9-4 Friday Night Football Review

La Crosse schools dominated the Eau Claire schools tonight, Central over North 41-7 and Logan over Memorial 41-3. Looking forward to seeing what those two can do now that the conference season is coming up.

The Coulee won their battles over the MVC with BRF beating Tomah by 1 TD and G-E-T dominating Holmen. G-E-T should have a great year.

La Crescent is showing signs of a good year, they dominated Cotter.

I was out at the De Soto vs Cashton game. It died out after the first quarter, but the Pirates were huge out of the gate. The scored on their opening drive, shut down Cashton, blocked the punt, scored a TD, interception, TD.

The Pirates are getting ready to play in their new stadium. It's no surprise they're going to be a powerhouse.

The Viroqua/Mel-Min game was a game for people who love defense. The only touchdown scored came in the closing minutes of the first half. Both teams were able to move the ball, but it was slow. The game really came down to a broken up 4th down pass with 2 minutes to go that would've moved the Mustangs inside the 10. Final score, Blackhawks win 6-0.


Greg was at a couple games and has this to say:

I was in Minnesota for the first Friday of MSHSL action of the year. Our area has had some very quality teams, the 2008 season was no different, as Caledonia and Houston were AA and 9-man state champions respectively. Caledonia opened the season against St. Charles, while Houston started against Mabel-Canton.

Last season, Caledonia started their regular season and post season play against the St. Charles Saints. In those two games, the Warriors won by a combined 114 to 14. Well, the first game of the season found Caledonia and St. Charles mixing it up on the field again, and once again Caledonia was high powered. The Warriors force the Saints to punt after a short series, then Isaac Fruechte took the punt and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown. A couple minutes later, the Warriors struck again, this time Ivan Augedahl had a nearly 20 yard run for a touchdown. By this point, it was 15 to nothing, maybe five minutes into the game, at most. The Warriors came close to another touchdown six minutes into the game, but the ball popped out of the reciever's hands. It wasn't until the second quarter that Caledonia would strike again, this time a pass play going nearly half the field to Ely Trudo for the score. In the time it took me to go from the stadium to my car, Caledonia managed to score again, leaving the score at 29 to nothing four minutes into the second quarter. The game would only continue in that fashion as the Warriors won 80 to nothing, and had well over 400 yards of total offense.

Then it was off to Houston, to see the Hurricanes taking on Mabel-Canton. Last season, the Hurricanes' closest game was in the season opening game, against Mabel-Canton, where the Hurricanes escaped 20 to 16. When I arrived just prior to the half, Mabel-Canton was on the door step of the endzone, but a deflected ball was intercepted, and the two teams went into the locker room tied at seven a piece. In the second half, the Mabel-Canton Cougars were able to strike some what quickly as Nick Spande had a solid run up the middle for the score, putting the Cougars ahead. Not long after that, Dalton Stoen had a good 30 yard run with a solid stiff arm and a two cut backs that left Houston defenders picking up their cleats. Houston did have their chances, coming close to the endzone, but were never able to punch it in in the second half to keep pace with Mabel-Canton.

9/3 Soccer Recap

The beautiful game is what it's nicknamed and I was able to make it to two match last night, as La Crescent girls hosted Rochester Lourdes and Onalaska hosted West Salem.

First, La Crescent ended up losing their match 1-0, but had chances early on (including one going off the cross bar). The Lancers had close chances, but couldn't convert.

The second game I made it to was Onalaska versus West Salem. When I showed up, it was already four to nothing, which was at the half! That is now three games where Onalaska has scored four or more goals per game. About 10-15 minutes in, West Salem had a penalty kick, which they scored on, only the second goal scored on the Hilltoppers in this young season. In the waning seconds of the game, the Hilltoppers got one final goal a long kick, easily 25 or 30 yards out. While the season is young, Onalaska has looked very good on the pitch.

9/1 Volleyball Recap

Ben got my first look at the Aquinas volleyball team tonight. Last year they graduated leaders Emily Dolan and Erin Kelly, but with the seasoned Kristine Schill playing her senior year, Alex Deshler emerging as a force on the team, and junior Sarah Hebel adding some height, this will be a team to watch out for. They may have lost to Central in the early season inner-city battle, but I think they will be major contenders for conference, as they always are. Sam Stout had 20+ assists Alex Deshler and Kristine Schill combined for 28 kills in their 3-0 win over Holmen...and Aquinas looked like a team on a mission.

I got a chance to see Onalaska and Central face off. Last season, these two teams finished second and third, respectively. Central held solid control in match one, winning by double digits, swept the contest three game to none. Allyson Hennessy had very solid play up front, she will be a force. Central did knock off Aquinas in the first day of MVC play, giving the Red Raiders a great first step on the season.

I was also able to make it to West Salem, as they took on Westby. The Panthers were up 2 games to none when I walked in, but were noticeably trailing by five in the third game. The gap remained there until the score sat at 21 to 16. West Salem showed grit and poise, rallying to win 25 to 23. Megan Koepnick had some kills down the stretch to help the Panthers come back and over take the Norse.

We will be getting out to a Logan game very soon and providing insight
on the Rangers.

Coulee Region Alumni: Iowa

We continue our look at Coulee Region alumni with the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. It is about 220 miles to Iowa's campus, with an approximate drive time of 4 hours and 23 minutes. The Hawkeyes are NCAA Division I members of the Big Ten Conference, where they have been since 1899.

Football: Karl Klug (Caledonia)

Derek Coorough of Hillsboro had been on the men's wrestling team until last season, after which he exhausted his eligibility.

There are no area athletes on baseball, men's or women's basketball, men's cross country, men's or women's golf, men's or women's gymnastics, women's rowing, women's soccer, softball, men's or women's swimming and diving, men's or women's tennis, men's or women's track and field, women's volleyball or men's wrestling.

Coulee Region Alumni: Iowa State

We continue our look at Coulee Region alumni with Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. It is about 173 miles to Iowa State's campus, with an approximate drive time of 3 hours and 44 minutes. The Cyclones are NCAA Division I members of the Big XII Conference, where they have been since 1996. They had been members of the Big Eight Conference, which joined with four schools to form the Big XII.

Men's Basketball: Scott Christopherson (Aquinas)

There are no area athletes on women's basketball, men's or women's cross country, football, men's or women's golf, gymnastics, women's soccer, softball, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, women's volleyball or men's wrestling.

Coulee Region Alumni: Northern Iowa

We continue our look at Coulee Region alumni with University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. It is about 183 miles to Northern Iowa's campus, with an approximate drive time of 3 hours and 23 minutes. The Panthers are NCAA Division I members of the Missouri Valley Conference, where they have been since 1991. They had been members of the then-named Mid-Continent Conference (now the Summit League).

Football: Zach Gran (Caledonia)

There are no area athletes on the men's or women's basketball, men's or women's cross country, men's or women's golf, softball, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, men's or women's track and field, wrestling, or women's volleyball.

Coulee Region Alumni: Drake

We continue our look at Coulee Region alumni with Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. It is about 276 miles to Drake's campus, with an approximate drive time of 4 hours and 11 minutes. The Bulldogs are NCAA Division I members of the Missouri Valley Conference, where they have been since 1907.

There are no area athletes on the men's or women's basketball, men's or women's cross country, women's rowing, men's or women's golf, football, men's or women's soccer, men's or women's tennis, men's or women's track and field and women's volleyball.