Wednesday, September 20,  2017

Welcome to another exciting edition of the Sports Feever column. 
It is crazy that we are less than three weeks away from our first playoff game, but I tell you what…. The Fall sports season is a butt kicker in Crookston with six fall sports teams and UMC had five!!!  11 teams we have to cover for the website, and that doesn’t include the area high school teams we cover!    It sure makes time fly by.  This time of year, homecoming games are everywhere and Crookston’s will be this Friday.  There will be a free tailgate meal of taco in the bag served before the Crookston High School vs Breckenridge football game at the UMC/CHS Football field on Friday, September 22, with serving starting at 5:00 p.m., courtesy of B & E Meats, Christian Brothers Ford and KROX Radio.

Enjoy a quick bite to eat before the game on us!

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The first football QRF has been released and I will list all the section football, volleyball, and soccer QRF's as of Tuesday morning.  The QRF is from www.minnesota-scores.net.

No surprise in the QRF in Section 8AA football.   Barnesville is the top dog, Hawley two and UNC is three.  What might be a surprise is the section has five of the top 13 QRF's in the state with the top three and Crookston and Warroad.

Section 8A has the Red Lake County Rebels leading the way with a number seven ranking in the state in Class A as far as QRF goes.  Mahnomen, with their only loss to Hawley, will make a run towards the top spot as they win games the rest of the way, but it looks like the Red Lake County vs Mahnomen game could be for the top spot. 

Section 8 9-man, again, is no surprise.  Stephen-Argyle is the heavy favorite and they are the only team that is 3-0 in the section. 

Section 6 9-man has three teams ranked in the top 10 in the QRF with Rothsay, Nevis and NCE/UH.  It will be a fun Section tourney.

Section 8AAA has Perham leading the way after a nice win over Pequot Lakes in a split game from Friday and ending on Monday.  The QRF shows it has some kinks with early season ratings with Pequot Lakes and Thief River Falls being .4 points apart. 

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The Section 8AA Volleyball QRF doesn't have many surprises so far -

Section 8A has the defending champ at the top spot so far and the west is much stronger as predicted.  BGMR has shown they are going to be tough and the top four could all win the section championship!

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Section 8A North Girls Soccer has the East Grand Forks Green Wave leading comfortably -

The Section 8A North Boys Soccer is going as predicted with Bemidji in the top spot -

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We are happy to say the Mahnomen-Waubun sports co-op has a new nickname and color scheme.

They will be named the Mahnomen-Waubun Thunderbirds and will wear black, teal, and silver colors. Students and community members voted on the new nickname and color scheme that goes into place once the basketball season starts. The new logo will be voted on later and may include submissions from local and professional artists.
Overall, 841 students, staff, and community members took part in the final vote. Weber says she was very appreciative of the support from the community during this rebranding process.

There was equal representation from both the Mahnomen and Waubun communities. Of those 841 votes, 410 came from Mahnomen and 431 from Waubun. The other nickname finalists included the Wolfpack and the Nation and the other color schemes included Royal Blue and Gold

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The University of Sioux Falls Football team has proven that the coaches in the NSIC have no idea what they are talking about!  They picked Sioux Falls to finish fifth in the NSIC and third in the south!!!!!!! 

How off are the coaches?  

USF is ranked #7 in the nation and are 3-0, including a pretty thorough beating of #20 ranked Minnesota Duluth in front of a packed house at Duluth!!

Last week, USF totaled a season-high 473 yards in total offense in rolling to a 38-7 victory over the U of Mary in Bismarck. USF generated more than 400 yards total offense for the second straight week.  Sioux Falls doesn’t WOW you on the offensive side.  Where they separate themselves from the rest of the conference is on the defensive side of the ball.  For the third straight game, the USF defense allowed just seven points while holding an opponent under 200 yards in total offense for the second straight week and their league-leading defense has allowed no more than 210 total yards in any game this season.
The Cougars have built a 101-21 point differential through wins over North Division opponents UMD (26-7) and Mary (38-7) on the road and NSU, 37-7.

Sioux Falls leads the NSIC in total defense (196.3 ypg), scoring defense (7.0 ppg) and rushing defense (29.0 per game)

Now this week they take on the UMC Golden Eagle Football team.  They play Saturday night at 6:00 p.m.

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The Crookston Pirate Girls Tennis team will compete in the Litchfield tournament on Saturday with some pretty good competition.  Besides Crookston, Litchfield, Benson, Annandale, Chanhassen, St. Peter, Staples-Motley, and Owatonna.
 

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The KROX NW Minnesota honor roll – If you have an outstanding performance this week, email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com and I will get it on next week.

Crookston’s Cade Salentine had 21 carries for 217 yards and a touchdown.

Jacob Vetter of Hawley was 11-15 passing for 222 yards.

Hawley’s Chase Libak had six receptions for 136 yards and two TD’s, and two interceptions

Mahnomen’s Izaiah Asher had 139 yards on 22 carries, 2 TD's

Mahnomen’s Jon Starkey had 114 yards on 34 carries, 4 TD's

East Grand Forks’ Ethan Trebil had 19 carries for 152 yards.

Breckenridge’s Tommy Hiedemann had 24 carries for 193 yards and 3 TD’s.

Warroad’s Spencer Musgrove had 29 carries for 156 yards and 1 TD

Warren-Alvarado-Oslo’s Jordan Anderson had 28 carries for 173 yards and 1 TD

Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal’s Kyle Syverson had 28 carries for 214 yards and 2 TD’s

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I continue to dominate the football picks.  Leo Blavin and I both had seven out of 10 correct and it came down to the tie-breaker.  Leo as an Arizona Cardinal fan, doesn’t know that you NEVER bet on the Vikings!  EVER!  Well I am undefeated on the year and figured I better find another easy opponent, although with the QRF I figured I better step up my strength of schedule to make sure I will have a chance to get a top seed in the playoffs.  So… I figured I will take on an newspaper guy from East Grand Forks.  He is Bruce Brierley and he is as busy as we are at KROX so I figured he won’t have a lot of time to research all the teams!  We will see what happens. 

Bruce graduated from Hamburg High in Hamburg, NY and then took Horace Greeley’s advice and headed west to Moorhead where he graduated from Concordia College. “I worked several years after graduation for NDAD before moving to Crookston where I worked for SuperAmerica for about 15 years. During that time I met the love of my life Therese.  We have four children Peter Bertils, Amanda Bertils, Nicole Bertils (from her previous marriage) and Taylor. After the sale of SuperAmerica I eventually found my way to East Grand Forks and my current position with The Exponent.”

Here are this weeks pics and it looks like it comes down to the Vikings game for the tie-breaker!!

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The Hawley Nugget Volleyball team held an eight team tournament on Saturday.  Here was the results-

Championship Court
1st Place: Hawley Nuggets
2nd Place: Detroit Lakes Lakers

3rd Place Court
3rd Place: Barnesville Trojans
4th Place: Thief River Falls Prowlers 

5th Place Court
5th Place: Lake of the Woods Bears
6th Place: Wheaton/Herman-Norcross Warriors

Also played: Frazee Hornets & East Grand Forks Green Wave

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The University of Minnesota Crookston softball and soccer programs announced the addition of Rebecca Arbino as assistant coach. Arbino, a former NCAA Division I pitcher at San Diego State University and Texas &M University, will work with the Golden Eagle softball pitchers. In addition, she will help out with the operations of the Golden Eagle soccer program.

“I am really glad to have Becca join our program,” said Minnesota Crookston softball Head Coach Don Stopa. “She is a great softball mind and she has played and coached at the highest levels in our sport. She is eager to make a difference with this team and I think that enthusiasm, along with her skill set, will make our whole program better.”

Arbino most recently served as an assistant coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where she spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons. During her time at UNLV, Arbino oversaw the bullpen and all related development of the Rebel pitching staff. She also ran camps and tournaments at UNLV and assisted the head coach with all aspects of the program. 
Prior to her stint at UNLV, Arbino served as the head coach of the Kingsburg High School (Calif.) varsity softball team and oversaw the junior varsity squad during the 2015 season. She has also worked as a freelance pitching instructor. 
Arbino, a native of Clovis, Calif., was a two-time All-Mountain West performer for San Diego State University. She was tabbed Mountain West Pitcher of the Week on five occasions. During her senior season, Arbino was selected as the Mountain West Pitcher of the Year. She also earned NFCA All-West Region Second Team. Arbino concluded her two-year career at SDSU with her name listed in nine top-10 rankings. She was fourth in both strikeout-to-walk ratio and saves. In all, Arbino won 82 games in her career and helped her teams at both San Diego State and Texas A&M to four-straight postseason appearances. 
Arbino earned her Bachelor of Art’s Degree in women’s studies with a minor in history from San Diego State in 2013. She has taken graduate level classes in from UNLV. Arbino also played softball internationally in Italy with La Loggia Rhibo. She will reside in Crookston. 

The Golden Eagle softball program has also added RT Cantillo as a volunteer assistant coach. Cantillo will work with the Minnesota Crookston outfielders and hitters. Cantillo was a NFCA All-Region selection as a senior at the University of Mississippi. She was the second Rebel in school history to earn All-Region honors. She earned All-SEC Second Team twice in her career. Cantillo led her team with a .424 batting average as a senior. She finished her career with a .481 on-base percentage, which was the all-time mark at Ole Miss. Cantillo was selected in the fifth round of the 2014 National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) draft at the conclusion of her collegiate career. Cantillo played for the Chicago Bandits in 2014 and 2015 and was part of a squad that won the NPF Championship. “RT is another great addition to our staff,” Stopa said. “Her coaching style is that of a teacher and I think they players will respond very well. Much like Coach Arbino, she also has played at the highest level, and I think the players will be able to feed off their experience.”

Cantillo worked as a volunteer assistant coach at University of California-Riverside and as a hitting instructor following her collegiate and professional career. 

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The Northern Sun Conference is loaded with seven top 25 ranked volleyball teams. 
 

Others receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: Rockhurst 114; Concordia (CA) 111; Upper Iowa 109; Azusa Pacific 68; UC San Diego 46; Findlay 39; Central Washington 36; Texas A&M-Commerce 35; Sioux Falls 32; Wingate 31; Wheeling Jesuit 22; West Florida 18; Northern Michigan 13; Tampa 13; Flagler 5

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Sports Minneapolis announces Minnesota Sports Awards

Sports Minneapolis, Powered by Meet Minneapolis, announces the first-ever Minnesota Sports Awards -- a gala event that celebrates the best of sports in Minnesota over the past year – which will take place Dec. 13, 2017, from 5-9 p.m. at Target Center. From the athletes who have inspired us to the moments that captivated us, the awards will honor the success stories that embody the spirit of sports in Minnesota. Fans from across Minnesota are invited to nominate athletes in designated categories leading up to one memorable evening that shines a spotlight on the impact of sports in our state.          

The evening’s awards show, dinner and entertainment will feature appearances by some of Minnesota’s best known athletes and sports legends, all teaming up to honor the high school, collegiate and professional athletes and sports figures who have shaped our sports scene and contributed to our communities. Award categories are: 

High School Athlete of the Year
Awarded to the high school athlete who has set the highest standard for excellence in their sport and in their contributions to the community during the past year or athletic season.

Collegiate Athlete of the Year
Awarded to the collegiate athlete who has set the highest standard for excellence in their sport and in their contributions to the community during the past year or athletic season. 

Professional Athlete of the Year
Awarded to the professional athlete who has set the highest standard for excellence in their sport and in their contributions to the community during the past year or athletic season. Presented by FOX Sports North.

Minnesota Sports Moment of the Year Award
Recognizing a single sports moment from a game or competition in the past year that energized Minnesota sports fans, displayed remarkable athletic skill or demonstrated incredible sportsmanship.

Courage Award
Awarded to an athlete or other sports figure who overcame significant challenges on or off the playing field, inspiring others with their courage, perseverance and determination.

Lifetime Achievement Award
Awarded to a person who has dedicated their career to furthering the success of sports in Minnesota and whose achievements have made a significant impact on the community over many years. FOX Sports North will live stream the event, as well as produce an edited special to air on FOX Sports North at a later date.

PUBLIC MAY SUBMIT NOMINATIONS BY OCT. 13

Fans of Minnesota sports from all over the state should visit www.minnesotasportsawards.com and submit nominations now through Oct. 13, 2017. Nominees will be determined by the nominating committee selected by Sport Minneapolis Board of Directors with finalists and winners announced live on stage at the gala on Dec. 13.

Questions about the Minnesota Sports Awards can be submitted directly to MinnesotaSportsAwards@SportsMinneapolis.org.

TICKETS

Individual tickets and tables for the gala event at Target Center start at $195 and are available for purchase at http://www.sportsminneapolis.org/minnesota-sports-awards/ticket-information. The evening will include dinner, entertainment and a silent auction.

MINNESOTA PROFESSIONAL TEAMS PROVIDE SUPPORT

Minnesota’s six major professional sports teams and the University of Minnesota are all Founding Partners of Sports Minneapolis. One representative from each organization sits on the Sports Minneapolis Board of Directors, and have collaborated with Sports Minneapolis to create the Minnesota Sports Awards and the Ultimate Sports Ticket. 

“The Minnesota Twins organization applauds Sports Minneapolis on the creation of the Minnesota Sports Awards,” said Dave St. Peter, president and CEO. “The vision for the Minnesota Sports Awards is truly a celebration of the state’s rich sports community. The Twins look forward to collaborating with others to ensure the development of a signature event designed to recognize deserving teams, athletes, coaches, executives and fans.”

“The Minnesota Wild is proud to support the first-ever Minnesota Sports Award gala event that will help recognize and honor the best athletes and stories from all around our great state,” said Mitch Helgerson, senior vice president, Marketing and Ticket Sales.

“We are honored to take part in the first-ever Minnesota Sports Awards and we thank our friends at Sports Minneapolis for putting together this great event,” said Timberwolves & Lynx CEO Ethan Casson. “Minnesota has not only a great professional sports landscape, but also incredible programs at all ages to develop young athletes. At the Timberwolves and Lynx, we’re dedicated to growing the game we love, and we are glad our state will have this platform to recognize the contributions of those who make this such a great community in which to play sports.”

“To bring all our professional sports teams together in celebration of the best of Minnesota sports shows a tremendous spirit of collaboration and teamwork,” said Vikings Chief Operating Officer Kevin Warren. “This unprecedented event provides an opportunity to recognize Minnesota athletes of all levels and raise funds dedicated to Sports Minneapolis’ continued focus on bringing major sporting events to our state.”

“For us, as a soccer team, sport is a global phenomenon, and we have players who come from all over the world. But we believe they come here for a reason, and that's because Minnesota is a great state for sports at all levels, from rec leagues to high schools to colleges to the pros,” said Nick Rogers, president, Minnesota United FC. “The Minnesota Sports Awards are recognizing athletes at all levels, and that’s one of the biggest reasons Minnesota United is supporting them."

“At its best, sports offers us the opportunity to celebrate some of the key traits and qualities that we want to see in leaders and role models. It's easy to lose sight of the amazing things athletic competition can teach us over the course of the year,” said Mark Coyle, University of Minnesota athletics director. “The Minnesota Sports Awards is a night that embraces this great aspect of sports, an event for us all to relive the best moments of the previous year and recognize Minnesota athletes and coaches who have achieved, persevered and excelled."

“Sports are the number one reason people visit Minneapolis and are a major economic driver for tourism in our region,” said Melvin Tennant, executive director, Sports Minneapolis and president & CEO, Meet Minneapolis. “Sports Minneapolis, powered by Meet Minneapolis, is proud to have the support of all our major professional teams and the University of Minnesota for this new event and for the work we do to bring athletes and fans to the area. We could not succeed without teamwork, and that is something this community excels in.”

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There has been a lot of interest from people after we posted this so we will post it again.  If you have any info on Pirate sports records or want to help tracking them down read below!

Crookston High School, namely Ed Nelson, has been working on getting all the records for the Pirate Sports teams updated and it has been a process.  Ed is looking for any records, stats, state participants, etc from the following sports.

Boys Tennis
Girls Tennis
Football
Girls Soccer
Volleyball
Baseball

If you have Crookston Times articles with information, yearbooks with team and/or individual records, scrapbooks, or anything with any information that you might think would be of interest to Ed email him at ednelson12@yahoo.com. 

With that said we have links to the Crookston Pirate records pages for the following sports.  If you see something that is incomplete, or maybe an updated record let Ed know at the above email address.  I have listed the team and click on the team to see their records. 

Here is an update on the various sports covered by the website as of December 1, 2016

Sports that are done and will not change without additional information:

Boys’ Basketball
Girls’ Basketball
Boys’ Golf
Girls’ Golf
Boys’ Soccer (Poor or no records were kept over the years.)
Girls’ Soccer
Boys’ Track & Field
Girls’ Track & Field
Wrestling
Softball
Swimming
Volleyball
Girls’ Hockey will be complete by the end of 2016 and join the above.  I am currently looking for “Team:  Game” and “Player: Game” records for the first 5 years of the program.

Sports being worked on:
Baseball (Justin Johnson is doing the research and has completed the last 16 years)
Boys’ & Girls’ Tennis (Mike Geffre has the information and is scanning everything.  When he is done, the records will be posted.)

Sports not yet started:
Football (I will be starting Football this winter.)
Boys’ Hockey (Frank Fee has agreed to research the records.) 

Fall Sports -
Boys Soccer       Girls Swimming      Girls Soccer      Volleyball

Incomplete records     Girls Tennis         Football                  

Winter Sports -
Boys Basketball           Girls Basketball          Boys Hockey         Girls Hockey         Wrestling

Spring Sports-
Softball            Boys Track        Girls Track         Boys Golf         Girls Golf      -

Incomplete records  Boys Tennis         Baseball

Sports that are no longer offered-
Boys Swimming           Girls Cross Country           Boys Cross Country

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JOKES (Do you have any good jokes - email them to chrisjfee@yahoo.com and I will put them in the feever

Five friends were so confident that the weekend before finals, they decided to go for a picnic and party with some friends up there. They had a great time. However, after all the partying, they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to College until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the final then, they decided to find their professor after the final and explain to him why they missed it. They explained that they had gone to an Old age home in the nearest town to spend some time with aged people for the weekend with the plan to come back and study but, unfortunately, they had a flat tire on the way back, didn't have a spare, and couldn't get help for a long time. As a result, they missed the final. The Professor thought it over and then agreed they could make up the final the following day. The guys were elated and relieved. They studied that night and went in the next day at the time the professor had told them. He placed them in separate rooms and handed each of them a test booklet, and told them to begin. They looked at the first problem, worth 5 points. It was the easiest question in their entire syllabus. "Cool," they thought at the same time, each one in his separate room. "This is going to be easy." Each finished the problem and then turned the page. On the second page was written: (For 95 points): Which tire?

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 A lion would never cheat on his wife but a Tiger Wood.

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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
 ****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST *****

Isaac Westlake, a sophomore golfer on the Winona State Men’s Golf team. 
Winona State was off until last week and will host the JR Watkins invite on Monday and Tuesday.

Marietta Geist, a sophomore on the Carleton College Women’s Cross Country team.  Marietta didn’t’ run in the St. Olaf invitational on Saturday.  Carleton will be off until the host the Running of the Cows meet on September 30.

Dylan Klatt, a senior quarterback on the University of Jamestown football team.  Jamestown lost to Valley City State 43-13 on Saturday.  Dylan was 12 of 25 for 142 yards and he had five carries for 2 yards.  Jamestown will host Waldorf University on Saturday.

Luke Edlund, is a junior linebacker on the Crown College football team.  Crown lost to MacMurry 48-34 on Saturday.  Luke had six tackles in the game.  Crown will travel to Eureka on Saturday.

Todd Kreibich, is the Coach and General Manager for the Minnesota Iron Rangers Junior Hockey team our of Hoyt Lakes.

Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson, is Head Volleyball coach at Little Falls High School.

Katy Westrom, is Freshman Girls Tennis coach at Monticello High School.

Matt Harris, is an Assistant Athletic Director and assistant basketball coach at Arizona Christian University in Phoenix, Arizona.

Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
 
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of Wyoming
 
Mike Hastings is the Minnesota State Mankato Men's head Hockey coach
 
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Thief River Falls High School
 
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football and volleyball and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for the Bison media relations 
 
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College
 
Chris Myrold is a Tennis Pro on Nevis Island in the West Indies
 
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
 
Erika Wheelhouse is serving in the Peace Corp in the Philippines.
 
Jarrett Butenhoff is serving our country with the U.S. Navy
 
Joshua Butenhoff is serving our country on a Submarine with the Pacific Fleet with the US Navy.
 
Alan Mart, 2009 Crookston High School graduate, is currently serving his country for the US Army as a Cavalry Scout in Afghanistan.
 
Peter Cournia is a 2002 Crookston High School Graduate and also a grad of West Point and is currently is serving in the U.S. Army.
 
Erik Ellingson is serving our country with the U.S. Air Force Iraq
 
Philip Kujawa class of 2004 from Crookston Central is stationed at Hohnfels in Germany for the next 2 or 3 years.
 
Scott Riopelle is head of Crookston Parks and Recreation
 
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome