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, March 03, 2026
GAME NIGHT! In Benton County
We make the trek once again over to Foley high school for the Sub-Section 5A-East playoffs. The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team will face top-seeded Braham in the subsection championship with a 7 p.m. tip-off. The game will be aired on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. (Thanks, Brady!)
If you want to get caught up on local events, click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website's community calendar: BBEareaEvents2026.
Boys' basketball seeded No. 9 out of 22 teams (Updated, VIDEOS)
It's gone official in the Section 6A rankings...the B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team has earned the No. 9 seed out of 22 teams. The Jaguars take a 14-11 record into the Section 6A opening round game, which will be on Thursday, March 5. The Jaguars will travel to Underwood for that game, which features a 7 p.m. tip-off.
Henning, who sports a perfect 26-0 record, is the No. 1 seed in Section 6A.
A win against Underwood (18-5) sends the Jaguars to the Section 6A quarterfinals, which takes place at the high seeds on Saturday, March 7 with 7 p.m. tip offs. The Final Four is at Perham high school on March 11, and the section finals is on March 13 at Concordia-Moorhead.
Section 6A boys' basketball seedings:
1. Henning
2. Pelican Rapids
3. Park Christian
4. Breckenridge
5. Hillcrest Lutheran Academy
6. Benson
7. Hancock
8. Underwood
9. B-B-E
10. West Central Area
11. New York Mills
12. Ada-Borup West
13. Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal
14. Rothsay
15. Brandon-Evansville
16. Border West
17. Ortonville
18. Frazee
19. Lake Park-Audubon
20. Parkers Prairie
21. Battle Lake
22. Ashby
Public service announcement...
The Brooten Ambulance pancake breakfast is Sunday, March 15 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the former American Legion Hall, now Bucky’s Pickles, on Central Avenue. This is a FREE WILL donation event! Enjoy a short stack for a tall cause to support our local ambulance service. Takeout is available, and the menu includes plain or blueberry pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, milk, juice and coffee. To learn more about the Glacial Ridge Ambulance service, visit http://glacialridge.org/emergency-medical-services.
And now it's Monday night...
Today was a warm, sunny day!
Here's another video from the 1st half of the Swanville game:
Here's action early in the 2nd half at Foley:
The girls' basketball team plays back in Foley on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the Sub-Section 5A-East championship. Their opponent, Braham, is led by junior guard Morgan Rysdam; she averages 22.2 points per game, 7.5 rebounds per game and 4.8 steals per game.
Step II: Jaguars shake Saturday jinx, advance to the 'Ship! Jensen finishes with state silver medal
A terrific second half performance, fueled by outstanding defense in the final 10 minutes of the game, lifted the B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team to a 51-39 playoff win against the Prairie Conference champion Swanville Bulldogs. The Jaguars displayed lights-out defense across the final 10 minutes of the game, during which the Bulldogs scored just 6 points.
NEXT: the Jaguars (20-8) head to the Sub-Section 5A-East championship game, which is on Tuesday, March 3 at Foley high school. The opponent will be state-ranked Braham. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. Braham is 22-6 overall after defeating Upsala 67-39 in the other semifinal today in Foley. The Cardinals finished 11-17 overall.
Last season, Braham went 23-6 and lost 61-59 in overtime to Walker-Hackensack-Akeley in the Section 5A championship. Two seasons ago, W-H-A defeated Braham 67-63 in the Section 5A finals.
Here's the start of today's game in Foley:
AS FOR STATE WRESTLING...Noah Jensen's title match should start at about 3:30 p.m. today. He is on Mat 1. **Update: Noah lost a 6-1 decision in the championship match to Kenyon-Wanamingo sophomore Liam Sommer (48-1). Jensen finishes one of the best-ever freshman wrestling seasons at B-B-E high school with a 45-4 final record. He was an outstanding 3-1 at state with a silver medal after he earned a bronze state medal (3rd place) as an eighth grader.
In the 114 championship today, Jensen fell behind 1-0 in the second period. He got an escape to tie it 1-1 in the third period. With a little over 40 seconds left in the third, Sommer got a takedown to go up 4-1. A late two-point near fall was also earned by Sommer for a final score of 6-1.
Don't forget that the Belgrade Lions chili cook-off contest is from 5:30 to 7 p.m. tonight at the Belgrade VFW. It's just $5 for any member of the public to be able to participate. Please do your part to suppor this event. You can read more details at the Bonanza Valley Voice website: BelgradeLionsChili2026.
Area girls' basketball playoff scores on February 28:
Foley 56, Albany 47
Sauk Centre 58, Kimball Area 40 (Cubs finish a fine season 20-8 overall)
Milaca 51, Royalton 47 (Royals finish 17-11 overall)
Pine River-Backus 70, Bertha-Hewitt 54
Cass Lake-Bena 52, Sebeka 45
Willmar 56, Fergus Falls 53 OT
Rothsay 58, West Central Area 56 (the Cardinals avenge two Central Lakes Conference losses this season with this Section 8AAA playoff win at Fergus Falls)
Hillcrest Lutheran Academy 80, Hancock 44
Championship wrestling, basketball consuming the afternoon (*UPDATES)
A big day is underway! The championship wrestling session begins at 1 p.m. in Saint Paul. I just finished up with my daughter's basketball games at Cold Spring. It's time to head east. I'm thrilled to report that the B-B-E 6th grade Class of 2032 girls' basketball Jaguars went 2-0 today at Rocori high school. They defeated Kimball 23-10 and then K-M-S 17-4. This concludes their 2025-2026 Highway 55 league season.
At Foley, top-seeded Braham is taking apart Upsala in the first semifinal game. With 2:23 left, the Bombers hold a 64-35 lead. Smooth Magic 107.1 FM will carry today's girls' basketball game against Swanville. Please spread the word! Smooth Magic streams online at https://www.kmgk1071.com. The pregame music at Foley is terrific! REO Speedwagon is on the loudspeakers with 8 minutes to go before the 20-minute timer ends.
As of 1:30 p.m., Noah Jensen is not in the wrestling queue. I'll follow that up until the tip-off of the basketball game in Foley. Tip-off for the Sub-Section 5A-East semifinals between our B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team and the Swanville Bulldogs should take place at about 1:47 p.m.
HALFTIME in Foley: No. 3-seeded Swanville 21, No. 2-seeded B-B-E 16. The Jaguars were playing with mild foul trouble and utilized their depth to push through without any players getting their third personal foul. Nightmarish shooting from the floor has been the biggest obstacle to overcome this afternoon. Also hurting is free throw shooting of just 5-of-10 at the line. Leading the way for the Jaguars is Teagan Dingmann with 8 points. She's followed by 5 points from Macey Roering and 3 by Mya Worms. Swanville's Addison Hudalla leads the Bulldogs with 14 points.
The Jaguars led 16-11 but went stone cold from the floor. With 1:19 left, a free throw by Swanville lifted them in front 17-16.
The second half should start at about 2:31 p.m.
UPDATE in the second half: the Bulldogs hold a 33-28 lead with 10:43 to go after Addison Hudalla scored on the right block. MORE TO COME in a NEW blog post.
GOOD TIMES! Jensen heading to the 'Ship! Boys' hoops thrash Arrows (VIDEOS)
Don't look now! B-B-E freshman Noah Jensen is championship bound! He wrestled a marvelous match, he was outstanding, in tonight's Class 1A 114-pound state semifinal at Grand Casino Arena. Jensen has been ranked No. 2 in The Guillotine polls all season, and today he lived up to that by defeating Pelican Rapids senior Danny Salazar by a 4-1 decision in a sudden victory overtime period.
For Jensen, he now heads to the medals round at state, which starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday. In the championship, Jensen faces top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Liam Sommer, a sophomore from Kenyon-Wanamingo with a 47-1 record. It will be a match that the wrestling scene has been looking forward to all season.
Here's a video featuring Noah winning in his state opener on Thursday:
He's now guaranteed first or second place in his third overall state tournament. As a seventh grader, he wrestled at 107 pounds for the Jaguars when they took third place as a team in 2024.
In basketball news...
The B-B-E Jaguars boys' basketball team takes a 14-11 record into the Section 6A playoffs after defeating Ashby 81-50 tonight on the home court. It was the final home game for five seniors: Cameron Loe, Jesse Niklaus, Owen Roering, Taylor Pieper and Aiden Radermacher.
The Jaguars shot 47 percent from the floor while making 8 of 30 three-point attempts. At the free throw line, the Jaguars made 7 out of 8 shots. Leading the way was Taylor Pieper with 27 points, and Hudson Reed had 15 points. Aiden Radermacher also had a fine game with 13 points and a team-high 8 rebounds.
Here's a video from the middle of the second half tonight:
In Section 6A, it appears the Jaguars will not be included in the play-in round, which will be on Monday next week. The Jaguars are currently ranked No. 9 out of 22 teams, and this lands them a spot in the section quarterfinals. The Section 6A quarterfinal round will be next Thursday, March 5.
The Jaguars took third place alone in the Central Minnesota Conference with a 7-6 record. Royalton and Eden Valley-Watkins each tied for fourth place with 7-7 records. In first place, we had a tie this season for the CMC title, as Holdingford and Paynesville Area each went 13-1 while splitting the series against one another. To close out the regular season, Holdingford defeated Kimball Area 100-85 tonight at Kimball.
Area boys' basketball scores on February 27:
Melrose Area 58, Sauk Centre 49 (the Dutchmen clinch third place in the West Central Conference and completed the series sweep against the neighboring rival Mainstreeters)
Parkers Prairie 66, Bertha-Hewitt 49
Montevideo 72, Redwood Valley 42
West Central Area 63, Border West 53
St. Cloud Apollo 68, Willmar 66
Area boys' basketball playoff scores on February 27:
New London-Spicer 60, Paynesville Area 55
Litchfield 74, Eden Valley-Watkins 57
Minnewaska Area 61, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 54
Noah Jensen won his state quarterfinal match today at Grand Casino Arena in Saint Paul. He wrestles again later in the semifinals. In his match this morning, Jensen won by fall (2:34).
In the 114 semis, Jensen faces senior Danny Salazar of Pelican Rapids. That session begins at 4 p.m. today. As for when Jensen's semifinal match will take place, I have no idea. The sessions start with Class 3A wrestlers, and they're followed by the Class 2A field and then Class 1A.
Friday afternoon updates...
Elizabeth Rademacher is wrestling this afternoon in the 130-pound wrestlebacks. Rademacher's opponent is St. Croix Lutheran senior Amelia Converse (14-5). As of 2 p.m., her match hasn't started yet. The match will take place on Mat 7. As of 3 p.m., it has not taken place, but Rademacher is in the queue.
UPDATE on Friday afternoon:
In a crushing loss, Elizabeth Rademacher lost a 2-1 decision in the third tiebreaker to see her season close out at the state tournament. She finishes a terrific sophomore season with a 33-12 record.
Here's how Rademacher's state match played out...
With 1:37 left, Rademacher earned an escape to take a 1-0 lead. Early in the third period, with 1:51 left, Converse got an escape to tie it at 1-1.
Two choice tiebreakers went by without any scoring. In the next tiebreaker, Converse got an escape with 6 seconds to go to claim the 2-1 win.
ONCE again...a friendly reminder! The B-B-E Knights of Columbus will host their first Lenten season fish fry tonight, Friday, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the KaDe Shack. This is an all-you-can eat meal! Please spread the word and come out and support a great organization. Our communities would not be what they are today without our local civic groups. They need your support.
COMING tomorrow...
The Belgrade Lions chili cook-off is tomorrow. You can read all those details here: LionsChiliContest2024. This event is in support of the B-B-E Area Food Shelf. Please, please! I am talking until I'm blue in the face...come out and show your support for our local groups like the K of Cs and the Lions.
Friday evening update...as of 5:30 p.m., Jensen's semifinal match hasn't taken place.
**Update: Noah Jensen is heading to the championship match! He won a 4-1 sudden victory overtime decision in the semifinals.
At halftime in Brooten, the boys' basketball team is ahead 40-25 over Ashby.
Displaying a surprising level of athleticism for a 7th-seeded team, the Mille Lacs Raiders hit some outside shots for a competitive first half. The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team responded by running the floor and building a 38-23 halftime lead. Stifling second-half defense by the Jaguars propelled them to a 68-39 playoff-opening win.
Mille Lacs, who competes in the Great River Conference, finished 7-20 overall.
Here's a video recorded in the first half tonight:
Next: the Jaguars (19-8) travel to Foley high school on Saturday, February 28 for the Sub-Section 6A-East semifinals. Tip-off at Foley is at about 1:45 p.m. B-B-E's opponent will be No. 3-seeded Swanville. I'm currently combing my newspapers to find Swanville statistics from their recent games.
In their playoff opener tonight, Swanville (15-11) defeated visiting East Central 68-53. The Bulldogs won the Prairie Conference title with a 9-1 record. Back on February 17, Swanville defeated Mille Lacs 62-28. Across most of January and into early February, Swanville had an 11-game winning streak going. That was upended by Melrose, who beat Swanville 56-35 on February 9.
Swanville's leading scorer is 6'1" sophomore Addison Hudalla. Through 25 regular season games, Hudalla averaged 19.6 points per game and 15.8 rebounds per game.
TOMORROW: the B-B-E Knights of Columbus will host their first Lenten season fish fry on Friday night from 5 to 8 p.m. at the KaDe Shack in Brooten. Please come out and show your support!
In games played in Sub-Section 5A-West tonight: Sebeka upset last year's Section 5A champion, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, with a 45-43 win over the Wolves in tonight's quarterfinal round. Sebeka has a 6-17 overall record.
Area girls' basketball playoff scores on February 26:
Braham 63, Hinckley-Finlayson 23
Upsala 65, Ogilvie 59
Bertha-Hewitt 67, Nevis 38
Pine City 60, Melrose Area 56
BOLD 74, Springfield 27
Albany 71, Milaca 42
Foley 80, Spectrum 42
Legacy Christian 75, Holdingford 64
Royalton 60, St. Cloud Cathedral 56 (the Royals are 17-10 overall; this win at Cathedral high school avenges their 78-68 loss in the season opener to St. Cloud Cathedral)
Milaca 71, Maple Lake 36
Kimball Area 84, PACT Charter 70
Sauk Centre 59, Osakis 22
West Central Area 65, Benson 27
Hancock 79, Parkers Prairie 72
Cass Lake-Bena 65, Browerville 50
Willmar 67, St. Cloud Crush 42
Pine River-Backus 79, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 40
Tip-off is at 7 p.m. tonight at the B-B-E high school. The B-B-E Jaguars girls' basketball team is hosting No. 7-seeded Mille Lacs in the Sub-Section 5A-East quarterfinals. Mille Lacs high school is in Onamia in eastern Minnesota.
The Jaguars are 18-8 overall, and the Raiders are 7-19 overall. Mille Lacs struggles on offense and averages just 39.6 points per game. In the Great River Conference, Mille Lacs went 2-11.
HALFTIME: B-B-E 38, Mille Lacs 23.
The final score and more will be posted in a new blog post after 9 p.m.
Noah Jensen outside the competition floor at Grand Casina Arena in St. Paul this morning.
Shortly after 11 a.m. today, the Class 2A individual matches are near the middle weights at Grand Casino Arena in Saint Paul.
For B-B-E freshman Noah Jensen, he is about to begin the third Class 1A state wrestling tournament of his career. For the second straight year, Jensen will compete in the individual tournament. Last season, Jensen placed 3rd at the 107-pound bracket. This season, he has been in the No. 2 spot in the Top 10 of 114 pounds this whole season in The Guillotine rankings. Currently, the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 114 is sophomore Liam Sommer of Kenyon-Wanamingo. Sommer is the top seed in the bracket and has a 44-1 overall record.
In Jensen's state bracket this year, he is first paired for the opening match with eighth grader Rylan Moritz (32-8) of Aitkin. Jensen has a 42-3 overall record as the Section 5A champion. I'm guessing shortly after 12 p.m., he'll be preparing to take the mat for the Round of 16
In the girls' wrestling tournament...
B-B-E sophomore Elizabeth Rademacher is competing today in the state girls' individual tournament. Rademacher is having a tremendous sophomore season and takes a 33-10 record into her first state tournament. He is paired against the No. 2-ranked wrestler, senior Lauren Elsmore of Pine Island. Elsmore is 32-5 overall.
While you're in the mood to read, you can also take in a video clip from West Lake Johanna Lutheran church. Click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website for more: WestLakeJohannaChurch.
**STATE UPDATE: Noah Jensen won by a 17-1 tech fall early in the 3rd period in his state opener! Jensen will face a sophomore from Goodhue in his semifinal match, which takes place tomorrow. The Goodhue wrestler won by fall in his opener.
Here's a video from the first period of Noah's match:
In other lower-weight state matches, two upset losses occurred with neighboring wrestlers. Benson's Max Nygaard lost a tough 9-5 decision at 139 to a fellow senior from Jackson County Central. Also, Paynesville's Jamison Meagher, the No. 2 seed at 121, lost his state opener by a 6-3 decision to a fellow sophomore from Westfield.
In the girls' division, Rademacher we'll be wrestling in her state opener sometime after 2 p.m.
**Update: Rademacher lost by fall late in the second period. Her opponent from Pine Island was a state champion last year. Rademacher wrestled very well, and the score after the first period was 3-0.
What's coming tomorrow...
Both Jensen and Rademacher will wrestle tomorrow at Grand Casino Arena during the 9 a.m. round of action. Those matches begin with Class 3A male athletes, and then it goes to Class 2A and Class 1A. The girls' wrestlers follow the Class 1A boys. Both the state quarterfinals and wrestlebacks take place at the 9 a.m. session.
Jensen will be in the 114-pound state quarterfinals. His opponent from Goodhue is sophomore Arlyn von Knobelsdorf, who holds a record of 23-4 and is ranked No. 6 in The Guillotine Top 10 polls.
Rademacher will be in the win-or-go-home wrestlebacks. Her opponent will be senior Amelia Converse of St. Croix Lutheran, who has a 14-5 record this season.
The individual state semifinals plus additional rounds of wrestleback matches take place on Friday night.
After supper, it's time to shift gears to basketball!
The Class 1A state individual wrestling tournament begins at 9 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, at Grand Casino Arena in Saint Paul. Two members of the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team will compete. In the girls' division, sophomore Elizabeth Rademacher competes in her first state tournament in the 130-pound bracket. She has the tough draw of facing the No. 2 seed in the field, which is a one-class format. For the boys' tournament, which has 3 classes, B-B-E freshman Noah Jensen will compete in Class 1A in his third overall state tournament. As a seventh grader, Jensen wrestled at 107 pounds for B-B-E's 3rd place finisher in 2024. Last season, Jensen wrestled in the individual tournament and placed 3rd at 107.
In college basketball news...
The University of Minnesota-Morris Cougars men's basketball team is heading to a National qualifier after they defeated visiting Crown College 85-79 tonight in Morris. The game was a semifinal in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) playoffs. With a berth in the UMAC championship, the Cougars have a chance to advance to the Division III National Tournament. Against Crown College tonight, B-B-E's Kaden Pieper scored 20 points after being held to just 4 points in the first half. For periods of the second half, Pieper put the team on his back while the team's leading scorer, Carvin Fish, was attracting the teeth of Crown's defense. UMM overcame a 43-33 halftime deficit to improve to 14-13 overall. Fish finished the game with a career-high 42 points.
With under 16 minutes left in the game, Crown expanded their lead to 52-38. With 7 minutes to go, the deficit shrank to 66-64. Finally, with 3:27 to go, Pieper drained a step-back three-pointer with only 4 seconds on the shot clock to lift the Cougars on top 73-71.
Pieper, a 2023 B-B-E graduate, shot 53 percent on field goals to go with 7 rebounds, 3 assist and 2 blocked shots.
Other information is forthcoming.
**Thursday update: Noah Jensen should be on the mat between 11:30 and noon. By 10:30, the Class 3A individual matches are wrapping up. **A NEW blog post will feature state wrestling updates.
Very serious Highway 55/Highway 71 accident east of Belgrade (VIDEO, UPDATES)
The icy roads appear to be a major factor in a serious accident between a flat-nosed Cintas uniform truck and a semi tractor and trailer east of Belgrade. The accident took place shortly after 8 a.m. on Tuesday, February 24. For approximately a half hour leading up to the accident, rain fell across the area while ambient temperatures hovered around 23-24 degrees.
Click over to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website to see video from the accident scene and read additional details: Highway71Belgradeaccident.
The roads are awful right now! Not to mention sidewalks plus in-town streets and intersections. Please travel lightly. Your odds of being in an accident are considerably higher than normal right now at 9 a.m.
Here's a second video recorded at the accident scene this morning:
Please pray for the safety of our emergency responders.
BREAKING news on Tuesday afternoon: the game against A-C-GC tonight has been cancelled. This is due to an error on A-C-GC's part with their regular season schedule. That's what I know. The game will not be made up. So please spread the word: there's no home game tonight in Brooten. It's now an "off" night.
