Any and all photo content is property of the ECM Publishers Inc. Unauthorized use is prohibited. To purchase photos contact the Morrison County Record office at 320-632-2345.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Bright Lights, Big City

The Killer is back and just as good as ever in his newest release, "Rock & Roll Time." It's never as clear as it is when he tickles the keys and provides those great vocals in the cover of "Bright Lights, Big City." With guys like Keith Richards and Neil Young and many more providing backup vocals and instrumentation, this is one album I can listen to again and again.

I've been covering much volleyball and football playoffs recently. The football continues this week with a big trip to Fargo on Halloween Friday and a game close to home on Saturday.

Fantasy football was not great this week despite a great start on Thursday, where I had a ton of points from Philip Rivers and Emmanuel Sanders. I lost in both and am currently 5-3 in both of my leagues and in second and third place respectively. I'm really looking forward to the return of Calvin Johnson and Rashad Jennings, who will hopefully be back in week 10.

I went 7-3 in pick 'em this past week. I made errors in judgement by thinking that the Flyers did not have enough to beat Thief River Falls, and that the Huskies were good enough to beat a strong Northern State team. I also did not expect the Gophers to blow a 24-21 lead in the fourth quarter. I am now 46-14 on the season. For this week:
Pierz over Cathedral: I think the Pioneers ground and pound will be too much for the Crusaders, but the Pioneers will likely struggle with Cathedral's pass offense, but the clock control by Pierz wins them the Section 5AAA title.
USA over Royalton: I will be at this game on Friday, and I don't think Royalton will be able to stop the balanced Patriots offense, who now has everyone healthy.
Ottertail Central over Holdingford: OTC has clobbered everyone they've faced, except undefeated USA this year. They should take care of Holdingford....I think.
St. John's over Augsburg: The Auggies aren't too bad this year, but the Johnnies are rolling, and that should continue.
Bemidji State over SCSU: Sorry Huskies. I have little faith, and the Beavers aren't too bad.
Vikings over Redskins: I don't care that the 'Skins just beat the Cowboys. They aren't that good, and the Vikings need the win if they want to stay in the playoff hunt.
Saints over Panthers: Should be an easy victory for the Saints over a depleted Carolina team.
Broncos over Patriots: In this Brady/Manning bowl, the best QB will win, and that is Manning, bar none.
Steelers over Ravens: Went back and forth on this one, but Pittsburgh and their rejuvenated passing attack have the momentum.
Colts over Giants: The Colts bounce back from their embarrassment in Pittsburgh to top these NFC east pretenders.

Anyways, here are some pictures from the past week:
Upsala's Danica Cheney winds up for a kill attempt against PACT at a tournament hosted by Upsala, Oct. 16.

Royalton quarterback Brady Moulzolf heads out the tunnel of players Oct. 21 in the Royals' opening round playoff game.

Little Falls players and fans celebrate, Oct. 21, after the Flyers' won their first home playoff game in nearly 30 years.

Thomas Miller tries to clear a mound of Prowler playoffs.

Moulzolf evades the Nighthawks' Ross Ruckheim in their first round game.

Moulzolf holds for the Royals' kicker Jake Wentland.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Night Terror


I discovered a new band that I appear to like this week in We Were Promised Jetpacks. Although a little wordy, WWPJ is a pretty cool band. I chose the song "Night Terror" from their latest release "Unravelling." It's worth a listen.

It is already fall sports playoff time, and I'll be pretty busy this week covering and photographing both volleyball and football playoffs. I won't make it to cross country sections, because they are all the way in New London and Alexandria respectively. It should mean quite a few late nights, and little to no fun this weekend, but at least Halloween is coming soon. Oh wait, I have to work then too. What a surprise.

It was a good week for me in fantasy football as both of my teams rumbled along for wins, despite sub-par performances and continued injury problems. Greg Olsen continues to be my most consistent performer in my main league, and I got a welcome explosive game from Shane Vereen on Thursday. It was exactly what I was hoping for when I drafted him in the third round as my No. 1 running back. At 5-2 in both leagues, I can already see the playoffs in my future, but everything changes once they begin.

I went another solid 8-2 in T.O's Picks last week. I once again stupidly picked the Vikings to win, ignoring the fact that they hadn't had a heartbreaking, last-second loss yet this season. I should have seen that one coming. I also underestimated St. John's as they topped undefeated Gustavus. Here are this week's picks:
Thief River Falls over Little Falls: I feel like TRF will get their revenge, despite a home game for the Flyers in the first round of sections.
Cathedral over Milaca: As tough as it is to win two weeks in a row against the same team, Cathedral has the passing game to do it.
Royalton over Prairie Valley (Parker's Prairie): The Royals too will have to beat the same team two weeks in a row, but if last week's blowout win is any indication, the Royals should take care of business at home.
Pierz over Pine City/Mora: It won't even matter who wins the first round game, Pierz should roll into the section finals on Saturday.
USA over West Central Area: The Patriots trounced them in their first match up, and it will be no different this time around.
Holdingford over Wadena-Deer Creek: WDC should be no problem for the Huskers, who's losses came against a pair of AAA teams and Maple Lake, the ninth-ranked team in the state.
St. John's over Carleton College: No problem for the Johnnie's at home.
SCSU over Northern State: Tough road game for the Huskies, but they should use the momentum from this week's win to head to victory again.
Gophers over Illinois: Should be their easiest conference game this season, and an easy victory on the road.
Vikings over Tampa Bay: If the Vikings lose this week, all hope is definitely lost. The Buccaneers suck. 

I have many pictures from Oct. 9-14 to share. Enjoy.

Laura Fregin (left) and Melanie Dorn fought over a ball that was hit over the net, Oct. 9 against Albany.

Fregin digs out an Albany shot.

Dorn receives a serve.

Little Falls' Riley Loukinen defends Sauk Rapids-Rice's Landon Kobluk in the first round of the Section 8A playoffs.

Thea Lidi Kjaer of the Flyers races with St. John's Prep's Emma Backes for a ball in front of the SJP net in the first round of the Section 8A playoffs, Oct. 9 in Little Falls.

The Little Falls student section greets each Albany player with a hearty hello.

Little Falls forward Kia Friel shoots past SJP defender Taylor Nydeen.

Katelyn Staab boots the ball back toward the SJP side of the field.

Mikel Vacek tries to control a ball.

Emily Marlette drives past an SJP player.

Flyers goalie Lauren Thielman puts a big kick on the ball from the goal box.

Little Fall's Sam Beam (middle) leaps up with the Storms' Jonathon Wick (near) and another defender. 

Little Falls senior Thomas Bell (right) and Loukinen fight with Sauk Rapids-Rice player Alex Martins.

Bell out manuevers a Storm defender near the goal.

Aaron Orth winds up for a big kick.

Connor Jorgensen corrals a ball.

Pierz libero Claire Reardon after digging out a tough serve.

Fregin earns a dig.

A golf cart leads the girls race at the CMC meet Oct. 9 in Pierz.

Royalton celebrates after senior Abby Duevel hits the game-winning shot in the fifth set, Oct. 9 against WCA.

Duevel passes the ball up toward the net.

Kayla Eli receives a serve.

Senior Hayley Gottwalt (left) and junior Brandi Kloss go up for a block early in the match.

Royalton's Ben Borash tries to fend off Holdingford's Marcus Rick.

Andrew Zachman was the top finisher for Holdingford, and second place overall.

Pierz's Beau Winscher had a drink of water and an interesting haircut last Wednesday.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Go Away

A mixture of all the great Weezer albums, no song exemplifies "Blue Album"-esque songs as much as "Go Away" from Weezer's latest effort "Everything Will Be Alright in the End." I'm really excited about this album. It definitely has it's bright spots, and, along with "Hurley" is up there in the best efforts from Weezer in the past decade. "Pinkerton" and the "Blue Album" still stand atop as Weezer's best, but this and "Hurley" certainly challenge the "Green Album," "Maladroit" and "Make Believe for third, fourth and fifth.

I've been to a few soccer, football and volleyball matches, as well as a cross country meet recently. I'm definitely getting around to a little of everything. There will be a big night of football tomorrow as the area teams look to make it three straight wins, and close out their regular seasons. Football playoffs begin next Tuesday already, and tennis and soccer are already over.

Fantasy football took another turn for the worse this week as I lost in both leagues. However, I didn't do bad in either league. They were pretty much bad beats. Philip Rivers continued to be a beast for me, but there have been a lot of impressive quarterbacks, though Rivers has to be second only to Andrew Luck in consistently great performances. My running back situation is thin at the moment, and I'm pretty banged up at wideout, but the return of Brandon Marshall was nice to see this week. Also, Greg Olsen has continued his great play, so that's promising. The good news is that I remain in first place in my main league, and only dropped down to second place in my other league via tiebreaker.

In the T.O's Picks segment, I technically went 7-2 last week, since I picked a St. John's game that's actually scheduled for this weekend, because I didn't look at the date. Since that was my fault, I'm giving myself another loss to finish at 7-3 for last week. Still not bad. I got all six prep games right, but did not pick the Gophers, and foolhardily picked the Vikings. That puts me at 31-9 since I started picking.
For this week my picks are as follows:
Becker over Little Falls: There is almost zero chance of a Flyers upset here on a short week against a very good Bulldogs squad. It will likely be a blowout.
Cathedral over Milaca: Milaca has not been able to do much too well this season, and they are going to finish with another loss at a tough Crusaders squad to finish 1-7. 
Pierz over Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa: This also shouldn't be close as the Pioneers should easily finish 8-0 on the regular season.
USA over United North Central: Yet another blowout victory upcoming for the Patriots as they too finish undefeated.
Royalton over Parkers Prairie: The Royals should get a win here, though the game may be close as it is on the road.
Maple Lake over Holdingford: The Huskers are handed their second loss this week by a really good Maple Lake team.
Gustavus over St. John's (for real this time)
SCSU over MSU-Moorhead: Should be no problem for the Huskies this week, and they have a decent shot of running the table as they play all the west schools.
Gophers over Purdue: Purdue is not terrible this season at 3-4, and they've played with Michigan St. and Notre Dame, but the game is at TCF, and the Gophers are 4-0 there this year.
Vikings over the Bills: The Vikings defense should finally shine against Kyle Orton, and the offense only needs to get one score against a vaunted Buffalo defense that is top five in DVOA this season. Vikes win 17-13.

I have many pictures to share from the past week, so enjoy:
The girls race takes off at the Royalton Invite, Oct. 7.

Olivia Gall, left, and Brandi Kloss watch as an errant Holdingford shot hits the net, Oct. 7.

Gall blocks a Corrie Ethen shot.

Kloss tips the ball over to the Huskers' side of the net.

Kloss with a cross court shot.

Senior Zach Carlson finishes to a second place tune of 17:07 at the Royals' home meet.

The boys' race gets off to a start. The Royals' varsity boys finished in second through fifth place.

Royalton's top female finisher Chloe Novak heads to the finish.


Senior Josh DeCann (right) hustles over to celebrate after Thomas Miller (No. 1) scores the game-winning touchdown, Oct. 3 against Foley.

Noah Boser gallops for a touchdown in the snow, Oct. 3 against Eden Valley-Watkins.

Bulldogs' senior Stephanie Koetter attempts to tip a shot over Upsala's Kiley Smieja.

Christy Masog heads in the backstroke in the 200 individual medley, Oct. 2 in Little Falls.

Little Falls senior Federico Zonca rips a kick past St. John's Prep defender Kevin Stark-Haws.

Zonca chases after a pass that is about to be snatched up by SJP goalie Joey Stock.

Austin Visker attempts to keep the ball in bounds, Oct. 2 against the Johnnies.

Sam Beam blocks out Wynston Tacheny in front of the Johnnies' goal.

Beam and Tacheny fight for a ball.

Zonca in route to a breakaway goal.

Beam advances the ball past an SJP defender and toward the goal.