Bird Island was almost guaranteed to be a lion's den for the MACA boys basketball team on December 20. Drew Sagedahl was a player to watch for the vaunted BOLD Warriors. Indeed, they are ranked No. 2 in Minnesota Class 'A'.
Buoyed by their home court and a hot hand by Sagedahl, the Warriors prevailed over our Tigers 75-62. They got up 38-28 at halftime. The Tigers really had a competitive look through the first half. But the lion's den atmosphere would be felt. The Warriors ran with abandon. Sagedahl is a junior guard in their arsenal. On this night he poured in 30 points and collected 11 rebounds.
Wait, there's more than one Sagedahl. So, game reviews like this one must always differentiate! Drew is the "little brother" to Jordan, a BOLD senior who plays forward. Jordan's point output was 16. Gavin Vosika is another important cog in the wheel for the smoothly humming BOLD squad. Gavin added to the mix with 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. BOLD appeared to take charge as halftime neared.
The Sagedahl boys and Vosika were joined in the scoring list by Matt Moorse (six points), Blake Plass (4), Trenton Ziesmer (2) and Max Marks (2). Drew Sagedahl found the range to make four 3-pointers. Jordan made one '3' as did Vosika. Rebound leaders were Drew Sagedahl with eleven and Vosika with eight. Vosika with his eight assists led there, and his name also topped steals where he posted six.
Jackson Loge of the Tigers made six of nine field goal tries along with both of his freethrow shots. The 6'7" sophomore scored 14 points. He wrapped up 22 rebounds and produced seven assists. Toby Gonnerman was right behind in scoring with 13 points. Jaden Maanum made three 3-pointers and scored eleven. Thomas Tiernan and Durgin Decker each made two 3's. Decker's point total was ten and Tiernan's was six. Cade Fehr scored six points and Brock Peterson two.
Loge and Tiernan had seven and five assists respectively. Maanum, Tiernan and Loge each had one steal. Loge blocked two shots.
Can you imagine how much press attention Loge will have received by the time he graduates? Just like his father Kevin. One has to wonder, really, if this is disproportionate. Do we lavish too much attention on basketball talents? I'm not sure why we do this. Certain kids are being rewarded a lot just for being big and strong. I wonder if they realize this in their own mind. Oh, I'm sure they do.
MACA had a 1-4 record entering Christmas week. BOLD cruises at 5-0.
(Remember the bumper stickers of the 1970s? "Where the hell is Bird Island?")
In girls basketball play, MACA was in the Eden Valley-Watkins Tournament. Friday action had the Tigers falling to Mayer Lutheran 71-52. There was a big individual plus in the otherwise losing evening: Malory Anderson scored her 1000th career point. She and Meredith Carrington made the all-tournament roster.
Boys hockey: Storm 4, Luverne 3The MBA Storm enjoyed a winning evening in boys hockey action Friday. "Home" was Benson on this night. A hard-fought game developed on the Benson ice. The Storm skated versus Luverne. And for a time, it looked like we might have a cake walk. We shot up 3-0 in the first period.
But whoa, Luverne was able to answer that in period #2. So the game was going to be decided in the third period. Our defense bore down to skunk Luverne. And our offense got a goal, the game-winner, from Zach Bruns, junior forward. So we won 4-3, a nice Christmas present to fans.
Chase Engebretson was goalie and he saved 26 of 29 shots. Luverne's goalie was Colton Schutz (27 saves, 31 shots).
Kaleb Breuer started our early momentum with a goal at 10:36, assisted by Tim Blume and Matthew Tolifson. Bruns put us up 2-0 with a goal at 10:48 that had a Jack Riley assist. Riley got the puck in the net at 12:14, assisted by Will Breuer and Bruns.
The Luverne surge in period No. 2 started with Nathan Nekali who scored unassisted at 4:15. Colby Crabtree got the second Luverne goal with a Tyler Roberts assist (10;40). Then it was Easton Braun striking at 14:13, assisted by Cooper Arends. The Bruns game-winner in the third period was unassisted (at 9:46).
It's Christmas Eve Day
I am writing this post on a day most people set aside as a (nearly) total holiday. It's the day when my family used to open presents in the evening. It's Christmas Eve Day and even though I'm alone now, I'm pleased to share the Christmas feeling by having colored lights on tree branches in the front of the yard, right by Northridge Drive. Drive by and take a look.
I'm happy to put up some Christmas-themed items in the home too, decorative items with their own understated charm. No one but me sees these now. But maybe Mom in heaven sees them. Over the past few months, I pledged to my mom in heaven, in case she could hear me, that I'd get an old winter-themed jigsaw puzzle from the basement and put it together for this Christmas. It is mission accomplished. The puzzle is a winter scene of three red cardinal birds on tree branches with a big church and its steeple in the background. You could not find a more appealing picture.
It's Christmas Eve Day but I do not consider it "work" to be posting online about the Tigers. Why would I consider it work? I'm delighted to still be involved in this, even though I am no longer in the corporate media. Corporate-aligned journalism is no better or more virtuous than anyone's writing, anyone who cares and is skilled.
Back when I was a working person, I'd go to the Met Lounge in mid-afternoon for my free Tom and Jerry drink. Atmosphere was so lively and cheerful there. The memory stays crystal clear.
Our family always had a wonderful time opening Christmas gifts. Every year someone wrapped up some peanut brittle and chocolate-covered cherries for under the tree. Our dog - we had three - would get a chew bone, "from Santa" of course.
For years my father would wrap a 12-pack of Mello Yello soft drink for me. That's what Christmas is all about I guess: family memories.
To go to church today, or not? It is getting harder to even try to consider myself a Christian in light of how the faith in America has become so aligned with our current president. Sometimes people get asked "do you hate Donald Trump?" in a finger-pointing way. I'm at the point where I have no problem simply saying "yes."
Many Christians in America now seem to be putting Trump at the center of their faith. I fail to understand this and I wonder what the future holds. We never had "political" thoughts about Christianity when I was a kid. It certainly never bubbled to the surface. There was a universality of joy at Christmas. We'd get goose bumps tuning in to the annual Andy Williams Christmas special on network TV. His parents were in the cast! The Bob Hope Christmas specials from Vietnam are haunting to remember now. So much pointless tragedy over there.
In the years of my youth, some people were Republicans, some were Democrats. It seemed like an equilibrium for the most part. Today the Trump-oriented crowd assails the people left of center as being allegedly in league with Satan. Franklin Graham is speaking this way. The problem for me is, if I walk away from Christianity, I'm not sure how or where I'd fill the void. But I do wish everyone a merry Christmas.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
 |
| Here's your blog host at our wonderful Christmastime of about 1958. Our family lived in St. Paul. I was pre-school. These were the best times of my life. |
No comments:
Post a Comment