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...]
No Way’ Knights Again, Almost
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...]
Trojans Subdue W-K
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...]
Skalet Wins It!
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...]
FC Girls Section Runner-Up
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...]
Jake Mandt State Class A Champ
FC Girls Basketball 2017
Mandt Champ, Tekautz 3rd at State Wrestling
Their once was a (handle-bar moustache) professional wrestler who used his mania to run wild. At the 2017 Minnesota state meet, a (mustached) Chatfield guy authored some mania of his own. Junior 145-pounder Jake Mandt spent most of the year ranked #1 in Class A. A few years back, he wrestled around with Chatfield’s last individual state titlist, Hank Friederichs. Mandt’s fate … [Read more...]
High Flying 5-Seed Claims 1A East
FC (5-seed, 15-12) and Kingsland (3-seed, 17-10) came into the 1A East girls semis as the “underdogs.” R-P (1-seed, 19-6) and M-C (2-seed, 20-7) came as the favorites. But amongst the top five seeds, there was a lot of parity this year. Tournament results were apropos. Teams that hadn’t won in the regular season, won. Sophomores came up huge in the semis, as teams with the … [Read more...]
Trojans and Knights Make Boys Semis
Two county boys teams moved on to the 1A East semis. “Old reliable” R-P (2-seed, 17-8) battled past FC (7-seed, 11-15) in the final game at Rushford gymnasium. The Falcons started the game 9-2. Trojan sophomore Landon Skalet then hit three three’s, the only made Trojan trifectas of the stanza (3-19). They were part of a 17-3 R-P run. FC scored the last four of the half to … [Read more...]