a preliminary round match featuring No. 7-seeded Benson taking on No. 10-seeded Ortonville. The winner of that match will face our Jaguars on the same mat at about 7:30 p.m.
At B-B-E elementary tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team hosts state-ranked Eden Valley-Watkins. The Eagles (19-3) lead the Central Minnesota Conference with a 10-0 record. Paynesville Area is a half game out at 10-1 (17-5 overall). The Jaguars are 13-7 overall and 6-4 in the CMC and within striking range of third place. **Tonight's boys' basketball game will be aired on 106.5 FM The Train of Norway Lake-Sunburg. You can tune into Bill Dean's coverage online at https://www.willmarradio.com/the_train.
Here's a video from the seniors night speech by Coach Anderson plus a special tribute to Jocelyn Dickhoff on Tuesday night:
To read back to when Jocelyn passed away, you can click here to go all the way back to July of 2013: https://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2013/07/heavens-newest-angel.html. Jocelyn Dickhoff was a member of the B-B-E Class of 2024 and had completed first grade at B-B-E elementary school before she died on July 6, 2013.
Here's a video featuring tip-off and the opening minutes of Tuesday's game:
More to come here tonight, when I hope to get an update or two added.
**In the wrestling quarterfinals, the Jaguars have a 54 to 15 lead with just one match (285) remaining against Benson. They advance to play again at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Section 5A semifinals at Minneota.
