What a gorgeous late-fall afternoon we had on Sunday. Without wind, sunny skies and the temperature near 50 degrees, it was a perfect day.
Things changed with a cool wind on Monday and the forecast for the rest of the week is beginning to sound a lot like winter? This time it may be here for keeps — for the next three months at least.
The high school winter sports season is now in full swing and area teams Adrian / Ellsworth, Heron Lake-Okabena / Fulda and Murray County Central are each fielding competitive basketball teams, paired for both boys and girls this season.
In wrestling, Adrian and Ellsworth are joined, as are the continuation of Fulda and MCC, known as the Warriors.
Additionally, at least five HL-O girls are playing varsity hockey for Windom this winter.
This column will do its best to keep abreast of some of the highlight happenings of those activities and make mention of the student-athletes who are contributing.
Adrian’s girls will be coached this year by Jess Hermeling-Reyne, who not so long ago was playing for the Fulda Raiders. The Dragons will be bolstered this season by the addition of a trio of senior guards — Morgan Dreesen, Kallie Chapa and Ashlynn Meester — from Ellsworth, each with plenty of varsity experience and athleticism.
With a total of eight seniors on a current 12-girl varsity roster, the Dragons feature good depth and will seek to improve upon last year’s separate win-loss records (7-16 for Adrian and 6-14 for Ellsworth). The other five seniors are Kasie Tweet, Moriah Bullerman, Jennifer Preuss, Bailey Lonneman and Kristina Cauwels.
MCC, after a 1-25 season four years ago (2015-2016), improved to 6-19 in ’16-17. The Rebels have posted back-to-back winning seasons (14-13 and 13-10) the past two winters. Luke Freeman takes over as MCC’s new head coach, replacing his brother Patrick. Five senior girls — Brianna Schmitz, Shelby Christensen, Morgan Clarke, Sam Larson and Brooke Engbarth — will provide leadership for the ’19-20 Rebels.
Now it its second year as a paired program, HL-O / Fulda has six seniors and a new head coach as Andrew Oakland, who was Fulda’s head boys’ coach the past two seasons, takes over replacing Anna Brandt. The six senior Coyotes are Kelsey Fuerstenberg, Khloe Gehl, Kailee Haberman, Brittany Lais, Becca Salentiny and Cheyliska Schaffer.
The Coyotes won only one game last winter and HL-O won just once the year before, while Fulda was going 6-22 in ’17-18. The two programs have been a combined 8-72 at the varsity level over the previous two seasons. With good numbers and plenty of athletes in the freshmen and sophomore classes, the Coyotes are likely to become increasingly more competitive each of the upcoming winters.
I will take a similar brief look at each of the boys’ basketball teams — and the wrestlers — in next week’s Bleacher Views.
HL-O hockey players Meakin Bang, Elly Bang, Marissa Becker, Maddie Schumacher and Marena Bang are all contributing to Windom’s young varsity this season. All five have come up through the program and are now skating for the varsity Eagles.
Mountain Lake Area — a combination of Mountain Lake Public and Mountain Lake Christian High Schools — will take its undefeated record (13-0) into Saturday morning’s (November 30 at 10 a.m.) Prep Bowl 9-Man State Championship Football Game at US Bank Stadium against the also-undefeated Hancock Owls. Hancock has a high-powered offense as evidenced by its 65-32 semifinal victory over Mountain Iron-Buhl.
MLA, which lost to Spring Grove (40-18) in last year’s Prep Bowl, has been awesome all fall, averaging 49.8 points per game, while allowing just 10.8 per game. The Wolverines are 25-1 over the past two years, and have scored over 50 points five times this season.
They have scored at least 40 points in every game this season, but one — which was a 28-6 victory over a very good Hills-Beaver Creek squad in the sectional championship contest (at SMSU in Marshall on November 1). MLA has state-tournament wins over Grand Meadow (42-12 in the quarterfinals) and Win-E-Mac (45-6 in the semifinals), outscoring two of the best 9-Man teams in Minnesota by a combined spread of 87-18.
Saturday’s college football game at TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota is a big deal. The 10th-ranked Gophers (10-1) are hosting the 12th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers (9-2) in a rivalry game for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. This year the game will also decide the championship of the Big 10 West. Let’s hope for decent weather so the Gophers are able to unleash their vaunted passing attack. Row the boat, Ski-U-Mah, Go Gophers!
