SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com
State Football and Volleyball are this week and area teams will be competing in both tournaments with high hopes of a state title for several! We break down some state sports and more in this weeks column! Happy November!!
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Before we get into state football and volleyball, Minnesota Girls Hockey is already in the second week of the season.
The Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey (co-op with Sacred Heart, Mayville, Hatton) team is coming off four scrimmages last Friday and getting ready for their first game next week when they travel to Thief River Falls to take on the Thief River Falls/Red Lake Falls/Kittson County Central coop on Tuesday at Ralph Englestad Arena.
The Pirates have 25 girls out this year, with 24 being able to play.
Seniors (4) – Logan Brekken, Emma LaPlante, Ava Martin. (Ashlyn Bailey is out with an injury)
Juniors (5) – Aubrey Bartrum, Madilyn Abrams, Lilyan Corneillie, Kira Daniels, Brea Lessard
Sophomores (6) – Rilynn Aubol, Shyuh Burnette, Peyton Demarais, Hailey Fritz, Jensen Stinar, Adley Vigness
Freshmen (6) – Nova Garrett, Keely Garrett, Catelyn Maruska, Lyla Oman, Jennika Reese, Kinsley Wangen
Eighth graders (4) – Mercedes Bower, Christina Hershey, Sydnie Loken, Lauren Tull
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The State Football playoffs start this week with the quarterfinals being played on artificial turf fields across the state.
9-PLAYER QUARTER FINALS
Football is broken into North and South with four teams being ranked 1-4 in each half.
NORTH Seeds –
1. Kittson County Central (10-0)
2. Fertile-Beltrami (7-3)
3. Cromwell-Wright (10-1)
4. Cook County (9-0)
SOUTH Seeds –
1. Hills-Beaver Creek (10-0)
2. Hillcrest Lutheran Academy (Fergus Falls) (10-0)
3. Mabel-Canton (11-0)
4. Red Rock Central (10-0)
Last year, Fertile-Beltrami won the state championship by beating Cromwell-Wright 48-7 at Moorhead, and those teams will meet again at Moorhead High School on Thursday. I am picking Fertile-Beltrami to win by a couple of touchdowns.
Mountain Iron-Buhl, a perennial power in 9-Man football, got bumped up to Class A this year, so Cook County won section 7 and will have the tough task of taking on the Kittson County Central Bearcats. Cook County’s starting quarterback, Nicholas Spry, got hurt in the section championship game, and it sounds like they won’t have him for the game against KCC. Spry passed for 1,237 yards and 17 touchdowns and ran for 277 yards, too. So it sounds like they will go with a two-man quarterback rotation. MaCoy Fairbanks and Talon DeBoer have combined for 11 passes on the season for 119 yards. But they have carried the ball for a combined 706 yards.
I know this much, KCC is going to shut down the Cook County running game. I am pretty positive of that. If they don’t, I would be shocked. Speaking of the rushing game, KCC ran for 2,174 this season with Ashton Knutson going for 1008, Elijah Muir for 716, and Eli Peterson (the QB) going for 312 yards, and the three combined for 21 touchdowns. Peterson also passed for 846 yards and 18 touchdowns! They have a great two-headed offensive monster, and it all starts with the outstanding linemen! Defensively, KCC is led by Brody Scalese, who is a monster with 136 tackles on the season!!!!! 73 assisted and 63 solo tackles. He has five tackles for a loss, two interceptions, four pass breakups, one forced fumble and two interceptions.
I am going with KCC to win easily and possibly running time in the fourth quarter, which would be great since the game is in Grand Rapids.
In the south, Hills-Beaver Creek is the favorite and has been ranked #1 all year after losing to Fertile-Beltrami 20-8 in the state championship last year and returning most of their team.
KROX will have both North games on our media channels.
6:00 PM – #1 Kittson County Central vs #4 Cook County at Grand Rapids – Pregame at 5:30 PM. ON KROX TV (audio only). Click on the link to listen – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rj5WKY4DBk
7:00 PM – #2 Fertile-Beltrami vs #3 Cromwell-Wright at Moorhead H.S. – Pre-game at 6:30 PM. On KROX Radio (1260AM), on the KROX app, your smart speaker by saying “Listen to K-R-O-X in Crookston), or listen online by clicking – https://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/KROX
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Kittson County Central is making its 14th appearance. Hallock made it in 1976, 1977, 1987, 1988 (state champs). Lancaster made it in 1976. Kittson Central made it in 1993, 1994 (state champs). Kittson County Central made it in 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2021, and 2022.
Cook County is making its 11th state tournament appearance with the last trip in 2007. They were state Class A Champions in 1997, 1998, and 1999.
Fertile-Beltrami is making its 10th state tournament appearance. 1981, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2021 (runners-up), 2022, 2023, 2024 (state champs).
Cromwell-Wright is making its 20th combined trip to state and second straight year. Cromwell made it in 1988, 1991, 1992 (runner-up), 1995 (state champ), 1996 (state champ), 1997 (runner-up), 1998 (state champ), 1999, 2000 (runner-up), 2001, 2003, 2005 (runner-up), 2006, 2009, 2010 (state champ), and 2014. As Cromwell-Wright, they made it in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2024.
CLASS A –
Mahnomen-Waubun has made it to state a combined 36 times!!!!!!! Mahnomen made it in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979 B Runner-up, 1980 B Champion, 1981, 1982 B Runner-up, 1983, 1985 B Runner-up, 1989 C Runner-up, 1990 C Champion, 1991 C Champion,1992 C Champion, 1993 C Champion, 1998 AA Champion, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2011 A Runner-up, 2012 A Champion, 2013 A Champion, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017. Waubun made it in 1990, 2007 9-Man Runner-up, 2015, 2016. Mahnomen/Waubun has gone in 2018 A Champion, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.
CLASS AA –
Barnesville is back again and making its 12th trip to state and ninth straight trip. They made it in 1978 B Runner-up, 2009, 2010 A Runner-up, 2016, 2017, 2018 AA Runner-up, 2019, 2021, 2022 AA Champion, 2023 AA Runner-up, 2024.
CLASS AAA –
Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton is back again for its 15th year. Glyndon-Felton made it in 1983, 1984 C Runner-up, 1985 C Champion. Dilworth made it in 1988, 1989. DGF has gone in 1993, 2002, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021, 2022 AAA Runner-up, 2023.
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The State Volleyball tournament is being held this week at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.
The Class A seeds went like this –
1. Mayer Lutheran (24-7)
2. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton (28-5)
3. Fillmore Central (25-6)
4. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (24-6)
5. Cleveland (26-6)
6. Ada-Borup-West (23-8)
7. Nevis (23-7)
8. North Woods (24-3)
Ada-Borup-West is making its 11th appearance in the state tournament. They also went in1994, 1995, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018.
Ada-Borup-West lost to #1 in Class AA Hawley. They lost to Nevis 2-0, lost to Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 2-0, and Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 2-1. If Ada-Borup-West plays like they did against Sacred Heart, they should be able to pick up a win or two at state. They will have to be a little more consistent, though. They seem to have a drop in each set, and at state, they won’t be able to afford to do that. But they have 6’4 Malayna Syverson, who can change a match pretty quickly when she is playing well, and she was phenomenal in the Section championship.
CLASS AA seeds went like this –
1. Hawley (29-2)
2. Albany (27-3)
3. Chatfield (24-7)
4. Southwest Christian (18-14)
5. New Life Academy (26-4)
6. Esko (24-4)
7. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winstead (22-7)
8. New London-Spicer (17-10)
Hawley is making its third appearance at state. They also went in 2021 and won it last year in 2024. I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be able to repeat this year. I am betting it will be Hawley and Albany in the championship and that could be a dandy! In case you are wondering, Hawley’s two losses were to Watertown-Mayer and Minnewaska Area (neither made it to state).
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Some local officials will be working the state volleyball tournament.
Supervisor – Wayne Folkers (1 of 8)
Officials – Sunny Bowman (Crookston), Chris Coleman (Pelican Rapids), and Randi Rantanen (TRF).
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The first day of winter sports practices are listed below –
Boys Hockey – November 10
Girls Basketball – November 10
Wrestling – November 17
Boys Basketball – November 17
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The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Women’s Basketball program received another verbal commitment last week. It was from Kendall Schmitz, a 5’4 point guard from Manitowoc Lincoln High School in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
As a Sophomore last year, she averaged 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and two steals per game. She shot 80 percent from the free throw line, 41 percent on two-point shots, and 32 percent on three-pointers. She will graduate high school in 2027, so it will be two more years before she plays for the Golden Eagles.
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For the first time in nearly 30 years a professional minor league hockey team will take to the ice in Northwestern Minnesota. A press conference for the team launch will take place on November 12, 2025 at 1 p.m. at the Ralph Engelstad Arena 525 Brooks Ave, Thief River Falls.
The Ralph Engelstad Arena will open their doors to roughly 3800 hockey fans for the 2026-2027 hockey season. Travis Collins, general manager for the arena, is thrilled to have the new team come to town; “We’re incredibly proud to welcome professional hockey to Thief River Falls and the Ralph Engelstad Arena. This franchise is an investment in our community- bringing people to our city, supporting local businesses, and keeping our building moving forward.”
The team which will be part of the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) will consist of a team of 20 players mostly native Minnesotans ranging from 22-31 years of age. The FPHL is made up of 16 teams from around the country including teams located in Topeka, KS; Port Huron, MI; and Indianapolis, IN. Operating in its sixteenth season, the FPHL has an average nightly attendance of 3000 fans and provides affordable entertainment that the entire family can enjoy.
FPHL Founder and Commissioner, Don Kirnan, is excited about the expansion of the league in a great community, “We couldn’t ask for a better place than Thief River Falls and the surrounding communities to launch the league’s newest team. Minnesota is the home of hockey and we could not be happier.”
Likewise, Thief River Falls Mayor, Mike Lorenson, is also enthusiastic about the new team coming to town. “Hockey runs deep in Northwest Minnesota, and welcoming a professional team to the Ralph Engelstad Arena is something we can all be proud of. This is a win not just for Thief River Falls, but for our entire region.”
The team’s season will officially commence October of 2026 and will play through April of 2027. Game nights will be sure to entertain with high quality hockey along with fun themed nights including Elvis-Skate, Rattle and Roll Night, Dress like Your Dad Night and a Night to Support our Military.
The team name has yet to be decided, but the local community will be involved with the process of naming the team. The league is also on the look out for a head coach who will be named at a later date.
Ticket prices will range from $14.00 to $23.00 and season tickets will be available for individual fans and businesses at the commencement of the press conference.
Several exhibition games will take place prior to the 2026-2027 season. For more information please check out the FPHL website www.federalhockey.com and the Official Facebook Page of the Federal Prospects Hockey League.
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The Minnesota Wild, in conjunction with Red Baron® Pizza and Minnesota Hockey, would like to welcome everyone to come celebrate the 9th Annual Girls Hockey Weekend at Grand Casino Arena on December 12-13. Clinics will be conducted by Minnesota Hockey certified coaches for 6U, 8U, 10U, and 12U girls.
The Wild will dedicate several elements of its game to celebrating girls’ and women’s hockey when it hosts the Ottawa Senators at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13. Girls’ and women’s hockey players will participate in various in-game and intermission activities including the “Let’s Play Hockey!” call.
Registration for the girls’ hockey clinics will open at 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 7 at 2025 Girls Hockey Weekend. The registration fee of $99 includes a Wild-branded jersey, a post-clinic pizza party with Red Baron® pizza and a ticket to a Wild game on Saturday, Dec. 13 vs the Ottawa Senators at 1 p.m. Participants in the girls’ hockey clinics will also receive an exclusive ticket offer for additional ticket purchases for the game on Dec. 13. Tickets are limited and subject to availability.
The 6U & 8U combined clinic will be held on Friday, Dec. 12 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (60 girls per session). The 8U clinic will be held on Friday, Dec. 12 from 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. (60 girls per session). These will be followed by the 10U & 12U combined clinic from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. (60 girls per session).
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The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Softball team is hosting a Pre-Turkey Throwdown community-wide Dodgeball Tournament!
When: Thursday, November 13, 2025
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Where: UMN Crookston Wellness Center
Cost: $105/ team (max 8 players per team)
Divisions: 5 divisions (Elementary Open, MS Open, HS Open, Elite Open, Novice Open)
Winners Receive: Medals 1st and 2nd place. 1st place also receives a T-shirt.
Format: Round Robin then bracket play
Sign up here:
https://tourneymachine.com/E171686
*The divisions might change based on how many people sign up to play. If team numbers are low, we will condense to Novice and Elite Open divisions only.*
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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
A burglar broke into a home.
He heard a soft voice say, “Jesus is watching you.”
Thinking it was just his imagination, he continued his search.
Again, “Jesus is watching you.”
He turned his flashlight around, and saw a parrot in a cage.
He asked the parrot if he was the one talking.
The parrot said, “Yes.”
He asked the parrot his name.
The parrot said, “Moses.”
The burglar asked, “What kind of people would name their parrot, Moses?”
The parrot replied, “The same kind of people who would name their pitbull Jesus.”
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Saw a sign at a store that said, “We treat you like family.”
I’m not going in there.
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A wife decides to take her husband to a strip club for his birthday. They arrive at the club and the doorman says, “Hey, Dave! How ya doin’?”
His wife is puzzled and asks if he’s been to this club before.
“Oh, no,” says Dave. “He’s on my bowling team.”
When they are seated, a waitress asks Dave if he’d like his usual and brings over a Budweiser.
His wife is becoming increasingly uncomfortable and says, “How did she know that you drink Budweiser?”
“She’s in the Ladies’ Bowling League, honey. We share lanes with them.”
A stripper then comes over to their table, throws her arms around Dave, and says “Hi Davey. Want your usual lap dance, big boy?”
Dave’s wife, now furious, grabs her purse and storms out of the club.
Dave follows and spots her getting into a cab. Before she can slam the door, he jumps in beside her. He tries desperately to explain how the stripper must have mistaken him for someone else, but his wife is having none of it. She is screaming at him at the top of her lungs, calling him every name in the book.
The cabby turns his head and says, “Looks like you picked up a real bitch tonight, Dave.”
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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.
Seth Heppner – Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Golf at Jessup University
Brady Heppner – Head Coach of Women’s Golf at UMC and Assistant Hockey Coach
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.
