SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
There was no column last week because it seemed pointless when all the seeds were released on Thursday morning for Football and Section 8A Volleyball. So we are back in full swing this week with much to cover. Good luck to all teams going
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The State Girls’ Tennis Tournament is going on this week, and the first year of three classes has produced some interesting results!
CLASS A –
Litchfield beat Pine City 6-1
Breck beat TRF 6-1
St. James beat Lake City 6-1
Foley beat Montevideo 5-2
Semi-Finals –
#4 Litchfield beat #1 Breck 4-3
#2 Saint James beat #3 Foley 6-1
CHAMPIONSHIP – Saint James beat Litchfield 4-3 (First time since 1995 the state Class A champ is a private school and the first time since 2014 it hasn’t been Blake or Breck)
THIRD PLACE – Breck vs Foley 5-2
Consolation semi-finals –
TRF beat Pine City 5-2
Lake City beat Montevideo 7-0
Consolation championship – TRF beat Lake City 4-3
CLASS AA –
Rock Ridge beat Fergus Falls 4-3
Mahtomedi beat St. Peter 4-3
Hill Murray beat Northfield 5-2
Blake School beat Delano 4-3
Semi-finals
#4 Rock Ridge beat #1 Mahtomedi 7-0
#3 Blake School beat #2 Hill Murray 4-3
CHAMPIONSHIP – Rock Ridge beat Blake School 6-1
THIRD PLACE – Mahtomedi beat Hill Murray 5-2
Consolation semi-finals –
Fergus Falls beat St. Peter 5-2
Delano beat Northfield 6-1
Consolation Championship – Fergus Falls beat Delano 6-1
CLASS AAA
Mounds View beat Alexandria 5-2
Rochester Mayo beat Cambridge-Isanti 7-0
Edina beat Stillwater 6-1
Minnetonka beat Eagan 6-1
Semi-finals –
Rochester Mayo beat Mounds View 4-3
Minnetonka beat Edina 4-3
CHAMPIONSHIP – Rochester Mayo beat Minnetonka 4-3
Third Place – Mounds View beat Edina 4-3
Consolation semi-finals –
Alexandria beat Cambridge-Isanti 4-3
Eagan beat Stillwater 4-3
Consolation Championship – Eagan beat Alexandria 4-3
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State Soccer is also being played this week. The Section 8A representative for boys and girls is St. Cloud Cathedral and both teams play tomorrow in the first round.
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State Cross Country is November 1.
State Volleyball is 5-8
State Football is November 6-8, 13-15, and 21-22.
State Girls Swimming and Diving is November 13-15.
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The first day of winter sports practices are listed below –
Dance – October 20
Girls Hockey – October 27
Boys Hockey – November 10
Girls Basketball – November 10
Wrestling – November 17
Boys Basketball – November 17
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I can’t remember if I posted this earlier this year, but the Red Lake Falls Eagle Boys Hockey team has a new leader after Trevor Page stepped down after leading the Eagles to a 21 win season last year. Dominic SteMarie will lead the Eagles. Dominic is an alum and had previously served as a youth hockey coach in Moorhead.
Speaking of Red Lake Falls hockey, another alumni, Brock Seeger has been named captain of the New Mexico Ice Wolves in the 3HL league.
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Lets take a look at the area Section Football semi-final games on Saturday –
Section 8 9-Player –
Goodridge/Grygla at Stephen-Argyle – The teams had a great game during the regular season with the Storm winning 6-0. I am guessing it will be another great game on Saturday and pick Stephen-Argyle to win 14-6.
BGMR at Kittson County Central – KCC is the favorite going in, but when the two teams met during the regular season, it was a decent game with KCC winning 35-28. I pick KCC to win by two scores even though BGMR is playing some good football.
Section 6 9-Player-
Blackduck at Fertile-Beltrami – Fertile-Beltrami is getting healthy again and it showed in their big win over Clearbrook-Gonvick to end the regular season. The teams didn’t play during the regular season, but I am going with the Falcons to win by a pretty large margin and advance back to the section title game.
Fosston at Clearbrook-Gonvick – The teams met during the regular season and Clearbrook-Gonvick won 32-28 in week seven. I am guessing it will be another close game and am picking Da Bears to win another close game since it is being played in Clearbrook.
Section 8A –
Park Christian at Red Lake County – The teams met in week seven and Red Lake County won a hard-fought game 29-20 in Oklee. You can expect the teams to have another good game and I am going with Red Lake County winning 34-20 to advance back to the section championship game as their offensive and defensive lines are so good and wear teams down.
Ada-Borup-West at Mahnomen/Waubun – ABW pulled off a mild upset over Bagley in the first round, but any thoughts of another upset will be squashed pretty early as Mahnomen/Waubun isn’t only the top team in the section, they are one of the top teams in the state and are so good again this year. The Thunderbirds win by a similar score as the teams week 8 meeting (52-6).
SECTION 8AA –
Hawley at Frazee – This game is an interesting one as Hawley has been a tough team to figure out and have had some solid games and then some stinkers. I am going with Frazee to win by a couple of scores.
Pelican Rapids at Barnesville – This is by far the intriguing game and one that is almost impossible to predict. Barnesville has “struggled” this season with three losses. Those losses are to Pillager, Staples-Motley, and Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton. Barnesville is 5-0 in section play and beat Pelican Rapids in week 2 44-36. Pelican Rapids has been a little bipolar this year. They lost to Hawley, 26-0 to start the year. They lost to Barnesville 44-36, then beat TRF 42-20, and things were looking better. Then they lost to Park Rapids 28-23. Beat EGF 20-14 before losing to Roseau (the Rams only win) 50-30. They beat Warroad 32-21 before losing to Staples-Motley 43-13. In the first round of playoffs, they destroyed Crookston 63-0 for a rematch with Barnesville. It depends on which Pelican Rapids team shows up on Saturday, but I will go with Barnesville to win a good game.
SECTION 8AAA
TRF at Minnewaska Area – Thief River Falls pulled off a mild upset of Morris Area and will take on Minnewaska. It is hard to guage this game as the teams haven’t played each other. Minnewaska beat Morris in week one 48-14 and beat Park Rapids in the first round 49-6. Thief River Falls played a solid first-round game, and I think they will give it a good battle, but Minnewaska Area comes away with a two-score win.
Perham at DGF – Perham won a battle with EGF, and DGF is coming off a first-round bye. DGF’s two losses came to Pillager (27-12) and Staples-Motley (28-18) but they bounced back with sizable wins over Hawley, Barnesville and East Grand Forks. DGF beat Perham in week three 36-0 and I am picking them to win again by a 28-6 score.
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Section 8A Volleyball –
There were no real upsets in the first round matches and that is setting up some great second round matches on Friday evening.
In the WEST SUBSECTION –
Sacred Heart continued to flex their muscles as they beat Stephen-Argyle 3-0 while only giving up 27 points. They will take on Climax-Fisher who knocked off BGMR in a thrilling 3-2 match and won the fifth set 15-13. This match could be competitive, but I am picking Sacred Heart to win 3-1 as they have a ton of fire power.
In the other match it will be a dandy. Red Lake Falls beat the Northern Freeze 3-1 to advance and Kittson County Central beat Lake of the Woods 3-1 to advance. The teams will have a great battle and I am picking RLF to win 3-2 with Shandi Nelson having a night.
In the EAST SUBSECTION –
Ada-Borup-West beat Mahnomen/Waubun 3-0 while giving up 40 points in the match. Northome/Kelliher beat Bagley 3-1. This is an interesting matchup as KN has some pretty solid hitters, but I think ABW wins a good one 3-1.
Fertile-Beltrami had a nice 3-1 win over RLCC and they have so many weapons that can hurt you. They will take on Blackduck who beat Fosston 3-2. Fertile-Beltrami should win this one and I am guessing 3-1.
SEMI-FINALS on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28 at UMC – VIDEO STREAMED ON KROX RADIO.
CHAMPIONSHIP – FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 at UMC at 7:00 PM – VIDEO STREAMED ON KROX
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The 2025 Valley Plains District Football stat leaders have been released by Statistician extraordinaire Dave Peterson, and they are below-
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The 2025 9-West North Sub-district football stat leaders have been released by Mr. Dave Peterson and they are below.
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Perham will host a youth 3-on-3 Basketball tournament on Saturday, November 15, for Grades 2-8 (boys and girls divisions)
Our Goal: Run a 1st-class tournament with strong officials, beautiful facilities, get you in & out quickly, play different teams from all over, and awesome prizes for the winners!!!
*Please fill out a form for each team registering.
*Please submit a separate registration for each team.
($100 per team, 3 games guaranteed, possibly 4 depending on schedule).
*Please bring your own basketballs. 2nd & 3rd grade “might” play on lower hoops.
Email one of the coaches listed if you’d like to register a team. Hoops at the Hive may need to combine grade levels (using team ability levels) to fill some brackets. If needed to combine, players will play teams within one grade level.
*Cost is $100 per team. Please send payment immediately after registration to reserve your spot.
Payment Methods:
Venmo: @PerhamBBB (2349) (You must include the following info)
GRADE of PLAYERS (‘25-’26, max of 5 per team):
GENDER: B or G
TEAM NAME:
1 Parent/Guardian CONTACT CELL NUMBER
Check: Perham Boys Basketball (add below info on check)
Mail to: Arly Ohm 810 2nd Ave SW. Perham, MN 56573
GRADE of PLAYERS (‘25-’26, max of 5 per team):
GENDER: B or G
TEAM NAME:
1 Parent/Guardian CONTACT CELL NUMBER:
*No refunds after November 2nd.
*Registration deadline is Sunday November 2nd at 7:00 PM (or until filled) Brackets will be emailed the week prior to the tournament.
*Efficient scheduling. Expect some back to back games. Get in, play,
get on your way.
*Questions? Contact:
Arly Ohm at arlyohm@perham.k12.mn.us Cell: (701) 640-3850
Garry Grewe at ggrewe@perham.k12.mn.us Cell: (320) 241-4877
Grant Dierkhising gdierkhising@perham.k12.mn.us Cell: (218) 252-2349
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JOKES
After a rough day spent corralling my rowdy kids, I’d had enough.
“I think I’m going to sell them,” I hissed to my sister.
“You’re crazy,” she said.
“For thinking of selling them?”
“For thinking someone would buy them.”
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A man and a woman who have never met before find themselves in the same sleeping carriage of a train. After the initial embarrassment they both go to sleep, the man on the top bunk, the woman on the lower.
In the middle of the night the man leans over, wakes the woman and says, “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m awfully cold and I was wondering if you could possibly get me another blanket?”
The woman leans out and, with a glint in her eye, says, ” I have a better idea, just for tonight, let’s make pretend that we’re married.”
The man says happily, “OK!” AWESOME!”
The woman says, “GOOD ….get your own darn blanket!!!”
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One night, a lady stumbled into the police station with a black eye. She claimed she heard a noise in her back yard and went to investigate. The next thing she knew, she was hit in the eye and knocked out cold.
An officer was sent to her house to investigate, and he returned 1-1/2 hours later with a black eye.
“Did you get hit by the same person?” his captain asked.
“No,” he replied. “I stepped on the same rake.”
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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST. Email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Teagen Lubinski is a freshman playing football at St. Scholastica
Addie Fee is a freshman playing tennis and hockey at Wisconsin-Superior.
Kambelle Freije is a freshman playing hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Riley Helgeson is a freshman playing football at Northern State.
Emily Bowman is a freshman playing Softball at North Dakota State College of Science.
Halle Winjum is a sophomore playing basketball at Minnesota Crookston.
Blake Melsa is a sophomore playing soccer and baseball at Alexandria Tech
Jackson Reese is a sophomore playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Matt Contreras is a freshman playing baseball at Concordia College.
Naomi Johnson is a freshman playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.
Reese Swanson is a sophomore playing hockey at St. Olaf.
Carter Coauette is a sophomore playing football at Minot State.
Isaac Thomforde is a sophomore playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.
Halle Bruggeman is a Junior on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.
Ethan Boll is a Sophomore on the University of North Dakota Football team.
Breanna Kressin is a Junior on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.
Jacey Larson is a Junior playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Aleah Bienek is a Senior playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.
Ty Hamre is Senior playing football at Bemidji State University.
Elizabeth Erdman is a coach for the Moorhead Red Dragon swim team.
Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Jason Cassavant is a Jr. High Baseball Coach and Head American Legion Baseball coach
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ben Trostad is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ethan Magsam is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc
Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.
Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball
Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.
Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.
Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.
Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida.
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown.
Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Matt Harris is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of North Dakota.
Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.
Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Jaren Bailey is serving our country and is currently in the Marines’ Boot Camp.
Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.
Philip Kujawa class of 2004, from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments, and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com.
