Seven county grapplers were named All-TRC.  LARP’s cast is headed a trio of seniors. Josh Doerr (120) went 9-0 in TRC matches with nine pins (finished 24-4, 3rd at Sections).  McCoy Tekautz (152) and Justin Mueller each went 8-1 in the TRC.   They finished 32-9 (state third) and 25-8 (3rd at Sections) respectively.  Jake Mandt (junior, 145) heads Chatfield’s cast.   He was 9-0 … [Read more...]

Four former Chatfield girls basketball players highlight the list of winter college athletes.  MaKenzie Miller (2013 grad) put a cap on a fine four-year career by leading UW-La Crosse to their best campaign (9-5 WIAC, 16-11 overall) since 2011-2012.  For a second consecutive year, the 6’1” center led her team in scoring (14.6), rebounding (9.4), and blocks (1.4) while hitting a … [Read more...]

What happens when Rushford-Peterson boys basketball plays (well) Rushford-Peterson boys basketball?  You get a deliberate, super-defensive, close strategic battle where offense does a lot of yielding.  Tom Vix’s Trojans (East Champions, 20-8) took on R-P graduate Matt Halverson’s Goodhue Wildcats (West champions, 27-3) for the Section 1A title; the third section title game in … [Read more...]

(1st Team) Brianna Koop (5’8” senior F, R-P):  The hooping-Koop’s run is over.  Teams no longer have to “cope” with her.  “Bri” averaged a career-best 22.4 points (TRC leader) on 49% FGs with 9.4 rebounds (TRC leader) and 3.0 steals.   She averaged 14.8/6.2/2.9 as a frosh, 21.2*/9.5*/4.1 as a sophomore (*TRC leader), and 18.1/7.1/2.9 as a junior.  It gave her career totals … [Read more...]

A year ago, when Rushford-Peterson boys basketball fell for the first time in the 1A East finals since 2009, then junior point guard Luke Rasmussen was among those most despondent. A year later, the senior’s emotions were just a tad bit different. He was the first to lay hands on the 1A East championship trophy. Three games, two barn-burners with shot-for-shot, from the exact … [Read more...]

The semis kicked off with a battle of Kingsland and Spring Grove.  The last time the teams hooked up was in a 2015 semifinal.  In that game, the underdog Knights (13-14) trailed 62-44 with less than ten minutes left, before going berserk (10 of 11 field goals, five made threes over six possessions). They upset the favored Lions (24-3) in a ridiculously memorable comeback, … [Read more...]

In the second semifinal, Rushford-Peterson (2-seed, 18-8) faced off with Wabasha-Kellogg (3-seed, 15-10).  The game featured no berserker.  It was methodical Trojans, save for the first few minutes.  The Falcons came out and hit their first five shots to lead 12-6.  A little defensive change-up on R-P’s part and W-K coming back down to reality; the Falcons hit just one more … [Read more...]

For the third straight year, #7 SG (1-seed 24-3) faced off with R-P (2-seed, 19-8) for the 1A East title.  The Lions entered in rare territory; they’d won three straight over the Trojans (including 53-43 in January).  R-P threw the first punch, answering an opening SG three-pointer with a 9-0 spurt.  Defensively, they scrapped their typical 1-3-1 half-court trap for a triangle … [Read more...]

The last two times a Fillmore County girls teams played Goodhue in a section title game, it wasn’t pretty.  R-P fell to the Wildcats 75-38 in 2014 and 85-52 in 2016.  The latter game started a Goodhue dominant run.  The Wildcats won by 31 (77-46), 39 (74-35), and 25 (89-64) on the way to last year’s Class A state title.  They (#2 in state, West 1-seed, 24-4) returned plenty and … [Read more...]