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| They keep the NL-Spicer tradition going! |
Sorry, I did not attend Thursday night. I would have rooted for the Minnwaska Area Lakers. Their foe was the dynastic New London-Spicer Wildcats. Year after year the NL-S girls program excels. The coach at the center of this: Mike Dreier.
'Waska entered this game with a very competitive reputation. Those Lakers were fourth in state last season. They were bound to show poise. Poise or no, they could not come up with winning form vs. coach Dreier's juggernaut. So in the end it was the Wildcats of New London-Spicer on top in this 3AA-North finals game. The score: 59-45.
So it's on to the section title game for the NL-Spicer crew. There they will face Fairmont from down by the Iowa border. The site will be Southwest State University in Marshall, the "R/A Facility." Fairmont is known as the "Cardinals." They defeated St. James convincingly 71-47 to reach the next rung.
NL-Spicer is zeroing in on trying to make "The big dance" of state. What a glittering W/L mark the Wildcats have: 28-1! Game-time next Thursday is 8 p.m. Wow, that's pretty late. I hate to see such a late time when many of the fans might have a long drive home at night. Why can't the game be played earlier?
Fans at our UMM gym saw the 'Waska Lakers keep things interesting even if the lead was elusive. The score stood 39-37 with 'Waska just a hair's breadth away. The time remaining was 8:37. This was the high water mark for the Lakers.
Oh my, the Lakers were without the services of senior Alia Randt, whose name I have typed often this season. This had to hurt. Randt was out with a knee injury. An additional burden fell on star Lauryn Ankeny. Lauryn played throughout. Perhaps a fatigue factor held back the Lakers in the end. But give credit to the Wildcats, that's for sure.
The situation was grim for 'Waska at halftime as they trailed 34-15. The Lakers outscored the Wildcats the rest of the way, 30-25. The hole was too deep.
I wasn't at the game so I don't know if the bleachers were pulled out on both sides. Only one side is used for UMM games, a situation I don't really like. I covered sports there for years when both sides was the assumed norm. UMM played in the Northern Sun Conference. Perhaps there's no way that the Cougars will ever make it back to that level.
I argue that the U of M is a powerful institution that ought to be able to lift up its Morris branch. In fact, I always used to hear that the MIAC did not want us because that league feared the U's assets vs. the private schools. Today there is angst about UMM's ability to even survive. We saw the abrupt announcement of the change in chancellors midway through the school year. The U would not have done this if there were not some alarm bells ringing.
MN versus Feds
Right now my angst is increased by what is happening with Minnesota vs. the Federal government. First it was the ICE crackdown that disrupted the state so badly. And right at the present, it's the punitive withholding of Medicaid funds. This is primarily about politics, the fact that our state will not bend the knee to Donald Trump. We continue having Democrats in key leadership positions.
Can we count on our own congressperson to be an advocate for us now? I mean to appeal to the Feds or even issue a protest or dissent? We need this now. But our congressperson Michelle Fischbach is totally "MAGA." If anything she will just join the piling-on versus Minnesota. Just watch her "bash" Tim Walz. That's more important to her than acting on Minnesota's behalf.
Lost Medicaid funding will harm people's lives. I wonder if Fischbach would prefer that Mike Lindell be our governor. We elected Fischbach so we have to answer for this. What if the U of M suffers? The knees might get taken out from under our Morris campus. We are frail and groping now. The recent jazz concert at the HFA featured an entire trumpet section brought here from NDSU. IMHO this is not a good look. Might this be "fraud" in its own way? Just asking.
What's next in the retribution campaign by the Trump administration vs. Minnesota? Our state's governor was on the presidential ticket that opposed Trump and Vance. Have we dug a deep hole for ourselves? Trump leads like a mob boss. He does not forget those who he feels have wronged him. It is my opinion that we need to push MAGA out of power. Elections are the only real answer.
Who can come forward to run against Fischbach? We had Collin Peterson before her - no one knew the Farm Bill better. He lost because he posed for a photo with Nancy Pelosi. What's so terrible about Nancy Pelosi? All Republicans care about is giving more tax breaks to the very wealthy. How is that working out for you? Enjoy paying your property taxes? It's a regressive tax. So are the tariffs. So is the sales tax. All of this makes life harder for the common people.
But so many churchgoers are told "vote Republican." You're lemmings. I can think of less generous terms. Meanwhile, "Mongo just pawn in game of life" - that's me.
Numbers from the game
Lauryn Ankeny and Berlynn Green each scored 11 points Thursday. Kendall Danielson and Eliana Marthaler each scored six. Allie Mrnak put in four, Nori Song three and Olivia Danielson and Londyn Dahl two each.
'Waska did OK with three-point shooting as Green sank three of these, and Kendall Danielson and Marthaler two each. Song made one long-ranger. Ankeny and Green co-led in rebounds, each with five. Olivia Danielson was tops in assists with four. You can always look to Ankeny as a leader in steals and on this night she had three. Kendall Danielson blocked a shot.
The rebounds category saw Munsch and Tanner lead with ten each followed by Delzer with nine. Caskey was the leader in assists with four and steals with seven. Munsch and Tanner each blocked a shot.
The bigger picture
Minnewaska may have legitimate needs with the referendums that are put out there, referendums that fail. My hope is that the state looks closely and realizes that an alternative way might be found to beef up the school's assets. Looks like referendums are too heavy of a lift, maybe because the school district is not homogeneous or unified enough. Towns are a little too far apart.
But the school might be improved. I remember when the school was first built. It came across as very impressive even though I had reservations about Glenwood no longer having a high school that was basically in town.
So at the present, what might the answer be? This happens in school issues: when too much futility looms, to the rescue comes the state! Remember the "Minnesota Miracle?" Maybe you don't. That's where the state decided to just take over and remove an undue burden from local property taxpayers. Maybe the state will notice 'Waska's strain and decide to map out some formula for state funding for 'Waska's legitimate goals for improvement and enhancement. Maybe this would be done in a finesse sort of way. Under the table? Well, I wouldn't use those words.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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