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. 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!
Tuesday, December 09, 2025
Christmas caroling on Main Street...and the weather! (VIDEO, UPDATES*)
B-B-E schools dismissed classes and let students out at 11:15 a.m. today. Two separate bands of snowfall wreaked havoc across the area, the latter hitting us between 3 and 5 p.m. No evening activities are taking place.
Here's a Christmas caroling video from last Friday at the Belgrade Bakery:
The B-B-E 6th grade Class of 2032 students had a shopping excursion last Friday afternoon. The gifts, purchased by donated funds, are being gathered for local families in need. Additional coverage is coming in the Bonanza Valley Voice.
Time to get back to the newspaper.
Tuesday night updates:
B-B-E schools has announced that school will start 2 hours late on Wednesday, December 10.
The River Lakes Stars girls' hockey team earned a 3-1 win on Saturday in Cloquet against the co-op team of Cloquet/Esko/Carlton. The Stars are 5-3 overall (2-0 Central Lakes College) and host the St. Cloud Crush (5-2) on Thursday this week in Paynesville at 7 p.m.
Tonight's boys' basketball game that was supposed to be at Long Prairie has been rescheduled to January 26.
Tuesday activities could be scratched out by the weather (VIDEO)
It's too early to know for sure, but it's looking dicey on whether or not varsity activities will take place on Tuesday night. The forecast looks rough! Sleet/rain/snow is supposed to hit our area in the afternoon before temperatures plunge below the 32-degree mark. The forecast calls for 3 to 5 inches of sleet and snow with 20-30 mph winds coming in the evening.
Here's the first video I recorded during the Brooten Santa Day event on Saturday:
In local business news...
Be sure to get these events on your calendar...customers of our community banks of Bonanza Valley State Bank and Kensington Bank are invited to their Christmas open house events. Read more by clicking here: BankChristmasEvents.
An exciting win and a tough, tough loss (VIDEOS*, updates)
Two varsity games played out today with vastly differing styles.
In the first varsity game, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team evened their record at 1-1 with a blowout win over Brandon-Evansville. In the opening minutes of the second half, the Jaguars expanded a 38-31 lead to a 17-point margin. Final: B-B-E 68, Brandon-Evansville 51. The Jaguars lost 66-42 last Tuesday in their season opener at Minnewaska Area.
The Chargers boys' basketball team fell to 1-2 overall.
Both of B-B-E's JV squads defeated Brandon-Evansville. For the boys' JV team, they overcame a double-digit deficit. In the final minute, sophomore Walker Winter put the Jaguars ahead with a three-pointer. He later sank 2 free throws to give the Jaguars the win.
In the varsity boys game, the Jaguars played with great intensity and hustle after halftime. Coach Rambow was able to utilize multiple reserves down the stretch after the lead approached 20 points. It was a great team win. They are set to travel to Long Prairie next Tuesday, but the weather may change that.
On the girls' basketball side...
Brutal, ice-cold shooting cost the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team a shot at a 3-0 start to the season today. After holding a 26-19 halftime lead, the Jaguars went stone cold from the floor in a 50-48 loss to Brandon-Evansville. Down 50-46 late in the game, Kamie Fischer made two bonus free throws. The Jaguars fought to the bitter end, but a last-second field goal shot was thwarted by physical play with no foul called.
In the second half, the Jaguars launched 35 field goal attempts, but just 7 went through the basket. Their overall field goal shooting was a dismal 26 percent.
The Chargers girls' basketball team improved to 3-1 overall. They were coming off of a 74-62 loss last night to visiting Hancock in a Little Eight Conference game.
The C-squad girls' basketball team won their season opener by defeating the Chargers 28-16.
It's hard to say when the next basketball games will take place. The current forecast calls for 3 to 5 inches of snow on Tuesday. On the home front (or rather, office front) I have 16 videos to go over from today and at least 300 pictures taken from multiple events. It was a crazy, crazy busy Saturday.
Here's a video from the second half of the boys' basketball game today:
Here's a video featuring Coach Anderson speaking about the Hoops For Hope fundraiser:
*Here's a video added on Sunday that has the tip-off and opening minutes of the girls' basketball game:
In wrestling news...
At the Parkers Prairie triangular on Thursday night, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team fell to 2-3 overall with a 61-9 loss to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg followed by a 54-24 loss to Parkers Prairie/Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale. In the other dual on Thursday night, PP/BH/V lost 34-32 to K-M-S. The wrestling team's next action is on the home mats on Friday, December 12 with a Central Minnesota Conference triangular. The other teams are Paynesville and Kimball.
In other news...
The Brooten Santa Day events were a smashing success! The turnout was remarkable. Huge crowds gathered at both Lucky Shots Bowling Alley and across the street at the KaDe Shack. For the lighted Christmas parade, Main Street was packed end to end with vehicles.
Earlier today, Elrosa hosted a terrific Santa Day at the Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic church basement.
That's all I've got for this blog post tonight. Church is at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow. It's time to call it a day.
Coming on Sunday: Grace Lutheran Church hosts a Christmas program at 2 p.m. that features music by The Porch Players from Kandiyohi County. Everyone is welcome! No admission charge!
In college volleyball news...
B-B-E Class of 2022 graduate Emily Kern saw her women's volleyball career come to a close on Saturday night in the Central Region Championship, which is the Division II Sweet 16 round. The winner of that match advances to the Elite 8 of the NCAA DII National Tournament. Kern was a senior defensive specialist for the St. Cloud State University Huskies, who won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) tournament to advance to the national tournament.
In the Sweet 16 on Saturday, the No. 5-ranked SCSU Huskies faced No. 4-ranked and NSIC rival Concordia-St. Paul. The match was played at the Health and Sports Center at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. The Golden Bears avenged a loss in the NSIC tournament finals with a 3-2 win, which included a 15-10 win in game five. Kern had 16 digs and one set assist.
Today, the Hoops For Hope cancer awareness fundraiser will be part of a long stretch of games at B-B-E high school. The JV teams (boys and girls) both start at noon. The B-B-E Jaguars are hosting Brandon-Evansville.
The C-squad boys' basketball game begins at 1:15 p.m. in the auxiliary gymnasium. The varsity boys' basketball team has a tip-off in the main gymnasium of 1:30 p.m. While that's taking place, the C-squad girls' basketball game starts at 2 p.m. in the auxiliary gymnasium. Finally, the varsity girls' basketball team faces Brandon-Evansville with tip-off at 3 p.m.
You all should be aware by now that the Brooten Santa Day activities start at 4 p.m. today. The poster will all activities on it was published on page 12 of the November 27 and December 4 Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper issues.
The River Lakes girls' hockey team is at Cloquet this afternoon. Their match just started at about 3 p.m.
Don't forget about the Elrosa Saints baseball party at the bar and lounge tonight! All fans are invited! This event will include meat raffles, and it starts at 6 p.m.
At Minnewaska tonight, the B-B-E/Paynesville Pirouettes dance team is competing in their season opener.
And here's a link to read about Brooten Santa Day, which is tomorrow! Click here: BrootenSantaDay2025.
And! Here's a video recorded this afternoon at Kensington Bank in Belgrade:
I'll write a little more on this blog post early tomorrow morning. Today has been a busy day, and it's just a preview of a super busy coming tomorrow.
Girls' basketball is on the radio; Jaguars hammer Cardinals
Smooth Magic 107 FM has the call tonight with Brady Erdmann covering the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team's game at Upsala. They broadcast on 107.1 FM on the radio and online at their website: https://www.kmgk1071.com. The Cardinals are 0-1 on the season after losing at home to their neighbors to the north, Little Falls, by a 70-33 score on Tuesday.
At halftime, the Jaguars are ahead 36-22. Tiffany Dingmann is leading the Jaguars with 10 points, and Mya Worms has scored 9 as the next top scorer.
B-B-E pounded on Upsala in the opening minutes of the second half. The Cardinals scored the first bucket after halftime, but the Jaguars scored 8 straight to go up 44-24. It was all B-B-E from that point on.
Final score: B-B-E 78, Upsala 43. The Jaguars (2-0) had 5 players in double figures! Other teams are going to have to pick their poison, because the Jaguars have multiple shooters on the floor at any given time. Excellent three-point shooting was a key to the win. The Jaguars connected on 8 out of 17 shots beyond the arc. Overall, they shot 43 percent on field goals while going 11-for-19 at the free throw line.
Next: the Jaguars host Brandon-Evansville on Saturday with games going all afternoon at the high school. It is a boys/girls doubleheader with the Chargers as the team also has their Hoops For Hope cancer awareness fundraiser.
The River Lakes Stars girls' hockey team has had a strong start to the 2025-2026 season. They currently hold a 4-3-1 overall record after an exciting 3-2 win at Sartell/Sauk Rapids-Rice on Tuesday in Sartell. This also raised their Central Lakes Conference record to 2-0. Next is a road game at Cloquet on Saturday.
Area girls' basketball scores on December 4:
Sauk Centre 53, Annandale 41
Albany 67, Royalton 64
Foley 71, Kimball Area 40
Braham 68, East Central 25
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted 57, Swanville 56
Jaguar wrestlers defeat BOLD, Quad County; girls' basketball wins at Eden Valley (VIDEO)
The B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team is hosting a quadrangular at the high school tonight. In one of their duals, they defeated BOLD 39-36.
In the second-to-last dual of the night, Wabasso defeated Quad County 42-26.
The quadrangular concludes with the Jaguars facing Quad County (MACCRAY/Renville County West/Yellow Medicine East co-op).
Final score in the final dual: B-B-E 48, Quad County 24. They are 2-1 overall to start the dual campaign, which is remarkable with only 2 seniors on the roster.
Here's a video from the BOLD dual at 172 pounds:
Aiden Mueller won that match by a 10-8 decision.
Next for the wrestlers: the Jaguars travel to Parkers Prairie on Thursday this week for a triangular with Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg and Parkers Prairie/Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale. Action in Ottertail County begins at 5 p.m.
In basketball news...
For their season opener, the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team has a 41-25 lead at halftime at Eden Valley-Watkins.
At Minnewaska Area, the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team trails 13-2 with just over 13 minutes to go. The Lakers have scored 13 straight points. Coach Rambow has called his first timeout. Later in the first half, the Lakers have opened up a 24-10 lead with 6 minutes to go.
At halftime: the Jaguars fought like mad in the final minutes and closed the gap to a 28-16 score at the break in Pope County.
Later in the evening...
In their season and Central Minnesota Conference opener, the girls' basketball team defeated Eden Valley-Watkins on the road by a score of 63-43. Now they can put revenge on their minds when they travel to Upsala on Thursday this week for a non-conference game. The Cardinals earned an upset victory in last year's subsection semifinals over the Jaguars.
Tiffany Dingmann had a career-high 14 points to lead the Jaguars, who shot a respectable 37 percent on field goals while overcoming cold 50 percent free throw shooting. Overall, a total of 8 Jaguars found the scoring column. Two other Jaguar were in double figures: Teagan Dingmann with 13 and Kacey Fischer with 11.
A home quadrangular is coming for the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team, who hosts three teams with action starting at 5 p.m. The teams include Quad County, Wabasso and BOLD. In the preseason Guillotine rankings, Section 5A has 3 teams ranked in the Top 10: Minneota, Canby and Paynesville Area. The Jaguars hold a spot in the Lean and Mean rankings along with fellow section teams Benson and Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg.
For individual state rankings, the Jaguars open the season with just one ranked wrestler: freshman Noah Jensen at 121 pounds.
The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team opens their season on Tuesday with a Central Minnesota Conference game at Eden Valley-Watkins. This is the first time in a generation or more that the girls' basketball team has a season opener against a conference opponent.
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team begins their season on Tuesday with a border battle at Minnewaska Area.
Now you're caught up.
In the varsity wrestling quad...
The B-B-E Jaguars opened up the evening by facing Wabasso at 5 p.m. Later in the varsity match against the Rabbits, the Jaguars trail 24-15 after Noah DeRoo won a 7-2 decision at 145 pounds.
