Hailey Werk finds the groove again, at Ortonville

Hailey Werk continued making waves in cross country with her performance last Monday. This meet was in Ortonville. Werk took No. 1 honors for coach Dale Henrich's crew. She was clocked at 20:50. This bested second place runner Julia Schmidt of Border West by a minute and 30 seconds. The third place achiever was MACA Tiger Kendal Fischer. Then in seventh was Hanna Schutz. The 10th place runner was Avery Waterworth. 

Runners from four teams vied at Ortonville. The MACA girls took first place. 

Let's look at the MACA boys where Gavin Stallman was fourth. Matt Giese and Jacob Buhl placed ninth and tenth respectively. The MACA boys were No. 1 among teams. 

Yours truly happened to be on a bench along the biking/walking trail last week when the cross country runners came by in a workout. Coach Henrich kept pace on his bicycle! It was inspiring to see the commitment by the student athletes. 

As an aside, let me mention that I'm proud to have my review of the football game vs. Pierz on my "I Love Morris" blog as of midday Saturday. At the time I'm writing this, Monday morning, there's no coverage on the kmrs website or the West Central Tribune site. Don't think for a second that I pay to access the WCT site - a friend of mine knows a new "trick" for getting past the paywall and then he copies/pastes the "football roundup" and emails to me. Too bad we need to know a "trick." 

Notice that I do not mention the Stevens County Times website. Sigh, I'll repeat what my Bonanza Valley friend says: "The Stevens County Times website is worse than if they had no website at all." That's not exaggeration. 

Update: It's 11 a.m. as I prepare to publish, and I see the kmrs site now has a summary of the Pierz game. Way to go kmrs-kkok!

We're into Homecoming week now. Kind of late on the calendar, wouldn't you say? Hope the cold stays away. Pierz was unbeaten before falling to the Tigers Friday. Our quarterback really built upon his reputation, and he's just a sophomore! Our win was for the Pierz Homecoming.

 

Football: Cougars 28, Westminster 8

My goodness, a road game all the way down to Missouri? I personally think this should never be necessary. Minnesota is sprinkled with small colleges, n'est-ce pas? My alma mater of St. Cloud State University cancelled its football program some time ago. This was despite having a new stadium built on its campus in 2004. Ridgewater College of Willmar likewise nixed its football program. 

Given the way football injuries remain in the news, maybe it would be nice for UMM to follow suit. For the time being, UMM football most definitely continues to exist, so on Saturday it was "destination south." Indeed, south all the way through Iowa and to Fulton MO. There the Cougars faced a team from a college called Westminster. 

I remember the days when UMM played familiar state colleges/universities from around Minnesota. We all know what Moorhead State is. Not sure about Westminster. But anyway, the trip brought a win for the Cougars. So I suppose a win is always a good thing. The main thing always is for a team to avoid serious injuries. 

There have been two high school players in Minnesota who have experienced very serious injuries this fall. Imagine being the parents. And, what if the parents had encouraged the young man to play football? How would you deal with that the rest of your life? You would be devastated permanently, and then you'd notice that the rest of society would just carry on with its football interest/mania. Reminds me of the title of the old Larry Merchant book: "And Every Day You Take Another Bite." 

I will continue to write about our local football teams, because our local institutions have exercised judgment to continue with these programs. I may disagree but mine is an isolated voice. So let me report here that the Cougars came on strong in the second half en route to their 28-8 victory. So we're 2-3 in overall won-lost, 1-0 in league. 

Our defense excelled at game's start. Westminster had an extended drive that had promise for six. But our defense held on a fourth down play - Westminster's 19-play drive was for naught. 

The Cougars mounted a drive that continued into the second quarter. Keyton Johnson broke loose on running plays. Marcus Reeb broke into the end zone from the one. The drive covered 89 yards. Alex Happ kicked the PAT. 

Marcus Reeb

Westminster is called the "Bluejays." They went nowhere on their next possession. So UMM got the ball back and this time executed three plays to reach the end zone. A huge play netted the six - this was a 70-yard pass from Reeb to Dylan Naughton. 

Westminster stayed in the game thanks to an interception that had a nice return. The Bluejays capitalized with a one-yard TD run by Dante Billups. The conversion play was good for two. The score now, 14-8, where it stood at halftime. 

Garrett Elison received the kickoff to start second half play. He maneuvered to give UMM good field position at the Westminster 36. The Cougars executed on a fourth down play, then the ball got handed to the reliable Izayah Boss: touchdown! The teams went back and forth without any further scoring in the third. A UMM highlight was Ethan Tang's 41-yard reception. 

The Cougars took command of the game midway in the fourth, exercising the passing game. Reeb passed to Tang for 32 yards. The next play saw Reeb connect with Cole Mitchell for the score. So now the scoreboard reads 28-8, six minutes left. Westminster failed to answer. So the win is in the books for UMM.

Let's remember the big music event for UMM's 2022 Homecoming.
 

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