Three Chatfield Gophers and one LARP Screamin’ Eagle took on the 2020 Minnesota state wrestling tourney. Chatfield’s entrants went 6-1 Friday, all advancing to Saturday. Junior Seth Goetzinger and senior Cael Bartels headlined the cast. Goetzinger redeemed a 2-2 performance last year (where he didn’t place after finishing third as a frosh), by rolling to the 145-pound Class … [Read more...]
Defensive Falcons Make Section Title Game
From an offensive perspective, they won’t wow you. Defensively, Fillmore Central’s girls work like crazy. Over the course of two play-off games, the Falcons forced 60 turnovers. Levi Olstad’s group twice used that diligence to win the battle of offensive attrition. The Falcons are in their third section title game in six years. In the quarters, FC (2-seed, 19-8) faced … [Read more...]
O’Hare Lifts R-P in OT
It wasn’t an encouraging first half for R-P’s boys. W-K played inspired ball, including having just one turnover in the stanza. The Falcons went to intermission with a healthy 27-13 lead. But the 1A Round of 16 contest between the Falcons (10-seed, 10-16) and Trojans (7-seed, 12-13) was far from over. R-P hit its first eight second stanza field goals. A 16-3 run quickly … [Read more...]
Hot Shots
In girls b-ball quarterfinals, #6 GM slid by #3 Houston 49-45, #4 Hayfield beat #5 Kingsland 47-43, and 8th-ranked #3 Goodhue downed #11 Chatfield 82-38. In boys play-ins, #14 Kingsland beat #19 B.A. 51-46 and #15 FC beat #18 M-C 76-43. Haidyn Gunderson had a career-high 32 points and Zach Haugerud added 21 for the Falcons. Kingsland then fell to #3 Randolph 69-42 and FC to … [Read more...]
Boys Basketball (2/24 – 2/27)
M-C 41, Grand Meadow 71 (M-C: Reid Crawford 9 pts (3-4 threes); Gavin Johnson 9 pts. Game from Feb 21) L-A 83, M-C 49 (M-C: Cayden Tollefsrud 19 pts (5-9 threes), 5 rebs, 4 asts; G. Johnson 7 pts, 12 rebs. Game from Feb 22) 1A Play-in > 19-seed Faribault B.A. (1-25) 46, 14-seed Kingsland (7-19) 51 (K: Walker Erdman 13 pts (7-12 FTs), 10 rebs; Lucas Howard 11 pts; … [Read more...]
Girls Basketball Play-Offs (2/24)
1AA Qtr > 11-seed Chatfield (10-17) 38, 3-seed Goodhue (24-3) 82 (C: Jaiden Zimmerman/Sydney Allen 8 pts. Wildcats used defense to build 48-16 halftime lead. Gophers finish at 10-18) 1A Qtr > 6-seed GM (17-9) 49, 3-seed Houston (21-6) 45 (H: Emma Geiwitz 15 pts, 7 rebs; Sydney Torgerson 11 pts, 14 rebs; Becca Rostad 8 pts, 4 stls. GM: R. Queensland 20 pts, 5 rebs. … [Read more...]
Gopher Trio Head State Bound Wrestling Foursome
Five Journal-covered wrestlers entered their individual section tournaments ranked in state. Four earned berths to the 2020 state wrestling meet. Chatfield’s Cael Bartels (#2 at 113), Seth Goetzinger (#5 at 145), and A.J. Karver (#7 at 220), LARP’s Ross Herber (#4 at 126) fought their way to St. Paul. Goetzinger makes his third trip, Bartels and Herber their second, Karver … [Read more...]
Gophers Score 11-6 Upset
Throughout the course of the season, Houston, FC, and Kingsland had good campaigns in girls basketball. Yet, Brian Baum’s young Chatfield Gophers were near equivalently capable. The Gophers beat Kingsland but lost to FC. A Class AA team (with just one senior) playing tougher like-class opponents, Chatfield’s season wasn’t as impressive record-wise as the other three. But … [Read more...]
Falcons Hold B.A. to 23 Points
Twenty-three points probably isn’t going to win you a lot of basketball games. In a 1A Round of 16 match-up of Faribault B.A. (15-seed, 6-20) and FC (2-seed, 18-8), the Falcons’ defense did the work. The scoreboard between two diverging seeds was thus lopsided. FC held B.A. to nine first half points (33-9) and Michael Jordan’s number for the game in an easy 58-23 win. It … [Read more...]
Hurricanes Level Lions a Third Time
It can be a trap. Two teams play in the playoffs for a third time, on the wings of the favorite having already won twice. But for a third time this year, Houston (3-seed, 20-6) was able to suffocate Spring Grove (14-seed, 6-20). SG hung in there for a half of a 1A Round of 16 game, trailing 21-15 at intermission. But the ‘Canes posted a 50-30 win. Junior guard Emma Geiwitz … [Read more...]