The MACA boys finish with a winning record. We won a pretty high seed for the playoffs: No. 2 in Section 3AA-North. That's among eight teams of course.
So should fans tuck away memories in a primarily positive way? I was pushed toward "positive" coverage through many years in the community press. Unfortunately for me, no doubt, I didn't always follow that mantra. Where disappointment was called for (IMHO), the tone of my coverage often reflected that. It should have been subtle but maybe it wasn't always subtle.
Differing arguments can be weighed. I might suggest that since the topic is merely sports, who cares if we mull over a skeptical assessment now and then? Isn't that a fan's universal right? Well it would appear to be. On the other side of the coin, you have coaches trying to hold on to their jobs - never mind they don't get paid enough to justify the whole commitment - always with friends they have developed in the community. I came to feel irritated by the latter. A lot of them wanted me to vanish off the face of the earth.
Well I'm still here. So I can report that the second-seeded Tigers were stopped Thursday by No. 3 Redwood Valley. On paper it's not a huge upset of course. But I think the MACA fans were setting pretty high hopes. High hopes for victory and then the highly-anticipated re-match with No. 1 seed Minnewaska Area.
Minnewaska appeared beatable IMHO. But MACA fans have been deprived of another game trip. That's because we lost to Redwood Valley 66-65. The site was Willmar. Our game was preceded by the Minnewaska victory over a stubborn Paynesville team 52-46. So now it's the Lakers vs. the Cardinals for No. 1 in this sub-section.
Let me add that when a follower of a team gets skeptical or discouraged and makes corresponding comments, he comes up against not only the coach and his friends, he can likely butt heads with a school administration that may at that time be "dug in" to defend the status quo with how programs are run. I have found some of these people to be like jackals. Jackals with rabies maybe.
Yawns across the board
I'm also a little discouraged by how the MACA girls' season ended. I know we lost Meredith Carrington to injury but the depth seemed to be there, IMHO. I have to confess I watched them personally only once.
So, both our girls and boys hoops squads won just one game in the post-season. After that we lost and hung up the sneakers 'til next season. I think the fans had aspirations a little higher. Again, "it's just sports" and why can't we just have fun setting goals high? If you can't do that in sports, what's the point?
We easily could have won the Thursday boys game. In fact the two teams battled with leads changing hands often. Like, 13 times in the second half. Plus there were five ties. A game this close might be decided by simple fate. Luck? Serendipity?
Thomas Tiernan fueled hopes with a basket that gave us a 65-64 lead. Yes, a precarious lead given the complexion of the game. The time remaining was 27 seconds - an eternity really. Carson Woodford delivered a putback for the Cardinals with just four seconds left. This made the score 66-65 which stood up as the final. Not that we didn't have a last-gasp attempt. Tiernan had the final shot try but no, the ball went off the rim.
Coach Mark Torgerson was quoted saying that Tiernan's shot at the end was open. The problem is that the game came down to one shot which we missed. Torgy noted that "our kids played hard." I should certainly think so. But the season is done.
The coach liked the way his team dealt with foul trouble. Well, it's pretty negligible consolation. There will be no trip to Marshall on Saturday. We are left to deal with the dreariness of the early spring/late winter weather.
Key player forced to sit
Halftime arrived with MACA having gotten the score tied thanks to a layup score by Brandon Jergenson. The scoreboard numbers were 29-29. The next 18 minutes were rather a donnybrook, i.e. hard-fought. MACA had to fare for a stretch of seven minutes without standout Jackson Loge, on the bench due to fouls. The coach said "we had quicker guys without (Loge) in there." Oh but I think the highly desirable situation would be to have the star out there!
Torgy had five guards on the floor at times. Our posts were held back by the foul specter. The quicker-oriented unit had its moments, mainly with 3-pointers. Our 3-point shooting was pretty reliable thanks to Durgin Decker, Jaden Maanum, Tiernan and Cameron Koebernick. The Cardinals' Woodford was able to take advantage of our adjusted lineup on the floor.
Torgy admitted that rebounding was a department that hurt us.
Torgy used the word "almost" in connection with a potential blocked shot by us. Yes it could have been pivotal. But any closely-contested game ends with the losing team and its fans contemplating "almosts." It was Woodford making the last statement. So his team lives to fight another day.
Torgy was quoted saying "it's just sad that someone had to lose that game." Yes but we lost it. Like we lost to Hancock at UMM. Our final W/L record is 16-11. The Tigers were outscored 17-10 from the freethrow line.
Game-time this Saturday in Marshall is 6 p.m. for 'Waska vs. Redwood Valley.
OK let's take a look at the game stats from "Maxpreps." Thanks to Torgy for seeing that these detailed numbers get posted. It's above and beyond the call of duty. Budding superstar Loge overcame his limited time by scoring the team-best 15 points on six of 13 in field goals.
Decker scored eleven points on four of six from the field. Jaden Maanum also scored eleven as he made four of nine. Cameron Koebernick found the range to score nine points as he only missed one shot. Tiernan put in eight points, Cade Fehr seven and Jergenson four. Our team FG numbers were 24-for-53, 45 percent.
Three Tigers each made two 3-pointers: Decker, Tiernan and Koebernick. Maanum made one long-ranger, and our team stats were seven-for-19, 37 percent. Loge was a perfect 3/3 in freethrows, and our team numbers here were ten-for-15, 67 percent.
Loge - no surprise - topped the rebound list with eight, with two being offensive. Fehr grabbed four boards, two offensive. We had four offensive rebounds and 25 total. Jergenson was our assist leader with four, of our 14 total. Five different Tigers had one steal. Loge blocked four shots.
Downcast? It's understandable
Well, it's sort of a deflated feeling, isn't it.
Those of you who read the first section of this post might think I'm engaging in hyperbole about some things. Well I'm not. I have just lived in this town long enough to know how certain debates go, especially from the late 1980s. My standing in this community is affected to this very day by some of the stuff that went on then.
I enjoy life and I enjoy journalism. Journalism will be part of my DNA until my last day on this planet.
Oh, the Redwood stats:
Congrats to those Cardinals of Redwood Valley whose Woodford was No. 2 in scoring with 14 points. Team-best was taken by Bryant Haas: 17. These stats are from the West Central Tribune. Carter Guetter was their third double figures scorer with 13. Then we see Alex Lang (9), Connor Josephson (6), Zack Paulsen-Reck (3), Carter Johnson (2) and Drew Lundeen (2). Redwood's three-pointers were minimal: Lang with two and Haas with one. Of course, one point made the difference in this game!
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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