Quadrangular title goes to the Jaguars (VIDEOS *UPDATED)

The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team defended their No. 1 state ranking by winning all three matches of tonight's talent-laden quadrangular hosted by West Central Area school in Barrett. All four teams in attendance are ranked No. 7 or higher in the latest Guillotine rankings. It was a wild night! B-B-E is now 14-0 in duals. The four teams entered tonight with a combined 70-3 record in dual meets: Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 23-4; West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville 18-0; Royalton/Upsala 17-0; and B-B-E was 11-0. Five duals were wrestled, and the cumulative record going out of the night was 75-8 between the four teams. For Royalton/Upsala and A-C-GC, they did not wrestle in the third round of the night as they just went head-to-head at Kimball last Friday.

Final scores for B-B-E tonight:
#1 B-B-E 40, #7 Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 27
#1 B-B-E 39, #4 Royalton/Upsala 24
#1 B-B-E 41, #5 West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville 28

Royalton/Upsala, who wrestles with a student-athlete from Sauk Rapids-Rice, entered tonight's match with an unblemished 17-0 record. At 126 pounds tonight, Royalton/Upsala's Alex Diederich faced B-B-E's Ryan Jensen in a match that Jensen won by a 4-2 decision. In the COVID-shortened 2021 wrestling season, Alex Diederich wrestled at 113 and 120 pounds for Sauk Rapids-Rice. At the Section 8AAA tournament last March, Diederich took second place in the 113-pound bracket to advance to the individual state tournament. He is a supremely talented wrestler.

Royalton/Upsala's most recent match before tonight was a 34-29 win over Kimball Area last Friday in a Central Minnesota Conference dual. Against Royalton/Upsala, the hometown-laden Jaguars came back from an early 9-3 deficit to build a 27-15 lead through the middle weights. It was a huge, huge team win. I am so proud of our Jaguars!

WCA/A/B-E entered tonight's action with an 18-0 record in dual meets. A-C-GC was 23-4 in duals coming into tonight.

What a night! In the house was Kevin Presler, who is a former coach at Royalton and a 1975 Brooten graduate who was a co-captain of the very first Brooten Buccaneers conference champion wrestling team. Match recaps will follow below the videos.

**Here's video from the A-C-GC match, with Ethan Mueller wrestling at 120 pounds:


**Here's two more exciting matches in the match up with A-C-GC:


In those two matches, Maximus Hanson won by a 6-4 decision at 160 pounds against Mason Studemann, and then Evan Young lost a 4-3 decision at 170 pounds to No. 8-ranked Jake Mortensen. Young trailed 2-0 just 20 seconds into the first period, but he took a 2-1 deficit into the second period. Mortenson earned a second-period takedown to lead 4-1 going into the third period. Young started the third period down and fought off back points throughout while standing up a couple times in escape attempts. With 15 seconds left, Young nabbed a reversal to cut it to one point but was unable to turn Mortenson for any back points in the final ticks.

More to come.

B-B-E vs. A-C-GC:
The No. 7-ranked Falcons started the match with a win by pin for a 6-0 lead at 106. Brett DeRoo then tied the match up with his pin in just 40 seconds at 113. At 120, Ethan Mueller started strong and earned a pin (3:08) in the second period for a 12-6 lead. At 126, the rampage continued for B-B-E when Ryan Jensen earned a pin (1:22) in the first period. The 132-pound match featured two state-ranked wrestlers with No. 1-ranked Tyler Bents and No. 7-ranked Cole Holien, who moved down a weight from where he's ranked at 138. Holien put up a great fight, but Bents expanded on a 2-0 lead after one period to lead 5-1 going into the third. Bents led 11-3 and ultimately won a 12-4 major decision to give the Jaguars a 22-6 lead. At 138, Tyler Jensen trailed 2-0 to Jevon Williams early in the first period. They wrangled up to the first buzzer as Jensen came close to earning a reversal. Williams got an escape and another takedown to lead 5-0 going into the third before earning a win by a 7-0 decision. At 145, B-B-E's Tanner Viessman put up a heck of a fight against No. 7-ranked senior Brady Holien, who led 4-1 after two periods. Holien got a reversal in the third period and won by a 6-1 decision. At 152, Blaine Fischer won by forfeit to make the team score 28-12. At 160, Maximus Hanson faced A-C-GC's Mason Studemann and led 2-0 after one. Hanson led 5-0 in the second period before Studemann got a reversal. In the third, Studemann earned anothe reversal with Hanson ultimately winning by a 6-4 decision. At 170, Evan Young wrestled his heart out against No. 8-ranked Jake Mortenson. You can watch action from Hanson and Young's matches in one of the videos above. At 183, Carson Gilbert earned a hard-fought win by an 11-6 decision against Isaiah Renne. At 195, Talen Kampsen faced No. 1-ranked Jaxon Behm, ranked in the 220-pound division. Behm won by pin with a time of 47 seconds. At 220, Ethan Spanier picked up a win by fall (1:01), and the Falcons finished the match with Terrell Renne's win by fall (4:53) over Bryce Feuerhake.

That's all for now. Friday has been super busy so far. A new blog post will feature an interview with Coach Mueller.

Mind blown

I've enjoyed seeing some great coverage of FFA chapters around the area in local newspapers. It's great to see such a wonderful youth organization get plenty of ink. For this week's Bonanza Valley Voice, I would call what I did as "adequate" and will more ink to FFA in my March 2 issue.

I noticed one thing that kind of blew my mind. The "group photo" for the West Central Area school district's FFA chapter had just a couple dozen kids in it. When I added the "not pictured" names to that group, I got to just 32!!! That means our B-B-E school district, which is smaller in K-12 enrollment than WCA, has an FFA chapter that's almost three times as large as WCA's. This year's B-B-E FFA has 87 members, while last year it had 89 kids. That represents more than half of all 9th-12th grade students at B-B-E!!!

Note: West Central Area's high school is located in Barrett 55 miles northwest of B-B-E's high school. The school is made up of the areas and towns of Kensington, Farwell, Hoffman, Barrett, Elbow Lake, Erdahl and Wendell. Their school district is just as dependent on agriculture and at-related businesses as B-B-E is.

Tough news

Two deaths on Saturday have been hard to swallow in the news room.

First, on Saturday afternoon I heard of the passing of Pat Anderson of Hoffman. Pat, age 45, was killed in a Gator/automobile accident shortly before 8 p.m. Saturday night on Highway 55 between Kensington and Hoffman. The accident was covered in an online story at the Echo Press newspaper website.

Pat Anderson was the Activities/Athletic director at West Central Area schools in Barrett and also their high school Dean of Students. He was a long-time member of the staff at WCA and a native of Hoffman. His wife, Jacki, is a Lamberton native. The Andersons have three children: Ben (WCA Class of 2016), Ross (a junior next year) and Brooke (an eighth grader next year). Ben and Ross were both key players on WCA's baseball team, who the Jaguars lost to in the Section 6A baseball playoffs on June 9. It seems like just yesterday I was standing next to Pat at Chizek Field in Morris this past June, chatting about the section baseball schedule and seeing how proud he was of his Knights baseball team.

Ross, Jacki, Brooke, Pat and Ben Anderson. AMY WINTER PHOTOGRAPHY, November 2015

"A great man with a huge heart who lived life the right way."
It goes without saying that the Hoffman and WCA communities are reeling with disbelief at the loss of Pat Anderson, who they affectionately called "PA" in random conversation. He was a farmer, a school staff member at WCA, a coach, husband, father and was terrific at everything I just listed. I got to know him well during my days as the Hoffman Tribune and Herman-Hoffman Tribune editor from 2008-2011. He was very easy to work with and very proud of the students and staff at WCA. Beyond that he was classy in everything he did and made sure kids he worked with carried themselves in the same manner. One of his bigger tasks at WCA was being the head coach of the Knights girls' basketball program for seven seasons this century before retiring from that position at the conclusion of the 2009-2010 season and being named Activities/Athletic director. His 2007-2008 team was a section finalist, with eventual state champion Albany ending their season. Pat assumed head coaching duties from Harold Nelson, who was the first head coach of the WCA Knights after the school was founded in 1993. Both had multiple 20+ win seasons and many deep playoff runs. In Pat's last four years as head coach, the WCA Knights won 18 or more games and won 21 games in back-to-back seasons.

I can already see a fair number of Facebook posts relating to Pat's coaching days. One that stood was from a dairy farm girl who later became a candidate for Princess Kay of the Milky Way. She was a point guard, and she remembers the time he told her during a game, "Stop playing scared." He clearly challenged students and student-athletes to become better at everything they did. I'd say just about every employee in a small school "gives a damn" about the kids and the school's success. Pat certainly gave a damn and brought out the best in the students he worked with every day at WCA schools.

"PA was...the heart and soul of WCA, its biggest cheerleader and greatest fan."

Since 2011, I've kept in touch with him and was always able to easily get scores or other sports-related information from him through e-mail and text messages. His reach was far and wide. I've already seen tributes to him not only from his WCA family, but also on Facebook pages at other schools including Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley and Minnewaska Area. I truly have no idea how WCA will replace him. He was one of a kind.

"It just ain't right!"

I vividly recall a Friday night last fall in Belgrade, standing on the high school track between the football field and the stadium bleachers, with Pat, Jacki and a few other WCA fans talking about the win their WCA/Ashby Knights just earned over our Jaguars. I rated it as a mild upset, as WCA/A entered the game 1-3 overall with two huge shut out losses on their record and a 41-6 loss in the season opener. They had defeated a struggling K-M-S team the week before by a 19-0 score. B-B-E lost 14-7 to WCA/A that night, and I remember Pat's excitement and optimism for the upcoming games against Parkers Prairie and Kimball Area. He believed they could win those games and be in the hunt for a home playoff game. As it played out, WCA/A was in the midst of a four-game winning streak but ended up losing a tough battle to sixth-ranked (Class 1A) Upsala/Swanville in the season finale 31-18. They lost 16-6 in the Class 2A, Section VI playoffs at Staples-Motley to finish 4-5 overall after an 0-3 start.

Already the WCA and Hoffman communities are rallying around the Anderson family and WCA students. Today (Monday) the high school gym in Barrett will be open from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. with support available to those who need it.

Here's a nice gathering of tributes (mostly social media) to PA:
http://bringmethenews.com/2016/08/01/students-loved-ones-remember-high-school-ad-killed-in-4-wheeler-crash

**Update on Monday afternoon...here is the link to see Pat Anderon's obituary and funeral information: http://www.ericksonsmithfh.com/mobile/obit.php?id=1642489&name=Patrick-D.-Anderson&loca=Hoffman-MN

...then to the news of the passing of Brooten's Pauline Segaar. Pauline was diagnosed with Thymoma cancer in 2006 and has courageously battled it ever since before passing away on Saturday surrounded by family at the Ecumen Bethany Community in Alexandria. She coached the B-B-E speech team in the 2000s and left her mark on countless students over the years at B-B-E. It was during those years when B-B-E became a small-school speech "powerhouse" and started hauling in regular season and playoff hardware on a regular basis. During high school Pauline lived on a farm near Sedan with eight younger siblings and her parents, Yvo and Gertrude Jenniges. Pauline graduated from Brooten High School in 1972 and worked in the Brooten area for most of her adult life. Her husband is Stanley Segaar, a Brooten-area farmer. They have three children, all B-B-E graduates: Nick, Matt and Raechel.

Many of you readers out there know her younger sister, Bonita, who B-B-E students in the 1990s remember as English teacher "Mrs. Otterness" - also a Brooten High School graduate (Class of 1985).

Please pray for both the Anderson and Jenniges/Segaar families. They are dealing with a lot of pain and grief right now. And please say a special prayer for the three teenage children of Pat and Jacki Anderson. The loss of Pat will leave a difficult mark on their lives that won't soon go away.

The third loss our area is dealing with is the untimely death of Loren Larson of Kerkhoven. Loren graduated from Brooten high school in 1979. He was a pilot and died in a plane crash last week in Wisconsin. I'll have a story on Loren in the August 4 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.

That's all from the news room. It's been an eventful and also difficult weekend.

West Central Area school keeps its elementaries

In a vote today at West Central Area schools, they turned down an idea to close their elementary buildings and add on to their high school in Barrett by a 1,515 to 479 vote margin. (76% voting no)

WCA currently operates K-4 buildings in Kensington and Elbow Lake, with grades 5-12 attending their newest building in Barrett. Their current operating (excess) levy sits at a little over $1,400 per pupil.

At Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, voters approved spending around $10.7 million for needed upgrades at their K-6 elementary school in Murdock while also adding a gymnasium and other space on the 7-12 high school building in Kerkhoven.

**Update: the K-M-S superintendent reported to me that their new high school gymnasium will be open in the Fall of 2015.

At Benson, voters approved a sharp increase in taxes for an excess levy, raising it from $720 per pupil unit to $1,200.

By a 615 to 241 margin, voters in Sauk Centre approved extending their levy of approximately $1,100 per pupil for another six years.

For comparison, B-B-E's levy sits at around $837 per pupil for a period lasting through 2020.

I have to remind everyone at B-B-E how extremely fortunate we are to have two well-equipped and very modern school buildings in our district. I think many (including myself) often take that for granted and forget the troubles facing other school districts in central Minnesota who have to worry about facility issues.

The big task ahead of us is the same as it has always been: getting more young families to move into the B-B-E school district!!!!

Pre-season practices are completed - Jaguars football is ready for the 2010 season - WCA Knights football preview is below

Under new Coach David Drexler...
Young WCA Knights ready for Football action
by Kris Beuckens, Herman-Hoffman Tribune sports editor

Young and undersized are two words that accurately describe the WCA Knights’ Football team in 2010 and first year Head Coach David Drexler and his coaching staff will be charged with putting a competitive team on the field.

Most WCA followers will remember Drexler as one of the leaders of a football team that finished as state runners up in 1999 and as a standout on the basketball court. He will be joined on the sidelines by Trevor Schneeberger, another past WCA football and basketball great. Arick Follingstad, Jeff Holsen, Terry Ohlgren and David Schleicher round out the coaching staff.

While the entire coaching staff agrees that the young and undersized aspects of their Knights’ team could be looked at as negatives, they’re accepting the challenge and will look to put an aggressive yet disciplined group on the field.

“We lost nearly our entire offensive line last year so we know we’ve got plenty of work to do, but we’ll approach it positively and coach our kids to play hard and aggressively,” said Drexler. “We’re all looking forward to seeing the team develop and continue to improve on a day-to-day and a week-to-week basis.”

Returning to lead the team will be seniors Colton Blascyk (QB/S), Jake Boeddeker (TE/LB), Brandon Quick (OL/LB) and Austin Gulbrandson (OL/DL) and junior Ethan Supler (RB/LB). Blascyk, Boeddeker and Quick will serve as the team’s captains.

There will be plenty of newcomers to the team who will need to make an impact if the team is to enjoy success. Senior Jon Pikop (OL/DL) will likely see a lot of playing time as will juniors Matt Wagner (CB/WR) and Calvin Anderson (RB/LB).

According to Drexler, there will be many sophomores and possibly even a few freshman who will need to step up and make contributions to the team this year giving them a chance to show their abilities and gain experience for the coming years.

The Knights will be competing for the last time in the Heart O’Lakes Conference this year and would love, as such, to make an impact.

Drexler points to Staples-Motley, Breckenridge and DGF to be the favorites in the Heart O’Lakes Conference this season while Pierz, Breckenridge and Crosby-Ironton will be the teams to beat in Section 6AA.

The Knights open the 2010 season with a home game on Friday, September 3, when the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Jaguars come to town for a 7:00pm game at the WCA High School athletic complex in Barrett.