The MACA girls made a very strong upset bid at the opening of the 3AA-North tournament. It was quarter-finals night on Saturday. The post-season always brings a special kind of anticipation. Unfortunately for the Tigers, their tournament presence was confined to one game. Yes, we challenged third-seeded Litchfield pretty well. We trailed by three at halftime. Alas the two halves ended with MACA still behind by three. The sixth-seeded Tigers bowed vs. the Litchfield Dragons 45-42.
Meredith Carrington attempted a '3' at the end that would have tied. It did not find paydirt. So the curtain comes down on the Tigers' season of 2021-22. All these games helped make the winter seem shorter, right? The winter was quite trying for us all. Today it's February 28 as I write this. March ought to supply a reprieve, knock on wood.
We close out our season with a 9-17 record. I kinda thought we had a little more talent than that. Oh well, now it's on to spring and a chance to see how much more progress can be made with the softball complex. Last fall would have been a better time to make progress with that. Can you imagine how muddy that place is going to be for a time?
The Litch Dragons advance in girls hoops with a 19-8 record. Now they'll go on to face New London-Spicer which is usually a juggernaut in girls hoops.
Carrington and Maddy Grove were top scorers for the orange and black on Saturday: totals of 14 and 13 points respectively. There was a drop-off after these two, so we see Cate Kehoe with seven points, Sydney Dietz and Kaylee Harstad each with three, and Lilly Knobloch with two. Grove and Kehoe each made one 3-pointer.
The top Litch point producer was Maggie Boerema with 20. Greta Hansen and Izzy Pennertz each put in eight, Morgan Falling had five and Ryanna Steinhaus four. The Dragons made no 3-pointers. Boerema and Pennertz were rebound leaders with ten and eight respectively. Steinhaus and Falling each had five assists. Steinhaus had two steals.
So we played even with the Dragons in the second half. The second half had been a sore point for the Tiger squad in previous games. That's understatement really. So, that bugaboo did not emerge on Saturday, but it was a case of coming up just shy.
We can cite the game's earliest stages as problematic. The kmrs-kkok site informs us that the Tigers missed their first eleven shots. That was a bugaboo. But we most certainly got on an even keel after that. We assumed the lead early in the second half. But Litch kept pace. The lead would change hands regularly. There were also six tied scores! Suspense reigned. Carrington had her shot at the buzzer that was no-go.
I wasn't at the game so I don't know how decent a shot try this was. Anyway, it was no-go and the host Litch fans could breathe a sigh of relief, as their team had survived a stiff challenge.
Wrestling: Three Tigers to state
The state tournament is the cherished goal of all Minnesota prep wrestlers. I once visited the state tournament in my role with the Morris newspaper. The atmosphere is electric. It surpasses everything previous to it. In this respect I found it similar to track and field. You get to state and it is a truly big-time atmosphere.
Do I miss those days when I attended? Sometimes.
Our 2021-22 MAHACA wrestling team has three in the coveted state circle. They ascended with their accomplishments Saturday at Redwood Valley, site of the 3AA tournament. Congrats to Ethan Lebrija, who garnered No. 1 at 132 pounds with his hard-fought 8-7 decision over Dylan Louwagie of Marshall.
Congrats to Davin Rose who was tops at 138 pounds as he pinned Treyton Card of Buffalo Lake-Hector at the end. Congrats to Caden Rose who prevailed in the "true second" match at 145 pounds. Caden won by fall over Luke Hoag of Buffalo Lake-Hector.
Boys basketball: Tigers 91, BOLD 72
Friday was Senior Night for the MACA boys hoopsters. What a night it was, from the standpoint of offensive productivity: 91 points by the orange and black.
Both teams shot well in first half play. Halftime arrived with MACA holding on to a one-point edge, 45-44. BOLD did put up stiff resistance. The scoreboard revealed a hard-fought affair until midway in the second half. At that point, the Tigers got red-hot with successive made shots! The Warriors slumped at the same time. So we built up a scoreboard bulge of 26 points.
The success built our won-lost up to 22-2. Yes we're a juggernaut. One regular season game remains, versus Melrose.
BOLD is having a quite good season: 17-7 in W/L coming out of Friday. Their Cole Visser scored 14 points. Jack Gross and Ryan King each put in 13. Maxwell Marks contributed ten.
OK let's hone in on the Tigers' stats. Jackson Loge added another chapter to his notable prep career: 32 points on 13-of-23 shooting. Brandon Jergenson scored 15 on six of ten. Again, I hope fans are not chanting "let's go Brandon." Durgin Decker put in 13 points on near-perfect 6/7 shooting numbers.
Tyler Berlinger and Cole Wente each came through with nine points. Then we see Thomas Tiernan with seven, Toby Gonnerman with four and Ayden Schmidgall with two.
Our team shooting stats were 38 of 67, 57 percent. In 3's we were 8 of 21 with two players each making three: Jergenson and Loge. Wente and Tiernan each succeeded once from 3-point land. In freethrows we were 7 of 13, 54 percent. Loge had three makes to lead.
Loge accounted for 13 of our 33 rebounds. Five of Loge's boards were offensive. Jergenson and Loge each had seven assists of our team total 25. Three Tigers each had two steals: Decker, Berlinger and Tiernan. We turned the ball over seven times. Loge was quite the presence around the basket - so what's new? - and he blocked eight shots. Berlinger got his mitts up to block one.
Getting caught up
Is apology necessary? Some people might laugh at me for thinking "possibly." I of course am no longer under any "obligation" to report on Tiger sports. I'm an unattached journalist at this phase in my lifelong investment in doing this. I'm happy to do it, and just like anyone else who would do the same, I cannot profess to be perfect.
I am getting older and developing some eyesight issues. No way could I function with the local newspaper anymore. We are in an age now in which any parent or fan who wants to nit-pick the writing need only type a little email and "click." Congrats, you've ruined the writer's whole day.
People complain about how certain sports beats are "prioritized" in the paper. That is simply never-ending. When I left the Morris paper, the editor had presented me with multiple pages of single-spaced directives, one of which stated that UMM was No. 1 priority. I could not take that seriously. I mean, the UMM athletes are almost completely out-of-area, although I'm pleased to learn that recently, we've seen a refreshing change. I have been alerted about women's basketball, for one thing.
To be honest, it's all I can do to try to obtain and process sports news from the whole kaleidoscope of local teams, without getting put under a microscope for how I "prioritize" them. So I left the paper under duress, probably should have left earlier. I was having the screws turned on me. Upon leaving, I breathed a sigh of relief that I had made as clean a break as I did. To this day I have flashbacks, and I have to wonder why so many people have to become so ugly when following corporate's wishes.
It's not as if Forum Communications was a success here. I remember pleading with Sue Dieter at one point about how we should just "try to enjoy life." Seems like a radical suggestion, eh? She is no longer at the paper. I wonder if the Anfinsons offered her a position. If not, why not? She had extensive news-editorial experience from the radio station.
Might her personality be an issue? I once heard from someone who had an acquaintance who was at the radio station when Sue was there. This person reported "there was a lot of shouting." I'm just repeating what I hear. Does this account sound credible to you?
So I'm getting caught up with Tiger sports with today's blog post. I got distracted pretty severely for several days last week: it was the news that UMM had an executive chancellor who actually had her office in Crookston. I had no idea. I guess the University has wanted to "protect" us from this fact. So it's condescending on the part of the U.
I had to dig in and try to get details for the purpose of sharing online. The cat was let out of the bag by KFGO Radio. I wonder what's coming down the road for UMM. The thing that has always saved us here in Morris is our physical campus - that's how we got UMM in the first place. The state has a pretty substantial investment here.
I wonder if we might look at our mission getting pretty seriously tweaked. Is that bad? Not necessarily. Not at all. Maybe we will in fact be "Crookston-South." Will the Crookston person be speaking at our graduation this spring? The cover-up is over, so we might as well have her come here and meet the community. She's Mary Holz Clause. I'm sure she's a terrific person.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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