Making an impact at the college level...and volleyball news! (VIDEO)

Two former members of the No. 11-ranked B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team are making an impact at the next level with their respective college teams.

Emily Kern, B-B-E Class of 2022, is a junior on the No. 7-ranked St. Cloud State University Huskies women's volleyball team that has had a strong start to the 2024 season. Kern plays at the libero and defensive specialist positions. She had outstanding performances this weekend while her Huskies went 2-1 at Houghton, Michigan in an invitational hosted by Michigan Tech University. On Friday, Kern had 10 digs, three ace serves and three set assists against Findlay (a 3-1 win). On Saturday against Northern Michigan, Kern had a season-high 11 digs. Then on Saturday against Michigan Tech, Kern had 5 digs in SCSU's 3-1 win over the host school.

In their fourth match of the season, the SCSU Huskies were ranked No. 10 (Division II) but defeated No. 1-ranked Cal State LA in four sets: 25-15, 21-25, 25-11, 25-20 on September 7 at Coussoulis Arena in San Bernadino, CA to finish a four-match stretch at the Yotes Classic Showdown. In that marquee win, Kern had her first start of the season at defensive specialist and earned 9 digs.

Brooklyn Fischer, B-B-E Class of 2024, is a freshman middle hitter at St. Cloud Community and Technical College. The Cyclones are off to a 2-0 start to their conference schedule and have a 7-3 overall record. On Friday night against Rochester Community and Technical College in her team's 3-1 win, Fischer blistered the Yellowjackets with 17 kills on 39-of-55 hitting while earning four ace serves (with no service errors) plus 16 digs and four block assists. Her 55 attacks accounted for over one-third of her team's total attacks on the night. She is averaging a robust 19.1 percent hitting percentage and 3.38 kills per set. Through 10 matches, she has 115 kills and 11 ace serves. Just as impressive is her 3.56 digs per set figure (121 total digs) plus 25 block assists.

Beyond those two volleyball players, I know Ethan Spanier is a sophomore defensive lineman at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton. He is a 2023 B-B-E graduate and was a key member of B-B-E's history-making 2021 state tournament team. The Wildcats were 2-1 in their first three contests. After a 2-0 start, they lost 40-26 to Minnesota West Community and Technical College on September 7 in Wahpeton.

A few other sports notes...and big volleyball news!
I still have a few videos to get to and upload from Friday night's game at Benson. Also, a rather robust sports section is being developed for the upcoming issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice! Also! I will expand this out tonight in a new blog post, but I'm THRILLED to report that the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team had a perfect record across five matches at Crosby-Ironton's Barb Neprud Invitational. They earned 2-0 wins in pool play against White Bear Lake, Pillager and Deer River. As one of four pool play winners, the Jaguars advanced to the playoff semifinals, where they defeated Ada-Borup West in straight sets. The Cougars, defending Pine to Prairie Conference champions and a perennial contender in Section 8A, entered the tournament with an 8-2 record. In the finals, the Jaguars then swept Swanville to improve to 15-2 overall. How about that! The Swanville Bulldogs are a contender this year in the Prairie Conference and had a 5-0 record before their trip to Crosby.

Here's a video from the end of game two in Thursday's win against Kimball:


This morning, I'm still on the "return trip" from a visit to Wisconsin. I will not get to recording my Friday Night Lights III podcast until tonight.

Don't forget! two big events today: the Fall Festival at Rustic Designs Flower Farm by Georgeville (that runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) plus the St. Donatus Catholic Church dinner at the Padua Pub (serving 11 to 1:30). All the details of those events have been advertised in The Voice. Please support our local events, as their advertising supports my Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper and its crazy busy sports department!

On the horizon...the annual Turkey Fest celebration is coming to Swift Falls on Saturday, September 21. You can read more by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/aclFC. Their advertisement was also in the September 12 newspaper issue. I highly recommend driving down for the parade, and if you get to town around 4:30 that afternoon, you can take in the turkey cook-off plus the parade.

Friday Night Lights III: Jaguars rack up huge win at Benson (VIDEOS)

They had their hands full at a few moments across the first half tonight, but ultimately, the B-B-E Jaguars football team handled the Benson Braves at will in a 54-20 Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold district road win. The No. 6-ranked Jaguars led 38-0 at halftime and then expanded that to 46-0 with just over 4 minutes gone in the third quarter.

B-B-E's defense was "lights out" to start the game. Three Benson plays yielded a net negative two yards, and the Braves punted on 4th-and-12. The snap was mishandled, and the punter tried to no avail to run wide right to gain the first down. He was tackled at the Benson 24-yard line, and with 10 minutes on the clock, the Jaguars had their first possession just 24 yards from the endzone. On first down, Jesse Niklaus had an 8-yard reception, and Aiden Mueller followed that with a 10-yard catch for goal-to-go at the six. Benson's defense got tough, and a costly penalty on fourth-and-goal nullified a touchdown reception and turned the ball over on downs. Benson gained 7 yards on three plays and punted with 5:50 on the clock. The Jaguars got a nice punt return by Brett DeRoo and had first down on the Benson 31. They needed just 4 plays to cover the distance, and Kameron Hiltner's 15-yard touchdown reception with 4:41 left broke open the scoring. Hunter Laage's two-point run gave the Jaguars an initial 8-0 lead.

Here's a video featuring B-B-E's second touchdown of the night:


On B-B-E's fifth series of the game, they started on Benson's 45-yard line with 4:50 left in the second quarter after a nice punt return by Brett DeRoo. Josh Walstrom's 23-yard catch set up the next play, which resulted in a 32-yard touchdown by Jack Lundberg down the left side. With 4:24 left, the Jaguars extended their lead to 22-0.

After Benson's fifth series, which resulted in a punt after they gained no yards on 3 plays, DeRoo had a marvelous 33-yard return to get the Jaguars a short field to work with of just 12 yards. Kameron Hiltner's 12-yard touchdown catch on second down made it 28-0 with 1:36 left. Harley Weber ran in the two-point carry to make it 30-0.

The first half ended in spectacular fashion as Brett DeRoo hauled in an acrobatic touchdown catch with no time on the clock while using the agility he's developed as a state-ranked wrestler. Harley Weber added the two-point conversion on a running play to cap the scoring at 38 points in the game's first 24 minutes. That touchdown will be a special play to watch again and again on Hudl!!

With 7:48 left in the third quarter, DeRoo caught a 33-yard touchdown catch from Illies, and DeRoo added a two-point conversion run to extend the lead to 46-0.

The Braves broke up the shutout with a 15-yard touchdown carry with 5:36 left in the third quarter to make it 46-6.

On B-B-E's next series, they started on Benson's 47-yard line and used four plays while overcoming a false start penalty on 3rd-and-8 to score again. Ethan Mueller's 24-yard catch brought first down at the 24. Lundberg took it from there with a 24-yard run to the endzone with 3:11 on the clock. Laage's two-point run made it a 54-6 lead.

Next: the Jaguars take their 3-0 record back on the road when they travel to Meeker County for another district game. The opponent will be a tough-as-nails Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City team at their house. I rate their 1-2 overall record as deceiving. Game time is at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 20. Be there!

Here's action from early in the first quarter tonight:


This is eye-popping: the No. 10-ranked Upsala/Swanville Area Patriots have outscored their first three opponents 139-14 to also earn a 3-0 start. Currently, our football district features three Top-10 teams: the Jaguars at No. 6, Browerville at No. 7 and U/SA at No. 10. For what it's worth, U/SA has played teams who have a cumulative record of 2-7. The three teams that Browerville has played have a combined record of 4-5. B-B-E's three opponents have a combined record of 3-6. The point being: we really won't know how good each of these three Top 10 teams are until they play one another.

I'll be calling it a night soon! I have a big trip to make tomorrow that I'll write about more on Saturday night.

Here's a post-game interview with senior Carson Savage at Brock Field tonight:


The Jaguars racked up 400 yards of offense, including 191 on the ground with a total of 19 first downs and no turnovers. Jack Lundberg had 13 carries for a season-high 147 yards with three touchdowns. Luke Illies was 13-for-19 for 148 yards and four touchdowns. Aiden Mueller had 7-of-8 passing marks for 61 yards. Defensively, Carson Gilbert and Brett DeRoo each had quarterback sacks, and Ethan Mueller was the team's leading tackler with 5 solos and 6 assisted. Louie Tensen had a fumble recovery, and DeRoo, Jack Lundberg, Gilbert and Ethan Mueller all earned tackles for losses.

Mid-State District Gopher Gold scores in Week Three on September 13:
Upsala/Swanville Area 51, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 8
Browerville 26, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 19
West Central Area 50, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 7

Area football scores in Week Three on September 13:
Albany 53, Sauk Centre 20
Holdingford 36, St. Cloud Cathedral 0
Cedar Mountain 22, Renville County West 19
Hancock 60, Ortonville 6
Lac qui Parle Valley 48, Yellow Medicine East 6
Dawson-Boyd 32, Lakeview 0
Canby 28, MACCRAY 6
Litchfield 28, Foley 13
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 50, Little Falls 21
Pierz 26, Minnewaska Area 21
Kimball Area 36, Paynesville Area 6
Melrose Area 41, Montevideo 21
Princeton 28, Willmar 6
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 14, Rockford Area 7

GAME NIGHT! In Swift County (VIDEO)

This is game night in Swift County! The B-B-E Jaguars football team is traveling west to neighboring Benson, where they look to improve on their 2-0 start to the season. The game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM out of Glenwood. Pregame coverage starts at 6:45 p.m. Their website is: https://www.kmgk1071.com. 


Here's QB1 talking football after last night's volleyball win!


Here's my fourth sports show of the fall...but it was cut short due to a low battery. Yikes!


More to come! It's WHEELS UP time! Time to take the flight west!


HALFTIME: BBE 38, Benson 0.  The Jaguars scored as time expired on a 31 yd touchdown catch by Brett DeRoo.

With just under 8 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, the Jaguars scored again and now lead 46-0.

Final score in a new blog post!

Jaguars improve to 2-0 conference mark (VIDEOS)

For the second time in their trip through the Central Minnesota Conference schedule this year, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team earned a 3-0 sweep as they easily handled Kimball Area on the home floor tonight. Game scores were deceiving from my view, but they were as follows: 25-23, 25-21, 25-17.

B-B-E improves to 10-2 overall with the win, while the Cubs fall to 6-7 overall (1-1 CMC). Kimball had swept Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City on their home floor one week ago.

NEXT: the Jaguars travel north to Crosby-Ironton in beautiful Crow Wing County for a tournament on Saturday. I don't have an official list, but by my count of their school's athletic schedule, it appears that this tournament has at least 15 teams.

I have a few "shout outs" to give tonight from some of my observations this week...but I'm going to save that for a sports podcast to be recorded later tonight.

How tonight's CMC match played out...
Game one tonight featured a fierce battle from start to finish. Once the Jaguars gained their footing and built slim three-point leads, the Cubs came right back to make it close down the stretch.

Here's a video from early in game one tonight:


The visiting Cubs came out firing and played remarkably well in the early stages of game one. Two of the first three points scored were on a Kimball Area kill and an ace block. The Jaguars took a while to settle in while tightening their blocks and getting some slack out of their passes. The Cubs got three more kills after trailing 5-4 and took leads of 8-5, 9-6 and 10-7. It's at that point where you can see what happened next in the video above. Once the Cubs had an 8-5 lead after a kill, they had the serve but then hit long for a side out. The Cubs got another kill to go up 9-6, but after they served, they hit long once again. This played out one more time, with Kimball getting a kill for a 10-7 lead. On the next serve, the Cubs served long for a side out, and Abigail Lien went to the service line for the Jaguars. This is where I feel they got the clutch engaged, got it into gear and started playing their style of volleyball. Kadynce Haider and Kenna Lieser teamed up for an ace block, and then the Cubs hit long to tie it at 10-10. Lien served for the third straight time, and this time she knocked over an ace serve to put the Jaguars ahead for the first time of the night with an 11-10 score. Kacey Fischer followed with a thunderous kill down the left side, and at this point the Cubs called for a timeout trailing 12-10.

Here's a video showing how game one ended tonight:


I had a small error in my play-by-play. The action was fast and furious for numerous rallies tonight, so I will forgive myself for the mistake. This was very exciting volleyball! For B-B-E's 24th point, it was an ace attack (a kill) from Kamie Fischer that put them ahead 24-22...not a block. I saw that on the review of the video. The Cubs then mishandled their return of a Teagan Dingmann attack to give the game to the Jaguars.

I didn't hear what Coach Borgerding said to her team between games one and two, but it had to have been good as the Jaguars came out locked and loaded while firing out to a 12-5 lead in game two. This lead grew to 17-8, and the rotation was altered somewhat with fresh players. The Jaguars continued to keep the pressure on with a kill by Kacey Fischer and an ace serve from Ava Deters. Teagan Dingmann then had an ace block to make it 20-10. The Cubs fought back and went on a small rally to close it to a 21-16 score. Dingmann had a kill for a side out, but the Cubs then cut it down to 22-18. The Jaguars scored the needed points with a kill from Kacey Fischer plus a Kimball hitting error and then a net violation to end the set in favor of the Jaguars 25-21.

B-B-E came out like gangbusters in game three and led 6-0 to force the Cubs into an early timeout. The Cubs trailed 9-4 before the Jaguars had a 4-0 run. Later in the third set, after the Jaguars built an 18-6 lead, the Cubs cut the deficit in half to trail 23-17. The Jaguars concluded the night on a high note with a 25-17 win to finish out the sweep.

I've got more to post here, but it may take a while before I get to it...this has a busy night and continues to be a busy night even as we approach 10 p.m.! I am catching up a little bit on Royalton volleyball. They are 10-2 overall after earning a big 3-2 win against Maple Lake at Maple Lake. What a crazy atmosphere that had to have been! The Royals travel to Walker-Hackensack-Akeley high school on Saturday, where we will learn much more about just how good they are. As it appears, they have emerged as one of the top teams in the CMC so far. The conference schedule features just 7 matches year after year, so there is little room for error for teams who want to win a share of the CMC title.

The Royals are certainly on the rise just two seasons after going 4-24 overall. Last year, they went above .500 in the CMC (4-3 overall) to take third place alone. They went 15-12 overall before they lost in an upset to visiting Holdingford by a 3-1 margin in the Section 6AA opener. On October 5, 2023, the Huskers lost 3-1 in Royalton during their CMC match.

On an unrelated note...
Ticket sales for the Hall of Fame banquet are underway. You can read more about that from either looking at page one in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper or by clicking on the following link: https://shorturl.at/ob74q. That web article features a video from the last HOF night at B-B-E.

CMC volleyball scores on September 12:
Royalton 3, Maple Lake 2
Holdingford 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 2
Paynesville Area 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 0

Area volleyball scores on September 12:
Minnewaska Area 3, BOLD 0
#3 Minneota 3, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 2
#4 Willmar 3, #8 Rocori 2 (a big win for Willmar, as they improve to 8-3 overall and 5-0 in the Central Lakes Conference in this battle of Top 10 Class 3A teams)
Litchfield 3, Rockford Area 0
New London-Spicer 3, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 1
Swanville 3, Upsala 0
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 3, Brandon-Evansville 0
Renville County West 3, Lac qui Parle Valley 0
MACCRAY 3, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 1
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 3, Benson 0
Rothsay 3, Ashby 1
West Central Area 3, Melrose Area 0
Parkers Prairie 3, Battle Lake 0
Henning 3, Verndale 0

Conference clash

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team is hosting Kimball Area in a conference battle tonight. The Jaguars are fresh off of a big five-set win against neighboring rival New London-Spicer two nights ago. The Cubs are also fresh off of a big win against a bigger neighbor, as they defeated Litchfield on Tuesday night in a non-conference match.

Tonight, the Jaguars won game one 25-23 after a sluggish start.

Final results to come later tonight in a new blog post.

Good GRIEF! Jaguars win in five at NL-S (VIDEOS)

A topsy-turvy five-set thriller played out tonight at New London-Spicer, where the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team came out as 3-2 winners to get on a four-match winning streak. It was an exciting win that helped put away the bad taste of last year's 3-0 loss by sweep at home to NL-S. That NL-S match was B-B-E's only regular-season, non-tournament loss (best-of-five matches).

Once it got to game five tonight, after the teams were in a 2-2 tie, the Jaguars scorched the home squad and coasted to a 15-7 win. The match lasted approximately 1 hour and 58 minutes. Game five was over in nine minutes flat. Overall, the Jaguars hit at a 21.7 percent clip with a trio of hitters in double digits: Adley Hagen (18 kills), Kacey Fischer (17) and Kadynce Haider (13). Kacey Fischer had 23 digs, and libero Ava Deters had 21 digs plus a team-high three service aces on 22-of-23 serving.

How tonight played out...
The Jaguars came out sluggish in game one and took a 25-17 loss. They played rather poorly for multiple stretches as the Wildcats expanded a 13-9 lead with a 5-0 run before ultimately going up 22-12 at one point. What was important down the stretch after they fell behind by 10 points (at set point) was a late rally that featured two kills by Adley Hagen and an ace block by Kamie Fischer. After an NL-S timeout, the Wildcats earned a kill off a block attempt to take the opening game.

Here's action from the middle of game two tonight as the Jaguars were improving their play and shaking off the poor game one performance:


The Jaguars played well through most of game two and showed they were a much better team than what they showed in game one. They trailed 22-20 before Coach Borgerding called a timeout. Kacey Fischer then hit back-to-back kills to tie it up. A net violation put them down 23-22, however, before Kadynce Haider's ace tip tied it back up. Kenna Lieser's ace block brought game point, and the Wildcats hit out of bounds (into the left referee stand) to end the game in favor of B-B-E by a 25-23 score.

You can watch the end of game two play out in this exciting video...


Game three seemed up for grabs, with B-B-E holding a 5-4 lead before falling back 8-6. They took an 11-9 lead and never trailed from that point as they got stronger down the stretch in a 25-19 game three win.

After taking the 2-1 set lead, the Jaguars built leads of 8-4 and 15-11 in game four before the Wildcats stormed back. An NL-S kill and back-to-back ace serves tied game four at 16-16. The Wildcats turned the tables on the Jaguars and forged a 20-17 lead before Kacey Fischer earned a kill, an ace serve and then another kill to tie it at 20-20. Trailing 23-21, Kadynce Haider knocked down a kill, but the Jaguars hit into the net to fall back 24-22. Haider followed with another kill to keep the set going, but the Jaguars hit into the net once again to fall 25-23.

The Jaguars take a 9-2 record into this Thursday's home match against Kimball Area (6-6). The Cubs defeated Litchfield tonight by a 3-0 margin.

Here's my post-match interview with Coach Borgerding tonight at NL-S:

Fun fact! on this night of this week two years ago, the Jaguars traveled to NL-S and won a 3-2 barn burner as well. On that night, where conditions were even warmer than they were tonight at NL-S, the Jaguars trailed 13-11 in game five before scoring the final four points in a thrilling 15-13 win. Allison Dingmann, Class of 2023, finished off the win with a huge ace block for the game winner. It was a night I will never forget. You can read a light blog recap that I posted later that night (September 6, 2022) by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/sIDsf. Three years ago, when NL-S traveled to our house, the Jaguars won 3-0 on another night I will never forget. It was the first time I was in a packed, full house gymnasium since the pandemic unofficially ended the previous spring in Jaguar Country. This makes us 3-1 in the last four years against our neighbors to the south.

In 2019, the Wildcats won 3-1 on their court against the Jaguars. In 2018, which was Coach Kevin Weller's final year as head coach, the Jaguars won by a 3-2 margin at our house with a 15-9 win in game five. Over the years this century, the NL-S vs. B-B-E volleyball matches have featured outstanding battles and making for a terrific rivalry. The Jaguars swept NL-S in New London in 2017, and they won 3-1 in Brooten in 2016. In 2015, the Wildcats won by a 3-2 margin on their home floor, and they swept the Jaguars in 2014 in Brooten during a season where they lost in the Section 3AA finals to powerhouse Marshall Area. The Jaguars won 3-1 in 2013 at New London (on September 24 that fall). In 2012, their matchup went five sets with the Jaguars winning 3-2 in Brooten (Coach Borgerding's senior year.) In 2010 and 2011, the Jaguars had 3-0 wins over NL-S.

Back in 2009, during a season when NL-S finished 31-3 overall and played in the Class 2A state tournament, they lost 3-2 to the Jaguars on their floor in New London. On September 15, 2008, the Jaguars won 3-1 against the Wildcats in Brooten during a season when they later took fourth place at the state tournament (Coach Weller's second year). In 2007, the Jaguars and Wildcats did not meet in a best-of-five match, but they did face off in the Willmar Cardinal Classic. The Jaguars won that match up by a 2-1 margin. If you tally all of this up, from 2008 through this year, the Jaguars are 5-1 in best-of-five matches with NL-S. Crazy!!! In summary, during best-of-five matches with NL-S from 2008 through today, the Jaguars hold an 11-5 record. None of this includes regular season tournament meetings between the teams, which has occurred multiple years (that's too much for me to look over tonight).

No rest for the restless! Here's my third fall sports show of this season:


I'll probably repost it again on Thursday in a new blog post. It does include one glaring, massive error about football. The program's 25-game losing streak did not stretch back to 2014. I have no idea where that came from. It was largely across the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons. In 2017, the Jaguars won their final 7 regular season games but lost in the section semifinals to start the losing streak that was halted in the 2021 season opener.

Area volleyball scores on September 10:
West Central Area 3, Montevideo 0
Renville County West 3, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 0
Browerville 3, Upsala 0
Maple Lake 3, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 0 (a quality Section 5AA win for the Irish, who improve to 5-3 overall)
Minneota 3, Dawson-Boyd 0
Parkers Prairie 3, Brandon-Evansville 0
Underwood 3, Ashby 0
BOLD 3, Melrose Area 2 (Warriors win game five 15-13)
MACCRAY 3, Yellow Medicine East 0
Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley 3, Wheaton/Herman-Norcross 1
Swanville 3, Bertha-Hewitt 1
Minnewaska Area 3, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 0
Sauk Centre 3, Benson 0 (Coach Jim Klaphake's Mainstreeters are 10-2 overall)

Volleyball set for Border Battle at NL-S

Here's where I hope to get a few match updates posted from New London-Spicer tonight. Our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team will take on the NL-S Wildcats in a battle of teams who both have 8-2 records with their eyes set on earning conference and postseason hardware. It will be quite a night!

More to come.

Game one final score: NLS 25, BBE 17.  

Game 2: BBE 25, NLS 23.

**This is a barn burner!!

In game 4, NLS has a 20-18 lead.

Volleyball Jaguars find success at Marshall (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team had a remarkable trip to Marshall over the weekend and came out of the 32-team Southwest Minnesota Challenge with an 8-2 overall record. The Jaguars recorded three wins in five matches at Marshall, all by 2-0 set scores. The losses were by narrow margins to tough Class 3A and 4A schools.

Match scores in Marshall...
Burnsville won 25-19, 25-23 in the first match of Friday night. The Blaze were a Class 4A state entrant as recently as 2022.

In the second match on Friday, Benilde St. Margaret's won 2-1 after claiming a 15-11 win in the third set. The Jaguars split the first two sets by scores of 18-25 and then 25-22. The Red Knights went 20-9 overall last year and took second (5-2) in the Metro West Conference after earning two regular season tournament titles. In 2022, the Red Knights went 25-8, won the Section 6AAA title and placed second at the state tournament.

To start action on Saturday bright and early at 8:30 a.m., the Jaguars swept Fergus Falls in two sets (25-17, 25-14). They finished out the tournament with straight set wins over Hutchinson (25-18, 25-14) and Perham (25-17, 25-17).

The Perham Yellowjackets are a strong Class 2A school who went 21-11 overall last year with a 3-1 loss to Wadena-Deer Creek in the Section 8AA championship. In the regular season, Perham finished 5-1 in the Heart O' Lakes Conference in a first-place tie with Hawley. All things considered, the Jaguars played terrific across both days and have some great momentum going into tomorrow's border battle at New London-Spicer.

For the record...the Jaguars have been traveling to Marshall for this tournament since 2010, which was when our head coach, Brittany Borgerding, was a sophomore on the team.

Here's a video that's approaching two weeks old...from the MACCRAY Wolverines match in Belgrade on Friday, August 30:


The MACCRAY Wolverines are currently 3-2 overall with a 1-1 record in the Camden North Conference. Their other loss besides the sweep by our Jaguars was by a 3-1 margin against perennial power Minneota in Clara City last Thursday.

Up next! This is BIG! the Jaguars put their 8-2 record on the line with a trip south to New London-Spicer for tomorrow's border battle. Be there!!! We need a huge crowd to support our team! The NL-S Wildcats also have an 8-2 overall record (how ironic!) after they placed second at the Lakeview Invitational in Cottonwood on Saturday. The Wildcats have what I'll call a "very high quality" win over Sub-Section 3AA-North rival Paynesville Area by a 3-0 sweep on September 3 at home. In addition to that, the Wildcats have a straight set win in tournament play against Maple Lake (on August 23).

JUST added to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website...
With the onset of fall soon here, it's time to get numerous area fall events on your calendar! One such event is the Brink's Beer Joint Turkey Fest, which is held each fall in scenic Swift Falls. This year, Turkey Fest will be on Saturday, September 21. You can read all the details plus see a throwback video from 2015 by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/XU0Zm.

My fall sports photo gallery folder are coming together...although I still have two more albums to add from August...yikes! Trying my best not to fall too far behind. Here's the link to see the current photo albums from August varsity action: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/BBE-Fall-Sports-2024.

ALSO coming on Tuesday...the B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team hosts St. John's Prep in a Prairie Conference dual at 4 p.m. at the high school courts. They will look to avenge a 4-3 loss to SJP on August 27 at the Osakis triangular.

Strong on both sides of the ball (VIDEOS*)

Additional videos have been added to this blog post late Sunday night...

The B-B-E Jaguars football team recently earned their first shutout win in three years after they defeated West Central Area 32-0 on Friday. The last time the Jaguars blanked an opponent was in the season opener of the 2021 season, when they beat Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 26-0 in Belgrade in Week One. Prior to that shutout win, you have to go back another six years before we had a shutout win, which came in the regular season finale in 2015 when the Jaguars won 14-0 in Kimball Area before going 1-1 in the Section 4A playoffs.

Prior to that shutout win in 2015, it was another five years prior that the Jaguars blanked an opponent. That shutout occurred at WCA's home field in Barrett in the 2010 season opener, when the Jaguars won 13-0. That was Coach Moscho's first season as head coach, and the Jaguars later earned what was just the program's second-ever section final appearance.

Here's video featuring the starter introductions (offense) followed by the game's first series against WCA:


B-B-E's defense was nothing short of punishing. The first half was a near-total disaster offensively for WCA, who dealt with Jaguar defenders in their backfield across the first 24 minutes of the game. WCA's fourth series started with a questionable horsecollar penalty against B-B-E, and then it had a four-yard gain and a four-yard loss. The fourth play featured a 15-yard B-B-E facemask penalty with a first down on B-B-E's 17-yard line. Next came a four-yard loss and a one-yard loss before WCA's sophomore quarterback tripped in the backfield. What resulted then was a fourth-and-21 play. WCA attempted a pass, and it floated short of the receiving corps and was picked off by Ethan Mueller, who returned it to B-B-E's 48-yard line. On paper, that WCA drive yielded 31 yards of offense, all from penalties.

Here's a video from the middle of the first quarter with the Jaguars on defense:


As I stated on Friday night after the game in the prior blog post, WCA's offense was limited to a net three positive yards across their first three possessions: three yards, one yard and negative one yard. Through six possessions, with the sixth possession being the first of the third quarter, WCA's offense had generated a net negative 22 yards. The misery continued on their seventh possession, which ended on a 4th-and-12 with a punt after they generated a net three yards of offense to go three-and-out...then suffering a false start penalty.

Here's a video beginning with WCA on their fourth series of the first half...you can see how it ended on fourth down:


B-B-E's defense was active all night and made things miserable for the Knights backfield. Unfortunately, on B-B-E's following possession in the second quarter, a holding penalty gashed their momentum, and they were forced to punt on a 4th-and-22 possession with 5:20 on the clock. WCA's next series lost a net negative 21 yards, and they punted to midfield with 3:20 on the clock. B-B-E then drove in a touchdown on a nine-play drive that ended with Josh Walstrom catching a four-yard touchdown pass from Luke Illies with 26 seconds left before halftime.

It took until WCA's eighth possession before they generated meaningful offense. On that drive, WCA benefitted from a big kickoff return by Hunter Gruchow to the B-B-E 49-yard line. They gained one first down after that, but the drive was snuffed out by an Aiden Mueller interception.

Later in the game to seal the shutout, the JV defense got the job done in the latter part of the fourth quarter when they stopped the Knights inside the five-yard line as time expired. Well done!

Here's a postgame interview with Ethan Mueller after the game:


On offense, the Jaguars had an outstanding night with 135 rushing yards to go with a whopping 273 passing yards. Illies's quarterback rating was an incredible 144.6! (A perfect quarterback game has a rating of 158.3 by the way.)

More to come.

Just for fun! Let's go back over 14 years ago...to the 2010 season...
I dug back in this blog's archives and found this blog post...Friday Night Lights I from the 2010 season. Holy moly! Fourteen years ago when our entire current varsity football team was either in diapers or in preschool. Click to see the recap from Coach Moscho's first game as head coach: https://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2010/09/friday-night-lights-part-i-b-b-e.html.

Friday Night Lights II: Jaguars pitch a shut out! (VIDEOS)

Holy cow! That was fun!

In their district opener for the new season, the B-B-E Jaguars football team put forth an incredible effort on defense while shutting out West Central Area by a 32-0 score. They have now won 10 straight regular season games going back to last fall. How about that! I believe the game was rightly billed as a "tough" game prior to kickoff, but as the game developed, the Jaguars seemed to get stronger and stronger. They had a few issues with penalties, especially in the second half, but through all four quarters they played well enough to finish with the coveted shutout.

The Jaguar defensive effort held the Knights to a net negative 3 yards on WCA first three offensive series. Even more impressive: through WCA's first five series of the game, they were held to a net zero yards!

The Jaguars received a WCA punt after the Knights went nowhere on their first series. With their second series of the game starting on their 45-yard line, the Jaguars used just 4 plays to punch in their second touchdown of the game. On 1st-and-10 at the WCA 40, Josh Walstrom hauled in a touchdown catch from Luke Illies to score with 6:37 left in the opening quarter. You can see that play out in the video below.

Here's exciting video from the first quarter tonight:


B-B-E's QB1's numbers were incredible, as Luke Illies had 16-for-24 passing for 273 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. (For a QB rating of 144.6!) All four touchdowns were caught by senior wide receiver Josh Walstrom. B-B-E's other touchdown was scored on the ground by senior Jack Lundberg.

Against B-B-E's JV defense, WCA threatened in the closing minutes but ran out of time inside the 10-yard line.

Unofficially, the Knights were limited to 70 yards of offense. I haven't reviewed the official stats yet.

Game statistics...
B-B-E's running game totaled 135 yards on 26 carries and was led by Lundberg's 90 yards on 18 carries. Through the air, they added 273 yards on the 16 pass receptions thrown by Illies. In the fourth quarter with JV quarterback Aiden Mueller behind center, the Jaguars stuck almost exclusively to running the ball to keep the clock running. Mueller was 0-for-1 at quarterback.

Walstrom finished with 8 catches for 161 yards. Brett DeRoo had 3 catches for 27 yards.

Defensively, a total of 10 Jaguars recorded at least two solo tackles. Ethan Mueller had 7 solos, while Carson Gilbert had 6 solo tackles plus three quarterback sacks and four tackles for a loss.

WCA was held to 70 net yards: 10 in the air and 60 on the ground. WCA's passnig numbers were 5-of-14. It was a very tough night for the visitors, as the 70 yards were earned across 54 plays. B-B-E totaled 408 yards on 55 plays.

Next: the Jaguars (2-0) travel to Benson for their first road game of the season next Friday, September 13. They face a Braves team that played well tonight in a 28-20 loss to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg in Murdock. Next week's game will be Benson's home opener. They lost their season opener at Manohmen last week to Mahnomen/Waubun.

Against K-M-S tonight, the Braves ran for 266 yards on 43 carries.

Here's a video from the pregame huddle just before the playing of the National Anthem:


Worth noting: in the Section 4A standings, Browerville, Upsala/Swanville Area and B-B-E are all 2-0.

I'll get a "Friday Night Lights II" podcast recorded tomorrow night.

Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold district scores in Week Two:
Browerville 34, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 28, Benson 20
Upsala/Swanville Area 47, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 0

Area football scores in Week Two:
Minnewaska Area 34, Sauk Centre 10
Kimball Area 42, Osakis 8
BOLD 70, MACCRAY 6
Dawson-Boyd 35, Lac qui Parle Valley 13
Minneota 61, Yellow Medicine East 0
Paynesville Area 60, Maple Lake 14
Holdingford 46, Royalton 6
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 42, Montevideo 7

GAME NIGHT in Jaguar Country! (VIDEO)

We have our second installment of Friday Night Lights coming in less than an hour!

The B-B-E Jaguars football team hosts West Central Area in teams who are both looking to improve to 2-0 in the early portion of the regular season. How ironic is this: in the first five minutes of their respective season openers, both the Jaguars and Knights had put up two touchdowns on their opponents. At Climax, the WCA Knights won 38-12 against host Polk County West. 

Also noteworthy: out of five Section 4A teams, four of them were winners in their season openers.

The game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood; they stream online at: https://www.kmgk1071.com.

Here's a video I'm posting a second time...from last Friday night in the season opener.


More to come!

 **Game updates...After the first quarter of play, the Jaguars are ahead 12-0.

Halftime: BBE 18, WCA 0.  The Jaguars scored with 26 seconds left before halftime for their third touchdown of the game.

Jaguars improve to 5-0 (VIDEOS)

In their Central Minnesota Conference opener, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team made quick work of the Holdingford Huskers in a 25-9, 25-20, 25-8 sweep. This improves their overall record to 5-0 as they prepare for the 32-team Southwest Minnesota Challenge, which is Friday and Saturday in Marshall.

Here's action from late in game one against K-M-S on Tuesday:


Tonight's match at Holdingford was the team's first road contest. They become road warriors with just one home match across the next two weeks. They have back-to-back matches at home on September 19 and September 26.

Here's a post-match interview with senior Kylie Weller that's now one week old...


Tonight at Holdingford, Weller had 3 kills, 9 set assists, 5 ace serves on perfect 19-for-19 serving plus 10 digs. That is quite a stat line!

You can click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to view video from the Pope County Farm Bureau Breakfast on the Farm event in rural Belgrade on Monday: https://shorturl.at/gePLV.

You can order tickets for the Monson Lake Opry Music Festival in rural Sunburg at this website: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/monson-lake-opry-festival-2024-tickets-884212402097, and a short link: https://shorturl.at/PiNEN. Here's a link to a photo gallery from the 2022 Monson Lake Opry: https://shorturl.at/avwny. It's all summarized together at the newspaper's website: https://shorturl.at/jsFcF. The Monson Lake Opry Festival has been advertising in the Bonanza Valley Voice since June.

Central MN Conference volleyball scores on September 5:
Kimball Area 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0
Royalton 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 1
Maple Lake 3, Paynesville Area 1

Area volleyball scores on September 5:
Minnewaska Area 3, Melrose Area 2
Lac qui Parle Valley 3, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 2
Pine River-Backus 3, Nevis 1
Minneota 3, MACCRAY 1
West Central Area 3, Benson 0
Albany 3, Pierz 0
New York Mills 3, Henning 1
New London-Spicer 3, Norwood-Young America 0

Volleyball sweeps Fighting Saints (VIDEOS)

A three-and-zero set score was the result from tonight's home border battle between our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team and the K-M-S Fighting Saints. The Jaguars scored frequently with an efficient offense that kept the visitors out of system for large portions of games one and two. Scores in the first two sets were 25-17, 25-14.

Here's a video featuring the first 5 minutes of game one tonight:


The Jaguars were pushed in game three and led just 14-13 at one point, but they got tough near the end to claim a 25-18 win. As a team, the Jaguars hit at a 32 percent clip and were led by Kacey Fischer's season-high 19 kills.

Now 4-0 overall in non-conference meetings, the Jaguars travel to Holdingford this Thursday for the Central Minnesota Conference opener. The Huskers are 2-0 with two sweeps to their credit so far after they beat Rockford and Ogilvie last week.

Area volleyball scores on September 3:
New London-Spicer 3, Paynesville Area 0 (a huge sub-section win for the Wildcats)
West Central Area 3, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 0
Sauk Centre 3, Minnewaska Area 2
Henning 3, Brandon-Evansville 2
Underwood 3, Battle Lake 1

On Wednesday afternoon...
While perousing camera chips, I came across a video I hadn't uploaded that was recorded back on August 18. Here's that clip...

At outdoor worship in Brooten on Sunday, August 18:


The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper has a tiny amount of coverage from that Lutheran worship service on page 2 this week.

A busy week of sports is upon us (VIDEO)

After a light reprieve from school activities for the Labor Day weekend, we jump right back into full swing with a full slate of varsity sports this week. It's crazy again!

Tonight, we have a border battle on deck with the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team prepared to host Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg. The Fighting Saints are a Class 2A team for the second year in a row and will compete again in Section 3AA in the postseason.

Tonight, the varsity volleyball match will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. They stream online at: https://www.kmgk1071.com.

Here's a video with some terrific music by Journey playing on the football stadium loudspeaker last Friday:


Such a fun atmosphere that night! A great crowd of Jaguar fans plus perfect weather for fall football.

Stopped cold in your tracks

Sometimes things come your way that stops you cold in your tracks. Tonight is one of those nights. I am writing about Joyce (Spanier) Borash, a 1987 graduate of Belgrade-Elrosa high school. She was the most-decorated Redmen girls' athlete in Belgrade prior to the athletic pairing with Brooten. In August 1991, just a couple months after Joyce graduated from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, she married Wayne Borash of Sobieski. On May 21, 1994, Joyce and Wayne's marriage was blessed with their firstborn child, Rebecca. Two years after that, their first son was born, Jacob. In 1997, their next son, Aaron, was born.

Then tragedy struck the Borash family.

On February 24, 1998, Rebecca died following a farm accident. Rebecca was three years, nine months old.

The Borash family relied on faith, family and friends and persevered in the wake of that tragic, unimaginable loss. I can't even begin to understand the horror. I don't want to. Fast forward many years, and their daughter Megan (born in November 2000) became a Morrison County Dairy Princess in 2019. It was part of numerous accomplishments that are a part of their family. The Borash family did not let tragedy take them down.

News of any farm tragedy, even one from 25-plus years ago, haunts me and generally stops me cold.

Joyce is a 2024 nominee to the B-B-E Hall of Fame. She is the sixth HOF nominee that I'm writing about. We'll see how it all comes together for the September 5 issue.

Farm Bureau Breakfast on the Farm is coming (SPORTS show video added)

While it is unfortunate that I'm down to the last minute to give extra promotion here, it's better late than never...the annual Pope County Farm Bureau Breakfast on the Farm event is heading east into Stearns County for a special Labor Day event starting at 8 a.m. tomorrow. It will be located at one of the Anderson Farms locations at 44338 County Road 19, Belgrade. This is roughly one mile west of the Belgrade Menard's Fixtures plant.

You can see additional details by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://shorturl.at/pRF0P.

Here's a direct link to view the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's photo gallery from the Breakfast on the Farm event two years ago at Rolling Forks Vineyard in rural Glenwood: https://encr.pw/qjneu.

And shifting gears a little back to sports...currently, I'm with family and our camper at Pomme de Terre campgrounds just outside of Morris. We spent the last night here and are enjoying a little time "out west" in Stevens County. My voice has come back somewhat after I pushed it to the limit for our volleyball team last week. It was worth it! It is always worth expending the extra effort needed to help our teams win!

Here's our sports department's Fall Sports Show No. 2 of the season, featuring Friday Night Lights I:


One error in the sports show...the football team racked up over 300 yards of offense, not under 300 yards. The Flyers tallied 294 net yards of offense. Full statistics from the game will be published in the September 5 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

I'll get additional information on West Central Area's football team posted in a new blog post on Monday...or Tuesday. The Knights are 1-0 after defeating the Polk County West Thunder 38-12 at Climax, Minnesota. Polk County West is a co-op team that includes student-athletes from East Grand Forks Sacred Heart and Climax-Fisher high schools. In 2023, Polk County West had a 5-5 record with a 1-1 showing in the Section 8A playoffs. In their preseason preview in the Grand Forks Herald newspaper, their coach stated that they had ample depth with roughly 18 players expected to have significant playing time.