Let us not overlook grandfather Craig who is on the all-time points list. I remember covering Kevin as he made his ascent in career points. Kevin passed a high school classmate of mine, Gary Lembcke ('73) to occupy his No. 1 spot. It' still a Loge at No. 1. Now it's Jackson. The young man would probably say the stat milestone is secondary to the team's goals now.
I personally never got that excited about career stats/milestones. Sometimes I thought they got hyped too much. Maybe they have an arbitrary quality too: a player with a bigger school will have a harder time getting varsity playing time in the younger grades. I still remember well how our basketball program once had a policy of playing only juniors and seniors on varsity. Career stats would be an uphill battle in that system. We're talking early '80s.
Forget that I am a stick in the mud on this, so congratulations to Jackson Loge. There sure wasn't much suspense in the Tuesday game. We played New London-Spicer which typically has a pretty competitive look. But on Tuesday the Wildcats got pretty much buried by our Tigers. Fans could have the luxury of focusing on Jackson's stat ascent. The Tigers defeated NL-Spicer 76-37.
Jackson entered this game needing 15 points to reach the summit. He reached the summit with his first field goal of the second half. He rolled through the game with typically fine offensive productivity. His career total is now 1,955 points. I hope someone notified my old peer Mr. Lembcke, who fashioned quite the career coaching girls basketball at Norwood-Young America. I believe he got "famous" for something called a "fish tie." He and I ought to be slowing down now. (For sure I beat him to that.)
I was in Las Vegas once with Gary, back around 1980. We flew all the way to Vegas and then we ate at Denny's! The late Joel Jallo was with us. We rented a car and drove out to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. Saw some bighorn sheep in the desert. Did we cash in? Memory is rather blurry. Evidently not.
The late Sid Hartman realized re. Kevin that he was "homesick" and thus not up for the U of M challenge. Nothing at all wrong with pining for home. What could be more rewarding for Kevin now, than to watch Jackson excel to such high standards?
Will the Loge name assert itself in another generation? Looks like coach Mark Torgerson won't be around for that. Word is, the gentleman is coaching his last season with the Tigers.
I have always felt haunted by how Kevin and his mates got toppled (upset) in Kevin's junior year. We were a substantial on-paper favorite for the game at Concordia-Moorhead. The opposing coach concocted a formula to stymie us. That coach was Lynn Peterson of Staples-Motley. I was there. I sure remember the bratwurst at the concession stand at the Concordia fieldhouse. The parents stood behind the Morris players as time wound down - we were going to have to lick our wounds, alas.
Me, I could handle it with another bratwurst.
Rolling over the Wildcats
On Tuesday we were up on New London-Spicer 36-17 at halftime. We outscored them 40-20 the rest of the way. The orange and black was 31 of 54 in shooting from the field, 57 percent. Loge sure shone at 13-for-18, 31 points. There was one other double figures scorer, Thomas Tiernan who made all but one of his six field goal tries. Tiernan scored 13 points.
The rest of the scoring list: Durgin Decker (9), Tyler Berlinger (7), Brandon Jergenson (6), Sam Kleinwolterink (6), Ayden Schmidgall (3) and Drew Storck (1).
Tiernan made three 3-pointers. Decker, Loge and Schmidgall each made one. In this department the Tigers shot 6 of 17, 35 percent. We were 8 of 13 at the freethrow line, 62 percent. Loge was 4 of 5 in freethrows. And in rebounding, Loge was the clear standout with 14. The Tigers collected 37 rebounds with seven being offensive. Jergenson was a whiz with assists, contributing eleven. Three Tigers each had two steals: Berlinger, Cole Wente and Tiernan. Loge had three shot blocks and Storck one. Our turnover total: 10.
The Tigers are 3-0. You sure you want to retire after this season, Torgy?
None of the Wildcats scored in double figures in this game at NL-Spicer. Grant Paffrath and Aedan Andresen each scored eight. So, there's an "Ayden" for MACA and an "Aedan" for NL-Spicer.
Andresen and Peyton Coahran each made a '3'. Mason Delzer was the top NL-S rebounder with seven. Andresen and Brycen Christensen each contributed four assists. Christensen had three steals and a blocked shot.
A humbling night for the Wildcats, a most memorable one for the "roaring" Tigers! Jackson Loge has new dragons to slay now.
Just a thought: Perhaps Jackson could suggest not so much hoopla when the 2000 milestone comes. He might say it was such a big deal to pass his dad in scoring, that's enough hoopla for now. Then again, I'm not sure the fans can be held down. There is no suspense about 2000.
I had thought Torgy might eventually move on to his third generation of players.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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