H.S. Girls' Basketball:

Update: Friday -- Tigers 48, Montgomery-Lonsdale 39

The Tigers’ Haley Fogarty, left, had four points and five assists last Thursday night at Holy Family.

Tigers Hand Fire First Loss

by Dan Ruud
The Belle Plaine High School girls’ basketball posted its most prominent win in over a half-dozen years when it handed Holy Family Catholic its first conference loss of the season at Holy Family last Thursday night. The 55-53 victory was the Tigers’ fifth win in a row after starting the season 1-11.
The Tigers attempted to pull off their sixth-straight victory Monday night but were stopped short as Mayer Lutheran prevailed for 47-35 victory.
Belle Plaine, 4-6 in the Minnesota River Conference, 6-12 overall, will host Montgomery-Lonsdale 7:30 p.m. this Friday. The Tigers beat the Redbirds (0-9 in the MRC) by 22 points earlier this season in Montgomery.
Tigers 55, Holy Family 53
What a difference two weeks can make.
On Jan. 14, Holy Family Catholic raced out to a 13-0 lead en route to a 57-41 victory over Belle Plaine. Exactly two weeks later, this time at Holy Family, the Tigers jumped out to a 13-point lead (17-4) and then held off a furious Fire comeback to post a 55-53 triumph against the leaders of the MRC.

See the complete story in the Feb. 3 edition of the Herald.

H.S. Wrestling:

Update: Thursday -- Panthers 41, Dassel/Cokato 23; Panthers 54, Orono 25

Panthers Split Four Matches

The Scott West wrestling team traveled to the Kasson-Mantorville Swalla Duals this past Saturday and came away with a sixth place finish in the 12-team tournament that featured seven teams rated in the top 10 of Minnesota’s three wrestling classes.
Class AA’s #1-rated Simley defended its title as it downed host Kasson-Mantorville, rated #4 in Class AA, 47-15 for the championship.
For Scott West, the team dual tournament started with a match up against the Stewartville Tigers, which Scott West would win 31-30. The Panthers and Tigers are not total strangers on the mat to one another as Scott West has defeated Stewartville twice at the state tournament, once in the opening round of 2000 and again in a meet for third place in 2004.
The meet would start with seventh-grader David Flynn making his Scott West varsity debut at 103 pounds. Flynn had a tough opponent in #8-rated Brett Stolarzyk, who would go onto win a 16-0 technical fall over the young Panther. However, with a technical fall being worth five team points as opposed to six for a pin, that one team point that was saved by Flynn turned out to be a team match winner in the end.
Luke Betchwars followed with a 12-2 major decision over Tanner Johnson at 112 pounds, and then Gabe Fogarty would lose a hard-fought 2-0 match to #5-rated Nate Lacy, who scored an opening-period take down and made it stand up for the match win as both wrestlers rode each other out in periods two and three.
After forfeiting the 125 weight class, Scott West would put together a three-match winning streak as Jake Siegle scored an 11-2 major decision over Eric Nelson at 130 pounds, Tyler Zilverberg was an 8-4 winner over Eric Twohey at 135 and Scott Dvorak scored a 13-7 win over Zach Jaeger.

See the complete story in the Feb. 3 edition of the Herald.

H.S. Boys' Basketball:

Update: Thursday -- Holy Family 55, Tigers 43

The Tigers’ Darin Gregory, left, had six points, three rebounds and two steals at Montgomery last Tuesday night.

Tigers Win Two Straight

The Belle Plaine High School boys’ basketball team crawled upward in the Minnesota River Conference standings with victories against Montgomery-Lonsdale and Norwood Young America last Tuesday and Friday, respectively.
The Tigers improved to 3-4 in the MRC, 7-7 overall. They are scheduled to travel to Holy Family Catholic for another conference game this Thursday and to Faribault Bethlehem Academy next Monday. They will play a third straight road game at MRC-leading Mayer Lutheran next Tuesday. All three games will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Tigers 67, Mont.-Lons. 60
The Tigers led 39-26 at halftime before the Redbirds rallied to make a game of it late. But Belle Plaine pulled away one final time in the closing minutes to pull out a seven-point victory.
“This was a tough game for us,” said Tigers coach Randy Carlson. “Montgomery played well and we stepped up. We did a good job of getting the ball inside and controlling the paint. Tommy Winders came off the bench and really sparked us. Charlie Kern owned the paint and took the game over when he had to. Miah Fogarty did a really good job at point guard. Conner Racek did a lot of good things and ran the floor well.”

See the complete story in the Feb. 3 edition of the Herald.

Deadline to Apply for Youth Turkey Hunt Approaching

An adult member of the National Wildlife Turkey Federation (NWTF) would like to take a youth age 12-17 and his or her parent/guardian out turkey hunting for two mornings the first weekend of turkey hunting.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and NWTF will team up to provide a great hunting opportunity – a mentored youth turkey hunt.
Participants will learn a lot about turkeys and the art of hunting turkeys at the Wild Turkey Clinic that is part of the program.
All you need to do is go online at www.mndnr.gov and click on turkey hunting to find out more information and download an application. The deadline to apply is Feb. 15.
For more information, call Jerry Bratsch at 873-3249.

Scott County Pheasants Forever Banquet Feb. 25

The Scott County Pheasants Forever Chapter is hosting its 24th Annual fund-raising habitat banquet on Thursday, Feb. 25 at the Ridges at Sand Creek Golf Course, just south of Jordan on Highway. 21.
The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with the dinner and program from 7–10 p.m. Tickets are limited. This event is open to the public and we encourage those interested in conservation, hunting and wildlife to attend.
Jim Legg, Scott County chapter president, said the banquet is the single most important fund-raising event during the year. Everyone concerned with local ring-necked pheasants and wildlife populations in general are encouraged to attend. The theme this year is “Who Let the Dogs Out.” The special guests will be members of the Minnesota Army National Guard.
Reserve your tickets today - the food is always great, the prizes are always plentiful and there is fun for the whole family. One-hundred percent of all funds raised (exclusive of membership fee) stays right here in Scott County to continue to carry on our conservation legacy.
According to Legg, chapter committee members are hard at work calling on donators and sponsors for the banquet. For more information on the banquet, contact Ron Benz at 952-440-8082 or log onto www.scottcountypf.org (Banquet Page).