It's a four-peat! How about that! (VIDEOS)

For the second time in school history, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has won four straight Central Minnesota Conference titles. Awesome!

Tonight at Paynesville in a CMC border battle, the Jaguars lost game one 25-22 before regrouping to win three straight sets and finish the loop in first place with a 6-1 record. No word yet on Maple Lake's match at Kimball Area. The Jaguars and Irish entered tonight tied for first place.

The Bulldogs take a 14-9 record into the Sub-Section 3AA-North playoffs, where they are ranked No. 2 by QRF behind New London-Spicer. They finished 4-3 in the CMC.

In game two, the Jaguars held small three-point leads early before utilizing a 6-1 run that game them a 19-11 lead. The Bulldogs cut it down to 21-19 before the Jaguars finished strong to claim a 25-20 win. In game three, the Bulldogs held an early 5-3 lead before the Jaguars went on a 7-3 run. Just as they did in game two, they finished strong in the third set while earning a 25-17 win. The Jaguars were in control for just about the entire fourth set, and Paynesville Area made multiple mistakes down the stretch while the visitors ended the match with a 25-15 win.

Here's a lengthy video recorded in the middle of game 2 tonight:


Overall as a team, the Jaguars had a mild 17.1 hitting percentage, and for large stretches of the match, their offense was not clicking. Credit to Paynesville, however, as they picked up their level of play considerably after a very poor start to game one. The Jaguars had a balanced attack with four hitters earning 6 or more kills: Kacey Fischer (15 kills), Adley Hagen (13), Kadynce Haider (8) and Kamie Fischer (6). Libero Ava Deters led the defense with 21 digs. At the service line, the Jaguars had an excellent 94.7 percent mark tonight with 4 ace serves.

B-B-E finished the regular season 25-3 overall. This is their best record entering the playoffs since 2008. In 2018, the Jaguars were 22-4 at the end of the regular season. In both 2008 and 2018, they finished fourth at the state tournament. Right now, there are no thoughts of state whatsoever, as the Section 6A playoffs loom large with a strong array of competitors. The climb will be uphill, but if the Jaguars play their game, they are going to go far!

Here's a video recorded before game 4 started tonight:


And speaking of the CMC "Four Peat"...the Jaguars earned CMC titles in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 for a four-peat. They were also CMC champions in 2000, 2002 and 2003. While I'm at it, I'll just go and outline the full picture of volleyball conference titles. The Jaguars won West Central South Conference titles in 1994 and 1995. In addition to the CMC titles won in the early 2000s, the Jaguars went on a huge tear to claim the conference titles (all solo crowns) consecutively from 2006 through 2012. Their huge CMC winning streak was halted on October 3, 2013 in Maple Lake in a 3-1 loss. The Jaguars finished second in the CMC in 2013 and 2014 before going 7-0 to claim a solo CMC title in 2015. Next came CMC titles in 2018 and 2019. They took second in the COVID season of 2020, and now they can say they have won four straight CMC titles through 2024!

More to follow in the morning. I have a newspaper to prepare for the press.

Central MN Conference volleyball scores on October 15:
Holdingford 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 0
Royalton 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 1 (played on Monday this week)

Area volleyball scores on October 15:
West Central Area 3, BOLD 0
Delano 3, Annandale 1 (Delano is 28-0)
Willmar 3, New London-Spicer 0
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 3, Montevideo 0

This, that and that (VIDEOS, UPDATES*)

This blog post will serve as a catch-all for the next 24 hours or so. The next 72 hours are going to be flat out crazy. It begins with having a GOOD Tuesday, and that all hinges on being able to throw most of my energy and focus into publishing the October 17 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Tonight, at the elementary cafeteria, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team held their season banquet and awards ceremony. In the last week, I fell a little behind on sports blogging for the tennis team. In fact, I think I still have video from the Section 6A playoffs in Litchfield that I haven't uploaded. Yikes! That was 11 days ago. In order to stay on track, I'll post a video that only has 2 views so far...this is from that day, October 3, in Litchfield.

Here's action at No. 1 and No. 4 singles in the Section 6A quarterfinals:


...and let's go back one day prior to that with the home playoff opener on October 2.

Here's action at No. 1 doubles with Ellan Fischer and Grace Berndt:


This year's tennis team fought with outstanding grit, determination and sportsmanship all season long. They improved week by week, which was shown by their performance at the Prairie Conference tournament on September 19 and then in the final week of September while leading into the postseason. This week's newspaper will feature additional coverage.

It's still shy of 10 p.m. tonight, and I need to get out and cover a bunch of vegetables in the garden. Based on the forecast, we'll see approximately 6 straight hours of freezing temperatures tonight as the mercury dips to as low as 29 degrees (between 3 and 8 a.m.). If I can get a few of our vegetable plots through the next couple of nights, the outlook says that we've got smooth sailing without frost until at least October 23!

And a Tuesday update...the blankets worked! We've got a great variety of vegetables that will live to another day.

Volleyball updates to follow here later on Tuesday night...
In the preliminary matches, the Jaguar JV and C-squad teams both won! The varsity match got underway at about 6:50 p.m.

Updates! the match is tied at one set apiece! We had two exciting games to start this border battle. The Bulldogs took game one 25-22 after the Jaguars held leads of 9-6, 10-4 and 12-6. In game two, the Jaguars won 25-20. ****More to come in a NEW blog post.

College athletics update (VIDEOS)

Here's the latest I've collected on current B-B-E graduates who are playing college ball...featured are two volleyball players and one football player.

Ethan Spanier is a 6'2" 290-pound defensive tackle who's played in six games this fall for North Dakota State College of Science. The Wildcats are 6-0 in the Minnesota College Athletic Conference and 7-1 overall with the playoffs set to begin on October 19. In their last regular season game, NDSCS defeated rival Rochester by a 28-25 score on Saturday in Rochester.

Emily Kern, junior 5'6" libero at St. Cloud State University, recorded 6 digs and one set assist in Saturday night's 3-2 win for the Huskies against conference rival Wayne State in Wayne, Nebraska. SCSU (14-2, 8-0 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) entered the match ranked No. 5 in the latest national polls, while Wayne State (14-3, 8-1 NSIC) was ranked No. 6. The incredible game five was won by a 18-16 score after the host Wildcats held match point with a 16-15 lead.

Brooklyn Fischer, a 5'9" freshman middle hitter at St. Cloud Technical and Community College, has recorded 236 kills this season at an average of 3.47 kills per set with 22.7 percent hitting efficiency. Her Cyclones are having an outstanding season and stand 15-4 overall with an 8-1 conference record. On Friday in St. Cloud, the Cyclones had a nine-match winning streak halted in a 3-2 loss to MN West Community and Technical College (15-11 score in game five). Fischer led her team with 14 kills on 17.6 percent hitting with a team-leading 26 digs and 5 block assists. In the MCAC South division standings, SCTCC has a half-match lead over MN West, who is 24-4 overall and 7-1 in the conference. The two teams have a big rematch on the horizon next Friday, October 18 in Worthington.

Getting back to high school sports...
The next three days are jam packed! And I do mean packed!!! Events taking place three nights in a row. It's going to be interesting to navigate through all of it. I'll explain more later. Here's what's on the docket: on Monday comes a school board meeting, Brooten city council plus the tennis team banquet. Tuesday brings grades 7-12 volleyball action at Paynesville that also concludes the varsity team's regular season. For Wednesday, the football team has a big game at Murdock against K-M-S.

Here's a video from early in the 3rd quarter at Browerville:


And then let's fast forward to the fourth quarter at Browerville...

Here's a video featuring Andrew Spanier's touchdown reception...


The Browerville Tigers traveled to Barrett to West Central Area high school's stadium on Friday. They suffered a 24-0 loss to the once-beaten WCA Knights to fall to 4-3 overall with their second straight loss. The WCA Knights have an outside shot at winning in their last game to finish the regular season 7-1 overall. They host Upsala/Swanville Area in Week 8.

Also this week...let's give a shout out to B-B-E senior Taylor Nelson, who is the lone Jaguar who competes this fall with the B-B-E/Paynesville boys' cross country team. The Jaguar-Bulldog harriers run at Holdingford on Tuesday this week in the Central Minnesota Conference championships starting at 4 p.m.

Friday Night Lights VII: 8th-ranked Jaguars defeat Thunder (VIDEOS!*)

The B-B-E Jaguars football team maintained second place in the Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold District standings with a 54-7 win over Long Prairie-Grey Eagle tonight. Parents Night was also held tonight in the last regular season home game.

The Jaguars built a 42-0 lead after the first quarter. At halftime, they led 48-0.

Big achievements! in tonight's second quarter, Jack Lundberg surpassed 1,000 season rushing yards. Luke Illies eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for passing this season. Both are two valuable members of the 16 seniors on this year's roster.

Some light game statistics...
B-B-E totaled 288 offensive yards tonight while their defense held the Thunder to 89 yards from scrimmage. While employing a predominantly running game, Luke Illies had 3-of-6 passing marks for 58 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Jack Lundberg finished with 154 rushing yards and now has 1,006 yards this season. Illies was also part of the rushing statistics with one long run for a 41-yard touchdown. B-B-E ran for 228 yards on 13 run plays.

This was another fun stat: 22 different Jaguars recorded at least one defensive tackle tonight, Cameron Loe, a junior, had the game's lone quarterback sack.

Here's a video from the second quarter tonight:


More to come later tonight after I review additional game statistics. There have been over 40 kids gathering tonight at Lucky Shots Bowling Alley in Brooten! This is a wonderful thing for our youth! Bravo to the B-B-E Fellowship of Christian Athletes program! Kids are participating in bowling, pool and simulated golf. I am beaming with pride in the organizers behind tonight's big party at the bowling alley.

**Here's a video from the 2nd quarter at Browerville on Friday Night Lights VI:


I am a little backed up right now on my sports videos for the tennis and football teams. This weekend is when I'll get caught up! **The video I just added features the final minutes of the second quarter at Friday Night Lights VI in Browerville. The clip begins with Brett DeRoo scoring on a 46-yard touchdown catch from Luke Illies.

Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold District Week 7 scores on October 11:
West Central Area 24, Browerville 0
Upsala/Swanville Area 46, Benson 0
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 41, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 0

Area Week 7 football scores on October 11:
New London-Spicer 55, St. Cloud Apollo 23
Canby 27, Yellow Medicine East 6
Hancock 32, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 28
Pierz 67, Montevideo 34
Moorhead 22, Alexandria 20
Rock Ridge 49, Duluth Denfeld 32
BOLD 54, Lakeview 6
Albany 21, Minnewaska Area 0
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 32, Perham 13
Melrose Area 28, Rockford 27
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 21, Sauk Centre 0
Osakis 44, Royalton 14
Renville County West 57, Madelia 6

GAME NIGHT! At OUR house! *OVERTIME for kids event also tonight

This is about as terrific of a fall day as one can ask for across the Bonanza Valley and Jaguar Country! FULL sunshine and temperatures in the mid to upper 60s! Wow! It's crazy to also consider just how hot it got yesterday, Thursday, with a high of 83 degrees!

FIRST! Before I jump into football...this is important! Students in grades 7-12 are invited to Lucky Shots Bowling Alley after tonight's game. You can read all the details by clicking over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website: https://shorturl.at/E4FnT. We are super blessed to have B-B-E's Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization running strong. We also want to give a shout out to the Big Grove/Crow River/Grace Lutheran Parish community for their efforts at supporting the B-B-E FCA chapter.

Also! I just posted the agenda for Monday's Brooten city council meeting at my editor's blog. You can see the agenda by clicking here: https://lifeinbonanzavalley.blogspot.com.

Let's talk football!
We've got Friday Night Lights VII on deck tonight for our B-B-E Jaguars football team, as they are set to host Long Prairie-Grey Eagle in a Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold District game. Kickoff for the game at our stadium in Belgrade is at 7 p.m. In leading up to the game, the coaching staff will have Parents Night to honor and recognize the men and women who play a direct role in raising their sons on the team.

As for the LP-GE Thunder, they have a 1-5 record.

Game updates... to follow here after 7:00 p.m..

After the 1st quarter, the Jaguars have a 42-0 lead.

At halftime: BBE 48, LP-GE 0.

After the third quarter, the score is 48 to 0. The entire third quarter has been played with running time. In fact, they began running time some time late in the second quarter.

Jaguars remain in first place! and Sports Show No. 8 (VIDEOS, UPDATES)

On the heels of a 3-1 win at Royalton tonight, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has cleared a big hurdle to achieving one big season goal: earning Central Minnesota Conference hardware. The task at hand tonight was a big one, as the Royals and Jaguars entered the match in a three-way tie for first place along with Maple Lake.

After splitting the first two sets, the Jaguars won game three 25-18. In game four, they played outstanding volleyball the entire way in a 25-14 win.

Here's a few notes I jotted down in game four tonight...
With Abigail Lien on the service line, the Jaguars have rattled off a 5-0 run and now hold a 14-5 lead. The lead expanded to 17-8 with Kamie Fischer on the service line, and the Royals called their final timeout of the set. B-B-E's lead expanded even more to a 23-10 advantage, but the Royals got a side out on a kill. Royalton got another kill for a 23-12 score, but Kadynce Haider knocked down a kill to bring game and match point.

The Jaguars closed out game four with an ace stuff, although I could not verify who earned that off of the Hudl livestream. Game scores: 25-20, 24-26, 25-18, 25-14.

A two-week layoff from recording a sports show has ended...here's my 8th sports podcast of this fall:


Now 24-3 overall, the No. 10-ranked Jaguars improve to 5-1 in the CMC and have one more big hurdle ahead of them: beating Paynesville Area on their floor next Tuesday night. That match will conclude the regular season. The Bulldogs are currently theoretically still in the hunt for CMC hardware with a 13-7 overall record and a 4-2 mark in the CMC. Tonight, they traveled the short trip south for a border battle with Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.

Circling back to football...here's a video that features the opening minutes of the 2nd quarter at Browerville:


That's all I've got for tonight. I played "hooky" from work for a couple of hours and enjoyed watching Hunter Killer on Netflix. It is a great movie! I highly recommend it. And goodness...my ears are still ringing from blowing my referee whistle tonight at the 5th/6th grade volleyball match with New London-Spicer.

A few Friday updates...today is going to be a great day! I just heard news that the B-B-E Pep Band will perform for the second time this fall at tonight's football game! Before tonight's game, I'll get a new blog post added that will feature game updates tonight for Friday Night Lights VII. It will be Parents Night as the Jaguars host Long Prairie-Grey Eagle.

Here's a video featuring Josh Walstrom's incredible touchdown catch last Friday at Browerville...


More to come. We have full sunshine again today! An absolutely perfect, wonderful fall day is upon us. Don't forget all the upcoming events this weekend...Saturday night will be super busy! Events have been promoted for Saturday in this week's newspaper for the city of Elrosa (steak fry) plus the Lutheran church communities of Crow River and Norway Lake. Read all about it in The Voice! (Also online at the newspaper's community calendar: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

And for parents of grades 7-12 students! On Friday after the football game, your children (in those grades) are invited to Lucky Shots Bowling Alley, where the B-B-E Fellowship of Christian Athletes will be hosting an Overtime party with FREE bowling and pizza!!! This is a great event for your kids to take part in...even if they didn't go to the football game. (I hope they do, of course!) This event will run from 9 to 11:30 p.m., and please make sure you can get your child at or before 11:30. Thank you!

Central MN Conference volleyball scores on October 10:
Paynesville Area 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 1
Kimball Area 3, Holdingford 0
Maple Lake 3, Eden Valley-Watkins 1

Area volleyball scores on October 10:
Sauk Rapids 3, Willmar 1
New London-Spicer 3, Rockford 0
HL-W-W 3, Litchfield 2
Sauk Centre 3, Montevideo 0 Minnewaska Area 3, BOLD 1
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 3, Benson 0
MACCRAY 3, Ortonville 0
Minneota 3, Renville County West 0

Jaguar volleyball battling at Royalton

In a key Central Minnesota Conference match on the road, the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team has a 2-1 set lead at Royalton tonight. They won the third game by a 25-18 score. Game three is set to begin shortly after 8 p.m. It is also Dig Pink night for the Royals volleyball program.

In game four, the Jaguars led 3-1 but have fallen behind 4-3 after a Royalton ace serve.

With a string of excellent serves and once ace serve by Adley Hagen, the Jaguars rattled off a 6-0 run to go up 9-4. The Royals have called a timeout. More to come in a new blog post! Hit refresh!

A (slight) delay to the newspapers! and TENNIS results

Oh, boy!

Today, the only way you can see the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper is to see a copy on the newsstand (RJ's Mini Mart gets stacked first, and then Coop's Corner and Belgrade Hardware later today). Due to what was about a 40-minute delay at the printing press, the annual U.S. Postal Service audit of the newspaper has been delayed from this afternoon until tomorrow morning.

What it means is that Post Office box holders in Brooten won't see The Voice until approximately 10 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday) instead of 3 p.m. today - which they're used to on Wednesdays.

The good news: Brooten rural routes will see the newspaper as usual on Thursday. However, Belgrade rural routes won't see it until Friday as well as Glenwood, New London and other nearby routes. There's really nothing earth-shattering in this week's Voice, so there's no harm to these delays. Life will go on. The auditing of newspapers is a key function of the USPS and ensures that what newspapers declare to the public is what is actually sent out as true "readership" each week. I appreciate the work of the U.S.P.S during a time when they continue to struggle will having full staffing. Locally, we're in pretty good shape - which we should all be grateful for! 

In playoff news...
Six members of the B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team are competing in the Section 6A tournament today at the Rogers Tennis Club. In singles action, I saw that Skylar Knight-DeWeerd defeated Sauk Centre's Emily Wojtanowitz in a hard-fought battle by scores of 6-4, 6-3. She then faced top-seeded Leah Maddock of Osakis and fell in straight sets.

Also in singles play, Hannah Hirman won her opener by defeating Amy Hernandez of LPGE/U-SA in a 6-0, 6-0 win. Hirman then fell in straight sets to Litchfield's Isla Dille.

In doubles action, B-B-E's duos of Ellan Fischer/Grace Berndt and Izzy Graham/Bree Thieschafer fell in quarterfinal-round match ups. That's all I have as of now. I haven't seen where the consolation brackets are, but I'll catch up on this later today.

Now it's time to get outside in the sunshine!!

On Thursday...the newspaper website has been updated: https://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. Time to get back outside! A high of about 83 degrees is coming!!

Beautiful, incredible fall day (VIDEO)

The Bonanza Valley area is experiencing an incredible day of fall weather today. It appears that we've reached a high of 68 degrees with full sunshine...as of 4 o'clock this afternoon, there's not a puff of cloud in the sky. Blue sky for everyone! The low tonight is supposed to plummet to 37 degrees.

In this blog post, I'll add a video from tonight's Sonic Escape concert at Olson Auditorium. I hope you can attend in person! Remember: it's FREE!

...added Monday night...here's the final minute of the final song performed tonight at Olson Auditorium:


As you can see and hear for yourself in the video, they are both incredible musicians! Additional coverage will follow in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

Over 370 Color FUND Run photos have been uploaded at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper SmugMug gallery. You can find the two albums by clicking over to the 2024 events folder at this direct link: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/2024-B-B-EBonanza-Valley-area-events.

I'm finally basically caught up on adding sports photos from Homecoming week to the newspaper's Fall 2024 sports galleries. You can find them at this direct link: https://bonanzavalley.smugmug.com/BBE-Fall-Sports-2024.

Jaguar volleyball champions at Alexandria! (VIDEO)

In a tournament they traditionally haven't played particularly well at, the No. 11-ranked B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team turned in a championship performance today to claim the Alexandria Invitational title. I'm still combing over the statistics, but it was incredible to note that they went three sets against neighboring Minnewaska Area and came out on top in the tiebreaker by a 16-14 margin! That's incredible! The Lakers are a team on the upswing and one of the top teams in the West Central Conference.

The Jaguars also defeated Class 3A Fergus Falls in three sets with a 15-12 win in game three. Against Class 3A Alexandria, current front-runners in the Central Lakes Conference, the Jaguars won 25-19, 25-23. Seven ace serves and 25 percent hitting played a big part in defeating the host Cardinals, who have a 10-1 record for a half-match lead over willmar for first place.

B-B-E also faced BOLD, the current fourth-place team in the West Central Conference, who they defeated 25-20, 25-14.

This improves B-B-E's overall record to 23-3 with two matches left on the schedule: October 10 at Royalton and October 15 at Paynesville Area. Both of those matches will determine whether or not the Jaguars can earn at least a share of the Central Minnesota Conference title. They are MUST win matches!

Through all four matches in Alexandria, Kacey Fischer had 39 kills, while Adley Hagen added 37 kills.

Here's a video from Thursday's match at Maple Lake...from late in game two:


I fully believe that if the Jaguars would have come out on top in game two, they could have prevailed in three or four sets.

More to come. I have a pile of stats to review. I also have a couple items to clean up in the Friday Night Lights VI post.

Sunday night updates...
I hope you can help spread the word for the upcoming concert that will be held on Monday, October 7 (tomorrow) at B-B-E high school's Olson Auditorium. It's been included in the Belgrade Library's events section that I try to publish at least 2 or 3 times each month in the Bonanza Valley Voice. The Belgrade Library and Great River Regional Library (GRRL) system have a paid advertisement in last week's newspaper that helped pay for color ink on the center spread of Homecoming week photos. Let's support the groups and organizations that support The Voice! Best of all - the concert is FREE! To read more, you can click over to The Voice website: https://shorturl.at/eYY3N. Included in that web article is a link to read an extensive biography on Sonic Escape.

Due to having taken well over 1,000 pictures during Homecoming week, I am severely back-logged on getting the Bonanza Valley Voice SmugMug photo galleries updated. Tonight, I finally got the Homecoming Pep Fest photos added. You can find that gallery by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/qwTR6. For a photo gallery from the Homecoming Tailgating party and pre-game festivities before Friday Night Lights V, you can click here: https://shorturl.at/pF17o.

Friday Night Lights VI: Jaguars overpower tough-as-nails Browerville (VIDEOS)

Saturday night note: I've gotten a few more bits and comments added to this blog post today, although it's mostly all intact from what I went to bed on last night. I have big volleyball news to report in a new blog post! Mistakes in the blog post were cleaned up (example: Andrew Spanier caught the last touchdown pass from Aiden Mueller, not Luke Illies)


At first glance at the final score suggests the B-B-E Jaguars football team easily handled the Browerville Tigers tonight in a key Gopher Gold Mid-Northwest District match up. Let me be the first one to tell you that just was not the case.

 Through the end of the first quarter, the Jaguars held just an 8-0 lead at Browerville's Walt Lucas Field. They pushed it to 14-0 and then took a 20-7 lead into halftime. Knowing full well they could not get comfortable on a two-score lead, the Jaguars came out with fire and brimstone to start the third quarter. What came of that was 61-yard touchdown run by Jack Lundberg on the first play from scrimmage after halftime. A two-point conversion carry by Brett DeRoo made it 28-7 with 11:46 remaining in the third quarter.

Final score: B-B-E 36, Browerville 7. Next: the Jaguars take a 5-1 record into a home game on October 11 against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle. That next game will also serve as Parents Night.

Summary of how the first half developed...
This is remarkable: the Jaguars had a basic time of possession total of about four minutes across their first four possessions. On three of the four possessions, they scored touchdowns. The four possessions totaled about 270 yards of net offense. Three different Jaguars scored the touchdowns, in order: Jack Lundberg, Josh Walstrom and Brett DeRoo. This put the score at 20-7 before halftime. The Tigers showed their mettle, however, and put up a great fight across much of the first half of the game.

Here's a video clip featuring the game's opening kickoff and the first few minutes of the first quarter:


B-B-E scored the game's first touchdown of the night on their second possession. It was a two-play drive from 83 yards out. On first down, an option play resulted in a two-yard loss. Jack Lundberg then took it to the house for an 85-yard touchdown carry with 3:09 to go.

Here's a video featuring the two-point conversion run by Brett DeRoo after B-B-E's first touchdown tonight:


In the second quarter...
Browerville had a sustained, lengthy drive that started on their own 43-yard line with 2:59 left in the first quarter. A 43-yard reception brought the Tigers to B-B-E's 12 yard line as the quarter break neared. The Tigers then converted 3rd-and-1 as the first quarter ended. This gave Browerville 1st-and-goal at the one-yard line. Luck struck as the snap on the next play sailed high over the quarterback's head, which resulted in an 18-yard loss. Two plays later, the Tigers began lining up their field goal unit. After a timeout, Browerville then lined up the quarterback to run a play on fourth down at the 13-yard line. The following pass was incomplete to bring a turnover on downs with 10:18 left.

B-B-E scored their second touchdown of the game on an 87-yard touchdown reception by Josh Walstrom. Browerville scored to make it 14-7, but the Jaguars tacked on a third score on Brett DeRoo's 41-yard touchdown catch for a 20-7 lead.

Fast forward to the second half...
With 11:39 left in the third, Browerville began their 7th offensive series of the game on their own 17-yard line thanks to the huge boot of Harley Weber, who kicked a dandy after Lundberg's big touchdown run. The Tigers got a spark with a nine-yard run on their first play, but the second down run was stopped cold by Carson Glienke for no gain. After a false start, Browerville wide receiver Ryan Decock grabbed a 13-yard reception to move the chains. On the next first down play, Ethan Mueller's solo stopped a carry for a one-yard gain. Carson Gilbert's solo yielded no gain on the next play, and the third-and-9 pass was broken up by Josh Walstrom as Browerville quarterback Ryan Riedel was hurried out of the pocket. The Jaguars received the following punt and started their 8th series of the game on their own 38 with 7:35 left. Three plays later, the Jaguars had lost five net yards for a three-and-out. It became a game of punt, punt and punt with both defenses locking horns.

On Browerville's 9th possession of the game, they started on their 40 with 4:40 left in the third quarter. On the second play, Ryan Decock made an incredible one-handed catch good for a 38-yard reception. Next, Decock ran for 14 yards to get goal-to-go on B-B-E's seven yard line. The Jaguars made a stand with Luke Illies getting pass break up in the end zone. A second incomplete pass followed that, and on third down, Harley Weber and Hunter Laage made a joint tackle on Browerville's quarterback for a nine-yard loss. A fourth down play was good for a reception, but the receiver was on his knees as he caught it with just a four-yard gain. Turnover on downs!

The Jaguars scored their final touchdown of the game on a 19-yard pass from Aiden Mueller to Andrew Spanier with 6:45 left in the fourth quarter. Austin Berge's two-point conversion catch made it 36-7.

More to come. Video is uploading...and I have a lot of video from tonight!

Some light game statistics...
B-B-E's Luke Illies had solid quarterback numbers while going 10-for-18 for 182 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Overall, B-B-E gained 397 net yards with 183 coming on the ground. Jack Lundberg battered the Tiger defense with 12 carries for 187 yards and two touchdowns. Josh Walstrom scored B-B-E's second touchdown and finished with 4 catches for 109 yards.

Browerville gained a total of 291 yards of offense with 93 rushing and 198 passing yards. Their passing game looked sharp at times, but the Jaguars did a solid job of slowing down the Tigers' running game. B-B-E's defense gave up the 93 rushing yards on a total of a whopping 38 carries.

Here's a plug for the Belgrade V.F.W. Steak Fry and Pork Chop Feed...they will hold their first of the new 2024-2025 season from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 5 at the VFW Club in Belgrade. Don't miss out! They are one of numerous local organizations who provide terrific support to B-B-E schools and our school activities.

Mid-Northwest Gopher Gold District scores in Week Six in October 4:
Upsala/Swanville Area 29, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 0 (at Murdock)
West Central Area 44, Benson 8
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 20, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 14 (at Long Prairie)

Area football scores in Week Six on October 4:
Minnewaska Area 37, Montevideo 0
Osakis 52, Paynesville Area 8
St. Cloud Cathedral 21, Royalton 6
Kimball Area 6, Holdingford 0
Lac qui Parle Valley 34, MACCRAY 12
Rothsay 50, Ortonville 14
Hancock 62, Underwood 8
Border West 48, Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 20
Renville County West 58, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 0
Albany 43, Rockford Area 7
Hutchinson 28, Willmar 21
Minneota 76, Lakeview 7
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 31, Melrose Area 14
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 24, East Grand Forks 0
New London-Spicer 21, Glencoe-Silver Lake 0
Pierz 50, Sauk Centre 14

GAME NIGHT! In Todd County (VIDEO)

Here we go! Back to the wall, what I consider a must-win game, the B-B-E Jaguars football team is traveling to Browerville tonight for Week Six of the season. Game updates to follow here.

Here's the starter introduction last Friday at Homecoming:


The Jaguars and Tigers have both been Top 10 teams this season. It's going to be a giant game! Both teams are 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the Gopher Gold District. Huge implications with the outcome! More on that to come later tonight...

GAME UPDATES! To follow...
After one quarter, the Jaguars have an 8-0 lead. They scored with 3:09 on the clock on an 89-yard touchdown run by Jack Lundberg. Brett DeRoo ran in the conversion play.

HALFTIME: B-B-E 20, Browerville 7.

Early in the 4th quarter, the Jaguars are ahead 28 to 7. **The final score will be posted in the Friday Night Lights VI post coming later tonight after I get home.

A tough four-set loss to the Irish (VIDEOS)

The Maple Lake Irish overcame what their coach dubbed an "okay" start to the match while earning a big 3-1 Central Minnesota Conference win against our B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team. For much of the last two sets, the Jaguars were their own worst enemy as they committed multiple uncharacteristic serving and hitting errors.

Game scores: 25-23, 22-25, 18-25, 21-25. Maple Lake wins for the 10th straight time. This marks B-B-E's first CMC volleyball loss since September 22, 2022. Back on that night, Eden Valley-Watkins earned an upset 3-1 win over our Jaguars on our court and later finished as co-champions with the Jaguars. B-B-E won solo CMC crowns in 2021 and 2023. Now the Jaguars have to almost for certain run the table in the CMC and finish 6-1 in order to earn a share of the conference title. They can do it!

In game one, the Jaguars burst out of the gates to built a massive 16-6 lead, only to see the Irish storm back to make a battle out of it. The Irish actually scored an 11-0 run to pull in front 17-16. They served into the net for a side out, but the Irish then scored a 5-0 run to go ahead 22-17. Kamie Fischer earned a kill for a side out, and Kacey Fischer followed that with a kill with Adley Hagen on the service line. She earned an ace serve to make it 22-20, and the Irish then hit long. Kacey Fischer hit back-to-back kills for a 23-22 lead. For the final two points, Kamie Fischer hit back-line kills to give the Jaguars a huge 25-23 come-from-behind win.

Here's video featuring the final points scored in game one tonight:


In game two, the lead changed hands multiple times before the Jaguars led 15-10 on a kill by Hagen. The Irish cut it to 16-15, and the Jaguars then pulled ahead 19-16. B-B-E later led 22-21 on an ace serve by Kacey Fischer, but the Irish stormed back to score the last 4 points and even the match at one set each in a 25-22 win.

Here's a short video clip from action late in game 2 tonight:


Once they led 22-21 at the end of that video clip, the Jaguars needed to finish strong and win game two. That did not happen, however, and errors became numerous and difficult to overcome in games three and four. The Jaguars led 6-5 in game three, but the Irish surged ahead to lead 15-9. The Jaguars could cut it no closer than a 21-17 deficit in the 25-18 loss. In game four, the Jaguars had a 9-7 lead before giving up a 6-0 run. They were unable to recover from that and fell behind 17-10 and 20-14. In the final stretch, the Jaguars cut it down to 23-20 and 24-21, but the Irish finished with a left outside kill to claim the four-set win. Maple Lake's last win over B-B-E volleyball was also a four-setter; that took place in Maple Lake on Tuesday, October 27, 2020.

In the end, all I can say is "hats off" to a very solid Maple Lake team. They did what they had to in order to leave no question who was sharper in games three and four. The Irish are led by six talented and motivated seniors who haven't seen their team defeat B-B-E in volleyball since they were in 8th grade (in the COVID season)...as it stands, B-B-E is now in a three-way tie for first place with Royalton and Maple Lake, with all three teams holding 4-1 CMC records. In a tie in fourth place are Kimball Area and Paynesville Area with a 3-2 records.

Let's talk stats...
At the service line, the Jaguars weren't too far off the mark with 89.7 percent serving, but many of their 9 service errors came at the worst time. The Jaguars did manage four solo blocks, but overall their effort at the net was not enough to slow down Maple Lake’s front line. For the match, the Jaguars hit at a cold 14.9 percent as a team. Kacey Fischer (18 kills) and Adley Hagen (11 kills) were in double figures, and other top hitters for the Jaguars included Kadynce Haider and Kamie Fischer with six kills each plus Teagan Dingmann with 5 kills.

The Irish entered the night with some great momentum and improve to 15-5 overall. They're a top 5 team at this point in Section 5AA...at last check, they are ranked No. 3 in Section 5AA by the QRF. In Class 2A, the QRF rates Maple Lake at No. 15 out of 125 schools.

Now 19-3 overall, the Jaguars have one day to regroup before they travel the short trip north to the Alexandria Invitational on Saturday.

In other volleyball news around the area...Paynesville Area had been playing terrific volleyball across the last three weeks of September. An eight-match winning streak was halted by state-ranked Annandale on Tuesday this week, with the Cardinals winning 3-0 in Annandale. The Cardinals are currently the top-ranked team in Section 5AA (QRF) ahead of Legacy Christian and Maple Lake. Tonight at Kimball Area, the Bulldogs took a tough 3-2 loss that knocked them out of second place as they fall to 3-2 in the CMC.

I need to circle back and add video to the tennis playoff blog post from earlier this evening.

Some Friday updates...
I've got a few updates posted to the Bonanza Valley Voice website. You can watch the exciting color burst that helped to wrap up the 9th annual Color FUND Run last week. The link to view that is: https://shorturl.at/MiCjY. I am still working on a light scouting report on Browerville's football team.

In another Voice website update, I added another Renaissance Festival video. You can watch the music of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/5jYCs.

Central MN Conference volleyball scores on October 3:
Kimball Area 3, Paynesville Area 2
Royalton 3, Holdingford 1
Eden Valley-Watkins 3, Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 2 (the Eagles won game five 15-12 on their home floor)

Area volleyball scores on October 3:
Minnewaska Area 3, Melrose Area 0
Alexandria 3, Rocori 2
Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 3, Dawson-Boyd 1
West Central Area 3, Benson 0
New London-Spicer 3, Dassel-Cokato 1
Swanville 3, Upsala 0
Sauk Centre 3, Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 0
Renville County West 3, Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 1
Underwood 3, Brandon-Evansville 0

Tennis team season ends in quarterfinals (VIDEOS)

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team gave a terrific effort on the road today while facing No. 6-ranked Litchfield. The host Dragons entered the match as the top seed. The Jaguars fought hard up and down the lineup but were unable to overcome a superb Litchfield team. At one time, all three of B-B-E's doubles teams were playing at deuce. At No. 4 singles, Skylar Knight-DeWeerd held a 2-1 lead early in her second set. At No. 2 singles, Bree Thieschafer also had an early 2-1 lead in the second set but lost in straight sets.

Once the dust settled, the Dragons came away with a 7-0 win that puts them in the Section 6A Final Four round.

Here's a short video clip from No. 2 singles action today:



The tennis season is not over, however, as the top six players for the Jaguars will advance to the Section 6A individual tournament. Details to be announced at a later time.

Here's a short video clip featuring Hannah Hirman and Skylar Knight-DeWeerd battling at No. 1 and No. 4 singles, respectively...


Right now, I'm blogging from the Muddy Cow Bar and Grill in Litchfield! They have terrific food, and while we were getting our food, the Litchfield V.F.W. started a meat raffle. The tennis team is here getting supper. Soon it's wheels up for Maple Lake high school...31 miles away!

Section 6A girls' tennis playoff scores on October 3:
New London-Spicer 7, Sauk Centre 0
Osakis 7, Melrose Area 0
Minnewaska Area 7, St. John's Prep 0

Section 3A girls' tennis playoff scores on October 3:
Montevideo 7, MACCRAY/Renville County West 0
Benson/K-M-S 5, Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd 2
Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta-West Central Area 6, Pipestone Area 1
Luverne 5, Yellow Medicine East 2

**At Maple Lake, the Irish gained a 22 to 17 lead in game one. FINAL: B-B-E 25, Maple Lake 23.

Game 2...the Irish trailed 20-17 before making a big comeback to earn a 25-22 win. They scored the last 4 points of the set. This one is even so far! One set each. **Final scores and more in a new blog post.

Girls' tennis takes playoff opener! (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Jaguars girls' tennis team is advancing in the Section 6A playoffs thanks to a win today over Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Upsala-Swanville Area. The Jaguars and Thunder met on our home courts on a summer-like day with temperatures reaching into the upper 70s with full sunshine.

Here's action at No. 1 doubles today:


Final score: B-B-E 6, LPGE/USA 1. The Jaguars swept doubles play while winning three of the four singles matches. Now 5-11 overall, they travel to No. 6-ranked and top-seeded Litchfield tomorrow (Thursday) for the Section 6A quarterfinals. Action begins at Litchfield high school at 4 p.m.

Individual results:
No. 1 singles - Hannah Hirman lost 3-6, 0-6.
No. 2 singles - Bree Thieschafer won 6-0, 6-0.
No. 3 singles - Izzy Graham won 6-4, 7-6 (7-1)
No. 4 singles - Skylar Knight-DeWeerd won 6-2, 6-1.
No. 1 doubles - Ellan Fischer / Grace Berndt won 6-4, 6-3.
No. 2 doubles - Kylie Zins / Hannah Wurm won 6-1, 6-0.
No. 3 doubles - Kwynn Quade / Olive Olson won 6-0, 6-0.

This win sets up Thursday as a HUGE day! The varsity tennis team plays in Litchfield, and the varsity volleyball team (C-JV-varsity) plays a little farther east at Maple Lake high school.

This and that and - fundraising for Tiyana's Pioneers!

Tiyana Schwinghammer bolts down court in a home game in January 2023 against Upsala.

It's not uncommon for college athletic teams to reach out for additional support beyond their usual sports boosters and scholarship donors. I find it a great way for the public to help in defraying the costs associated with operating an athletic department. For B-B-E Class of 2023 graduate Tiyana Schwinghammer, her Northland Technical and Community College Pioneers women's basketball team is raising money for their 2024-2025 season. This is a message I wanted to share with everyone that includes a link you can use to securely and safely donate funds!

From Tiyana Schwinghammer:
Hello Jaguar Country fans! My basketball team at Northland is kicking off our annual fundraiser today that helps support me and my teammates as we compete this season. If you are able to donate, click https://ddock.co/N12DP2ZKEU. My teammates and I are competing for funds raised so please use the "give in honor of someone" feature and enter my name. Each donor will be mailed one free admission pass to a regular season home game and 5 random donors will be drawn on Nov. 1 to receive a Pioneers shirt. Any amount helps. Thank you so much for your support!

The official homepage for the Pioneers women's basketball team is https://northlandpioneers.com/sports/womens-basketball. They are a NJCAA Division III school, which means they do not offer athletic scholarships for their players, much like NCAA Division III.

This past July, Schwinghammer earned a prestigious NJCAA All-Academic award for her dedication in the classroom. She was named to the All-Academic First Team with a GPA of 4.00. That is impressive! She did this in addition to being named to the NJCAA Division III Women's Basketball All-America Second Team for the major impact she made on the basketball court. You can read the full press release plus see her 2023-2024 season statistics at Northland by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/qG9fK.

It's hard to believe, but her college sophomore season's opener is just over a month away. A preseason basketball jamboree at Anoka-Ramsey Community College is coming on October 20.

I've got more updates to add here regarding local news/sports...but that won't get posted until Wednesday morning. I am currently attempting to expand this week's Bonanza Valley Voice to 16 pages. God help me! You can see part of what I'll be writing about in the newspaper by clicking here: https://shorturl.at/MhzYj. The trip to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday was well worth it! Even if it got me off track on getting the newspaper done.