The MACA girls took the court in Litchfield Friday to face the second-seeded Dragons. The Tigers were coming off an upset win over Eden Valley-Watkins. Their fans had fingers crossed Friday for a repeat of that upset magic. But Litch had other ideas.
The Dragons asserted themselves like real dragons. Their coach also did the proper homework to know how to apply defense. The West Central Tribune actually quoted the assistant coach on this. That's kind of neat. This fellow is Zach Piepenburg, who commented "We followed our scouting report and took away their shooters." He liked how his team induced turnovers. Offensively, the shots succeeded at a frequent rate, he noted. All in all, a performance that lived up to the No. 2 seed status.
But now the Dragons will have to try to breathe fire again vs. No. 1. Guess who that is? It's New London-Spicer, long a kingpin in 3AA-North. Should be an interesting game Monday at NL-Spicer.
The NL-S Wildcats cruised with a bye that was created by the very odd double-forfeit of 'Waska and Paynesville. The unique circumstance was Covid-related. I'm sure there was lots of frustration over the bureaucratic "rules" that had to be followed. "Protocol!"
The Wildcats swept the regular season series against the Dragons. The Dragons own a 13-6 mark. The tipoff for the sub-section title game is 7 p.m. Monday at the home of the Wildcats. The game for all the 3AA marbles will be Thursday at a neutral site.
The Tigers couldn't produce any surprises on Friday. We fell in the 67-43 final as our shooting was a lackluster 28 percent. Our season ends with a 6-14 mark. One of the parents told me the coach has a hard time getting our team to "step it up a notch" for the post-season.
In the Eden Valley-Watkins game we were buoyed by a player getting hot with 3-pointers: Cate Kehoe. Kehoe connected four times on Tuesday but made no long-rangers Friday.
We saw Sydney Dietz make two 3's against the Dragons. Three of her teammates each made one '3': Meredith Carrington, Maddy Grove and Emma Bowman.
Dietz's 3's helped put her atop the scoring list with 13 points. Emma Bowman was our other double figures scorer with eleven. The rest of the list: Carrington (8), Kehoe (4), Grove (3), Shannon Dougherty (2), Breanna Marty (1) and Destiny Pollard (1). It's my first time typing Destiny's name. A neat first name.
We were down 34-21 at halftime.
Lily Osterberg made three 3-pointers for Litchfield. She was atop their scoring list with 16 points. Kylie Michels and Janessa Olson each made two from long-range, and Ryanna Steinhaus made one. Osterberg was followed in the balanced scoring attack by: Izzy Pennertz (11), Sydney McCann (9), Greta Hanson (8), Michels (7), Olson (6), Steinhaus (4), Maggie Boerema (4) and Sydney Jackman (2).
Pennertz was team-high in rebounds with nine. McCann and Boerema each had three assists while Michels had two. These three Dragons each had three steals: Olson, Hansen and Michels.
Litch's Piepenburg said of what lies ahead vs. NL-S: "It's our third time playing them and it was a battle the last time we played them. We're going to prepare tomorrow, go over there and give it our best shot."
Well, we wish them good luck!
Boys hockey: Alex 7, Storm 2
The MBA boys took to the ice Friday in Alexandria to face the Cardinals. The Runestone Community Center was the site for this Section 6A quarter-final game. The Cardinals took control on their home ice, assuming a 3-0 lead 1:11 into the contest. This set the tone for the Cardinals' ultimate 7-2 win over our Storm.
Alex evened its season record at 9-9 plus they have a tie. The MBA record: a fine 13-5-0.
Yes it was a disastrous start for the Storm Friday, but after that a more competitive look took over. Those three Alex goals out of the starting gate:
- Grant Rebrovich (assists by Jacob Partington and Peyton Doty)), :31.
- Nick Peterson (assist by Joe Lamski), :41.
- Josiah Gronholz (assist by Brycen Berg ), 1:11.
MBA got going with a Zach Bruns goal at 8:53 of the second. He got two assists: Brady deHaan and Will Breuer. Alex answered with an unassisted Gronholz goal at 12:33.
Alex outscored the Storm 3-1 in the third. Tyler Kludt scored for Alex at 1:22 with an assist from Nick Peterson. Brycen Berg scored at 3:27 with assists from Partington and Pieter Mulder. Our Kaleb Breuer got the puck in the net at 4:50 with a Bruns assist. The night's scoring wrapped up with Mason Loch of the Cardinals scoring with a Lamski assist at 12:11.
Our goalie was Brady Backman who had 25 saves in 32 attempts. Alex's Christopher Loken wore the mask and he had 24/26 numbers. Congrats to the Cardinals who will resume action Tuesday. The top seed in 6A is Little Falls, who beat Prairie Centre 10-0.
More regarding Hancock
On the heels of getting an unofficial report that approximately 20 percent of the Hancock school faculty is resigning effective at the end of the school year, yours truly is trying to get some background. It is harder for me these days. In the old days I could have scraped up some background pretty fast. My contacts have dried up through the years but I will try.
Did something scandalous happen over there? I just don't know. People just don't walk away from teaching jobs. In fact, it is known that when a teacher takes a leave of absence, no matter what they say at the time, it's practically a lock that they will come back to the school. We have sort of learned that the hard way in Morris.
My podcast for March 20
It's a windy Saturday, March 20, and I had the opportunity to take in the "Sunday service" of a favorite Austin TX church. This is Triumphant Love Lutheran which posts on YouTube. My podcast episode addresses topics in connection to the Lutheran faith. I'm a devoted ELCAer. My podcast is called "Morris Mojo." Here is the permalink:
- Brian Williams - morris minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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