Saturday, November 8th.
Football.
Class AAA State Quarterfinals @ Rocori.
#1N Annandale 19, #4S Litchfield 7. Annandale is headed back to state for the third straight year, but it wasn’t easy against their biggest rival. On a cold Saturday night in Rocori, the Cards made it look easy early scoring on a one-yard QB sneak by Michael Kovall, and then a six-yard TD pass from Braylon Fobbe to Gabe Westman making it 12-0 Cards. On the ensuing kickoff Ben Rubink forced a fumble that was recovered by Rylan Horsch and it looked like the rout was one. The game changed dramatically from there. The Cards were forced to punt on that possession and the Dragons took nine minutes off the clock and scored on a 95-yard drive, capped off by a four-yard TD run by Anthony Taylor on 4th and four and suddenly it was 12-7 at the half. Litch had the only opportunity in the third quarter but missed a field goal. After both teams traded punts in the fourth, the Cards finally put the game away. The key play was a twelve-yard pass from Braylon Fobbe to Cooper Broman on third and 10 that kept the drive alive. Eventually Isiah Turner scored from ten yards out on a toss play and after an interception from Cam Helget on the next possession the celebration began as the Cards are headed back to state.
Cam Ergen, above, led the Cards with 62 yards rushing on 14 carries on Saturday night.
Volleyball.
Class AA Consolation Finals @ Grand Casino Arena.
#5 Southwest Christian 3, #7 Howard Lake WW 2. The Lakers made a great impression in their first ever state tournament appearance coming oh so close to upsetting Albany in the first round, then blasting Esko in the consolation semifinals, setting up their consolation final with SW Christian. Again, the Lakers played a great match, but came up just short, 25-18, 16-25, 23-25, 25-23, and 9-15. Breanna and Avery Beckering combined for 39 kills for the Stars, while Isabell Scheuch led the Lakers with 18 kills. Kamryn Stueven had 39 assist, and Madison Graczyk added 19 digs for HLWW. The Lakers finished the season with a 21-10 record.
Howard Lake WW, above, made its first state tournament appearance this fall, and went 1-2 at state.
Girls Swim and Dive, Sections.
Section 5A @ Becker.
Monticello dominated the meet and advanced to state. The Magic scored 539.5 points, finishing well ahead of Becker. The Bulldogs finished with 351 points. Adalyn Biegler set a Becker pool record in the 200 with a time of 1:51.81. Other girls headed to state for Monticello include Ella Vagle (1st in 50 free, and second in 100 free.), Elsie Farnsworth (first in 100 free and second in 200.), Scarlett Urick (first in 200 IM.), Chloe Schwietering, and Addie Zigan finished first and second in diving. Also advancing to state for Monticello will be the 200, and 400 medley relay teams. The state meet will begin Thursday at the U of M Aquatic Center on the U of M campus and will run through Saturday with the finals.
Monticello, above, is headed back to the state tournament.
Girls Hockey.
Buffalo 6, Sartell 1. Bridgette Kotish and Avery Corbin each scored two goals in the Bison win.
Thursday, November 13th.
Girls Swim and Dive.
Thursday was the Diving Prelims and semifinals for Girls State Swim and Dive at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic on the U of M Campus. In Class A, Chloe Schweitering of Monticello finished 3rd in both the prelims and semifinals, while teammate Addie Zigan finished 15th in the prelims, but 6th in the semifinals. Mylie Pinoniemi of Delano was 17th in prelims and 19th in the semifinals. In class AA, Rayma Beck was 15th in the prelims and 13th in the semifinals.
