extended sports coverage for the B-B-E community brought to you by the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper in Brooten, MN. (Address: P.O. Box 250, Brooten) http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com. ALL VIEWS posted are strictly and without exception the opinions of the newspaper owner and no one else; they're written in first hand format. Please submit feedback in writing to the address posted above. **This is Minnesota's oldest varsity high school sports blog. We hope to keep it going into the future!
Wednesday, April 09, 2025
In case you missed it - church! (VIDEO)
Just in case you were unable to make it to church this past Sunday...or if you did go to church but would like to hear another reading of Bible verses and a pastor's sermon, I've got your back!
From West Lake Johanna Lutheran church in Gilchrist Township this past Sunday:
I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring for sports. Today, we had incredible weather with full sunshine (most of the day) and a high of about 65 degrees. I finally dug dirt in our family garden! My soil thermometer is getting regular readings between 50 and 52 degrees at a depth of about 5 inches. This is great! The gardening season will soon be in full swing.
As it stands, the track and field teams have an invitational at Morris (hosted at the University of Minnesota-Morris track and field complex) at 4 p.m. Also, the baseball team is set to open their season at Paynesville Area high school. For the fastpitch team, they've got a road trip to Eden Valley. The forecast calls for 50 degrees as a high, a slight 15 mph wind plus heavy cloud cover. All told, a cool spring day is in store.
I haven't gotten around to glancing at the thermometers we have around our properties, but I know it's cold out! I also haven't caught up to what churches have cancelled their worship services. West Lake Johanna Lutheran is one of them, however, so here I am late in the morning sitting in my home office instead of being out in Gilchrist Township at my usual spot in the church balcony.
Here's a video featuring last week's service on January 7 at West Lake Johanna:
The lessons, Holy Gospel and sermon start at about the 9:30 mark in the video. Barry Bouwman provided the reading of the lessons.
Recently, the forecast called for a high of 9 below zero today for the Bonanza Valley area. Currently at our house, the two humidifiers we have running on the main level are not keeping up. I just saw that the humidity rate is down to 23 percent. Generally we keep it between 30 and 40 percent to stay comfortable and to maximize our personal health. Dry air is the enemy of humans in the winter time! This is common knowledge...although in today's world, we are seeing less and less common knowledge existing in society.
We keep our home's furnace thermostat set to keep the house between 65 and 66 degrees most of the time. With bitter cold temperatures, we turn that down to 64-65 degrees to save wear-and-tear on our natural gas furnace, which was installed in 2016. You can't be in our house for extended periods of time without wearing slippers on your feet. You have to have long sleeves. Walking around in a T-shirt in the winter is not part of our lifestyle. If you sit and watch TV, you're likely doing so under a blanket. We do this mostly to save money. It also builds character, in my opinion! I do not recommend these furnace settings if you have very young children, babies or are elderly.
How warm do you keep your house in the winter?
Weather update: as of 11:13 this morning, the temperature outside is 11 below zero. We're supposed to get "up" to 7 below zero as a high today. If you look at the extended forecast, we aren't going to get what I call "appreciable warmth" until January 21! On that day, they have a high of 21 degrees in the forecast.
*Here's a video from the end of last Tuesday's triangular, during which the Jaguars won two matches:
In the latest Guillotine poll, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team climbed one spot to No. 2 in Class 1A. They are in the midst of a very special season. If you're up for some light traveling this coming week, I encourage you to cheer them on next Tuesday or Friday...on Tuesday, January 16, the Jaguars compete in a quadrangular in Eden Valley starting at 5 p.m. Three days later, on Friday, January 19, they travel south to New London-Spicer for a tournament that starts at 3:30 p.m.
*Here's the last 3 minutes or so of the Eden Valley-Watkins game on January 5:
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is slowly moving above .500 and has an 8-6 overall record with about 5 weeks left in the regular season. They host Maple Lake on Tuesday, January 16 in their next game. That marks the beginning of a three-game homestand that also has Royalton coming to town on January 19 and then Paynesville Area on January 23.
On Friday, an 80-year old man drove his truck onto Mille Lacs Lake near Isle and died. His body was found floating at the hole where his truck went through, as he was wearing a flotation device. I don't know what good that is if you go in the lake, because unless you're pulled out immediately, you're going to die. If nothing else, it allows your body to be quickly recovered. The ice in that location was only 6 inches thick. The ice needs to be 13 to 17 inches thick to support most cars and trucks! Good grief. I hope no one in our area is driving a car or truck out on a lake right now.
Let's shift gears a little bit to some college basketball news updates...
Here's a video from December 29 in Brainerd featuring Tiyana Schwinghammer and her college basketball team...
I haven't caught up yet with how our local college basketball players have been doing lately. The last I was able to was a couple weeks ago. I will be able to do that today and update this blog post.
Tiyana Schwinghammer's Northland Pioneers women's basketball team of Thief River Falls has gone 2-1 so far in January after they beat then No. 4-ranked Riverland College 73-49 in that game on December 29. On January 3, the Pioneers lost 94-50 to North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton. They've won two straight since then with a 96-32 win over Vermilion Community College on January 6 and then 75-64 over Rainy River College last night at Thief River Falls. During the win over Vermilion, Schwinghammer recorded her sixth double-double of her freshman season with 15 points and 15 rebounds. In last night's win over Rainy River, Schwinghammer earned her seventh double-double of her career with 17 points and 13 rebounds as her team improved to 12-4 overall and 2-0 in the Minnesota Community Athletic College's North Division.
In the latest NJCAA Division III national rankings, the Northland Technical and Community College Pioneers women's basketball team is ranked No. 3. It is their first top-15 ranking during the 2023-24 season.
Schwinghammer's former Jaguar teammate Abby Berge is having an outstanding season as a true freshman at Minnesota State University-Moorhead, where her NCAA Division II Dragons women's basketball team has climbed to 6-4 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. In last night's 75-42 win over the University of Sioux Falls, Berge had 10 points and 4 rebounds in 20 minutes of reserve action. She made 6 of 7 shots at the free throw line. On Friday against visiting Southwest Minnesota State University of Marshall, the Dragons lost 74-61 after a rough first half. Berge had a monster game off the bench, though, with 26 minutes of action during which she earned a double-double of 15 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. This was her second double-double of her college career.
MSU-Moorhead's women's basketball team currently has a 6-9 overall record, but they are 3-1 so far in January.
Monday, January 15 update: it is damn cold outside! I walked to my office once today, and the walk back home was pure hell. The northwest wind was raw. I had almost my entire face covered, but the wind ripped straight through my scarf and head coverings. I hope we all make wise decisions as we venture outside and do our traveling today and the rest of this week!
Time to throttle up! Here's to a normal week (VIDEO)
It's high time to throttle up! The next few weeks are going to be crazy. Wide open crazy.
Tonight we have both basketball units in action in road contests. I blogged about that in the last post. Right now the January 12 newspaper issue is kicking my butt, so I have to kick back and overcome! It will be a lean and small newspaper. This is my "catch my breath" week as the marathon continues.
In the next few weeks, my stamina and the stamina of our parents, student-athletes and coaching staffs will be pushed and pushed and pushed!!! Keep your head up: it's going to be an exciting time!
Rather than it collect dust in my YouTube archives, I need to get this worship service posted before it gets too old. This is video from West Lake Johanna Lutheran on New Year's Day.
VIDEO:
And don't forget! Later this week the wrestlers are at Paynesville on Friday with an invitational that starts at 2 p.m.. The dance team heads to A-C-GC high school on Saturday for an 11 a.m. competition.
Sunday worship at West Lake Johanna church (VIDEOS**)
*Video added here on Sunday morning.
Here's the video of worship service held this past Sunday at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church in Gilchrist Township:
The reading of the lessons and then the Holy Gospel and pastor sermon all get going at the 11-minute mark of the video. Maximus Hanson's grandma Terri Anderson provides the reading.
**Here's a video from the parade in Melrose recorded from my Suburban dashboard:
The Christmas activities and parade in Melrose last night were nothing less than amazing! I even ran into head coach Chris Moscho and his family plus a handful of other folks from Jaguar Country. Everyone had a great time. The Miss Brooten Royalty had all sorts of fun. It was really great. Miss Brooten first princess Tiyana Schwinghammer led the crew in this parade. She's chomping at the bit with her fellow B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball teammates for the season opener! That's against Melrose next Tuesday night in Belgrade.
It's never a bad time to hear the Word of God...below is video from Sunday worship last weekend at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church in Gilchrist Township:
Pastor Jeannie's sermon begins just a minute into the video after her reading of the Holy Gospel according to the book of John, Chapter 8.
Today we have a huge cooling off from just two days ago. The high is supposed to be 42 degrees, which compares to Wednesday's high of 74 degrees in Jaguar Country. Winter is not that far off...
Here's a link to the Homecoming coronation album: https://bit.ly/3CJvqEo. I just got these uploaded tonight, although it does not include any of my cell phone photos yet.
We still have multiple events coming up in October in the local area. I also want to specifically point out an event that hasn't made it into my calendar (yet) or onto my newspaper pages. That is the upcoming B-B-E Music program's Halloween carnival that is on Monday, October 24 at the high school in Belgrade. Please spread the word! Details to come.
Don't forget to go get your waffles in Belgrade this morning! The event I'm referring to has been plastered on the front page of multiple Voice newspapers in recent weeks. In the most recent issue you can see the headline on the top fold.
*Update: I haven't caught up with representatives of the Scouts BSA organization, so I can't speak to how the turnout fared throughout the morning. After 10:30, traffic picked up while I was there with my family as church-goers from Brooten and Belgrade trickled in.
If you live in Belgrade, Brooten or Elrosa - I hope you didn't stay home this morning and take a pass on the waffle feed. That would have been a very, very poor choice on your part. It would show a profound inability to pay attention to the events in our community and recognize a terrific opportunity to support a group of outstanding, hard-working youth in the Scouts Troop 667. If you had 9 a.m. church service like I did, then swinging over after church would have been very, very easy. If you had service at 10:30 a.m., then going to the waffle feed before church would have been very, very easy. All it takes is giving an effort. This is not too much to ask of you.
Speaking of church, if you missed church recently, you can take in worship service at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church by clicking on the following link: https://bit.ly/3Je3xF7.
Here's worship video posted at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper from Sunday, December 5, at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church in Gilchrist Township (short link): https://bit.ly/3IIXoRFf.
Where are you worshiping today? Today is the third Sunday of Advent.
Monday update: I'm thrilled to report that the youth of Trinity Lutheran, West Lake Johanna Lutheran and Crow River Lutheran churches did marvelous job during their Christmas programs they presented on Sunday morning. Look for coverage in this week's Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
Here's a video from the second half of the Friday night home game with Osakis:
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has three days of much-needed practice before the Thursday night contest back on the home floor with Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City.
And in the spirit of Christmas...here's a video recorded on Friday night in Elrosa; Santa Claus was escorted through town by a Welle Farms team of horses and trailer with the assistance of the Elrosa Commercial Club.
Three sports...and this, that and the other thing (VIDEO)
**HEAD'S UP: a one-way flow of traffic down Second Street (west-bound) in Brooten has been set up, and stop signs stopping traffic on Central Avenue (main street Brooten) have been established. Please spread the word that there are stop signs that are in places we are not accustomed to.** (LINK: https://bit.ly/3dmYa9k.)
Three varsity sports teams get rolling today. I'm gathering all the information now on their season openers. Track and field plus baseball are both at home, while the fastpitch team is at Eden Valley-Watkins.
*UPDATE: there is no word yet on where the varsity baseball team will play their game today. Coach Illies reported that they are hoping to play it at the high school JV diamond in Belgrade. *Update: the baseball action for today is canceled.
As for me, I'm still in REST and recovery mode from the past...five weeks or so of crazy exciting times.
Do you want to hear a Captain Obvious statement? This was in an actual New York Times article (April 14) that said that if you live a sedentary lifestyle, you are more likely to have bad outcomes from COVID-19.
If it takes a NYT article to point that out to you, #*$*#(&*(@$*#!!!%*!%! (fill in the blank) You have not been paying attention to any of the last 13+ months.
Now run this through your head: In the last 30 days, South Dakota "COVID" deaths are the equivalent of 245 in Minnesota. They've had 39 "COVID" deaths, and their state is 6.3 times less populous than Minnesota. I get to that figure with the following estimates of population of both states in 2020 = 899,000 in South Dakota compared to 5.68 million in Minnesota.
What's Minnesota "COVID" death cumulative number over the last 30 days? That number is 260 through April 14
With all these extra powers given to our dictator-in-chief, Tim Walz, we are not faring better. COVID-19 related hospitalizations are declining in South Dakota, which is the opposite of what the MDH has been reporting for Minnesota in recent weeks.
And making it all much worse, our kids are really suffering under the insane and idiotic rules Walz and his Department of Health goons are shoving down on our schools.
End rant.
In other news...
Here's a link to a web article that highlights the upcoming Belgrade consignment auction with Ziemer Auction Services: https://bit.ly/2Q9uKmd. Video added from the 2017 consignment auction in Belgrade! It was a wet, rainy day, but everyone had a great time.
*Here's video featuring worship service at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church of rural Brooten for Easter Sunday, April 4.
The video begins with Brooten Class of 1968 graduate Jerry Skarpness reading the lessons and reciting of the Psalm reading. Pastor Steve Bovendam then reads the Holy Gospel and his sermon.
I had meant to take yesterday "off" and instead spent today not doing anything newspaper-related in the afternoon. It's Good Friday. I hope to make it to worship service tonight at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church.
A great day to get in the garden! And that's what I am doing.
Tomorrow is going to be absolutely spectacular. One of the nicest spring days we've had in years!!!!!!
Remember: Easter Egg hunt at the Brooten city park at 1 p.m. sharp! Read more at the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website (short link) https://bit.ly/3mflFE4.
Where are you worshiping tonight? Some area churches are hosting midweek Lenten season worship services. I'll be out west in eastern Pope County, West Lake Johanna Lutheran, where they are hosting worship starting at 7 p.m.
Below is video from worship at West Lake Johanna Lutheran on January 31, featuring the reading of the lesson, Gospel as well as Pastor Steve's sermon:
I'm back into catch-up mode on many fronts. We published a 12-page issue this morning. It was a huge lift! Yikes!
On the COVID front, it's worth noting that Minnesota has recently fallen "sharply" behind South Dakota in the race to vaccinate the public. As of today, South Dakota reports that 22 percent of their state has received at least one jab. In Minnesota, if 22 percent of the public had at least one dose, we'd have over 1.24 million with the first jab complete. Instead, we're hovering around 800,000 people who have had at least one jab.
We all need to keep asking the question: why is Governor Walz so bad at his job? Why is his state health department so bad at their job? Why do we accept a failed governor? It is really aggravating.
Also, the area scoreboard from last night's basketball games was updated and posted on the previous blog post here. See below.
Also, I learned tonight that Perham will not be attending the wrestling triangular tomorrow at Morris Area high school. The event will be a dual between our B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team and Morris Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta. The JV wrestlers will start competing at 6 p.m., and once that wraps up, the varsity dual will begin. On Thursday afternoon I'll get a live video player posted on this blog in a new blog post.
Have you made your fan bus plans yet for the state basketball tournament? Let's get some buses ordered up!
In case you missed out on a church service today, here's a video from the lesson reading, Gospel reading, children's sermon and sermon at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church:
Speaking of basketball, here's a story from the 2019-2020 season opener between Cromwell-Wright and Minneota...Minneota won that game 49-47 just a couple weeks after they won the Class 1A state volleyball title. Seven Minneota girls' basketball players were on that volleyball team. http://northlandsportsonline.com/22114/cromwell-wright-drops-season-opener.
CRAZY fact: Minneota, the top-ranked and top-seeded team in the upcoming Class 1A state girls' basketball tournament, has just one senior on the roster (forward Morgan Hennen).
At the Bonanza Valley Voice, now we gear up for the state tournament while getting our March 12 issue ready for publishing. I've got an ambitious goal of publishing 14 pages this week.
This is by an eastern Pope County lake...I forgot the name of it! I will have some coverage on this in the August 29 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice. It was an absolutely splendid morning to have this worship service outside!
A pot luck dinner followed the service.
On another note...the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper has been on a tremendous stretch where we've published newspapers with 12 or more pages in consecutive fashion from April 11 until August 15 of this year. The April 4 issue had just 10 pages, and this week the Voice had just 10 pages in the August 29 issue. For a period of four straight months, the Bonanza Valley Voice has been 12 to 16 pages, and usually it has varied between 12 and 14 pages each week.
This is tremendous for a newspaper in a town of (about) 750 people. The business community of B-B-E has to be thanked over and over again for their loyal and steady support of this small town newspaper.
Here's video from worship at West Lake Johanna Lutheran church on June 2, featuring the reading of the lesson, the Psalm, the Gospel, children's sermon and main sermon.
In other news...the Bonanza Valley Days posters are going up around local towns. They're already in Sedan, Brooten and Belgrade and will be distributed all across central Minnesota in the next 10 days or so. In case you've missed it in the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper, the dates for BVD 2019 in Brooten are July 11, 12, 13, 14. Please spread the word!
Also, I will start promoting the Spicer Fourth of July celebration events in the June 20 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice. The dates for all of their events spread across June 27 through July 7.
Also, New London Water Days dates run from July 15 through July 21.
And I just looked this up: the Pope County Fair dates in Glenwood are July 17 through July 20.
