**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.
