SPORTS FEEVER – Written by Chris Fee (chrisjfee@yahoo.com)
First of all, I apologize to all of you for last week’s column. It didn’t save most of my post and by the time I figured it out, it was too late. So sorry about last week. The last two weeks have been challenging with our site, but now we are 100 percent!!!
I was in New York City Tuesday night (midnight) through Sunday morning and it was as awesome as ever. NYC is my favorite place not on a white sandy beach. I was there for the National Association of Broadcasters Marconi awards. The Marconi award is the highest honor a radio station can be given. We were a finalist for Small Market Radio Station of the year. Just to give you a little perspective, Minneapolis/St. Paul is the only major market in Minnesota. The rest of the stations are small markets. All the North Dakota stations are considered small markets. Over 75 percent of the radio stations are small markets. So being considered one of the top five for the second time in four years is pretty special. We didn’t win, but I got my money’s worth in free booze that night. So I showed them. All joking aside, it was a great night, even if we didn’t win.
Maybe next time we will get a win, but we will see. Enjoy this week’s column as we hit the busiest week of the year for fall sports playoffs. KROX will have a game or match every night and two football games on Saturday so we are busy, but we love this time of year!
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Crookston Pirate Girls Tennis players, Halle Winjum and Emma Gunderson (both juniors) won the Section 8A Individual Doubles tournament two weeks ago and will get to play in the Minnesota State High School Individual Doubles tournament at Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center in Minneapolis on Thursday and hopefully Friday.
Halle Winjum has a solid family history of success at the state tournament. Halle’s uncle, Jake Olson along with Troy Kleven won back-to-back State Doubles championships over 20 years ago. Halle’s mom, Leah (Olson) Winjum played for the Pirates in the state tennis tournament, and her older sister Hayden Winjum played in both team and individual state tournaments.
Winjum and Gunderson will play Allison Bluedorn and Keyana Haler of St. James in the first round. If they win, they would play the winner of #3 seed Greta Johnson and Chloe Alley of Minnehaha Academy or Taylor Elliot and Erin Witter of Rochester Lourdes.
The first-round matches begin at 10:00 AM.
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The first day of MSHSL Winter Sports practices, the first competition date, and state tourney dates are listed below –
Dance started October 24 (first competition is November 3 and State is February 17-18)
Girls Hockey starts October 31 (first competition is November 10, State is February 22-25)
Wrestling starts November 21 (first competition date is December 1 and State is March 2-4)
Boys Hockey starts November 14 (first competition date is November 23 and State is March 8-11)
Girls Basketball starts November 14 (first competition date is November 23 and State is March 15-18)
Boys Basketball starts November 21 (first competition date is December 1 an State is March 22-25)
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We have posted the Crookston Pirate Winter Sports team’s schedules on our site. Click on the link below to go to the page. The schedules, of course, are likely to change more than once for several reasons, including winter storms.
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The Crookston Pirate Dance team has had a few practices already this season and they have 20 dancers out this year. The team is coached by Grace Espinosa and the roster is below. If you want to see the team’s schedule this winter, click on the Pirate winter sports schedule above.
Varsity Kick and Jazz
11th Leila Bautista
11th Calleigh Fanfulik
10th Kalea Luckow
10th Makenna Kopecky
10th Mackenzie Funk
9th Avery Trudeau
9th Mady Knutson
9th Caden Sanders-Cole
9th Morgyn Larson
8th Kendra Brekken
8th Avery Mathews
7th Abbigail Bruley
JV kick and Jazz
10th Calvin Griffyn
8th Evelyn Gunderson
8th Brea Lessard
8th Adalyn Hanson
7th Leia Parkin
7th Madalyn Hanson
7th Isley Machado
7th Brittyn Sanders-Cole
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We will take a look at the five area Section Football semi-final games happening on Saturday across NW Minnesota. The previews and predictions are below –
SECTION 8AA Semi-finals –
SEMI-FINAL 1
Crookston (4-5) will travel to Pelican Rapids (7-1). The teams didn’t play during the regular season so it is tough to compare anything there. Below are the common matchups-
Pelican Rapids beat Frazee 42-20
Crookston beat Frazee 33-14
Pelican Rapids lost to Barnesville 43-0
Crookston lost to Barnesville 28-0
As you can tell, the teams are pretty even comparing scores, which means nothing.
Crookston is coming into the game healthy and off two convincing wins while outscoring their opponents 93-23. Pelican Rapids has outscored Roseau and Breckenridge in the last two games of the regular season by 104-31. So expect a lot of points to be scored. Pelican Rapids, from our reports, will be playing without their starting quarterback and Mr. everything as Timmy Guler (reportedly) injured his knee and won’t be able to play on Saturday. That is a big blow for Pelican Rapids, but they are deep and their line is solid, so it will be a perfect opportunity for the next man up!
I predict Crookston wins by a touchdown in a high-scoring game.
SEMI-FINAL 2 –
Barnesville (8-0) will host Frazee (5-4). The teams didn’t play during the regular season and there isn’t much to say about this game. Frazee is coming in as heavy underdog and will have to play their game of the year to be in the game. Barnesville is not only the heavy favorite to win the Section Championship, but also a favorite to be in the State Championship with a few other teams.
Barnesville wins 35-7.
SECTION 8A SEMI-FINALS –
SEMI-FINAL 1 –
Red Lake County (7-2) at Ada-Borup-West (8-1) will meet again. A week and a half after they played in the regular season finale. In the last meeting, ABW won big 36-8 and that score might have been a surprise to most people outside of ABW. Ada came into the game with only an 11 point win over Warroad, a 52-34 victory over Underwood and then took care of business to get the home game in the semi-finals.
Red Lake County’s only losses have come to ABW and Mahnomen-Waubun by two points. The semi-final game between the teams on Saturday will be much closer and I am going to go with Red Lake County for the win by 21-20.
SEMI-FINAL 2 –
Mahnomen-Waubun (8-0) is once again the top seed after going undefeated. They will host Polk County West (5-4) in the semifinals on Saturday. The teams met in week one and Mahnomen/Waubun beat Polk County West 22-7. It is tough to take much from that game for both teams, but PCW is a dangerous team and I know Coach Clark and the Thunderbirds won’t take anybody lightly. I wouldn’t be surprised if the game doesn’t come down to a one-score difference, but I have learned one thing over the years…..NEVER bet against Mahnomen-Waubun in the playoffs. I say they win 28-20.
SECTION 8 9-MAN SEMI-FINALS –
SEMI-FINAL 1 –
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo (8-1) will host Goodridge-Grygla (7-2) on Saturday night. The teams met in week four and WAO won 20-0.
I don’t think there is a way the second meeting will have a three-score spread and expect a much closer game. Both teams have had interesting scores throughout the season and GG just came off a 30-22 loss to Kittson County Central to finish the regular season, before holding off BGMR in the first round by a 22-15 score.
In all honesty, I have no idea about this game as it could go either way, but I am going with WAO to win by 10.
SEMI-FINAL 2 –
Kittson County Central (9-0) hosts Win-E-Mac (5-4). KCC beat WEM 43-6 in week 5. KCC has an outstanding team with a boatload of talent, size, and speed. They are undefeated for a reason, but their final regular season game was their closest game of the year when they edged Goodridge-Grygla 30-22.
I am going to predict KCC wins by 20.
SECTION 6 9-MAN SEMI-FINALS –
SEMI-FINAL 1 –
Fertile-Beltrami (8-0) will start the defense of their Section 6 9-man title on Saturday afternoon when they host Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal (6-3). The teams met during the regular season and Fertile-Beltrami won with a strong second half 40-12.
It might be hard to believe, but Fertile-Beltrami is more explosive on the offensive end this year than they were last year! They have averaged 47.6 points per game while giving up 7 points per game. They have dominated every game they have played this year and I don’t think Saturday will be different. I am predicting a 25-point win for the Falcons.
SEMI-FINAL 2 –
Nevis (8-1) will host Blackduck (7-2) on Saturday. The teams met during the regular season with Nevis winning 19-14 in week three. Both teams have had great seasons and this will be a game that comes down to a one-score game. I am picking Blackduck to win by 2.
SECTION 8AAA SEMI-FINALS –
SEMI-FINAL 1 –
Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (8-0) will host Thief River Falls (5-4). DGF has had a tremendous season and has a QRF rank of 2nd in the state in AAA. They have played a solid schedule and have had a lot of good/close battles throughout the year. They beat Pequot Lakes by two, beat EGF by 10, beat Hawley by 6, and beat Detroit Lakes by seven. DGF beat TRF 32-7 in the season opener so you can take that for what it’s worth. Thief River Falls has had their best season in many years. They have been playing well, they are well-coached and I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes down to the wire on Saturday.
I pick DGF to win, but they will have to win a battle to advance.
SEMI-FINAL 2 –
Perham (5-4) will host East Grand Forks (5-4) on Saturday. Perham beat EGF 14-11 in week seven. EGF started the season slow with tough games against Detroit Lakes and Pequot Lakes, but since then they have played solid football. Perham has kind of been all over this year. They got pummeled by Osakis (which Class AA in Section 6 and 8 has shown they are better than AAA this year, at the top anyway) 42-0, lost to Detroit Lakes 49-6, barely beat Fergus Falls 22-20, then beat EGF by three. So it depends which Perham team shows up on Saturday.
I am going to pick EGF to win 28-21.
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We have the latest Minnesota State High School fall sports polls with football and volleyball, and the final soccer polls.
CLICK HERE to see the latest Football and Volleyball polls.
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Congratulations to East Grand Forks Green Wave Girls Soccer’s Kara Ellis on being named a Class AA Ms. Soccer finalist!
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Congratulations to Kittson County Central Bearcat Hockey’s Hayden Hennen on his commitment to play Division 1 Hockey at Augusta University in Sioux Falls. This is the first person from Section 8A boys hockey to commit to the brand-new hockey program.
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The NCAA Division II Football Regional rankings have been announced and the Mighty Bemidji State Beavers are looking to be in good shape to host a playoff game!!!!!
The NSIC, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), the Lone Star Conference (LSC) make up the 34-team NCAA Super Region Four this season.
The Division II Football Championship provides for a maximum field of 28 teams. Twelve (12) first-round games will be conducted on the campus of one of the competing institutions. The top seed in each selection region (super region) will receive a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
The latest rankings are below –
SUPER REGION FOUR Rec In-Region
1. Angelo State (LSC) 8-0 8-0
2. Augustana (NSIC) 6-2 6-2
3. Bemidji State (NSIC) 6-2 6-2
4. Colorado School of Mines (RMAC) 6-2 6-1
5. Minnesota State (NSIC) 6-2 6-2
6. Sioux Falls (NSIC) 7-1 7-1
7. Texas A&M-Kingsville (LSC) 5-1 5-1
8. Wayne State (NSIC) 6-2 6-2
9. West Texas A&M (LSC) 5-3 5-3
10. Winona State (NSIC) 6-2 6-2
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JOKES
An elderly woman joins a country club, and when she hears the guys talking about their golf round, she says, “I played on my college’s golf team. I was pretty good. Mind if I join you next week?”
No one wants to say ‘yes’, but they’re on the spot.
Finally, one man says, “Okay, but we start at 6:30 a.m.” He figures the early tee-time will discourage her.
The elderly woman says this may be a problem and asks if she can be up to 15 minutes late. They roll their eyes, but say, “Okay.”
She’s there at 6:30 a.m. sharp and beats all of them with an eye-opening 2-under par round.
She’s fun and pleasant and the guys are impressed.
They congratulate her and invite her back next week.
She smiles, and says, “I’ll be there at 6:30, or 6:45.”
The next week she again shows up at 6:30 sharp. Only this time, she plays left-handed. The three guys are incredulous as she still beats them with an even-par round, despite playing with her off-hand. They’re totally amazed! They can’t figure her out.
She’s a very pleasant and gracious winner. They invite her back again, but each man harbors a burning desire to beat her.
The third week she’s 15 minutes late, which irritates the guys.
This week she plays right-handed and narrowly beats all three of them. The men grumble that her late arrival is petty gamesmanship on her part. However, she’s so charming and complimentary of their strong play, they can’t hold a grudge. This woman is a riddle no one can figure out.
They have a couple of beers in the Clubhouse and finally, one of the men asks her, “How do you decide if you’re going to golf right-handed or left-handed?”
The old lady blushes and grins. “When my dad taught me to play golf, I learned that I was ambidextrous,” she replies. “I like to switch back and forth.”
“When I got married after college, I discovered my husband always sleeps in the nude. From then on, I developed a silly habit. Right before I leave in the morning for golf practice, I pull the covers off him. If his willie points to the right, I golf right-handed; if it points to the left, I golf left-handed.”
The guys think this is hysterical.
Astonished at this bizarre information, one of the guys smirks and says, “What if it’s pointing straight up?”
She says, “Then, I’m fifteen minutes late.”
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My penis was in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Then the librarian told me to take it out and kicked me out of the library.
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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. Email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Jacey Larson is a freshman playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau
Olivia Huck is a freshman playing soccer at Minnesota State Moorhead.
Brooks Butt is a freshman playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Aleah Bienek is a freshman playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.
Elise Tangquist is the Assistant Girls Volleyball and Assistant Girls Golf Coach this year at Heritage Christian Academy in Maple Grove.
Emma Borowicz is a sophomore running track at Minnesota State Mankato.
Kaleb Thingelstad is a sophomore playing golf at North Central University in the Twin Cities.
Joslynn Leach is a sophomore playing golf at Concordia College in Moorhead. The Cobbers wrapped up the Fall season.
Brady Butt is a Junior playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Rachel Hefta is a Senior playing volleyball at Hastings College in Nebraska.
Ty Hamre is playing football at Bemidji State University.
Paul Bittner is playing professional hockey in Norway.
Kate MacGregor is 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.
Elizabeth Erdman is a coach for the Moorhead Red Dragon swim team.
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
Josh Edlund is the head 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 Grand Forks Schools.
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 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
Ben Andringa is serving our country with the Army and is deployed to Iraq for nine months.
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 a grad of West Point and currently 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.
