SECTION C • DECEMBER 1, 2011

Page 1Page 1SPORTSPREVIEW

HOCKEY

12-3 at BEA Tournament (Blue Earth)12-8 vs. Pipestone12-10 JCC Tournament12-16 and 12-17 Christmas Tournament (Rochester)12-22 vs. Blue Earth Area12-29 and 12-30 Rumble on the Red (Fargo, N.D.)1-5 at Adrian and Red Rock Central (Lamberton)1-7 at Sioux City East Tournament (Sioux City, Iowa)1-12 at Worthington and Marshall (Marshall)1-16 at LCWM (Lake Crystal)1-19 vs. Luverne and Redwood Valley1-21 at Hutchinson Tournament1-28 at Kasson-Mantorville Tournament (Kasson)1-31 at Windom/MLBO (Mt. Lake)2-4 at JWP Tournament (Janesville)2-10 at New London-Spicer (New London)2-18 Team Sections (Mapleton)2-25 Individual Sections (Blue Earth)3-1 — 3-3 State Tournament (Xcel Energy Center)

JCC wrestling scheduleHead coach: Randy Baker

Photo by Dan Condon

Returning letter winners for the Jackson County Central gymnastics team are (front, from left): Morgan Halverson, Hailey Timko and Sydnee Donnelli. Middle: Michaela Vancura and Adriane Rentschler. Top: Brandi Sether-Hassing.

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12-6 at New Ulm12-10 at Blue Earth Area Tournament (Winnebago)12-13 vs. St. James12-15 at Blue Earth Area (Winnebago)12-30 vs. Martin County West1-9 at Marshall1-14 at Martin County West Tournament (Welcome)1-19 at Luverne1-21 Sweetheart Invitational1-23 vs. Windom1-28 State True Team1-31 vs. Worthington2-2 vs. Redwood Valley2-10 at Pipestone2-18 Section Tournament (Worthington)2-24 and 2-25 State Tournament

JCC gymnastics scheduleHead coach: Tammy Handevidt

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SWOBODACHIROPRACTIC

Photo by Dan Condon

Returning letter winners for the Jackson County Central wrestling team are (front, from left): Kyle Kapplinger, Jordan Biehn, Kyle Edlin, Keegan Moore, Devin Phaly, Ryan Timko and Dakota Rossow. Back: Kyle Edwards, Eliot Jurries, Luke Norland, Cooper Moore, Pat Hanson, Darick Vancura, Paden Moore and Alex Tewes. Missing: Dylan Riggle.

For the Jackson County Central wrestling team, having success at the state tournament has been the norm. The Huskies were co-state champions last year and have won at least a share of the champion-ship five times under Randy Baker, and the goal of this year’s team is to add to that list.

“We hope to get back to the state tournament and try for a title,” Baker said, adding the Huskies

Huskies take aim at another state championship

by DAN CONDONSports Editor

by DAN CONDONSports Editor

also have their sights set on winning the Southwest Conference championship and Rumble on the Red.

To accomplish those goals, the Huskies will rely on captains Cooper Moore, Darick Vancura and Eliot Jurries.

Moore, a senior, already has one individual state title and sits at 188 career wins. Vancura, a senior, finished second at state last year and already has 118 career wins. Jurries, a junior, won 36 matches last year.

Moore is penciled in at 170 pounds this year, with Vancura at 160 and Jurries at 126.

The three make up part of a loaded middle portion of the lineup for the Huskies, which also includes eighth-grader Keegan Moore (26-19 last year) and freshman Paden Moore (36-10) at 138 and 145, freshman Luke

Norland (18-8) at 152 and senior Pat Hanson (23-12) at 182. Senior Alex Tewes (32-12) returns to strength-en the upper portion of the lineup, wrestling at 285.

The Huskies have plenty of options at 106, including freshmen Devin Phaly and seventh-graders Sean Lun-deen, Ryker VanderWoude and Logan Price.

Junior Kyle Edlin, who won 18 matches last year, will wrestle at 113, with ju-nior Cameron Henning and sophomores Dakota Ros-sow and Jordan Biehn com-peting for the 120-pound slot.

Freshmen Kyle Kap-plinger and Ryan Timko will compete for time with Jurries at 126, with junior Dylan Riggle wrestling at 132.

Senior Dallas Murray (145), sophomore Wyatt Livingston (152) and junior

Nate Guggisberg (170) are hoping for time through the middle weights.

Senior Kyle Edwards and junior John Marker are competing for time at 195 and sophomore Jack Ziemer is penciled in at 220.

“We have great balance this year and the team is very athletic,” Baker said. “We have some strong se-niors, but we also have some very, very talented young guys who are hungry.”

Despite plenty of talent, Baker expects the team to be tested because of a tough schedule.

“Things will get tough; we have a tough schedule again,” Baker said. “So ev-eryone will get tested, and perhaps often. Challenges will be there for this team.”

But Baker expects the captains and veterans to lead the way.

“They are very good lead-

ers, they know what it takes and how to work at getting better,” he said of the cap-tains. “We have good lead-ers and lots of talent.”

Baker expects Windom/Mt. Lake-Butterfield-Odin to be the biggest challenger to the Huskies in the SWC and listed New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Gene-va as the biggest threat in the section.

Baker is assisted by Nate

Hanson, Troy Schultz and Galen McCarthy.

“Nate and Troy have been with me for a while and are great,” Baker said. “Galen was a former wrestler and works very well with kids.”

The Huskies will open the season Saturday with a tour-nament at Blue Earth Area and have their first home meet Dec. 8 when they host Pipestone in what is also the SWC opener.

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BASKETBALLGYMNASTICS

Every season brings the same goals for the Jackson

Goals remain the same for JCC gymnastsCounty Central gymnastics team: win the Southwest Conference and make it to the state tournament.

The Huskies have ac-complished that first goal

nine straight seasons, but haven’t reached state as a team since 2000.

The hope is that will change this year behind the strength of a veteran team.

“Our goal remains the same and that is to send this team to the state tourna-ment,” head coach Tammy Handevidt said.

The Huskies return six letter winners, including four who have competed individually at the state tournament.

Senior Morgan Halv-erson and juniors Sydnee Donnelli, Brandi Sether-Hassing and Adriane Rent-schler all have state experi-ence and will be joined by senior Hailey Timko and freshman Michaela Van-cura on this year’s varsity squad.

Donnelli qualified for state in three events last year and came in fifth in vault — the best finish in any event by a JCC gymnast at state. She also qualified for state on bars and in all-around last year and was sixth on balance beam at state as a freshman. Don-nelli has made it to state in at least one event every year since she was a seventh-grader.

Sether-Hassing finished 13th on bars at state a year ago and finished as the all-

around champion of four meets as a sophomore. She also finished first on bars and floor in four SWC meets a year ago. Sether-Hassing has qualified for state three years in a row.

Rentschler was a five-time beam winner last year and came in 23rd in the event at state — her first trip to the state tournament.

Halverson qualified for state on the beam as a soph-omore and hopes to return in her final season with the Huskies.

“Our seniors and juniors have a lot of varsity experi-ence and that will be very beneficial going into this year’s season,” Handevidt.

Timko and Vancura both gained valuable experience last season and will have bigger roles this year after the graduation of Courtney Donnelli, who also made it to state last season.

The Huskies enter the season after putting in a lot of work in the offseason, something Handevidt ex-pects to pay off right away.

“The girls have done a fantastic job working out in the offseason,” she said. “We should really see their hard work shine through already in our first meet.”

That first meet is next Tuesday (Dec. 6) when the Huskies face New Ulm on

the road. A tournament and two more non-confer-ence meets follow before the Huskies host Martin County Area Dec. 30.

MCA has been the team to beat lately, but Handevi-dt said her team’s focus isn’t on the Magic.

“In the sport of gymnas-tics, we don’t really worry about what the other teams have,” she said. “We just need to focus on our rou-tines and improve the skills and start values.”

One area the Huskies have been working on im-proving is the bars, which is typically their lowest scor-

ing routine.“We always need to work

on getting our bar round stronger,” Handevidt said. “It seems like it is always the toughest event to bring in the scores.”

With an experienced team back, Handevidt said the Huskies are favored to win their 10th straight SWC championship, but she and assistant coach Tim McCo-nnell are hoping to accom-plish the goal of reaching state.

“The girls came into the season working very hard,” she said. “It should be an exciting season.”

C2 Thursday, December 1, 2011Sports Preview

11-25 and 11-26 at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Tournament11-29 vs. St. James12-3 at Spirit Lake, Iowa12-9 vs. Luverne12-13 at Worthington12-15 at Redwood Valley12-20 vs. Marshall12-27 — 12-29 at Mankato Loyola Tournament1-3 vs. Windom1-6 at Pipestone1-9 vs. Estherville Lincoln Central1-10 at Blue Earth Area1-16 vs. Fairmont1-17 vs. Redwood Valley1-20 at Luverne1-24 at Marshall1-31 at Windom2-3 vs. Martin County West2-10 vs. Pipestone2-11 vs. St. Peter2-13 at Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (Tracy)2-16 vs. Worthington2-25, 2-28, 3-2 and 3-9 Section Tournament3-14 — 3-17 State Tournament

JCC girls’ basketball scheduleHead coach: Tom Schuller

12-3 at Spirit Lake, Iowa12-5 vs. Granada-Huntley-East Chain12-9 vs. Luverne12-13 at Mt. Lake-Butterfield-Odin12-16 vs. Redwood Valley12-20 at Marshall12-27 and 12-28 at Blue Earth Area Tournament1-3 vs. Windom1-5 at Martin County West (Trimont)1-6 at Pipestone1-9 vs. Estherville Lincoln Central1-10 vs. Worthington1-16 vs. Fairmont1-20 at Luverne1-24 vs. Marshall1-31 at Windom2-2 at Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (Tracy)2-4 at St. James2-6 vs. New Ulm2-10 vs. Pipestone2-14 at Worthington2-17 at Redwood Valley2-28 at Blue Earth Area3-3, 3-8, 3-10 and 3-15 Section Tournament3-21 — 3-24 State Tournament

JCC boys’ basketball scheduleHead coach: Trent Sukalski

Photo by Dan Condon

Returning letter winners for the Jackson County Central boys’ basketball team are Cody Gettler (from left), Dustin Pronk, Jon Harmening, Taylor Christopher, Zach Copley, Logan Hall and Kyle Gruhlke.

Photo by Dan Condon

Returning letter winners for the Jackson County Central girls’ basketball team are (front, from left): Mackenzie Reed, Julia Schumann, Brooke Klontz and Angela Handzus. Back: Kaylee Burmeister, Michelle VanEpps, Kaylee Benson, Whitney Burmeister, Marita Rasche and Tracey Steffen. Missing: Sydney Eddy.

Athletic JCC girls’ hoops team will be led by Burmeister

by DAN CONDONSports Editor

After losing three starters to graduation and one to in-jury from a team that went to the state tournament last year, the Jackson County Central girls’ basketball team will have a new look this season.

But head coach Tom Schuller expects the Hus-kies to play the same way:

Huskies to replace four starters from state teamfast.

“We’re still trying to play fast,” Schuller said. “The big thing is to try to get 90 shots, plus free throws. We’ve never lost a game when I’ve coached where we’ve hit the 90-shot mark.”

Last year’s team had plenty of experience play-ing together, which will be the biggest challenge facing the Huskies this year as they run the floor.

“We’ve got some combi-nations that haven’t played together much,” Schuller said. “We’re just learning about ourselves yet.”

The biggest area the Hus-

kies will have to improve is the pressure defense, Schul-ler said, which has been a staple of the teams he’s coached.

“There’s a lot to learn with this press,” he said. “There will be some break-downs that might drive us crazy early. There’s a lot of adjustments you’ve got to make.”

But Schuller believes his team can do well because of its athletic ability and because of senior Whitney Burmeister’s ability to play on both ends of the court.

Burmeister entered the season with 1,344 points and averaged 19.3 points and 11.7 rebounds per game last season. She is the lone returning starter after se-nior Kaylee Benson hurt her knee during volleyball.

“That hurts big time,” Schuller said of Benson’s injury. “She’s one of the

best shooters in the league. She was going to be in the discussion for top players in the league.”

There’s a hope Ben-son can contribute toward the end of the season, but Schuller is planning for the worst.

“We have to plan as if she’s not,” he said. “We just hope she gets better.”

Joining Burmeister in the starting lineup will be junior center Michelle VanEpps, junior forward Marita Ra-sche and freshmen guards Julia Schumann and Kaylee Burmeister.

Rasche averaged 3.2 points and 3.5 rebounds a game last year and VanEpps scored 1.4 points and grabbed 2.0 rebounds.

Coming off the bench will be senior guard Tracey Stef-fen; juniors Brooke Klontz, Lydia Brandt (center), An-gie Handzus (guard) and

Mackenzie Reed (forward); and freshman Sydney Eddy (center).

“We’ve got really good athletes,” Schuller said, adding several will play at least one sport in college. “We just haven’t played together with this group very long. We’ll have some growing pains.”

Schuller said the fact the Huskies work so hard and are such an intelli-gent group will help them throughout the season.

“Their effort is outstand-ing and they’re really smart kids,” he said.

Marshall is “the over-whelming favorite” to win the Southwest Confer-ence, Schuller said, with Worthington also in the discussion. The Huskies will face the Trojans Dec. 13 on the road and Feb. 16, 2012, at home. JCC hosts Marshall Dec. 20 and faces

the Tigers on the road Jan. 24, 2012.

But Schuller isn’t looking that far ahead.

“We can’t do that,” he said. “We’ve got to focus on the next one all the time.”

That way, he hopes the Huskies can be at their best in the playoffs.

“For us, we just want to be competitive by the time sections come,” he said. “I’d love for us to get to a posi-tion where we can be very competitive with any team in the section and we’re not there yet.”

Schuller is assisted at the varsity level by Jon Beckman, with Rafael York coaching the B squad and Rachael Mitchell coaching the C squad. Wes Albers is coaching the eighth-grade team and Betty Ringeisen is coaching the seventh-graders.

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The Jackson County Central boys’ basketball program has been on an upward trend since Trent Sukalski took over prior to the 2006-07 season. The Huskies hope that trend continues despite the grad-uation of their top three players from the best team in the program’s history.

The Huskies won a team record 18 games last winter and won two playoff games for the first time in team history. But Ty Schwarting (22.5 points per game), Bryce Christopher (12.6 points per game) and Nolan Luhmann (8.5 points per game) all graduated, leav-

Basketball team hopes to build on momentumby DAN CONDON

Sports Editoring a big void for JCC.

“We’ll have a whole new look,” Sukalski said. “We lost three quality guards and 70 to 80 percent of our scoring.”

Instead of the dribble-drive offense used when Schwarting, Christopher and Luhmann were around, the Huskies will use a swing offense to hope for good looks at the hoop.

“It’s more of a ball-con-trol offense where you get quality shots around the basket,” Sukalski said. “It’s more post friendly.”

It will take time to learn the ins and outs of the of-fense, Sukalski said, but it is coming along.

“We need to learn the new looks,” he said. “Where the openings are and that

just comes with running it.”The new offense can be

successful because the Hus-kies return a pair of players who had success down low last year in junior Zach Copley and sophomore Jon Harmening. Copley scored 7.1 points per game and grabbed a team-high 7.1 re-bounds a game last season. Harmening moved up from B squad early in the season and averaged 8.0 points and 6.2 boards a game.

“Zach and Jon will be counted on heavily,” Su-kalski said.

Speedy senior guard Lo-gan Hall will be joined in the backcourt by junior Taylor Christopher and sophomore Darnell Taylor-Breck to complete the start-ing lineup. The quickness

of those three will help the Huskies continue to run the court.

“We will still run the floor; we’ll transition,” Sukalski said, adding the Huskies did that well in a scrimmage last Saturday in Marshall.

Sukalski also expects se-nior guard Cody Gettler, sophomore guard Shadrach Wacker and sophomore post Nolan Hohenstein to contribute, with senior posts Ben Kocak and Kyle Gruhlke, junior guards Aus-tin Hinkeldey and Josh Thaemlitz and sophomores Matt Schmit (post) and Brady Place (guard) com-peting for playing time.

Sukalski said the team has worked hard in practice so far, with a big focus thus

far being the defensive end of the court.

“We’ve got to get better defensively right now,” he said. “We need to work on defensively stopping the ball off the dribble and our team defense needs to im-prove.”

The rebounding also needs work, but Sukalski sees potential there thanks to Copley and Harmening down low.

“I think we can be a really good rebounding team,” he said.

Sukalski said Marshall is the favorite in the South-west Conference, but added Worthington and Redwood Valley as teams to watch.

Whether the Huskies are

facing the conference’s best or an under-matched op-ponent, Sukalski said fans can expect a hard-working team in navy in silver.

“We’ll definitely play hard,” he said. “I look for-ward to putting a good product on the court.”

Sukalski is assisted at the varsity level by Charlie Clarksean. Mark Kocak is coaching the B squad and Mike Wierson the C squad. Brett Benson and Wayne Christopher are coaching middle school teams.

The Huskies open the season Saturday in Spirit Lake, Iowa, and have their first home game Monday against Granada-Huntley-East Chain.

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12-3 vs. Luverne12-6 vs. Mt. Lake-Butterfield-Odin12-9 at Red Rock Central (Lamberton)12-15 at Ellsworth12-16 and 12-17 at Lakeview Tournament1-3 at Martin Luther (Northrup)1-6 vs. Adrian1-13 at Edgerton1-14 vs. Canby (at SMSU, Marshall)1-17 at Murray County Central1-20 vs. Fulda1-23 at Mt. Lake Christian (in Windom)1-26 at Westbrook/Walnut Grove (Westbrook)1-28 at Round Lake-Brewster1-31 vs. Southwest Minnesota Christian2-3 vs. Hills-Beaver Creek2-9 at Mt. Lake-Butterfield-Odin (Mt. Lake)2-14 vs. Ellsworth2-17 vs. Red Rock Central2-21 vs. Westbrook/Walnut Grove2-24 at Hills-Beaver Creek (Hills)2-27 vs. Round Lake-Brewster3-1, 3-3, 3-8, 3-10 and 3-15 Section Tournament3-21 — 3-24 State Tournament

SSC boys’ basketball scheduleHead coach: Tim Owen

The Southwest Star Con-cept boys’ basketball team returns a large group of players from a team that won nine games last season and adds quality depth, giv-ing head coach Tim Owen a dozen players he feels comfortable putting on the floor.

“For the first time in a long time I don’t feel too uncomfortable playing any of these guys,” Owen said of his team. “They can go for three minutes as hard as they can and I can put somebody else in.”

Leading the charge for the Quasars is senior for-ward Jameson Collin, who

Quasars bring experience to hardwoodby DAN CONDON

Sports Editorled the team with 15 points, 14.2 rebounds and 1.9 as-sists per game last season.

Owen expects Collin to again be the focus of the other team’s defense, which means others have to step up their game.

“At some point we’ve got to find someone who can shoot an outside shot,” Owen said. “Jameson is going to draw attention, so that opens things up for everybody else.”

Senior center Austin Liepold, who averaged five points and 8.3 rebounds per game last year, will also draw attention down low.

Senior guard Jacob Ol-son and senior forward Luke Henkels return with some starting experience,

with Henkels averaging 4.5 points a game last winter.

Junior forward Andrew Kramer also returns after starting last year, a season in which he averaged 6.9 points and 5.4 rebounds a game.

Junior guards Justin Jass, Luke Veith and Matthew Soto, junior forward Mark Ferguson and sophomores Aaron Fest (guard), Zach Schumacher (center) and Brandon Thurk (forward) will also see the court for the Quasars.

Seven of the 12 Quasars have varsity experience and the others played a lot of minutes for the B squad last season.

Owen said having seven guys back with varsity ex-

perience is a plus, as is the team’s defense.

“One thing we’ve been good at over the years is defense,” Owen said, add-ing that must continue for his team to be successful. “We need to play good team defense and hold people down.”

It’s the offensive end that worries Owen as his team nears its first game, which is Saturday against Luverne.

“We’ve got to find a way to score,” he said. “We have to focus on doing the ordi-nary, not the extraordinary. We’re not going to be fancy, we just need to be funda-mentally sound and do the basics of the game.”

After opening against Luverne, the Quasars will get an early test when they host Mt. Lake-Butterfield-Odin, who, along with Ells-worth, Southwest Minne-sota Christian, Fulda and Murray County Central, will be near the top of the Red Rock Conference at the end of the season.

After getting through their difficult conference schedule, the Quasars will find themselves in new ter-ritory as they head into Section 2A after previously being in Section 3A.

“That part will be differ-ent for us,” Owen said. “But we get to see somebody dif-ferent when playoffs start.”

Photo by Dan Condon

Returning letter winners for the Southwest Star Concept boys’ basketball team are (front, from left): Andrew Kramer, Matthew Soto, Jacob Olson and Jameson Collin. Back: Justin Jass, Mark Ferguson, Luke Henkels and Austin Liepold.

Photo by Dan Condon

Returning letter winners for the Southwest Star Concept girls’ basketball team are (front, from left): Kailey Wendland, Autumn Hinkeldey and Alaina Klingenberg. Back: Arianna Hesemann, Connor DeWall, Courtney Place and Sarah Baumgard.

SSC and RLB combine forces for girls’ basketball

by DAN CONDONSports Editor

Two is better than one.At least that is the hope

for the Southwest Star Con-cept girls’ basketball team as the Quasars combined

Quasar girls hope two is better than oneforces with Round Lake-Brewster for the new hoops season while keeping the SSC Quasars name.

Even with two teams coming together, head coach Keith Place said they haven’t missed a beat.

“We’ve got pretty good chemistry for kids that haven’t played together,” he said. “That’s a big deal.”

The Quasars have five girls back who were starters

on their respective teams last year, but the team is still quite young.

“We’re in the process of teaching kids how to play the game of basketball,” Place said. “That’s the fun part for me; I love this.”

Place said how well the team performs on game night is directly related to how well the girls learn the basics of the game in practice.

“It’s going to depend on how fast some of these girls can develop,” he said. “We’re stressing funda-mentals.”

The Quasars will rely on their five returning starters to lead the team, especially early in the season.

Senior forwards Arianna Hesemann and Connor De-Wall both started for SSC last year, as did freshman guard Courtney Place. Ju-nior forward Sarah Baum-gard and freshman forward Kailey Wendland both were starters for RLB a year ago.

DeWall averaged 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game last year, with Place scoring 8.6 points and Hes-emann 5.6 points per game last season. Baumgard is entering her third year as starter and Wendland her second.

Senior Jennifer Schmidt would’ve been a major con-tributor for SSC this season after leading the team with 11.6 points per game a year ago, but underwent surgery on her knee after injuring it during volleyball.

After the five starters, the Quasars lack experience.

“That’s going to be an is-sue,” Place said. “We have a lack of overall experience.”

Sophomore guards Alai-na Klingenberg and Au-tumn Hinkeldey are re-turning letter winners and

will contribute again to the Quasars. Seniors Janae Vonk (guard) and Janelle Edwards (center); sopho-mores Sonja Peters (for-ward) and Kristin Liepold (center); freshman forward Sarah Schmid; eighth-grade guards Andrea Hinkeldey and Megan Haberman; and seventh-grade guard Gabi Stenzel are also hoping to contribute to the SSC var-sity, with most seeing action on the B squad team as well.

With two teams coming together and players and coaches still learning every-one’s strengths, Place said it could take a few games to figure out a lineup.

“We’ve got to find out what the rotation will be,” he said. “It’s going to be as big a learning experience

for the coaching staff as it is for the players.”

While they sort things out, the Quasars will rely on playing solid defense and rebounding and are going to try a variety of things on the offensive end.

“We’re going to have to be able to do both,” Place said about playing a fast-paced game and half-court offense. “We’ll have to use our speed and score in transition; that’s easier than five-on-five. But we have to understand the game. Against higher-skil led teams, we might have to manage the game and play control offense and shorten the game.”

Place hopes the Quasars can at least match last year’s .500 record, which will be a

challenge in what he says is a “really deep” Red Rock Conference. Place lists the normal four of Southwest Minnesota Christian, Fulda, Adrian and Murray County Central as favorites, but said Westbrook/Walnut Grove, Red Rock Central, Ellsworth and Edgerton will all be good.

Place said only time will tell how well his team han-dles the pressure of game night.

“These girls love to play basketball,” he said. “The true test will be when times get tough.”

SSC opened the season Monday by hosting Harris-Lake Park and will be on the road against Mt. Lake-Butterfield-Odin tomorrow (Friday).

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11-28 vs. Harris-Lake Park12-2 at Mt. Lake-Butterfield-Odin (Butterfield)12-8 vs. Red Rock Central12-13 at Southwest Minnesota Christian12-16 vs. Ellsworth12-19 and 12-20 at Comfrey Tournament12-22 vs. Edgerton1-3 vs. Adrian1-5 vs. Hills-Beaver Creek1-7 at Blue Earth Area1-9 at Luverne1-13 at Edgerton1-14 vs. Canby (at SMSU, Marshall)1-19 vs. Murray County Central1-21 at Fulda1-24 vs. Westbrook/Walnut Grove2-2 at Hills-Beaver Creek (Hills)2-6 vs. Mt. Lake-Butterfield-Odin2-10 at Ellsworth2-14 at Martin Luther (Northrup)2-16 at Red Rock Central (Jeffers)2-20 at Westbrook/Walnut Grove (Westbrook)2-23, 2-25, 2-28, 3-2 and 3-9 Section Tournament3-14 — 3-17 State Tournament

SSC girls’ basketball scheduleHead coach: Keith Place

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C4 Thursday, December 1, 2011Sports Preview

11-29 at Redwood Valley12-1 vs. Marshall12-3 vs. Mankato East12-8 vs. Worthington12-10 at Morris/Benson12-19 vs. Luverne12-22 at Fairmont12-28 at North Branch12-29 at Becker1-5 vs. Redwood Valley1-14 vs. Morris/Benson1-17 at Marshall1-21 at LeSueur-Henderson1-24 at Worthington1-31 at Luverne2-3 vs. Waseca2-9 vs. Fairmont2-21, 2-23, 2-25 and 3-2 Section Tournament3-7 — 3-10 State Tournament

Windom boys’ hockey scheduleHead coach: Jon Ammerman

11-15 L 13-0 to St. Peter11-17 L 11-0 to Luverne12-1 vs. Marshall12-8 vs. Worthington12-10 at Morris/Benson12-15 vs. Luverne12-22 vs. Fairmont12-26 — 12-28 at Austin Tournament1-7 vs. Fairmont1-13 at Waseca1-14 vs. Morris/Benson1-17 at Marshall1-24 at Worthington1-26 vs. LeSueur-Henderson1-27 at Fairmont2-4 at Fairmont2-6 vs. Waseca2-10, 2-14 and 2-17 Section Tournament2-22 — 2-25 State Tournament

Windom girls’ hockey scheduleHead coach: Dean Drahota

A n i n e x p e r i e n c e d Windom Area girls’ hockey team might not post a lot of wins this season, but head coach Dean Drahota likes the way his squad is working day in and day out.

“They all like to be there,” Drahota said. “They want to play hockey and they want to learn.”

Drahota said the biggest thing for the Eagles is to get comfortable on the ice and react without having to think about their next move.

“We have to think too much and you can’t think when you play hockey,” he said. “It’s got to be instinct.”

Drahota said mistakes will happen, but they can be used as ways of learning.

“We’re going to make mistakes — the girls are go-ing to make mistakes and us coaches are going to make mistakes — but as long as we learn as we go, we’ll be all right,” Drahota said.

One luxury for the Eagles is having senior Amber Svo-boda back as goalie.

“This year, it’s big to have her back with as young as the team is,” Drahota said. “We’re trying to limit the number of shots she can face, but we’ve faced that for a number of years. It’s huge having someone who’s got some experience back

Eagle girls are eager to improvethere.”

With quite a few areas to improve, Drahota said one of the best things about his team is its willingness to work hard.

“We have a good group of girls that wants to get better and improve,” he said.

Along with Svoboda, the Eagles return senior for-ward Kylie Willard and eighth-grade defensemen Alexis Jellema-Baerg. Join-ing those two on the first line will be sophomore for-ward Katie Schoenenberg-er and freshmen forward Lizzie Schoenenberger. On the second line will be sophomore forward Arica Svoboda; sophomore de-fensemen Angela Patter-son; eighth-grader forwards Hailey Cory, Annie Hanson and Kaylee Rosenkranz; and eighth-grade defense-men Kaylee Janssen.

The team has worked well together so far, Dra-hota said, which gives him hope for success this year or down the road.

“We have a good team feel this year,” he said. “I can see the team build-ing. They’re there for each other.”

Drahota is assisted by Steve Willard and former Eagles Brooklyn Drahota and Shelby Veenker. Hav-ing those two on the bench has been an asset so far, Drahota said.

by DAN CONDONSports Editor

by DAN CONDONSports Editor

Photo by Dan Condon

Jackson County Central students on the Windom Area boys’ hockey team are Zach Ignaszweski (from left), Kyle Luhmann, Brett Larson, Mitchell Macek and Ben Stubbe. Missing: Carsen Nyborg.

With a new coach comes renewed hope for a Windom Area boys’ hockey program that has struggled the last few seasons.

Jon Ammerman hopes his team, led by senior forwards Mitchell Baum-hoefner and Adam Eisen-menger, can continue to improve and make some noise once the playoffs roll around.

“I think we’re all on the same page that we want to get better every day and, once playoffs come, be a team that nobody really wants to face in the first round,” Ammerman said. “I think that’s a realistic goal.”

A m m e r m a n c a l l e d Baumhoefner and Eisen-menger “skilled guys who can score a lot of points,” but said he and assistant coaches Jason Espenson and Justin Espenson feel comfortable putting any of their players on the ice.

“Everybody’s going to play,” he said. “We have no problem throwing anybody out there. It will be exciting to see who steps up and fills the rolls.”

One spot up in the air is goalie, where Jackson County Central junior Ben Stubbe is competing with junior Tyler Macgowan.

“Stubbe has impressed early,” Ammerman said. “He’ll be solid back there. Those two will have to de-cide amongst themselves who will be the starter.”

JCC senior forward Brett Larson and JCC junior de-fensemen Kyle Luhmann return with considerable experience and JCC senior Carsen Nyborg returns after not playing last season.

“Carsen is a big, strong player,” Ammerman said, adding Luhmann is “one of the most skilled defen-

Eagle boys hope to surprise on the ice

semen” and a player the Eagles will “lean on quite a bit.” Ammerman said Lar-son has been a team leader so far and will be “a big contributor to our team.”

JCC sophomore for-wards Zach Ignaszewski and Mitchell Macek will also play for the Eagles, with Ammerman “hoping for big things” from Macek, a player he says “has a good sense of the game.”

As a whole, Ammerman said the Eagles have “a good group of forwards who can score” and “back on de-fense we have a lot of kids that will compete.”

One strength of the team is its speed, Ammerman said.

“We can skate,” he said. “We have a pretty quick team and a pretty deter-mined team. We have a group of guys that are pretty skilled and are excited to improve.”

In his two weeks with the team, Ammerman has already noticed quite a bit of improvement, something he expects will continue all season.

“We’re learning quick, that’s the big thing,” he said. “They’ve improved and I’m excited to see where we end up if we continue to improve.”

The Eagles opened the season Tuesday night at

Redwood Valley and play again tonight (Thursday) with their home opener against Marshall.

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“We’ve got some good players,” Ammerman said. “We can be a team that sur-prises some people.”

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“It’s been great having those two girls here,” he said. “They can communi-cate well with the girls.”

The Eagles lost their first two games and will look for their first win today (Thurs-day) as they host Marshall.

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Photo by Dan Condon

Cheer team opens Dec. 17The Jackson County Central competition cheerlead-ing team opens the season with a meet at DeLaSalle

Dec. 17. Team members are (front, from left): Kirsten Ringgenberg, Miranda Timko, Madison Cregeen and

Natalie Schlager. Middle: Kassidy Timmer, Hally Dauffenbach, Karlee Wegner, Emma Smith, Kaitlyn

John and Lacey Schneekloth. Back: Laura Eintertson, Maria Will, Kortney Porter, Jenna Stade, Holly Reiter

and Lexi Schneekloth. The team is coached by Barb Tvinnereim. For a preview of the team’s season, see the

Dec. 15 paper.

906 Highway 71 N.Jackson, Minnesota 56143507-847-5244

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Lacey Schneekloth Lexi Schneekloth

Jackson • 507-847-2200Lakefi eld • 507-662-6611

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Jackson • 507-847-2200Lakefi eld • 507-662-6611

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12-17 DeLaSalle1-14 Edina1-21 Spirit of America Competition (Mall of America)1-28 MN State Cheer Championships (St. Paul)

JCC competition cheerleading scheduleHead coach: Barb Tvinnereim

906 Highway 71 N.Jackson, Minnesota 56143507-847-5244

Snick’s Signs/Southwest Awards