Record for state-qualifying games at B-B-E (VIDEOS added)

A few additions were posted on Sunday to this blog post including video from Fargo...on Sunday afternoon, I am actually taking it easy!! For once.

This is mostly a "placeholder" blog post. I randomly thought about this and decided to flush it out tonight. Before I get to what I'm talking about, I'd like to encourage you to go back and review the Friday Night Lights X blog post. I added a video and some other updates on Saturday.

Overall, in B-B-E Jaguar athletic history, not including golf teams, a total of 55 teams have competed in state-qualifying contests. That is crazy!!!! Wow! It took about a half hour, and I found myself making a couple mistakes while doing it. This is what I came up with: between 1995 and yesterday, the Jaguars have had 21 teams win state-qualifying games, also known as section championships. Another 34 teams competed in section championship games but fell short of the big show. It is really mind boggling for a small school. Think about that! A total of 55 teams have made it all the way to section championship games.

Then add in numerous boys' and girls' golf teams who competed at the state meets (all between 2019 and 2023), and you have an impressive string of success for our small school!!!

The 21 non-golf teams who have competed at state all made it to the big show between 2005 and 2024. Between 1995 and 2005, the Jaguars had 11 total teams all fall short of the state tournament by one game. I personally witnessed 9 of those 11 section final losses. Teams losing in section championships from 1995 to 2005 included girls' basketball, boys' basketball, football, wrestling and volleyball teams. After the boys' basketball team lost in the 2005 Section 5A championship, the volleyball team won the Section 6AA title in November of 2005 to become B-B-E's first team at the state tournament.

Here's my total for state tournament teams by sport: volleyball with 7 state teams, boys' basketball with 4 state teams, wrestling with 4 state teams, girls' basketball with 3 state teams, football with 2 state teams and baseball with one state team. Add it up! That's 21 state tournament teams not including boys' or girls' golf (who have 5 cumulative state trips). I hope I'm not missing anything there. If something pops up, I will update this blog post.

Sunday...don't forget the Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic church ham and egg breakfast! They serve from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.!! (Ad on page 2 this week in The Voice.)

**Added on Sunday after church...here's the first 3 minutes of the Section 4A championship, with the video beginning with the opening kickoff:


As I wrote on Friday night, the Jaguars started out on fire on defense. They were LIGHTS OUT for those first three plays while holding the Patriots to a net negative two yards while forcing a punt.

Here's a video from the second quarter in the FargoDome on Friday...


Remember...church breakfast in Elrosa on Sunday!

Here's a video from late in the 3rd quarter with just over 3 minutes to go...the Jaguars are on defense near midfield:


State tournament updates...
In the Class 1A state volleyball pairings, West Central Area (27-4) earned the No. 4 seed and will open at 5 p.m. on Thursday, November 7 in the quarterfinals. Last night in the Section 6A championship, WCA swept Hillcrest Lutheran Academy to earn back-to-back state trips. The MSHSL website has not posted set scores from the match yet. *GRRRR!!

In the Class 1A state football pairings, Upsala/Swanville Area earned the No. 1 seed in the North half of the state field. The state tournament was split into "south" and "north" divisions for the first time ever. (A good move.) For U/SA, they open with No. 4-seeded (North) Parkers Prairie on Thursday, November 7 with a 6 p.m. kickoff at Rock Ridge high school's football stadium, which is located between Eveleth and Virginia. The Rock Ridge high school opened up in 2021, and their football stadium is impressive. My stepson Jack (Class of 2025) played two years of varsity football there with the Class 4A Rock Ridge Warriors.

I'll get a NEW blog post added later on Sunday night after taking an actual break from work!