SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
If you aren’t familiar with Sports Feever and MEA weekend, we always post a day later due to all the football games that are played on Wednesday. We will take a look at all sections and how the QRF is looking!
All the QRF numbers are from our friends at Minnesota-scores.net! We thank them!
Section 8A Football
The most interesting race for the top seed is at Section 8A Football! Mahnomen/Waubun and Park Christian are both 7-0 on the year and they DON’T play each other. It will come down to the QRF and tie-breakers, unless one of them loses. Park Christian takes on Bagley next week, while Mahnomen/Waubun plays Ada-Borup-West. If both teams win, it looks like Park Christian will be the top seed, depending on what the tie-breaker margin ends up. There is also a race for the third seed with Red Lake County and Polk County West. The teams will play on Tuesday with the winner being the #3 seed.
Besides the obvious, why don’t teams want to play Mahnomen/Waubun in the Section Championship at the Fargodome? Good question. Thanks to Dave Peterson (stat man extraordinaire) for some information. I told him if I was another team I wouldn’t want to play the Thunderbirds in the Fargodome. They are a different team. Dave said, you are right and gave me this information.
Here is a breakdown of how the games went in the regular season and how they went in the Section 8A championship.
2021 – Ada-Borup West beat MW in the regular season 33-12. MW won the championship 30-7.
2022 – They beat Red Lake County 22-20 in the regular season. MW won the championship 32-0
2023 – They beat ABW 22-20 in the regular season. MW won the championship 16-14 (the only one that was the same)
2024 – They beat RLC 13-12 in the regular season. MW won the championship 36-8.
2025 – They beat RLC 21-6 in the regular season. MW won the championship 21-7.
Total point differential – Regular season MW was outscored 90 to 91. In the Championship, MW outscored opponents 135 to 36!!!!
QRF Seeded – October 22
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park Christian | 4-0 | 7-0 | 55.6 | 4 | Won 7 |
| Mahnomen/Waubun | 3-0 | 7-0 | 53.4 | 6 | Won 7 |
| Red Lake County | 3-2 | 5-2 | 40.3 | 17 | Lost 1 |
| Polk County West | 3-2 | 5-2 | 34.8 | 22 | Won 1 |
| Bagley | 2-1 | 4-3 | 29.5 | 29 | Won 1 |
| Ada-Borup-West | 1-4 | 3-4 | 24.9 | 33 | Won 3 |
| Cass Lake-Bena | 1-3 | 1-6 | 10.2 | 49 | Lost 6 |
| Red Lake | 0-5 | 0-7 | 7.4 | 53 | Lost 7 |
— — —
Section 8 9-Player Football
The section has gone as expected at the top anyway, with the defending section champ Kittson County Central at the top with a 6-0 record. They beat Warren-A-O on Thursday evening and will wrap up with Lake of the Woods next week. They should be the top seed. Win-E-Mac beat BGMR on Thursday evening and will take on NCE/UH next week and they should finish second. Goodridge/Grygla and BGMR are fighting for the third seed. You don’t want to be the fourth seed and have to play Stephen-Argyle in the first round! The standings are below as of Thursday afternoon.
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kittson County Central | 4-0 | 6-0 | 37.6 | 2 |
| Win-E-Mac | 1-0 | 5-1 | 32.4 | 8 |
| Goodridge/Grygla | 4-1 | 6-1 | 26.8 | 15 |
| Badger/Greenbush-MR | 3-1 | 5-1 | 26.8 | 15 |
| Stephen-Argyle | 2-3 | 2-5 | 13.8 | 37 |
| Warren-Alvarado-Oslo | 1-3 | 2-4 | 11.4 | 42 |
| Northern Freeze | 1-5 | 1-6 | 6.4 | 51 |
| Lake of the Woods | 0-3 | 0-7 | 3.5 | 57 |
— — —
Section 6 9-Player Football
Fosston looks set to get the top seed as long as they win next week. They have almost a three-point advantage in the QRF. They didn’t play Blackduck, but Fosston has a tougher opponent in Week 8 than Blackduck. If both teams win, Fosston should get the top seed.
QRF Seeded – October 22
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fosston | 3-0 | 6-1 | 30.3 | 10 |
| Blackduck | 0-0 | 6-1 | 27.5 | 14 |
| Clearbrook-Gonvick | 1-1 | 3-4 | 16.3 | 32 |
| Kelliher/Northome | 0-0 | 3-4 | 15.0 | 35 |
| NCE/U-H | 1-2 | 3-4 | 14.0 | 36 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 0-2 | 2-5 | 12.3 | 40 |
— — —
Section 8AA Football
Hawley looks to have the top speed locked up and Pelican Rapids the second seed. The third seed will be decided on Tuesday as Barnesville and Warroad will play each other. Frazee looks to have the fifth seed, Crookston will get the sixth and Roseau the 7th (unless they knock off Hawley next week). When was the last time Barnesville had five losses in a season? There were stretches where they didn’t have that over three years!! They have had some tough luck, injuries, but I sure wouldn’t want to play them in the playoffs! They KNOW how to win!
Seeding Method TBD
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawley | 3-0 | 5-2 | 55.2 | 8 |
| Pelican Rapids | 3-1 | 5-2 | 47.4 | 15 |
| Barnesville | 1-2 | 2-5 | 25.1 | 34 |
| Warroad | 1-2 | 2-5 | 23.3 | 37 |
| Frazee | 0-0 | 2-5 | 19.4 | 42 |
| Crookston | 0-0 | 1-6 | 12.9 | 49 |
| Roseau | 0-3 | 0-7 | 7.8 | 56 |
— — —
Section 8AAA Football
Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton is 7-0 and looking to lock up the top seed when they take on EGF next week. Perham and EGF close for the second seed, but Perham beat the Green Wave to have the tie-breaker advantage. The final three seeds are up for grabs with Park Rapids having the advantage going into the final week.
Seeding Method TBD
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton | 3-0 | 7-0 | 75.6 | 10 |
| Perham | 2-1 | 6-1 | 68.7 | 11 |
| East Grand Forks | 2-1 | 6-1 | 59.6 | 16 |
| Minnewaska Area | 1-0 | 3-4 | 36.4 | 33 |
| Park Rapids | 1-3 | 2-5 | 25.9 | 42 |
| Morris/Chokio-Alberta | 0-1 | 2-5 | 23.4 | 43 |
| Thief River Falls | 0-3 | 2-5 | 22.7 | 46 |
— — —
Section 8A Volleyball
The high school volleyball teams are winding down their seasons with the final regular-season games next week. NEW in 2026, the seeding will be done 1 through 20 with no subsections!!!! I LOVE this.
The top team is Sacred Heart, and there is no argument there as they are 24-3 on the year and 14-0 in section play! Where things get interesting, and tie-breakers will come into play, is pretty much every other seed! Fertile-Beltrami, Fosston, and Climax-Fisher are all fighting for the second seed. Climax-Fisher beat Fertile-Beltrami last week and they also beat Fosston earlier this year, so they are in line for the second seed as of now. Fosston and Fertile-Beltrami play next week and whoever wins that will have a leg up for the third seed. The rest of the seeds are too close to call, but tie-breakers will be needed.
QRF Seeded – October 23
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sacred Heart | 14-0-0 | 24-3-0 | 120.1 | 8 |
| Fertile-Beltrami | 6-3-0 | 14-6-0 | 93.8 | 19 |
| Fosston | 7-1-0 | 14-6-0 | 92.8 | 25 |
| Climax/Fisher | 16-2-0 | 20-5-0 | 90.9 | 28 |
| Lake of the Woods | 5-0-0 | 14-6-0 | 76.5 | 46 |
| Goodridge/Grygla | 10-4-0 | 16-5-0 | 73.5 | 52 |
| Red Lake Falls | 8-9-0 | 12-9-0 | 70.8 | 55 |
| Kittson County Central | 9-3-0 | 14-12-0 | 70.2 | 56 |
| Red Lake County Central | 5-9-0 | 8-11-0 | 67.7 | 58 |
| Bagley | 9-4-0 | 14-6-0 | 66.7 | 61 |
| Northern Freeze | 7-7-0 | 10-11-0 | 60.7 | 75 |
| Warren-Alvarado-Oslo | 7-8-0 | 9-13-0 | 59.7 | 78 |
| Blackduck | 2-6-0 | 9-12-0 | 48.3 | 100 |
| Stephen-Argyle | 3-13-0 | 5-15-0 | 45.6 | 105 |
| Win-E-Mac | 5-8-0 | 7-13-0 | 45.1 | 107 |
| Ada-Borup-West | 1-8-0 | 3-16-0 | 42.7 | 113 |
| Badger/Greenbush-MR | 1-13-0 | 3-18-0 | 41.7 | 114 |
| Northome/Kelliher | 1-3-0 | 8-14-0 | 40.0 | 117 |
| Mahnomen/Waubun | 3-8-0 | 6-13-0 | 39.8 | 118 |
| Clearbrook-Gonvick | 0-10-0 | 3-14-0 | 30.4 | 136 |
— — —
Section 8AA Volleyball
Thief River Falls, Barnesville, Perham, and even Wadena-Deer Creek are all within reach of the top seed in the playoffs. TRF lost to Barnesville in a tournament, lost to Perham, and then tied 1-1 in a tournament. Barnesville beat Perham 3-1 before losing to them 2-1. So there are a lot of question marks, and big matches last week that will impact the standings. After the top four teams, you have East Grand Forks, Hawley, Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, Roseau, and Frazee battling for the 5 through 9 seeds. EGF could even move up to a fourth seed, possibly, especially since they beat WDC in the regular season. This is the most competitive the section has been in a long time. There is legitimately nine teams I think could win the championship.
It will all depend on which team can play three or four outstanding matches in a row.
Seeding Method TBD
| Team | Section | Overall | QRF Value | QRF Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thief River Falls | 7-3-0 | 21-4-0 | 115.1 | 22 |
| Barnesville | 7-4-0 | 19-7-0 | 114.5 | 23 |
| Perham | 6-3-0 | 14-7-0 | 114.2 | 25 |
| Wadena-Deer Creek | 4-3-0 | 15-6-0 | 110.7 | 27 |
| East Grand Forks | 8-3-0 | 17-9-0 | 106.6 | 31 |
| Hawley | 3-7-0 | 12-11-0 | 97.9 | 42 |
| Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton | 4-4-0 | 13-14-0 | 91.2 | 50 |
| Roseau | 2-6-0 | 12-8-0 | 89.5 | 53 |
| Frazee | 5-2-0 | 14-7-0 | 85.4 | 60 |
| Menahga | 2-3-0 | 12-13-0 | 68.1 | 81 |
| Park Rapids | 2-6-0 | 8-11-0 | 64.4 | 85 |
| Crookston | 1-2-0 | 5-12-0 | 43.9 | 112 |
| Warroad | 0-5-0 | 3-21-0 | 36.3 | 119 |
| Red Lake | 0-0-0 | 0-14-0 | 19.7 | 127 |
— — —
KROX Radio and KROX TV will be video-streaming every Crookston Pirate Varsity Fall sporting event again this season. We have direct links to the streams for each home game. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel ((155) KROX Radio – YouTube) to get reminders when we go live with all our coverage.
October 21 –
Crookston Pirate Football vs Red Lake – https://youtube.com/live/NwlNvw1izos
October 22 –
Crookston Pirate Volleyball vs Climax-Fisher – https://youtube.com/live/dbH4RVra80Y
— — —
JOKES
One Monday morning, a postman is walking the neighborhood on his usual route. As he approached one of the homes, he noticed that both cars were in the driveway. His wonder was cut short by Bob, the homeowner, coming out with a load of empty beer and liquor bottles.
“Wow Bob, looks like you guys had one hell of a party last night,” the postman comments.
Bob, in obvious pain, replies, “Actually, we had it Saturday night. This is the first I have felt like moving since 4:00 am Sunday morning. We had about fifteen couples from around the neighborhood over for Christmas Cheer, and it got a bit wild. We got so drunk around midnight that we started playing ‘Who Am I.'”
The postman thinks a moment and says, “How do you play that?”
Well all the guys go in the bedroom and we come out one at a time with a sheet covering us and only our “privates” showing through a hole in the sheet. Then the women try to guess who it is.”
The mailman laughs and says, “Damn, I’m sorry I missed that.”
“Probably a good thing you did,” Bob responds. “Your name came up four or five times.”
— — —
An old farmer got pulled over by a young state trooper for speeding. The trooper, fresh on the job, decided to throw his weight around and started lecturing the farmer about his speed. He did his best to make the farmer feel uncomfortable but eventually got around to writing the ticket. As he wrote, he had to swat at several flies that were buzzing around his head.
“Having some problems with circle flies there, are ya?” asked the farmer.
The trooper stopped writing the ticket and looked up. “Well yeah, if that’s what they are,” he said. “I never heard of circle flies, though.”
“Oh, they’re pretty common on farms,” said the farmer. “We call ’em circle flies because they’re always circling around the back end of a horse.”
“I see,” said the trooper as he continued writing the ticket. All of a sudden, he stopped and looked up at the farmer. “Hey…wait a minute, are you trying to call me a horse’s ass?”
“Oh no, officer,” replied the farmer. “I have far too much respect for law enforcement and police officers to even think about calling you a horse’s ass.”
“Well, that’s a good thing,” said the trooper as he resumed writing the ticket.
After a long pause, the farmer continued. “Hard to fool them flies, though.”
— — —
Late one night a mugger wearing a ski mask jumped into a path of a well-dressed man and stuck a gun in his ribs “give me your money,” he demanded. Indignant, the affluent man replied, “you can’t do this – I am a United States congressman!” “In that case,” replied the mugger, “give me MY money.”
— — —
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
Reggie Winjum is a freshman playing basketball at the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Chloe Boll is a freshman playing basketball at the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Emma LaPlante is a freshman playing hockey and tennis at Wisconsin-Superior.
Ava Martin is a freshman playing golf at Gustavus Aldolphus.
Matt Contreras is a Sophomore playing baseball at Concordia College in Moorhead.
Conner Hanson is playing Club Hockey at the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Brandon Colborn is playing Club Hockey at the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Teagen Lubinski is playing Club Hockey at the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Riley Benson is playing Club Hockey at the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Kadin Edwards is playing Club Hockey at the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Garrett Fischer is playing junior hockey for the Pueblo Peppers in the NAHL.
Jay Reese is playing junior hockey for the Gillette Wild in the Na3hl.
Greyson Ecker is playing junior hockey for the Gillette Wild in the Na3hl.
Parker Kelly is playing junior hockey for the Bandlands Sabres in the Na3hl.
Nathan Kelly is playing for the NDSU Club Hockey team
Addie Fee is a Sophomore playing hockey at Wisconsin-Superior.
Kambelle Freije is a Sophomore playing hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Riley Helgeson is a Sophomore playing football at Northern State.
Emily Bowman is a Sophomore playing Softball at North Dakota State College of Science.
Halle Winjum is a Junior playing basketball at Minnesota Crookston.
Naomi Johnson is a Sophomore playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Reese Swanson is a Junior playing hockey at St. Olaf.
Carter Coauette is a Junior playing football at Minot State.
Isaac Thomforde is a Junior playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.
Halle Bruggeman is a Senior on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.
Ethan Boll is a Senior on the University of North Dakota Football team.
Breanna Kressin is a Senior the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.
Jacey Larson is a Senior playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.
Seth Heppner – Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Golf at Jessup University
Brady Heppner – Head Coach of Women’s Golf at UMC and Assistant Hockey Coach
Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Colton Weiland is an assistant Pirate Wrestling Coach
Jason Cassavant is a Jr. High Baseball Coach and Head American Legion Baseball coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Connor Morgan is the Head Pirate Boys Hockey coach
Ben Trostad is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ethan Magsam is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc
Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.
Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball
Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.
Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.
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.
Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
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 North Dakota.
Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.
Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Jaren Bailey is serving our country and is Lance Corporal in the Marines.
Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.
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..
