Welcome to the Sports Feever column. We will dive right into this weeks column.
— — —
We have updated the Crookston Pirate Winter Sports schedules, including the girls hockey schedule. CLICK HERE to see the schedules.
— — —
The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey team has had three days of practice under their belt and this is who is out as of Wednesday –
They have 25 players out in 10-12th grade with one freshman on the roster.
Seniors (5) – Isaac Telle, Blaine Andringa, Zach Johnson, Sam Stewart, Landon Walker
Juniors (10) – Alex Longoria, Thor Harbott, Zach Tahran, Dalton Delude, Nathan Kelly, Jack Doda, Drake Lord, Jackson Demarais, Kaleb Armstrong, Jaren Bailey
Sophomores (10) – Carter Trudeau, Jackson Reese, Ashton Shockman, Kadin Edwards, Dalen Korynta, Lucas Miller, Ty Larson, Jayden Steinbrink, Koda Donarski, Blake Melsa
Freshman (1) – Riley Helgeson
— — —
The Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball team started practice on Monday and has 25 players out 9-12.
Seniors (9)- Bailey Cameron, Jenna Coauette, Madison Hoiland, Hannah Loraas, Ellie Nesseth, Emma Osborn, Amelia Overgaard, Ally Perreault, Hayden Winjum.
Juniors (3) – Abby Borowicz, Macy Fee, Libby Salentine
Sophomore (7) – Keona Arnold, Katelyn Christianson, Emma Gunderson, Isabelle Smith, Frankie Torvinen, Bailey Turnwall, Halle Winjum.
Freshman (6) – Naomi Johnson, Dani Kresl, Joey Nesseth, Mariah Overgaard, Dukessa Ramirez, Jesabel Vega
— — —
The postponed girls hockey game with Breckenridge/Wahpeton will be played on January 21 at 7:00 pm in Crookston, Varsity only.
— — —
SECTION 8A HOCKEY-
We have the master schedule for Section 8A Boys Hockey – CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE for the Section 8A Girls Hockey master schedule
SECTION 8AA BASKETBALL –
For the master schedule for Section 8AA Boys/Girls Basketball – CLICK HERE
— — —
The Minnesota State High School League state football tournament semi-finals will be held Thursday and Friday this week at U.S. Bank Stadium.
In the 9-Man tournament, there are two teams from Northwest Minnesota with Fertile-Beltrami and Kittson County Central. Fertile-Beltrami has the best record at 12-0 and has the best QRF value at 41.6.
LeRoy-Ostrander, Hills-Beaver Creek, and Kittson County Central are all 10-2 on the year.
The QRF rankings look like this –
Fertile-Beltrami – 41.6 (#2 in state – #1 was Mountain Iron-Buhl)
LeRoy Ostrander – 40.7 (#3)
Hills-Beaver Creek – 35.5 (#11)
Kittson County Central – 33.3 (#14)
Fertile-Beltrami is coming off an impressive performance in the state quarterfinals as they man-handled Mountain Iron-Buhl in the second half and cruised to a 44-22 victory. Fertile-Beltrami didn’t allow a point in the second half until the final minute when they took the starters out and Mountain Iron-Buhl kept the starters in. So it was an impressive win and the Falcons continue to wear teams down as the game goes along.
This is the first trip to the state semi-finals since 2006 when they played in Class A and they played at the Metrodome. Everett Balstad led the way with over 170 yards rushing. The defense played fantastically and the Falcons have to like their chances of playing two more games if they play like they are capable against a very good team.
Hills-Beaver Creek is 10-2 on the year and beat both teams they lost to in the Section championship and the first round of state so they are playing their best football right now. They beat GHEC/Truman 56-0, beat Madelia 51-0, beat Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda 45-12, beat Westbrook-Walnut Grove 43-8, lost to Renville County West 18-12, lost to Mountain Lake Area 25-6, beat Red Rock Central 24-6, and beat Edgerton 43-8. In the playoffs, they beat GHEC/Truman 47-0, beat Edgerton 44-8, beat Mountain Lake 36-9.
In the state quarterfinals, they beat Renville County West 30-7 and were led offensively by Cole Baker who ran for 142 yards on 22 carries. Their quarterback was 1 of 4 passing with an interception and 30 yards.
Renville County West is similar in size to Fertile-Beltrami except they have one lineman that is 6’6 and 312 pounds. I don’t know if he is a starter or not, but that is a big boy.
Reasons why Fertile-Beltrami will win –
1. They are a very good team and playing their best football
2. Everett Balstad
3. The depth they have at running back with Isaiah Wright, Derek Sorenson, Levi Qualley, and the crew.
4. The offensive and defensive line has been fantastic.
5. The coaching. The Falcons have a great coaching staff and will have the boys as ready as they can.
6. The crowd. What a crowd for the state quarter-final and I am expecting as loud and big of a crowd for the semi-finals.
Reasons why they might not win –
1. They have to take care of the ball. No turnovers.
2. The first game for all the boys in U.S. Bank Stadium can cause a lot of nerves early on.
3. That is all I got…..There is really no reason why the Falcons won’t win.
KROX will have the game on the radio with the RiverView Health pre-game show at 8:30 a.m. and kickoff at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, November 19. Listen on 1260 AM, kroxam.com, the KROX app, or on your smart speaker by saying “Listen to K-R-O-X in Crookston).
— — —
The Polar North Volleyball conference announced the All-Conference and Honorable Mention teams. The schools in the Polar North are Crookston, East Grand Forks, Red Lake County Central, Red Lake Falls, Sacred Heart, Thief River Falls, and Warren-Alvarado-Oslo. The award winners are listed below –
Conference Team Champions – Sacred Heart
All-Conference team –
Crookston – Libby Salentine
East Grand Forks – Kendra Emery, Morgan Kovar, Ava Pena
Red Lake Falls – Brea Derosier
Red Lake County Central – Jamie Flatgard
Sacred Heart – Avery Horken, Grace Loeslie, Grace Miller
Thief River Falls – Mattea Erickson, Brylee Lingen, Karly Martell
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo – Grace Anderson, Lily Bayne, Elise Oberg
All-Conference Honorable mention –
Crookston – Breanna Kressin
East Grand Forks – Addison Kujawa
Red Lake Falls – Brooklyn Cardinal, Gabrielle Casavan
Red Lake County Central – Cari Bachand, Leah Peterson, Bailey Sherman
Sacred Heart – Grace Vonesh, Sophie Evavold
Thief River Falls – Brookie Bakke, Carlie Rogalla
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo – Lindsey Bring, Aaliyah Johnson
— — —
One area high school volleyball coach reached a victory milestone this season. The coach and career win milestone are listed below –
Tina Turn (Kittson County Central) – 200 wins
— — —
The mighty Beavers of Bemidji State University are having a fantastic fall. The Football team has made the NCAA Regional tournament and will play Augustana in the first round of the playoffs. The Women’s Soccer team received the #3 seed in the NCAA Regional tournament and will take on East Central University (Oklahoma) in the first round. Both are firsts in program history.
Congrats to the alma mater.
— — —
The University of Minnesota Crookston women’s soccer team announced the signing of four student-athletes to National Letters of Intent. The Golden Eagles have added Tayettin Brodzinski (D, 5-11, Yelm, Wash./Yelm H.S.), Sarah Burgum (F, 5-10, Mandan, N.D./Mandan H.S.), Uda Kimba (D/M, 5-5, Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island H.S.), and Britney Le (MF/F, 4-10, Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East H.S.).
Tayettin Brodzinski (D, 5-11, Yelm, Wash./Yelm H.S.)
Brodzinski competed for Yelm High School, and played club soccer for OL Reign Academy. She helped her club team to the Mt. Hood Challenge Championship and 2019. They won the PSPL League Championship in 2020. In 2021, they were a PSPL National Premier League State Cup finalist. In 2021, her team was the Adidas Beaverton Cup Champion. She was a PSPL Surf Academy selection in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. She is a Yelm H.S. FFA landscape design winner and landscape installation winner in 2019. She was the Thurston County Fair landscape champion in 2019.
She is the daughter of Brian and Kristin Brodzinski. Brodzinski plans to major in horticulture and turf management at UMC.
Sarah Burgum (F, 5-10, Mandan, N.D./Mandan H.S.)
Burgum competed on the soccer pitch for Mandan H.S. In addition, she was the third female kicker on the football team in five years for Mandan H.S. Burgum was a Second Team All-State soccer player. She earned WDA Academic All-Conference in both soccer and field. Burgum was named to the WDA All-Conference Team in 2021. She has also been a member of the All-State concert band in 2020 and 2021 and has been in the high school’s concert band for four years. She has been in piano lesson for the last 12 years.
She is the daughter of Barb and Corey Burgum. She plans to major in exercise science and wellness.
Uda Kimba (D/MF, 5-5, Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island H.S.)
Kimba was a Western Big 6 All-Conference pick as a junior at Rock Island H.S. She also competed in club soccer for the Muscatine Soccer Club.
Britney Le (MF/F, 4-10, Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East H.S.)
She played high school soccer for Lincoln East H.S. and club soccer for Gretna Elite Academy. Her full name is Giaan Britney Le. She is the daughter of An and Cam Le. She plans to major in marketing.
— — —
JOKES
— — —
How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Ben Trostad is a senior playing Men’s Golf at UMC.
Kaleb Thingelstad is a freshman playing golf at Kansas Wesleyan University. KWU is done for the fall season.
Joslynn Leach is a freshman playing golf at Concordia College in Moorhead. The Cobbers wrapped up the Fall season.
Brady Butt is a sophomore playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Rachel Hefta, is a junior playing volleyball at Hastings College in Nebraska.
Ty Hamre is playing football at Bemidji State University.
Paul Bittner is playing professional hockey in Sweden. He is the only American playing for Mora IK of the Allsvenskan league. (Scoring and stats are difficult to find)
Gretchen Theis is a sophomore at NDSU on the Equestrian team.
Kate MacGregor is a senior swimming at Minnesota State Moorhead.
Aleece Durbin, is a Junior on the University of North Dakota Women’s Track and Field team.
Nick Garmen is a junior playing tennis at the University of Minnesota Morris.
Crookston School District Coaches –
Emily Meyer is the Pirate head girls hockey coach and softball assistant coach.
Lacia Hanson is the Junior High softball coach.
Jeremy Lubinski is a Pirate 8th Grade Football coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Cody Brekken is the Crookston Community Pool Supervisor
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach
Brock Hanson is a Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Ben Halos is a Pirate Baseball assistant coach.
Alex LaFrance is a Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Jeff Perreault is the Pirate Girls Golf head coach
Wes Hanson is the Pirate Wrestling Head Coach and assistant boys golf coach
Kevin Weber is a Pirate Boys Basketball volunteer assistant coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Sam Melbye is the Pirate Boys J.V. Hockey coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Colton Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching –
Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.
Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown
Kaylee Desrosier is a softball coach for Fargo Davies Middle School.
Josh Edlund is an assistant football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach in Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is Head Wrestling coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Katy Westrom, is Head Girls Tennis Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Monticello High School.
Matt Harris, is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, 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
Ben Andringa is serving our country with the Army in New York.
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.
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 at Minot.
Philip Kujawa class of 2004 from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com.
