On the Bench with Byron Higgin
BOLD to jump from field to the court BOLD didn’t win the State Class A title for the second year in a row. They finished runner-up both years. This time they lost to the Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms, 41-14. Minneota’s involvement here is they played Blooming Prairie a couple of times back in the 2008-2010 era.
Minneota won those games. Also, BOLD is now scheduled to play basketball on Saturday against Minneota at 3:15 p.m. Saturday at the Tip-Off Classic at Hopkins Lindbergh. The JV will play at 12:15 p.m. before the varsity game. So here’s the rub.
When Minneota played in the state finals in football, they always had to cancel the first game due to lack of practice time. So far the game is still on — meaning BOLD will have had one week to get ready to play basketball. That is, if they didn’t get some rest and recuperation time after football.
Also ironically, BOLD is ranked No. 2 in state and Minneota No. 3 in pre-season ratings. Should be interesting if the two match up on Saturday.
NET NOTES:
•Minneota and Lakeview play a doubleheader on Friday night in Minneota. The boys play the first game at 6 p.m., followed by the girls at 7:30 p.m.
• The Southwest Minnesota State wrestling team competed in its third open of the season placing 12 wrestlers on Saturday afternoon at the 20-team, Auggie-Adidas Invitational. Cole Hennen (184) of Minneota, Jackson Ryan (197), and Gage Wevley (285) all placed second for SMSU while Ben Thompson (197) and Nathan Moore (157) were named consolation champions. Hennen went 3-1 on the day to take second with a victory by fall at 1:29 over Logan Koedam from Iowa Lakes, a 7-4 decision victory over Mitchell Kotschevar from MSU Moorhead, and a 9-7 decision victory over Connor Williams from La Crosse before falling by decision (3-0) to Augsburg’s Tanner Vassar. Minneota’s Brock Buysse went 2-2 on the day and finished in sixth place at 133 pounds. Southwest Minnesota State will return to the mat on Saturday, Dec. 7, in Storm Lake, Iowa.
•The SMSU women’s basketball team is 5-1 starting the year under Coach Tom Webb. It’s a nice start in Webb’s third year after he took over a failing program. They are at Minnesota State, Mankato on Friday.