Section opener win! (VIDEO)

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.