I arrived at Big Cat too early because the kmrs-kkok sports site announced the start time as 6 p.m. I reported that in a blog post. Not to point fingers, but it was wrong.
6 p.m. made sense to me because it was a weekday. The visiting team was from Montevideo. Morris hosted because we were the higher seed for 6AAA play. The Monte people would have to travel home fairly late.
I sometimes think this is an issue in connection to post-season high school sports: long travel distances at a time that gets pretty late for the visitor. But that's the way it is. Those fans need well-rested drivers. I remember the year when Morris football played its first-round playoff game at Fairmont, down by the Iowa border.
I was at Big Cat ten minutes before game-time and did not see any sign of pep band. I hung around only briefly. Fan turnout did not look good. Football playoffs can be dicey because of the nature of the weather this time of year.
The playoffs did not exist when I was in high school. Back then the idea was to just play for the conference championship. That's the way our former coach Stan Kent liked it, he told me once. "The conference championship really means something," he said. But today there is a different approach.
So we're into the playoffs and we're 1-0. The third-seeded Tigers took care of business as they prevailed over No. 6 Montevideo, the Thunder Hawks, 50-20. (It's hard for me to remember if "Thunder Hawks" is one word or two, so I always look it up.)
I remember when Monte was the Mohawks and they had a mural in their gym of a Native American silhouetted against the sky. Has an Indian ever really said "white man speak with forked tongue?" I digress.
Oh my, so many real high-scoring games in prep football now. What's up? Is it because of rules being tweaked to help the offense? Less contact in practices to help ensure player safety and health? It's nice to see that safety and health are worthy objectives. I once interviewed a coach who sometimes talked about "smash-mouth football." I doubt many coaches would speak this way now.
So, 70 points scored at Big Cat on Tuesday. Some of the game scores out and around have been going higher than that. There's a risk of offense being cheapened. ACGC defeated Benson 68-32 on October 19. That's too much. As a newspaper person I wouldn't even want to get into the scoring summary. Just condense.
There was a time when points were much harder to come by, and frankly, games could be boring. The High School League has to market these activities.
There sure was no suspense Tuesday - the Tigers shot out to a 36-7 halftime lead.
So, the quarter-final round is history. Next is a Saturday game versus Albany on the road. Albany sits at No. 2.
Our quarterback Drew Huebner rebounded well from his lackluster showing in the regular season finale. He got back in the groove quickly, connecting twice for touchdown passes in the first quarter. First the fans were treated to a 15-yard scoring hookup that had Andrew Marty catching. Then it was Riley Asmus with a 21-yard scoring catch. Owen Anderson ran for two after the Asmus TD.
So we're up 14-0 after one quarter. Our momentum carried into the second quarter. Hunter Gibson ran the ball in from the two. Owen Anderson carried in from the three. The Anderson score was followed by a two-point conversion pass from Huebner to Berlinger.
Monte got on the board with a Cooper Dack one-yard run. Hensel Andino kicked the PAT.
MACA kept pouring it on as Huebner passed 30 yards to Owen Anderson. The conversion was good on a Huebner-to-Berlinger pass.
 |
| Tyler Berlinger ("hudl") |
Huebner kept the ball and ran it in from 14. Asmus kicked the PAT.
Monte got the night's final score: a one-yard run that had Jaxon Wagner carrying.
The Tigers had 26 total first downs. Our top ballcarriers were Mitchell Moser (eight carries, 53 yards), Huebner (6-44), Logan Anderson (5-30) and Owen Anderson (5-22).
Huebner can forget his passing struggles from the Sauk Centre game. Against Monte the super soph completed 17 of 28 passes for 320 yards, four TDs, one INT. My, what receiving stats for Asmus: five catches, 132 yards! Other pass catchers were Berlinger (two catches, 47 yards), Owen Anderson (2-39), Derek Waldbeser (2-38), Marty (3-36) and Moser (3-28).
The defensive unit had quite the impact with these four Tigers each having an interception: Berlinger, Anderson (first name N/A from WCT coverage), Marty and Waldbeser. Caden Rose had a quarterback sack. Monte completed just three of 13 passes.
Albany crushed Minnewaska 59-12. It was a long season for the Lakers.
When will our Stevens County Times give us some highlights of the MACA win?
 |
| Steve Sviggum |
Here it is 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, and a check of the headlines shows Steve Sviggum resigning. Did a quick web search with his name, as has been my habit the last couple days. But wait a minute: "resigning" does not tell the whole story.
Most of us expected he would resign as a Regent. Not so. The gentleman is resigning only as vice chair of the board.
The Star Tribune reminds us that Sviggum "faced increasing criticism for asking whether Morris campus is 'too diverse.' "
Poor Mr. Sviggum. He presents himself as a decent sort of guy. On the whole he is probably quite decent. He slipped, though, when revealing that he's one of those older white folks who feel entitled to set the standards for us all. Seems like he said in effect "I don't dislike people of color, I just think we have too many of them on the Morris U campus."
It is nice to see the name "Morris" in news coverage, because the U has shifted its preferred terminology from UMM to "UMN." I gather the latter is short for "University of Minnesota." There's no place name there.
The Strib headline on this early Wednesday begins "Steve Sviggum steps down." But he did not, really.
None of us should take pleasure venting hatred at Sviggum. He has devoted so much to "public service." I put that in quotes. Sviggum is of course a Republican. Their sense of "service" clashes with a great many of us. Eliminate the state income tax? Have you weighed all the consequences? Like for public education? Like for the U?
Rep. Paul Anderson fits the same mold as Sviggun: decent, dignified etc., but this guy has a grade of "F" from Pro-Choice Minnesota. He can't get pregnant but he wants to weigh-in with women who do. There is a referendum coming up on this: the mid-term election. You should vote for Edie Barrett and Kari Dorry. Dammit! I have to confirm spelling of Kari Dorry's name every time.
Re. the U Regents controversy, below is an email I sent to a friend Tuesday, as I was in the process of checking headlines for developments in this story.
Hello (name withheld) - I check every few hours online to see if there's a headline announcing Sviggum's resignation. Well, no. There is only one interpretation of his comments and that is the racist interpretation. So we're all OK with someone on the Regents talking like this.
Maybe the fault was Joan Gabel's: If Morris enrollment is such a big issue, maybe she should have come out with a pre-emptive comment sharing her own analysis and suggestions. Instead, Sviggum felt moved to do this, and he "stepped in it." He won't be able to live it down. But he's still on the Regents.
If people statewide did not have an impression of UMM being an "Indian school," they have it now. Realistically, some parents might be a little averse to the place because of this. I'm just talking about the perceptions that most likely exist out there.
(Name withheld) told me at church coffee Sunday that the UMM choir has but 30 members. Choir gave concert Saturday but it was almost kept a complete secret. I guess some fliers were posted around town, but outside of that I saw no announcement. I didn't go because of that. The signs for music certainly do not appear good.
I am hearing more about how Jim Carlson felt seriously hurt when he left here. The guy was responsible for recruiting about a third of UMM's whole student body, according to background I gleaned. He traveled around. Such infectious enthusiasm. But the chancellor did not protect him from petty forces at the end - typical of academia, yes, but the chancellor could have done something about it. The villain in these stories always comes out as Martin Seggelke.
Beyond these various issues I touch on here, we have the prospect of Jensen and Republicans doing well in mid-terms. I still think there's a chance for Democrats to "surprise." Realistically I doubt it. Jensen was toast for as long as he was defined as pro-life, but then he did a turnaround and became pro-choice, so now he could be the favorite. He and Republicans want to ERASE the state income tax. What would that mean for public education including UMM? Isn't the U still in a world of hurt with a deficit?
Republicans always talk up the sales tax, which screws the less-well-off.
- BW
And, I share here too an email I sent to Jim Morrison early Wednesday morning.
Jim - Early this a.m. I saw headline about Sviggum "resigning" but it was not from the board, just resigning as vice chair. This will tick off a lot of people. So Sviggum is admitting he did something wrong, but he's not leaving the board. If pressure grows and Sviggum does leave board, maybe Liz could put herself forward to replace him. Based on what has happened recently, the U might like a Morris-centered person on board now.
We now have reputation as an Indian school - not sure that will help us.
Remember the Indians on "F-Troop?" The actors were Jewish guys.
- BW
And, I can refer you to my current post on my "Morris of Course" companion blog, which explores these matters further. Thanks for reading. The link:
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment