In this week’s edition of Lots O’ Stuff we have updates on Jackson County Central’s Homecoming, Emma Haren, JCC volleyball, Brandon Williamson, Derek Shoen, and Luke Becker.
JCC Homecoming
Homecoming is going to feel a little different at Jackson County Central this year.
The biggest change is that the football game will be played on Saturday afternoon. We’ll get to the reason for that in a bit.
It’s will be the second time in school history the Huskies will play a regular-season game on a Saturday.
The first was on Sept. 6, 2003 when JCC traveled to Marshall on a blistering hot afternoon to play a football game in Marshall.
High temperature that day was 94 degrees.
The JCC-Marshall game was the front end of a football doubleheader at old Mattke Field at Southwest Minnesota State. The Mustangs beat Waldorf 84-7 later in the day in the Warriors’ first game as a four-year program.
By the way, Jackson County Central’s win over Marshall was the sixth in the school’s seven years of existence.
The Huskies would make it seven of eight wins over the Tigers with an 18-13 win at Swearingen Field in 2004.
After a two-year break for the short-lived Southern Minnesota Athletic Conference in 2005 and 2006, the schools would play eight more times. The Tigers won five of those eight and three of the last four.
But I digress. Back to the reason JCC is playing on a Saturday.
A continued shortage of officials.
There’s a shortage of officials in all sports but it’s most noticeable in football where other than opening weekend (Labor Day and the State Fair) pretty much everybody wants to play at 7:00 Friday night (or Wednesday the week of teacher’s convention).
JCC did not experience any football schedule changes last year but around the state, games were moved to Thursday or Saturday or in some cases Friday afternoon so a crew could work two games in one day.
I can’t say with certainty that it has happened in other sports, but I remember tweets this spring of baseball and softball games being canceled because umpires could not be found.
If you’ve thought about being an official or a judge in any sport or activity and are seeing this in time, check out this event tonight
You can also check out the MSHSL website:
https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/become-official
Another option is to contact the athletic director at any school.
I’ll take a bit of a liberty in speaking for them when I say they’ll help you get registered to work varsity events or find a way for you to test the water at levels such as B squad, C squad or middle school depending on the activity.
Emma Haren
Jackson County Central junior Emma Haren played for the North Country Region team played in the USA Volleyball All-Star Championship in Tulsa, Okla.
The NCR team had 10 players from Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota.
NCR went 1-5 in matches and 3-15 in sets.
They opened with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-21) win over Gulf Coast Region.
Arizona defeated North Country Region 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-19), Puget Sound Region was a 3-0 winner over NCR (25-16, 25-16, 25-12), Iowa beat NCR 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-12) and Oklahoma topped NCR 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-18).
In the Silver Bracket, Great Plains Region defeated North Central Region 3-0 (27-25, 25-15, 25-17).
Also held in Tulsa last week was the Pan American Cup, which was won by the U.S. Girls U19 team, which qualifies the team for the 2023 FIVB World Championship.
Sioux Falls O’Gorman senior and Nebraska commit Bergen Reilly was named Most Valuable Player and Best Setter in the tournament.
Madelyn Haren had an opportunity to get her autograph
Last year, Emma Haren played on the same team as Reilly at the AAU Junior National Volleyball Championships in Orlando.
Emma Haren played with the Sioux Falls-based Kairos Elite 15 Adidas team that placed first in the 15 Club Division.
Emma then stayed in Florida and filled in on the Kairos' 16 Adidas team at its national tournament and that team would win the 16 Premier Division.
Summer Slam
The JCC volleyball team began play in the Summer Slam today at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
The Huskies went 1-2 in pool play, losing to Harrisburg, S.D. 2-1, winning 2-0 over Ponca, Neb., and falling 2-0 to Warner, S.D.
JCC plays Millard, Neb. West in bracket play at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
Two other Big South Conference teams are playing in Sioux Falls.
Marshall won its pool with a 3-0 record and Pipestone was third in its pool, going 1-2.
Brandon Williamson
Martin County West graduate Brandon Williamson pitched three innings for the Louisville Bats in their International League game with the Nashville Sounds Sunday. Louisville in the Cincinnati Reds’ Triple-A affiliate while Nashville is an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Williamson, who was not involved in the decision, allowed one run on two hits, walked three and struck out four.
In four games at the Triple-A level Williamson has a 1-2 record with a 4.5 earned run average. In 16 innings he has allowed 10 runs (8 earned) on 20 hits, walking nine and striking out 15.
Derek Shoen
Truman native Derek Shoen is hitting .265 for the Mankato MoonDogs of the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league.
In 30 games he has 30 hits in 113 at bats with six doubles, one triple and three home runs.
He has 17 runs batted in, walked 19 times and has been hit by a pitch three times.
Luke Becker
Fairmont graduate Luke Becker is hitting .281 for the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes of the independent Atlantic League.
In 74 games he has 82 hits in 281 at bats with 16 doubles, two triples and 13 home runs.
He has 50 runs batted in, walked 38 times and has six stolen bases.
Monday
It’s Monday and maybe you’re not as happy as you could be with your job.
At least it’s not this: