SPORTS FEEVER – Written by Chris Fee (chrisjfee@yahoo.com)
After Friday evening, we will have three and a half weeks left of the regular football season!!!! Let that sink in, folks!!!!!
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Thought of the week. MSHSL’s District scheduling is STUPID! Crookston, for example, plays more teams in Section 6AA (4 teams) than their own section 8AA (3 teams). Crookston is traveling to Pillager and hosting Staples-Motley instead of playing Warroad and Pelican Rapids. And instead of playing Osakis, why can’t they play Thief River Falls?
I still don’t know why the MSHSL insists on this foolish scheduling. Out of the 500 plus schools there have been over100 new AD’s. So it is slick for them, but the AD’s need to push back and say this is stupid. But it also costs the school districts more, especially with high gas prices this year.
They won’t change to make all section teams play your section teams, then crossover with somebody else to fill the schedule because that would make sense, and we all know common sense isn’t a strength of the league that claims to be all about the kids.
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We are approaching week 4, or a little over halfway through the Minnesota High School football season. I will take a look at the area section football standings below –
Section 8AA –
Barnesville is by far the favorite in the section, and they are ranked #4 in the state. They had a somewhat competitive game with Crookston and then blew out Pelican Rapids out of the gates. Barnesville is once again the real deal. They are well coached, have committed players (to the weight room), and have tremendous athletes. They reload every year, and this year is no different.
So who is fighting for the second seed? EVERYBODY else!!!!
Pelican Rapids and Frazee are both 2-1.
Crookston, Warroad, and Hawley are 1-2.
Here are my thoughts. Pelican Rapids beat Frazee and lost big to Barnesville. Crookston plays Frazee on Friday, and Crookston just beat up on Hawley. I predict it will be Crookston or Pelican Rapids in the second seed. We will see, but Friday’s game is big for Crookston and Frazee in terms of seeding.
SECTION 8A –
Surprise, surprise, surprise. Mahnomen-Waubun is the top team through three weeks of play. And the top four teams include the usual suspects of Red Lake County and Ada-Borup-West, all at 3-0, and Polk County West at 2-1. A big game is coming up on Friday, with Red Lake County taking on Mahnomen-Waubun. We will find out more about both teams after the game.
Right now, Mahnomen-Waubun is the favorite. It is a toss up on who finishes second, third, and fourth. We will know more after this weekend.
SECTION 8 9-MAN –
The section is loaded with talent once again this year.
Three teams are 3-0, Goodridge/Grygla, Kittson County Central, and Warren-Alvarado-Oslo. Win-E-Mac is also in the top team conversation with a 2-1 record after Goodridge/Grygla beat them 29-12 last Friday.
My thoughts – We will know a little more after this Friday. Goodridge/Grygla travels to Warren-Alvarado-Oslo, which will be a big game for seeding purposes. Seeding will go down to the final week when KCC plays GG.
It is still too close to call on how things will finish, but Goodridge/Grygla, Warren-Alvarado-Oslo, Kittson County Central, and Win-E-Mac all have a legit shot at being the top seed still.
SECTION 6 9-MAN –
Look who is at the top again this year, the defending State Runner-up Fertile-Beltrami, Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal, and Nevis.
Fertile-Beltrami has an explosive offense, averaging 56 points per game through the first three games. Only two teams have averaged more points in 9-man this year (Wheaton and Mountain Iron-Buhl).
Some big games are coming up the rest of the season start on Friday with Fertile-Beltrami at Nevis. Fertile-Beltrami also takes on NCE/UH on October 7. And Nevis will take on NCE/UH on October 19 (the regular season finale).
But don’t count Blackduck out, either. They are 2-1 on the year, with their only loss to Nevis by a 19-14 score last Friday. Blackduck is right there.
SECTION 8AAA –
It is the same old for Section 8AAA with Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton, the top team once again. They beat Perham by a decent margin on Friday to stake their claim as the top team in the section.
There is only one other team, besides DGF, with a winning record with Perham at 2-1. The rest of the teams in Section 8AAA are 1-2 (EGF, Fergus Falls, Roseau) or 0-3 (Thief River Falls and Park Rapids).
It looks like the only battles will be for seeds three through seven.
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The Crookston Pirate Football team is 1-2 after a 41-18 victory at Hawley on Friday. Now they are hosting the Frazee Hornets on Friday. The fan theme will be White Out and the kickoff is at 6:00 p.m. If you can’t make it to the game, you can listen to it on KROX RADIO or you can watch it on the KROX Live Stream!
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The Crookston Pirate Girls Tennis team is ranked #9 in the state team rankings, and for the first time in several years and probably only the third time in 20-plus years, a Crookston girl is ranked in the top 10 individually. Halle Winjum cracked the top 10 with a #10 ranking in this week’s polls.
Class A Rankings
1 Breck
2 Rochester Lourdes
3 Pine City
4 Litchfiled
5 Osakis
T6 Holy Family
T6. St. James
8 Staples-Motley
9 Crookston
10 Providence Academy
Crookston is ranked ninth, with section 8A foe Staples-Motley ranked eighth. Crookston has played Staples-Motley and lost 4-3 and they will see them in the Litchfield Tournament on Saturday. Crookston has also played Osakis and will be competing against Litchfield, and St. James at the Litchfield tourney on Saturday. So Crookston will have competed against four of the other nine ranked teams.
Another highlight this past week was the Pirates beating Bemidji for the first time since 2010!!!!! Crookston won 5-2 in a match that had six three-set matches!!!
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The Crookston Pirate Volleyball team will be hosting Hawley on Tuesday, September 27. They are planning to celebrate 50 years of Title IX. The team invites players and spectators/fans to participate by creating a white out in our gym and wearing white!
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The Crookston Pirate Varsity Volleyball Tournament will be held this Saturday September 24 starting at 9:00 A.M. at the Crookston High School Gymnasium.
MATCHES:
Pool play – best 2 of 3 sets to 25 (cap 27) with rally scoring, 3rd set to 15 (no cap). Pool play will be a round-robin followed by tournament play. Teams will be seeded 1-4 in each pool resulting in first in each pool play and so forth.
Tournament – best 2 of 3 sets to 25 with rally scoring, 3rd set to 15 (no cap)
Pool A
1. Fisher-Climax
2. Clearbrook-Gonvick
3. Northome-Kelliher
4. Crookston
Pool B
1. Bagley
2. East Grand Forks
3. Warroad
4. Stephen-Argyle
| Pool Play | Court 1 | Court 2 |
| 9:00 AM | A1 vs A4 | B1 vs B4 |
| Match 2 | A2 vs A3 | B2 vs B3 |
| Match 3 | A3 vs A1 | B3 vs B1 |
| Match 4 | A4 vs A2 | B4 vs B2 |
| Match 5 | A1 vs A2 | B1 vs B2 |
| Match 6 | A3 vs A4 | B3 vs B4 |
| Match 7 | #3 vs #3 | #4 vs #4 |
| Match 8 | #1 vs #1 | #2 vs #2 |
Tournament seeding: will be determined by (A) pool play record = total games won vs total games lost; (B) Head to Head record; ( C) total point spread; (D) coin flip
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Results from the Hawley Volleyball tournament last Saturday are below –
No match for seventh place – Hancock and Thief River Falls were fourth in their pools.
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Speaking of Volleyball. My daughter’s fiance has a pretty talented little sister. Elizabeth Juhnke (a Junior from Lakeville, MN) plays volleyball at South Dakota and has been named the Summit League Volleyball Offensive player of the week three out of the first four weeks and is one of the top Division I Volleyball players in kills and kills per game so far this year.
South Dakota fourth-year junior Elizabeth Juhnke has been named the TicketSmarter Summit League Volleyball Offensive Peak Performer of the Week for the third time this season, the league announced Tuesday.
Juhnke, honored for the ninth time in her career, averaged 5.40 kills per set at the Bulls Volleyball Invitational where the Coyotes went 3-0 with wins over Stetson, Cornell, and South Florida. Juhnke contributed match-high kill numbers in all three matches, including her sixth double-double of 20 kills and 13 digs in South Dakota’s 3-1 win over Stetson. The Lakeville, Minnesota, native compiled 54 kills to compliment her 31 digs and 10 blocks over the weekend.
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Dave Peterson, the stats guru extraordinaire not only went down to the Gopher Football game on a beautiful day and watched them kick Colorado’s butt, he also found time to get some area football stats compiled and tabulated.
The District 9 North (9-man) stats – CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE for the Northwest District 9 (11-man) stats.
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We are sad to report that Rod Oistad of Fertile has passed away. Oistad was a member of the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher baseball team that won the 1956 NCAA Championship. He died at the age of 89.
He was a two-year letter winner and in the 1956 College World Series in Omaha, he threw a six-hitter and struck out 13 in an 8-3 victory over Bradley in the semi-finals. He had a record of 7-1 that season.
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Congratulations to Red Lake Falls’ Brooklyn Cardinal on recording the 1,000th dig of her career!!
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Congratulations to Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Football coach Tony Gullickson on the 100 victory of his career in week two. He added another in week 3 for 101.
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Red Lake Falls’ Ty and Zak Kennet will be playing for the Niverville Nighthawks in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League this year. The season started Friday, September 16.
Zak Kennet (17)
Kennett spent the 2021–22 season playing in the NAHL with the Bismarck Bobcats and the Granite City Lumberjacks of the NA3HL. He scored 33 points in 39 games with Granite City.
He is now looking forward to playing for the Nighthawks with his younger brother Ty.
“Joining the Nighthawks felt like the right fit for me from the beginning. The support the team gets from a small town reminded me a lot of my hometown and it felt like a place I could really grow as a player. I think the team has looked solid and should be able to compete with anybody in the league.”
Ty Kennet (19)
In his senior year of high school, during the 2021–22 season, Kennett exploded for 44 goals and 49 assists for 93 points in 26 games.
The Nighthawks are certainly hoping that Kennett can keep up his scoring ways this coming season!
“The coaching staff here welcomed me and really seem to care about my hockey future. I am very excited to get things started, as it should be a fun year!”
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Crookston High School graduate Rachel Hefta is a senior at Hastings College in Nebraska and is a member and started on the volleyball team that just knocked off the #1 ranked team in the nation in NAIA, Midland by a 3-2 score. Hefta had two kills, one solo block and five block assists while playing in all five sets for Hastings.
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The first NCAA Men’s Hockey poll of the season is out and THE University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are picked second behind the defending champs Denver. The Gophers are absolutely loaded this year and if they don’t get to the frozen four it will be a big disappointment. Mankato, UND, and Duluth are also in the top five! Three of the top five are in Minnesota, and one wishes they were in Minnesota 🙂
1. Denver
2. Minnesota
3. Minnesota State
4. North Dakota
5. Minnesota Duluth
6. Michigan
7. Quinnipiac
8. Northeastern
9. Notre Dame
10. Massachusetts
11. Harvard
12. Boston University
13. St. Cloud
14. Western Michigan
15. Providence
16. Ohio State
17. UMass Lowell
18. Clarkson
19. Cornell
20. Michigan Tech
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Frank the Tank Fee has compiled all the Pirate Fall sports schedules and they are below –
FOR ALL THE PIRATE FALL SPORTS SCHEDULES – CLICK HERE
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Crookston Park and Rec fall and winter activity registration are now open. To see what the city has to offer, click here.
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JOKES
One day while he was at the track playing the ponies Mitch noticed a priest who stepped onto the track and blessed the forehead of one horse lining up for the 4th race.Lo and behold, that horse–a very long shot–won the race.Before the next race, as the horses began lining up, Mitch watched with interest as the old priest stepped onto the track again. Sure enough, as the 5th race horses came to the starting gate, the priest made a blessing on the forehead of one horse.Mitch made a beeline for a betting window and placed a small bet on the horse. Again, even though it was another long shot, the horse the priest had blessed won the race.Mitch collected his winnings, and anxiously waited to see which horse the priest would bless for the 6th race. The priest again blessed a horse.Mitch bet big on it, and it won. Mitch was elated. As the races continued, the priest kept blessing long-shot horses, and each one ended up coming in first.By and by, Mitch was pulling in some serious money. By the last race, he knew his wildest dreams were going to come true. He made a quick dash to the ATM, withdrew all his savings, and waited for the priest’s blessing to tell him which horse to bet on.True to his habit, the priest stepped onto the track for the last race and blessed the forehead of an old nag that was the longest shot of the day. Mitch also observed the priest blessing the eyes, ears, and hooves of the old nag.Mitch knew he had a winner and bet every cent he owned on the old nag.He then watched, dumbfounded, as the old nag come in dead last. Mitch, in a state of shock, made his way down to the track area where the priest was.Confronting the old priest he demanded, “Father! What happened? All day long, you blessed horses and they all won. Then, in the last race, the horse you blessed lost by a Kentucky mile. Now, thanks to you, I’ve lost every cent of my savings–all of it!”The priest nodded wisely and, with sympathy, said, “Son, that’s the problem with you Protestants. You can’t tell the difference between a simple blessing and last rites.”-
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Long ago, when sailing ships ruled the sea, a captain and his crew were in danger of being boarded by a pirate ship. As the crew became frantic, the captain bellowed to his First Mate, “Bring me my red shirt!”
The First Mate quickly retrieved the captain’s red shirt, the captain put it on and led the crew to battle the pirate ship. Although some casualties occurred among the crew, the pirates were repelled.
Later that day, the lookout screamed that there were two pirate vessels about to attack. The crew cowered in fear, but the captain, calm as ever, bellowed, “Bring me my red shirt!” And once again the battle was on.
This time, the Captain and his crew repelled both pirate ships, although this time more casualties occurred. Weary from the battles, the men sat around on deck that night recounting the day’s occurrences when an ensign looked to the Captain and asked, “Sir, why did you call for your red shirt before the battles?”
The Captain, giving the ensign a look that only a captain can give, exhorted, “If I am wounded in battle, the red shirt does not show the wound, and thus, you men will continue to fight unafraid.”
The men sat in silence marveling at the courage of such a man. As dawn came the next morning, the lookout screamed more pirate ships were approaching, 10 of them, all ready to attack. The men became silent and looked to the Captain, their leader, for his usual command. The Captain, calm as ever, bellowed, “Bring me my brown pants!”
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t was a small town and the patrolman was making his evening rounds As he was checking a used car lot, he came upon two little old ladies sitting in a used car. He stopped and asked them if they were stealing the car. They said “Heavens no, we bought it.”
He said, “Then why don’t you drive it away”.
Each of the women said “We can’t drive”.
The officer momentarily shook his head and then asked “Then why did you buy it?”
They answered, “We were told if we bought a car here, we’d get screwed, so we are just waiting.
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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
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.
