Tigers rule after 0-0 first quarter, win 33-6

Oh well, that was pretty easy. Some MACA fans were concerned that Litchfield might mount a pretty good challenge vs. our Tigers. Instead we had rather a breather, here at Big Cat Stadium in Morris. The Morris Area Chokio Alberta Tigers were in command in this 6AAA football contest. It was a Saturday affair coming two days before Halloween.
Previously we had gotten a bye. Once again, Big Cat Stadium gave a wonderful backdrop as the Tigers excelled. And again, Jacob Zosel won a large share of the cheers. Zosel carried the football 40 times and gained 178 yards in this 33-6 win.
Now we're getting ready to face Albany. You're familiar with Albany: that town along I-94 that has that golf course right next to the highway. When I was in college, I'd stop at the Dairy Queen there en route and order a large chocolate shake, a break that sometimes annoyed one of my passengers who was eager to get home and see his girlfriend.
Zosel dominated the running game. Some other rushing yards were picked up by Toby Sayles and Ryan Dietz. Passing the football, Sayles completed three of five attempts in a typically economical attack. The three completions gained 59 yards, and Toby threw no interceptions. The pass catchers, one each, were Eli Grove, Chase Metzger and Camden Arndt. Sayles did our punting. Zosel intercepted a pass.
The first quarter supported some of the concerns our fans felt, as neither team scored. The second quarter changed all that. Zosel got us on the board on a run from the two. He plunged into the end zone again for our second score, and this time the conversion was good on a pass from Jared Rohloff to Dylan Gillespie. Litchfield scored on a pass from Josh Prahl to Brandon Nelson.
MACA scored the game's last three touchdowns. Sayles completed a 20-yard TD pass to Chase Metzger. Sayles carried for a two-yard score. Gillespie kicked the point-after. Camden Arndt caught an 18-yard scoring pass from Sayles, and we had our nifty 33-6 win. We came out of the game with an 8-1 season record. Litch closes things out with a 6-4 record.
Logan Nelson was Litch's top ballcarrier with 107 yards on 19 carries. My goodness, Litchfield totally spun its wheels in passing. They would have been better off just running the ball more. In passing the stats looked like a typo: three-for-22 for 35 yards and an interception. Brandon Nelson caught two passes. Kal Jackman sacked the quarterback once.
Our next game will be at St. Cloud State University, Friday, at 5:30 p.m.
 

Big fuss in election campaign

We have this ridiculous controversy now over the continuation of Hillary Clinton's email trouble, and it's ridiculous because of how prolonged it is. The late Hank Stram would call this a Chinese fire drill. The Beltway folks appear deserving of a laugh, even from schoolkids. It's not unprecedented. My formative years were during Watergate.
I am going to offer a guess here as to what is now happening. If I'm right I can point with glee to today's post. I think law enforcement is just following Investigations 101. I think they have this Huma person painted into a corner. Law enforcement will use this as leverage. Anthony Weiner is cooperating with the government.
Perhaps Huma can be shown to have been in possession or co-possession (with Anthony) of absolutely classified, off-limits info for private email. Maybe Huma will fear prolonged incarceration, but of course there's one way out for her: implicating someone higher up. That would of course be Hillary. Huma's brand has been one of 100 percent loyalty to Hillary. But all these relationships can break down through the arm-twisting re. prison prospects.
Huma could implicate Hillary and then it's all over. That's how people often get nailed in investigations. And then what becomes of the election outcome? Regarding the Weiner element, considering his past scandal, if a script about this were to be presented to a Hollywood producer, it'd be rejected on the basis of being too unbelievable.

- Brian Williams -morris minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

MACA girls begin 3AA climb with sweep

The race is on for post-season honors. Our Morris Area Chokio Alberta volleyball Tigers took step #1 in routine fashion, as expected, sweeping to victory at home. Our opponent was Eden Valley-Watkins. Scores at the home gym were 25-15, 25-4 and 25-7.

We're striving to climb the ladder in Section 3AA. Our next challenge will be to play Paynesville at 7 p.m. Tuesday, here. The Tigers have had state-ranked status throughout the fall. We now have a record of 22-3. Eden Valley-Watkins has languished with a record quite below .500.

Ashley Solvie was aggressive and sharp at the serving line, achieving eight aces. Koral Tolifson had two serving aces while Riley Decker and Cassidy Fehr each had one. Karly Fehr was the cog in setting, true to form, on this night achieving 19 assists. She was complemented by Jenna Larsen with four assists and Decker with one.

Ashley Solvie went up to perform four ace blocks. Larsen and Nicole Solvie each had two ace blocks, and Karly Fehr had one. Brooke Gillespie reached a nice career milestone Friday, in digging. She had eight digs and reached the 1000 mark in career digs. The other dig contributors were Karly Fehr (14), Ashley Solvie (6), Decker (11), Tolifson (7) and Cassidy Fehr (6).

OK, let's get to the crowd-pleasing hitting department: Gillespie was the standout with her eleven kills. Jenna Howden and Ashley Solvie each socked five kills. Nicole Solvie added four kills to the mix, and Karly Fehr and Larsen each had one.

 

Big fuss over emails

I remember the first time I dealt with someone's email at the Morris newspaper. It was someone involved with the swimming/diving program. It seemed so exotic and exciting to me. Email! I had heard about it on TV. Now, there it was in front of me for real. "Email" in those days tended to be spelled with a hyphen: "e-mail." Today the hyphenless form has taken over.

I remember when faxing first came around. There was a similar fascination for me as I went to our machine one night and discovered a fax from the Pat Buchanan campaign for president. This was at the apex of his bid for president, when he made noise for a while as a niche conservative candidate. "Wow," I thought as I examined the fax: History in the making! I was being naive as I concluded this was historic news: Buchanan's success was in an early primary. He of course would fade.

And then faxing technology would fade. It deteriorated over time as more and more "junk" faxes rolled in, like from Senator Rod Grams. Plus, all those travel deals to the Bahamas.

Hillary Clinton has created a royal mess with her email adventure. My take? Let's look at the generational aspect. Hillary like me is a boomer who did not grow up in the digital world. Even Hillary can show a little naivete and lack of perception when it comes to sweeping new communications technologies. She short-sightedly thought she could set up a private email server.

I remember a peer of mine, a Morris resident, saying of her parents: "They're just not intuitive about (this stuff)." The parents were having trouble understanding one of those transitions in cable TV service, the kind of transition most younger people grasped easily.

I held off on getting a "cable box" until I had to. I still don't have a cellphone or Smartphone or whatever. What I need, I guess, is a female friend who can coach me into adopting a lot of this new tech stuff. I shared this with a friend who said, "I can give you a lot of tech tips but I can't help you with the girl."

- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Award from Vikings no cause for exuberance

News can get screwed up a little as it gets dispensed word of mouth. Last Wednesday evening (10/19), I caught wind of how our high school football team was named "best in the state." My first thought: Didn't we lose to BOLD? I articulated this and was met with a puzzled look. Another person said we were honored as the "best football program in the state." So I wondered: better than Eden Prairie? Cretin-Derham Hall?

Turns out the award is co-sponsored by the Minnesota Vikings. Getting this award is like being honored by a tobacco company. The Minnesota Vikings are a behemoth commercial entertainment enterprise. It presents us with a product that abuses its player/employees, rendering them in a delicate state with serious impairments in many cases. The mental impairments have been getting special attention over the last couple years.

I don't see the point of awards like what Tiger football got. It probably comes down to a good application writer, as in grant application writer. We were chosen from among 140 programs that were "nominated," we learn through the local newspaper.

Notice how small the Morris newspaper was Saturday? Twenty pages, which is being seen more often as the print media continue its retreat. If it's this small now, a couple weeks before a national election, how small will it be right after Christmas, the traditional "down" time for papers? You're getting less of a product for your money.
If Senior Perspective can be free to readers, why can't the Morris paper?

How can 140 high school football programs possibly be compared in any meaningful way? Is this just public relations for the Minnesota Vikings?

I remember being at Pizza Hut once to photograph the winner of a trip to see the Vikings. The person was chosen at random coming in the door. Turns out, this "winner" belonged to a local church that has no time for professional football. She turned down the prize. At the time, I thought her position a bit extreme, but today I'd say amen and hallelujah. I remember talking with her when the matter was settled, and she said "I don't support it" in regard to NFL football. More and more people are adopting that stance, making them seem less like outliers. Television ratings for the pro game are steadily going down, especially for the prime time games.

Surely our Big Cat Stadium fueled our pitch for getting the award. We wouldn't have that plum, if it were not for the presence of UMM in our community. So the scale was tilted toward us, unfairly one might argue.

I smiled as I realized how this award would be cause for such parochial chest-thumping in Morris. "We're best in the state!" People in the Twin Cities (like in Eden Prairie) would be amused at this exhibit of local pride among us Greater Minnesota folks. (It's a better term than "outstate.")

I'm being harsh but also realistic because there's no cause for pride in connection to football. The health revelations should cause us to close the door on this in short order. The empirical data is irrefutable.

We see a photo on page 1 of a couple females in short skirts and uniforms, what many men (like Donald Trump) would call "babes," holding a banner saying "congratulations Morris." (Trump might rate them an "8".) An announcement is being made in front of a packed MAHS gym, where it appears a spirit rally was called in connection to the award.

Our school gets $10,000 in connection with the award. Representatives of the Vikings were here. An MACA player was quoted saying he was "speechless." But he found the word "amazing."

The award affirms a strong connection between team and community, we're told. We read that "the turnout at the games is amazing." Cheers are in fact the elixir that keeps boys playing the violent sport of football. If the fans would stop coming, the game would wither away. Fans are the essential lifeblood.

The article quotes a player saying the Tigers were 7-0. That can't be, considering we lost to BOLD. But the ecstasy is such, maybe a little embellishment can be excused.

Brett Taber, a Vikings representative, was quoted saying our "marching band" is part of the mix. I haven't attended a game this year. But I'm skeptical we have a "marching band." If we did, it would perform in the Homecoming parade, which I did attend. It would be nice to see a high school marching band in the Prairie Pioneer Days parade. I have even suggested that Hancock's marching band, which performs for their July 4, come to Morris and march for Prairie Pioneer Days. Might be embarrassing for us, though.

We certainly have a viable high school football program that benefits from Big Cat Stadium. I would have preferred seeing UMM get Humanities Phase III constructed, over that football field which sits cold and empty all winter. Our sense of priorities can get thrown off-kilter.

Our high school football program is good enough to fill its purpose nicely, but I'm not sure we should seek some puffy award co-sponsored by the entertainment company known as the Vikings, whose purpose is a world apart from high school activities. NFL football is brutal.
Mike Barnicle of MSNBC says "if you ever sit at field-level for an NFL football game, you'll never allow your son to play football."

Page 1 of the fishwrap also announced an upcoming featured speaker for our community: Ben Utecht, a former pro football player. My, how we keep feeding the beast. Let's all step back, take a deep breath and be more restrained in our enthusiasm about all this. For the sake of the kids.

- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

"Where to Invade Next" (2015) a gentle agenda

How to evaluate "Where to Invade Next?" Shall we look upon it as a political statement or artistic work? As art I thought it was rather weak. It struck me as more suited to the small screen than the big screen. It's on the big screen thanks to the stature of Michael Moore.

"Where to Invade Next" is Moore's 2015 documentary, coming across as a travelogue. As entertainment it is surely not riveting. About halfway through I felt it was becoming redundant. There's a set of progressive ideas as the underpinning for this movie. They all work consistently with each other. If I were to identify a common thread, it would be European-style socialism.

The Republican Party of America recoils at this, or at least they have been showing a profound distaste. There is an extreme conservative strain in America that looms as a real impediment. The strain seems almost designed more for entertainment purposes than anything. Following Mitt Romney's loss in 2012, the renowned analyst David Frum wrote about the "conservative entertainment complex."

What Americans really want, of course, is greater relief from the economic anxiety that continually seems to seep in. European-style socialism provides a buffer to all the economic vicissitudes. "Oh, but that's not America," many would proclaim.

The naysayers seem dragged along by that old notion of frontier self-reliance. "Here in America, we have the freedom to be all we can be." Problem is, many common folk around this great land are finding futility as they try to carve out the good life. In misplaced angst they affirm the candidacy of Donald Trump.

"Freedom" in terms of trade deals doesn't seem very uplifting. We are in fact drifting toward European style socialism. People increasingly live well beyond their productive years. What is to become of them? Government is now being asked to bail out people whose health insurance premiums are shooting up. Why not get rid of the insurance industry completely for health care? Insurance companies do not provide health care.

The morons of Fox News would say "government-run health care? You mean, health care being run like the Post Office?"

Well, government seems to do fine administering Medicare and Social Security. We are already a socialist nation to an extent. All advanced industrial nations are a blend of free enterprise and socialism. Americans like the socialist-oriented programs we already have.

"Liberalism" is so often put forward as a boogeyman. But as Chris Matthews of MSNBC points out regularly: "Liberalism always wins in the end." Progress is often halting.

"Where to Invade Next" was Moore's first film in six years. I might criticize the movie based on its title. The casual observer might think it was a movie about war and our questionable "invasions" like of Iraq. Cinema history is dotted with examples of movies that could be titled better. Examples that pop into my head include the early Steve Martin movie "The Jerk," and the 007 movie "A View to a Kill." A movie I greatly liked, "A History of Violence," had a title that suggested it was some sort of documentary. Oh no, it was terrific drama.

"Where to Invade Next" is a rather cumbersome title in addition to possibly being misleading. I commend Moore for the movie's content and its implications for America. We're overdue paying attention to these ideas. One of those ideas is, getting women more into positions of power. What if a woman had been at the top of Wells Fargo? Women have an instinct of wanting to preserve and nurture. The instinct is directed to everyone - i.e. a human life has inherent value.

When General MacArthur began planning the rebuilding of Japan after World War II, he called on women to get the vote. He called for trade unions. Get the point? The Japanese empire had been built by men with destructive impulses, perhaps caused by their own hormones. Did the head of Wells Fargo get carried away by impulses consistent with that, a "slash and burn" set of impulses? Women are not wired like that.

Moore visits a host of nations to learn how the United States could improve its own prospects. He gleans information on worker benefits, school lunches, early education, college education, worker inclusion, decriminalized drugs, low recidivism, women's health care and women's inclusion.

I say "hallelujah" to the no-homework policy of Finland's schools. No standardized testing there either. In my personal background, I was absolutely scarred by how public education took over my life when I was an adolescent. I couldn't come up to breathe. Everything I did was built around what the public school wanted me to do. These included weird reading assignments that had a political agenda consistent with what was happening in the 1960s. We were supposed to support avant garde ideas that ended up looking faddish. To this day I'm bitter about that. Why was I required to take home my band instrument each day? Wasn't one hour of rehearsal enough?

You could not challenge any of this. It was a model of totalitarianism.

Moore speaks with the Finnish minister of education. He goes to Slovenia and learns about debt-free, tuition-free higher education. Germany accents its labor rights and work-life balance. Norway has a quite humane prison system. Women's rights in Tunisia are celebrated. Women have shown wisdom in power in Iceland. Iceland went after bankers in a way that could have been a template for the U.S. after the 2008 crisis.

I question the movie on entertainment criteria but here is some good news: "Where to Invade Next" got good critical reviews. Moore's movies are all about people learning to become decent human beings through social systems. Moore pretends to "invade" the various countries. Whatever you want to say about these countries, I'm sure their young men weren't forced to go fight and die in Viet Nam in the 1960s. Why do you think we had the "British invasion" in music? The English were not distracted by the hellish specter of military conscription.

Hillary Clinton's election will highlight the humanitarian ideals of a female leader. Bernie Sanders may have seemed more liberal. But I assure you, Clinton as a true politician will move to the left if she senses there's a mandate from the American people.

I'd like for Moore to hear my song "Michigan, We Need You to Win again," on YouTube. If you know how to give him a heads-up, please do it for me. God bless.

- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

NFL on slippery slope downward

It is news that the TV ratings for NFL football are down. The Drudge Report regularly has links about this. The NFL problem has persisted long enough that we can begin drawing conclusions. I'm greatly relieved. Logic suggested turning away from this game a long time ago.

There was a big obstacle: our addiction to this form of entertainment. Withdrawal is never easy. But it appears that more and more of us are succeeding with it. We know it's complete when no longer do we get drawn into a conversation about "How are the Vikings doing?"

The Minnesota Vikings are a mammoth business interest that has given us a sugar high of fun each week. We began to learn that players got punished physically with consequences lasting a lifetime. We easily understood a few battered knees. We felt players were OK with such nicks to their body. Such nicks might even be a badge of masculinity. "How did I get my limp? I got it playing football." Gee, did you win the conference? Who cares?

A sea change has been going on. The movie "Concussion" with Will Smith dramatically showed us the downturn in fortunes the old former players experience. Pulling your teeth out and super-gluing them back in? No thank you. I have no taste for an activity that leaves its practitioners in such a state.

Is all this realization the reason why TV viewers are turning away? Actually, several theories are getting bandied about. The excitement of the presidential race? Really? People are choosing cable TV news coverage over football? That sounds most implausible. Some observers say the retirement of Peyton Manning and suspension of Tom Brady hurt the entertainment value. I'm surprised that a guy in his late 30s, Manning, could reach the championship game. The top quarterbacks ought to be between approximately 28 and 32 years old. Brady is good but he cheated. I fail to see how these two guys could be so indispensable.

One-sided games? Historically this element has not meant much in terms of attracting a TV audience. Back when Monday Night Football had its run as an entertainment phenomenon, much was made of how the famous broadcast crew could "make a bad game hip."

The prime time NFL games of today, games starting at 7 or 7:30 p.m., seem to be suffering the most. Bad or dull matchups have been cited. However, bad or dull matchups have never been rare in the NFL. There was a time when the game's leaders were afraid that parity among teams was equating with mediocrity. I shook my head regarding that, reasoning that it was more likely that football simply had "cosmetic" issues. I would assert fans weren't getting to see enough exciting plays, i.e. passes where the receivers were catching the ball in stride downfield. Rule changes came along to remedy this.

Back when the Vikings lost to the Steelers in the Super Bowl, there were fears that defense would totally take over the game. The game can always be manipulated to solve such problems.

What about players kneeling for the National Anthem these days? That behavior is so easy to ignore. I personally respect their message. But, a source of erosion for the league? I think not.

So, to what do I attribute football's current problems with keeping TV ratings up? Awareness of physical injury is definitely a factor. Secondly and perhaps most importantly, I think all we need do is look at the nature of entertainment itself. Why do you think songs "climb the charts" and then go down? It's because we get tired of popular things. These things run their course, like a TV sitcom, even the best sitcoms like "Hogan's Heroes." My God, "Star Trek" couldn't survive in the 1960s.

It has taken considerable time, but the rest of the entertainment industry has been catching up to football. We shouldn't be surprised. Football was the golden goose for so long. Human greed then takes over. It was a bridge too far when the NFL felt it had to move into Thursday. The saturation effect has finally shown itself.

I suppose it's a tribute to football that its popularity had such staying power. But the entertainment industry cuts no favors to anyone. A popular product will have its prime, wringing all the returns it can get, striking while the iron is hot, and then it fades. Many new TV programs are genuinely stimulating, replacing a lot of the old stale fare. We have the phenomenon of "binge watching."

It's about time these forces work relative to the NFL and its crude product.

So, how are the Vikings doing? Let's change the subject.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Are DWI laws misplaced with their message?

Have your seen those PSAs that warn about the very severe penalties for DWI? They warn that "buzzed driving is drunk driving." In other words, the hammer of our law enforcement will come down on you if you've simply had "one too many," as the old saying goes.

The PSA on TV shows typical young adults in a lively party scene. I find these PSAs so uncomfortable to watch, I have to sometimes switch channels. The PSAs warn that a DWI will cost you an astronomical amount of money (to use terminology associated with the late Willie Martin). Up to $20,000? That's what we hear. I suppose all this money goes to fuel our law enforcement/legal system. How convenient. Same as those seat built fines which I recall started out at $40 and are now over $100. Oh, but we all need to promote absolutely safe driving, right?
What explains my discomfort at the reminder of such harsh penalties? Surely we can't turn a blind eye to impaired drivers, can we? Surely we can't turn a blind eye to people not bothering with their seat belts, can we?
A little age perspective comes into play here. I am 61 years old. I remember the generation of my parents, the so-called greatest generation, being quite fond of frivolous weekend behavior, going to someplace like the VFW, or attending a Shriners or Legion convention, or going somewhere on New Year's Eve and becoming stumbling drunk. My own parents did nothing like that. But I observed plenty of that behavior. I was familiar with families where such behavior became a family issue and caused sadness, particularly with the kids.
Maybe we gave a pass to the World War II generation, allowing them to pursue their diversions as a means of overcoming the anxiety they felt earlier in their lives. Weren't GIs given free cigarettes in World War II?
There's more to the background I'm offering: The drinking age was lowered just as I graduated from high school in 1973. It was lowered so we could have the privilege of consuming alcohol, based on how young men were being forced to fight and die in Viet Nam. If young men were being tasked with this hellish proposition, their peers should be allowed to behave fully like adults, it was argued. My generation invaded the bars.
Of course, this notion of drinking being equated with maturity came from the alcoholic beverages industry with its incessant commercials. Guys my age grew up watching football on TV with constant beer commercials. Is this still the case? I hardly watch football anymore.
Beer commercials had such a light air. They suggested that beer was to be equated with a carefree feeling about life, as if their product might liberate us in some way. Kick back, watch football and make sure plenty of beer was in the refrigerator.
When young people engage in the typical lively party behavior, are they following their own organic impulses, from within their own generation, or are they reflecting a long and ignoble legacy that has been passed down? I would suggest the latter. We can conclude that we as a society bear the burden of the consequences of excessive party behavior. Young people are taking cues. They see alcohol and drugs as a liberating sort of thing that signals adulthood, something to relish.
We see this quintessential party behavior in those PSAs that warn us about drunk (or "buzzed") driving. And then we're told that your life will become hell - you'll lose everything - if you drive having had "one too many." Of course, it's highly subjective to determine what constitutes "one too many." There has been debate about whether that line should be made more stringent. Maybe you could get nailed if you had just one beer with your pizza some evening. The law could wipe out all social drinking. I don't know about that. Is the purpose really to promote optimally safe driving, or is it to simply punish a form of behavior that our society now looks down on? The latter would be perverse.
But we want optimal safety, right? In an ideal world, right? But alcohol is just one form of impairment. It is sad if anyone gets hurt because of someone having done a minimal amount of social drinking. But what about sleep-deprived drivers? What about drivers who might be on a certain type of medication? And on a broader scale, what about all those senior drivers, drivers over the age of 80 for example, whose reflexes aren't close to being what they once were? Shall we clamp down on all these categories of drivers?
If seniors were to be forced off the road, their middle-age children would all scream about how their parents ought not be deprived of their independence. Our population is aging. If elderly people lose their driving privileges, we'll have to pay more in taxes, which we'll do anyway, to assist these people in their more limited lifestyles.
We start taking risks when we get out of bed in the morning. These draconian punishments for DWI offenses seem out of proportion. Extreme offenses must be handled like the truly problematic things they are. As for "buzzed driving," let's cool it a little. This obsession to punish, as with people not wearing seat belts, has developed a life of its own.
Back when seat belt laws were before the states, surveys showed that people overwhelmingly wanted this to be treated as a secondary offense. What happened to that plurality? You should know that our Morris Police Department still treats seat belt as a primary offense, so be careful. And if I go to Pizza Hut to have a pizza, I will definitely order a Pepsi now.
It's odd that the first time I was pulled over for seat belt, I got a ticket, and the second time I got a warning, just recently. The officer the second time was far more friendly than the first time. That helped a lot. The first time, I went through great duress trying to pay the fine, which I eventually found out (through an employee at the court administrator's office) was due to a clerical error at the Morris Police Department. So, I don't have warm and fuzzy feelings about the Morris Police. The police chief needs to lose some weight. Law enforcement doesn't give me a sense of peace.
I'm an old acquaintance of the person who was the long-time person of interest in the Jacob Wetterling case, Daniel Rassier. That guy was totally railroaded. Please realize that defense attorneys play a very important role in our legal system and our very way of life. Government overreach is always out there as a many-headed hydra. Government (i.e. law enforcement) is made up of human beings who are always trying to impress their own importance.
Take care. Skip the booze. Live your life as if alcohol and cigarettes don't exist. You'll be happier.
The law has been slow to catch up with distracted driving.

- Brian Williams -morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Hitting errors take toll for MACA in rare defeat

The photo shows Del Sarlette (left) and the late Tom Hesse in their tradition of wearing their MHS letter jackets for Homecoming. Tom Hesse, RIP.

 
Special note: The Morris Sun Tribune newspaper recently published its "statement of ownership" which has circulation numbers. Paid circulation is down about 40 percent from where it used to be. That's quite a drop.

 

Fans were treated to some fine back-and-forth rallies Thursday night (10/13) at the MACA gym. The habitually winning Tigers did not win on this night.

Everybody knew the orange and black would have its hands full against a high-caliber opponent. That opponent was Sauk Centre. The Streeters have played several more matches than the Tigers. They turned back our orange and black crew in an intense match Thursday, 3-1. Sauk came out of the night with the quite rich win harvest of 25 on the season. Wow! The Tigers came out of the night with a 20-3 season record, with two of those losses having come in a Twin Cities tournament.

Here are the Thursday scores with the MACA numbers first: 20-25, 25-9, 25-27 and 14-25. Yes, game 2 had quite the promise for MACA taking charge. Sauk Centre was able to make adjustments to squeak out the win in game 3, and continued on a solid course through the end. The Tigers were dealt their first conference loss of the season.

Click on the link below to read about the MACA football team's first loss of the season, experienced Friday at BOLD (Olivia). This post is on my companion website, "Morris of Course." As always, thanks for reading and God bless. - B.W.

http://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2016/10/tigers-winning-run-ends-at-bold-olivia.html

 

Sauk Centre 3, Tigers 1

Sauk Centre entered the night as the No. 11 state ranked team in AA. The Streeters and Tigers have battled twice this season. Previously the teams fought through the maximum five games with the Tigers winning 3-2. The Streeters have not lost since.

Why did the Tigers fade Thursday following that most promising game 2? The best explanation is hitting errors. We had 35 such errors in all. Sauk Centre was quite sharp in the blocking department.

Karly Fehr had three serving aces for the Tigers. In her specialty of setting, Karly put up 43 assists. Brooke Gillespie, Nicole Solvie and Koral Tolifson each had one set assist.

Gillespie and Ashley Solvie each pounded down 14 kills. Two other Tigers had double figures in kills: Jenna Howden with eleven and Nicole Solvie with ten. Karly Fehr added one kill to the mix. Ashley Solvie executed five ace blocks and Jenna Larsen had one. Riley Decker excelled in the defensive phase with 30 digs. Gillespie dug up the ball 26 times and Karly Fehr had 15 digs. Koral Tolifson came through with ten digs, and Howden and Larsen each had seven.

Coach Kristi Fehr was quoted in the media: "(Sauk Centre) did a good job blocking and we just made too many errors."

 

Tigers 3, Minnewaska 0

Prior to the Sauk Centre match, MACA took care of business vs. the 'Waska Lakers, winning by sweep. Scores were 25-16, 25-9 and 25-8.

Karly Fehr's set assist total on this night was 25. Jenna Larsen had two set assists, while Riley Decker, Koral Tolifson and Bailey Marty each had one. Tolifson produced three serving aces while Brooke Gillespie and Karly Fehr each had one. In the crowd-pleasing hitting department, it was Gillespie at the fore with ten kills. Ashley Solvie had eight kills, and the list continues with Nicole Solvie (7), Jenna Howden (6), Karly Fehr (6), Larsen (1) and Riley Decker (1).

Ashley Solvie had three ace blocks and Gillespie had one. It was Decker excelling in digs with 12. Karly Fehr had nine digs, Gillespie had eight and Cassidy Fehr five.

For Minnewaska, Taylor Amundson had ten set assists. Carley Stewart was team-high in kills with five. Abby Ver Steeg and Ellie Danielson each had four kills. Amundson and Danielson each had one ace block. Amundson dug up the ball ten times.

- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com