GAME DAY! For Robotics and Speech - and big sports news

A big day is in store for fans in Jaguar Country, with two playoff-style events taking place at home and on the road.

During the day, the B-B-E Resistance Robotics team is competing in 7 qualification matches at the Granite City Regional in St. Cloud.

For action at home, which fans are invited to, the B-B-E speech team hosts the Sub-Section 5A-West meet at the high school. The first rounds begin at 4:15 p.m.

Updates from St. Cloud...
In the first qualification match, B-B-E's Red Alliance lost a heartbreaker by a 70-66 score. It was a grueling loss. Their alliance held a 60-44 lead at the conclusion of the action, but the ranking points tipped the scales in favor of the Blue Alliance. A very tough loss to start the region tournament! Ouch.

In B-B-E's second qualification match at 10:33 a.m., their Blue Alliance won 128-54. This puts B-B-E's region record in St. Cloud at 1-1. Their alliance led 20-9 after the autonomous period, and when the clock ran to zeroes, the score was 102-50. This match's Blue Alliance included B-B-E, New London-Spicer and Detroit Lakes.

B-B-E's third match of the day is tentatively set to begin at 11:18 a.m.

FRIDAY night update from St. Cloud!
The B-B-E Resistance Robotics team had a remarkable afternoon to finish out the first day of competition at the Granite City Regional in St. Cloud. After suffering two very close losses and sitting with a 1-3 record earlier this afternoon, they picked up three straight alliance wins and have climbed from 34th place out of 48 teams up to 17th! Outstanding!

Robotics UPDATE ON FRIDAY morning...click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website with this link: https://shorturl.at/ooaVT...and there you can follow more updates on the team's progress today in St. Cloud. For the newspaper's sports department, we have "wheels up" at noon to head to River's Edge and take in the last 4 matches of the day in person. It's going to be a fund day!

**Friday afternoon: B-B-E's fifth match was terrific as they earned a 103-46 win. More to come.

In breaking sports news...playoff maps are set to change in Minnesota...
There's more to digest over the weekend, but I can share this right away...the B-B-E Jaguars football team has a revamped playoff map starting next fall. With new MSHSL classifications released this week, our football team has been placed in a new Section 5A for the postseason. The 2025 season will be their first as members of Section 5A since the fall of 2008.

Section 5A football teams for the fall of 2025 and 2026:
1. Benson
2. Long Prairie/Grey Eagle
3. Upsala/Swanville Area
4. Ashby/Brandon-Evansville
5. B-B-E
6. West Central Area
7. Browerville

For the B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team, they remain in Section 6A for the playoffs. In basketball, the sections remain largely unchanged for our teams. I don't see any new additions for either of our winter basketball teams. The boys' squad remains in Section 6A, and the girls' team continues their quest for state tournaments in Section 5A. For the wrestling team, it's the same story: no major changes in Section 5A.

The weather is busting up the week (VIDEO, UPDATES)

The impending wind and snowstorm that's in the forecast for Saturday has dramatically altered the schedule for the F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Great Northern Regional at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. A potential exists for blizzard-like conditions across the Red River Valley region throughout the day on Saturday. Officials with F.I.R.S.T. made the decision to move the schedule "up" by about one day. Instead of the first competition matches starting around 9 a.m. on Friday, the competition matches will begin during the day on Thursday (tomorrow).

The B-B-E Resistance Robotics team departed B-B-E high school just after 2 p.m. this afternoon. They are set to arrive in Grand Forks just shy of 7 o'clock tonight to unload the robot and equipment. I won't decide on a Grand Forks trip until tomorrow morning.

Here's the moment when the robotics team left the high school this afternoon:


The B-B-E robotics team has 14 players this season.

In college basketball news...
At the NJCAA Division III national women's basketball tournament today, the Northland Technical and Community College Pioneers earned a 70-46 win against No. 12-seeded Montgomery County out of Pennsylvania. The Pioneers, seeded No. 5 in the tournament, improved to 22-5 overall and now advance to the national quarterfinals. Next: the Pioneers advance to face No. 4-seeded Anoka-Ramsey on Thursday, March 13 at 2 p.m.

Against Montgomery, B-B-E Class of 2023 graduate Tiyana Schwinghammer scored 8 points with 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and 1 blocked shot.

The national tournament is taking place in Rochester, MN.

In state girls' basketball tournament news...
Sauk Centre jumped all over Minnewaska to start their state quarterfinal game tonight and had an initial 8-0 lead. The Lakers stormed back to bring an 11-9 deficit with 12 minutes to go. These two West Central Conference rivals are playing in a rare state border battle at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. The game tipped off just after 8 p.m.

With 11:13 to go, Sauk Centre held a 13-10 lead.

A deep three-pointer by Cierra Kortan with 9 minutes to go extended Sauk Centre's lead to 19-10 with their second straight three-pointer. The Lakers came right back just 8 seconds later with Addie Kath hitting a three to make it 19-13. Later, with 8:15 to go, Minnewaska's Jayda Kolstoe made a tough corner three-pointer to narrow it to a 20-16 deficit.

With 6:45 to go, Kortan scored on a stop-and-pop three-pointer that bounced high off the front of the rim before dropping to push Sauk Centre's lead to 24-18. On Minnewaska's next possession, Kolstoe hit a three-pointer for a 24-21 score. With 4:42 left, Minnewaska's Megan Thorfinnson canned a three-pointer to make it a 26-24 score. With 4:33 left, Jenna Reilly made her first shot of the game by scoring on a quick three-pointer on the left wing, which pushed Sauk Centre ahead 29-24. With 3:50 left, Olivia Danielson scored on a tough, driving layup to get the Lakers within three points at 29-26. With 3:22 left, Sauk Centre's Maddie Schuster hit a right-wing three-pointer for a 32-26 lead.

With 1:40 left, Sauk Centre extended their lead to 36-28. During the final seconds, Minnewaska senior 6'0" post Sydney Dahl drove down towards the right block before banging in a shot off the glass in double coverage just before time expired. Halftime: Sauk Centre 36, Minnewaska Area 30.

Kortan, who had 15 points in the first half, scored on a driving layup with 16:40 left in the second half for the first points of the second half, which made Sauk Centre's lead 38-30. Inside 15 minutes to go, Megan Thorfinnson hit a banked three-pointer. Later, with 13:53 left, Addie Kath scored on a layup to tie the game at 40-40.

With just over 11 minutes left in the game, Kortan scored on a left-side layup for a 46-42 Sauk Centre lead. With 10:18 left, Minnewaska's Lauryn Ankeny hit a wide-open layup to tie it at 46-46.

With 8:09 left, Kolstoe hit a layup to give Minnewaska a 48-46 lead. Later, with 4:11 left, the score is tied 50-50. The game was tied up 50-50 when Sauk Centre's Victoria Jennissen scored in the paint with 5:51 to go.

Final: Minnewaska Area 60, Sauk Centre 53. The Lakers (28-3) bashed the Mainstreeters in the game's last 4 minutes. They played a near-perfect game when it mattered. Next is a date with the defending Class 2A state champions, Providence Academy in the state semifinals on Friday, March 14 back at Williams Arena (6 p.m. tip-off).

Sauk Centre (27-3) entered the game with an incredible 68.3 points-per-game scoring average. The deciding factor in the game ultimately was Minnewaska's 38 points-per-game defensive average.

In boys' basketball playoff news...
Sauk Centre's Kevin Kuefler-coached Mainstreeters led 28-24 in the first half tonight at St. John's University's Sexton Arena, but No. 7-seeded Spectrum overcame Sauk Centre in the second half and advanced to the Section 6AA championship with a 63-54 win. With 7:33 to go in the game, Sauk Centre's Borderding drained a right corner three-pointer for a 50-45 lead. As the game approached the 4-minute mark, Spectrum had an 8-0 run going as they took a 56-50 lead. With 1:41 left, Herickhoff scored an open shot on the right block to break what was almost a 6-minute long scoring drought. At that point, the Mainstreeters trailed 56-52. After Sauk Centre had the game within reach and trailed 58-54, Spectrum scored the final 5 points of the game in the last 35 seconds to win by 9 points.

Spectrum (22-7) closed out the game on a 15-4 run, and they now have a date with top-ranked Albany in the state-qualifying section final. The Albany Huskies destroyed one of the better Holdingford boys' basketball teams in recent years in a 96-64 win during the other 6AA semifinal tonight.

Coach Kevin Kuefler's Mainstreeters finish 19-10 overall. By the Class 2A QRF rankings, Spectrum was at No. 39, while Sauk Centre was No. 22. If Sauk Centre came through with a win tonight, I feel they had a shot at beating Albany and advance to state. In the two team's meeting back on January 7 in Sauk Centre, the Huskies won 63-52.

In the Sub-Section 6A-South championship, top-seeded West Central Area ended Benson's Cinderella-like playoff run with a 61-50 win. The Braves finish a fine season 18-11 overall. The Knights improve to 21-8 overall and head to the Section 6A finals.

In the Section 5A semifinals in a game played at Wadena-Deer Creek tonight, Browerville lost 80-54 to Nevis.

In the other Section 5A semifinal game, Upsala faced Braham at Foley high school tonight. The Cardinals and Bombers fought to a 34-34 halftime tie. In the second half, Upsala, Prairie Conference runners-up, hammered Braham by scoring 50 points to win their 6th straight game with a final score of 84-64. Now 23-6 overall, Upsala is having their best season since 2014-2015. It was a mild upset on paper, as Upsala was ranked No. 23 in the Class 1A QRF rankings, while Braham (22-7) was No. 17. The Cardinals avenged an 87-85 double-overtime loss to Braham that was played back on January 3 in Upsala. The last state tournament trip for Upsala was in 2012-2013 when they went 31-2 overall and finished fourth at state (the only losses of the season were in the last 2 state tournament games).

Great Northern robotics regional: a day for redemption! (VIDEO)

This is a day for a comeback for the B-B-E Resistance Robotics team in Grand Forks. They have their eyes set on running the table to finish out the Great Northern Regional competition at the spacious Alerus Center! Their robot finished strong in Friday's matches while performing all of its functions in the sixth qualification match of the tournament.

The opening ceremonies and performances of the U.S. National Anthem and Canada's national anthem take place at 8:30 a.m., and the second day of competition starts at about 9 a.m.

Also taking place today: the boys' basketball team faces Brandon-Evansville in the subsection semifinals at Minnewaska Area this afternoon.

Here's video from the last match of yesterday!


Here's how Saturday is playing out in Grand Forks...
In their first match of today, B-B-E's Red Alliance earned an exciting 49-35 win after the autonomous period ended in a 14-14 tie. This moved them up from 55th place to 52nd place in the field of 56 teams.

Update at lunch time: B-B-E's Blue Alliance won their second match of Saturday 58-48 in a Blue Alliance with Willmar and Loretto. This moved them up to 51st place overall. In B-B-E's final qualification match, their Red Alliance with New London-Spicer and Delano lost a tough, close battle by a 44-39 score. They were confident of being in the running for getting selected to a playoff alliance, but that last loss took them out of the running. The region competition for the 2024 season has officially concluded. Five hugely valuable seniors graduate off the team: Davin Preble, Owen Paulson, Odin Jensen, Aiden Johnson and Jeffrey Cihlar.

Officially, the season record was 2-7, and they ended in 53rd place out of 56 teams.

**********
Halftime: the boys' basketball team is ahead 35 to 24 at halftime against the Chargers in their playoff game this afternoon.

I am still making my way back to Fargo. The game is on both local radio stations.

**With 3:23 to go, the Jaguars are ahead 66-58.

B-B-E robotics is in Grand Forks! Ready to shine! (UPDATES, VIDEOS**)

Note: this blog post has received numerous updates throughout the day. Video has also been added from Grand Forks.

The B-B-E Resistance Robotics team arrived in Grand Forks on Wednesday night for the F.I.R.S.T. Great Northern Regional competition.

As of Thursday night, a total of 56 teams were registered. The first qualification match starts at 8:55 a.m. this morning (Friday). B-B-E's team has their first match in the second overall match, which is set to begin at 9:06 a.m. Their second match is set for approximately 10:39 a.m., and their third match is set for around 11:28 a.m.

More to come later this morning. On my way up Interstate 94 and 29, I will make at least one stop to update this blog post with results from their first and possibly second matches. It is unlikely that I will arrive in time to watch the second match in person.

The official Great Northern Regional robotics website can be found here: https://frcnorthland.org. The match results page can be found here: http://frc-events.firstinspires.org/2024/NDGF/qualifications.

**Here's a video recorded a little over a week ago, on Wednesday the 28th, at B-B-E high school's CTE lab:


I've got a small robotics article added to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website...it includes a video from the February 27 practice session at the high school's CTE lab. The robot was working remarkably well that week: https://shorturl.at/mU356.

FRIDAY morning updates...
The luster came off of the day when B-B-E's robot failed to move in their first qualification match. Their blue alliance lost the match 75-27. It was a frustrating turn of events, after they had a great run through the practice sessions yesterday in Grand Forks.

**Match two update: B-B-E's robot underperformed throughout the entire match, and when it was over, their red alliance trailed by a wide margin. For a reason I did not understand, the match will actually get to be replayed at a later time today. On the master list, this is the 14th qualification match out of 84 total. B-B-E's Red Alliance included teams from Stillwater and Litchfield.

B-B-E's third qualification match will be in a Red Alliance with teams from Cando, North Dakota and Annandale. I'm estimating that this match should start at 11:38 a.m. The qualification matches are running about 7 to 8 minutes later from the original schedule.

Match No. 3 results: B-B-E's third match of the day started at 11:45. After the autonomous period (using artificial intelligence) was complete, B-B-E's Red Alliance had a small 14-12 lead. After that, their alliance got lit up, and they lost by a final score of 79-29. Ouch. Officially, B-B-E's record so far is 0-2. Their next match is set for approximately 13:52 this afternoon.

**UPDATE: B-B-E's second qualification match will get replayed at about 12:20. After that it is lunch time! I will be in the Alerus Center the rest of the afternoon.

Official results for B-B-E's second qualification match: (this was the replayed match) B-B-E's Red Alliance trailed 24-14 after the autonomous period was complete. From there it got worse, and B-B-E's robot failed for most of the tele-op (driver control) period. Their alliance lost by a wide 69-33 margin, sending their record to 0-3 in the regional. It was a very tough morning for B-B-E Resistance Robotics. They have the afternoon with three matches to redeem themselves.

Match No. 4 outcome: B-B-E's Blue Alliance, which included teams from Rolla, North Dakota and Ashby, lost 56-25. They trailed 17-12 after the autonomous period ended.

**Here's a video featuring the drive team heading out to the competition floor at Alerus Center this afternoon:

*Match No. 5 outcome: B-B-E's robot functioned properly and was able to shoot two game pieces after their Blue Alliance held a 22-19 lead after the autonomous period. Overall, it was great progress compared to the morning! An Ethernet cable became unplugged during the first minute of the tele-op period. Their Blue Alliance lost by a score of 60-31. One other team member in their alliance, Cambridge-Isanti, suffered a similar robot malfunction. The third team of their alliance was from Moorhead.

The fifth and final match of Friday will start at about 4:40 p.m.

Final match of Friday...the outcome: B-B-E's robotics team finished the day strong in spite of their alliance losing the match by a 79-53 score. I'll get a post-match interview with Coach Reed Adrian posted in a new blog post later tonight after I arrive at my family's hotel room in Fargo! That's 75 miles away right now...I am proud of our robotics team for hanging together through rough circumstances!! Tomorrow, the sun will rise on a new day!!! ##GRATEFUL


I'll circle back to this in tonight's blog post, but I wanted to quick mention that Braham's girls' basketball team will play for the state tournament tonight when they take on Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in the Section 5A championship. The Bombers and Wolves square off at Halenbeck Hall on the campus of SCSU with tip-off at approximately 7:45 p.m. Braham destroyed top-seeded Ogilvie 90-62 in the Sub-Section 5A-East championship on Wednesday night. Of course, it makes you wonder just how badly the Jaguars would have likely beaten Ogilvie if they had come out on top last Saturday against Braham. That's the world of sports! It can sometimes be a game of inches. In tonight's Section 3A finals, Minneota faces Southwest Christian of Edgerton for a state berth.

Robotics at Regionals! Day III

The B-B-E Resistance Robotics team completed one match this morning at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. In that match, their Red Alliance lost 82-69. Their next match is at approximately 10:16 a.m. That's all I've got right now. It's double duty time again while reporting on robotics and more on the girls' basketball team.

B-B-E's next match is Qualification Match No. 77, which can be found on the list featured at this page: https://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2023ndgf. It should get started at about 10:20 a.m.

MATCH No. 9 outcome:
In the 10:20 match today, the B-B-E team earned its first win! Their Blue Alliance, which included Swanville and Sauk Centre, earned the win by a score of 104 to 45. The next and final match is at 10:51 a.m. in another Blue Alliance, this one including Hutchinson and a team from Minneapolis. They entered the final match ranked 50th out of 53 teams with a 1-8 record.

MATCH No. 10 outcome:
In the final match of the Great Northern Regional in Grand Forks, B-B-E finished with a win in their Blue Alliance as they earned a close 89-80 win.

B-B-E Resistance Robotics gears up for Regional No. 1! (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Resistance Robotics team is settled in and ready to go for the Great Northern Regional competition at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota. This year's competition is called "Charged Up" with a nod towards the fact that countless modern-day devices (necessary or just amenities) rely on battery power. The basic regional schedule has the robotics team in an inspection and practice day today followed by two days of competitions on Friday and Saturday. The team's robot was ran through five practice scrimmages today on the arena floor. Progress grew with each time on the floor, and the fifth time was the charm! The robot completed all the tasks they wanted it to for that fifth run, which included operating in an "autonomous" auto mobility mode where no manual controls are used and then a period where the robot collected and stacked competition pieces in a grid before balancing itself in an endgame park on what is dubbed a "charging station" before the session was complete.

Day Two of the regional consists of seven matches each per team in their respective alliances. B-B-E's team is in the Blue Alliance. Day Three on Saturday will have three final matches.

*Here's a video featuring footage from that fifth practice scrimmage tonight in Grand Forks:


Robotics coach Reed Adrian was thrilled with that last try on the competition floor. What they accomplished today bodes well for the actual competition that gets started early tomorrow morning. The doors open at 8 a.m., and the competition heats should get going by 9 a.m. NOTE: late tonight, a formal schedule will be posted to this blog post for when the team's first heat of the morning takes place. They will run a rigorous schedule. It will be exciting!!

B-B-E's official F.I.R.S.T. robotics homepage can be found here: https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/4238/2023. FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" which is an international youth organization that operates the FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST LEGO League Challenge, FIRST LEGO League Explore, FIRST LEGO League Discover, and FIRST Tech Challenge competitions.

The newspaper's entourage arrived late in the afternoon after having a difficult drive north, plagued mostly with minivan mechanical issues. The drive from Fargo to Grand Forks was actually quite good with limited patches of icy interstate. We got here safe and sound, and that's what matters!

This weekend in Grand Forks is the first of two regional competitions that the team will compete in. The second takes place in LaCrosse, Wisconsin two weeks from now.

The Voice entourage is enjoying a peaceful evening of hotel time tonight. Everybody Loves Raymond is the feature show on our hotel room's TV. The rest is welcome. Tomorrow will bring about 15 straight hours of work, beginning with robotics coverage and ending with girls' basketball coverage!

***Friday morning update: the team's first match is at 09:40. The second match is at 11:01. 

***A new blog post is up as of 10 a.m. Friday.

Robotics at regions: Day One

Click here to read some exciting news on the B-B-E Resistance Robotics team after Day One of the Lake Superior regional is complete in Duluth (short link): https://bit.ly/32RYCFO.

B-B-E's robotics team opens competition on Friday with their first match at 9:36 a.m. at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. They are in the Blue Alliance, and teams from Carlton and Blooming Prairie are included with B-B-E in that initial match.

Here's the direct link to the B-B-E robotics team's official FIRST website landing page: https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/4238/2020.

Side note/editorial comment: There has NEVER been a better time in human history where the common man can harness technology, information and capitalism to improve HIS or HER lot....that is a fact. It is ridiculously mind-blowing how many tools are available to the common man today to IMPROVE. This is an exciting time to be alive in America!!!!!!

Three-day run at regionals

The B-B-E Resistance Robotics team begins their three-day run at the Lake Superior regional tournament today. The team is in Duluth and has been working to this event since last fall. The theme is "Deep Space."

Further updates will follow today.

**Here is the web link to the B-B-E team's official F.I.R.S.T Robotics competition webpage. This will allow you to follow progress over the two-day competition.
https://www.firstinspires.org/team-event-search/event?id=37428.

Today is a "practice" day. Besides re-assembly of the robot, team members are currently fixing programming code errors that many other teams have also encountered.

*Below, a short video clip featuring the B-B-E Robotics team's safety chair (Amber Stephani) being interviewed by tournament officials...and a glimpse of team members re-assembling the robot.



*Mid-afternoon update: all programming errors are fixed! The team started out their day with no fewer than 156 programming errors in the main computer! Yikes! But by 1 o'clock in the afternoon, they were all resolved. These errors stemmed from a regular software update sent out by the robotics competition. I haven't heard if the errors are still plaguing other robotics teams or not.

Also, the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper's community calendar has been updated again. Dates for events in early April have now been added, and March events have also been updated. Check it out at https://bit.ly/2EvexOA.

And thank you again to the local business sponsors who help to pay for the news and sports coverage of the Bonanza Valley Voice! Without them, you would not be able to quickly stay up-to-date on local events and happenings through our printed newspaper and our online presence.

Robotics season lift-off!...and wrestling

Click here to see the video on the B-B-E Resistance Robotics team season 'lift-off' from this past Saturday in Staples: https://bit.ly/2FpzfBw.

*And wrestling updates will follow...I will add a new blog post after it's all done. Currently at Paynesville, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team sits in first place with 194 points. In second is Sartell-St. Stephen with 163.5 points. In third is Grand Rapids with 141.5 points.

More to come!!

At 106, Walker Bents is going for first place.

*Update: in championship matches, the Jaguars lost at 106, 113, 120 and 132 pounds. They finally got a win at 145, with Tyler Bents winning a 12-4 major decision. 

Robotics kick-off!!!

Here's the live feed!! This is exciting stuff!

This feed started at 09:30 this morning...https://www.twitch.tv/firstinspires. It is continuing past 10 a.m.

The theme for this year's 2019 robotics competition is Deep Space. The theme was inspired by the upcoming 50th anniversary of the U.S. landing a man on the moon for the first time ever (July 20, 1969).

The B-B-E Resistance Robotics teams has 11 team members attending the kick-off event this morning. This is the biggest group that they've sent to kick-off day since the team was founded in 2012.

*Tonight! Don't forget about the Belgrade V.F.W. steak fry and pork chop feed from 5:30 to 8 p.m.