As the world turns...West Central Conference drama continues

It ain't over yet...

All the recent changes to the West Central Conference may have the typical sports fan out there thinking that things may settle down for awhile.

Not a bit.

The Western Guard newspaper (Madison's paper) reported recently that Lac qui Parle Valley is strongly considering fleeing the WCC to join the Camden Conference for most sports and the Little Sioux for football.

LQPV has been a member of the West Central Conference since 1990, when the 4 school districts of Marietta/Nassau, Madison, Appleton and Milan merged. They had a fair amount of success in the 1990s when their enrollment was high and they were one of the larger schools in the league.

Currently they are hovering under 900 students K-12...not good. The economies of their small towns are suffering considerably.

As far as the Camden Conference is concerned...LQPV would by far be the biggest school in that league if that move took place. The Camden currently includes schools such as MACCRAY (K-12 is around 700 students), Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg (K-12 is around 550) and Dawson-Boyd (K-12 is around 650). Other schools in that league include Minneota, Canby, Lincoln HI (Ivanhoe), Russel-Tyler-Ruthton and Tracy-Milroy-Balaton. In football those above-mentioned schools with the exception of K-M-S are all in the Little Sioux Conference; all but Tracy-Milroy-Balaton are in Class 1A. (T-M-B is in Class 2A.)

As we learn more on this over the next few weeks and months we'll keep our public up to date!

~RO

Prairie Centre Area earns first win of the season

Against a solid and undefeated Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato team on the Sauk Centre ice, the Prairie Centre Area North Stars boys' hockey team earned its first win of the season by a 4-3 score.

L/D-C (3-1) trailed 4-2 before they scored with roughly 3:00 left in the third period. They launched a few shots in the closing minute but none were successful.

Derek Holm scored the Stars' first goal after they fell behind 2-0. Holm rifled a snapshot from the point that beat the goalie high. Ryan Connor then scored on a nifty shot coming down the right wing boards. Connor cut to the net and scored on a hard wrister that caught the corner of the net.

Connor scored again to give Prairie Center a 3-2 lead and then Holm set up Cody Bartkowicz, who tipped it past the netminder for a 4-2 lead.

L-DC scored late to make it 4-3 but Stars goalie Justin Brever held his ground til the final seconds ticked off for the big win.

North Stars drop 3-1 contest to Detroit Lakes

Detroit Lakes kept its hot streak going with a 3-1 win over Prairie Centre Area on the Long Prairie ice last night. The Lakers improved to 3-2 with the win, which came on the heels of two victories over #18-ranked Fergus Falls and also Northern Lakes. The North Stars fell to 0-3 on the young season.

Prairie Centre Area can be heard on BOB FM in tonight's contest against undefeated Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (3-0).

Below, Mark and Joyce Knoblauch interview Melrose boys' basketball coach Ryan Duscha after their game at B-B-E last night...

BOB FM will broadcast tonight's hockey match against L/D-C. Kirby Hemmesch will be providing the play-by-play coverage; the contest begins at 7:30 p.m.

The Mainstreeters boys' basketball team hosts Staples-Motley (1-1) tonight, while the girls' basketball team travels to Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (1-1). The wrestling team competes at the Willmar Tournament.

Tomorrow (Saturday), the Sauk Centre-Melrose Area Fusion boys' swimming and diving team begins their 2011-12 season with a meet at St. Cloud Apollo.

Sauk Centre Pep Band livens up atmosphere last night

And an action clip, with Berscheit draining a three-pointer in the second half of their game against Holdingford on Dec. 6...

Sauk Centre girls' basketball easily handles Holdingford; Boys' squad wins big comeback at Holdingford

The Mainstreeters girls' basketball team led 52-24 with under 5:00 to go in the game against visiting Holdingford tonight. The Huskers are in the same sub-section as Sauk Centre in basketball.

The Sauk Centre boys’ basketball team made it two in a row with a nice comeback win tonight over Holdingford. After trailing 42-29 at the half, the Streeters outscored the Huskers 33-10 in the second half for a 62-52 victory. Pat Knoblauch led the team for the second straight game with 19 points. Travis Rieland scored 18 and Nick Adams had his second straight double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
For more check out this week’s Sauk Herald, and be sure to support the Streeter boys this Friday in a section 6AA match-up against a very good Staples-Motley team.

Update on the girls' squad...Twelve different players scored in Sauk’s 56-30 win over Holdingford tonight in girls’ hoops. The Streeters led 38-11 at the half and never looked back. Macy Weller led the team with 12 points. Sauk Centre, which is ranked #10 in Class 2A in the latest coaches' poll, will take on Long Prairie-Grey Eagle this Friday in Long Prairie to try and improve to 3-0 on the season.