Sports from the week of October 26, 2005

Offense moves ball in football finale

By Dick Donaldson

The Panther football team lost to Ortonville Wednesday night 34-12 in the final game of the season. The loss dropped Tracy/Milroy/Balaton’s season record to 1-7 and they were also 1-7 in the Little Sioux Conference. Ortonville improved to 5-3 in the conference.

“Our defense, decimated by injuries, was not very good, giving up 471yards of offense, mostly because of missed tackles,” said Panther Coach Randy McIntire. “On the other hand our offense finally did a good job of moving the ball. We should have scored four touchdowns and we never had to punt in the whole game.”

It was a case of two effective offenses and Ortonville’s proved to be the better one. They rushed 34 times for 386 yards and were 3 of 10 passing for 85 yards while T/M/B rushed 42 times for 181 yards and were 10 of 27 passing for 137 yards. T/.M/B controlled the ball for 69 plays to 44 for Ortonville. However the Panthers committed 4 turnovers (3 interceptions and a fumble lost) to only 1 for the visitors. The Panthers had 18 first downs to 13 for Ortonville.

First half

The game began with T/M/B kicking off and Ortonville putting the ball in play at the 18-yd line. On the second play Trojan Running Back Dan Schmeichel broke loose for a 25 yard gain to the 45-yard line. With 3^rd and 5 Quarterback Alex Dawald hit Wide Receiver Ben Gere on a 50-yard touchdown pass to give Ortonville a 7-0 lead when the kick was good.

The Panthers, on their first possession, moved from their own 37 all the way to the Trojan’s 15 before being stopped by a pass interception.

Following the interception the Trojans drove the length of the field, in 10 plays, to their second score in the early minutes of the second period. Again the kick was good and Ortonville led 14-0.

The Panthers took the following kickoff and drove from their own 35 to the Trojans’ 33 before losing the ball on downs. The Trojans then moved to T/M/B’s 18-yd line in eight plays before a field goal attempt missed on 4^th down. The Panthers retaliated by moving, in 9 plays, to Ortonville’s 37 before losing the ball on downs.

On Ortonville’s next possession they were forced to punt and T/M/B put the ball in play at mid-field. From there the Panthers moved to a touchdown in 9 plays, as time expired in the first half. The conversion kick failed and the Trojans led 14-6 at halftime.

Second half

The Panthers were guilty of holding on the opening kickoff of the second half and penalized to their own 13-yard line. From there they drove the length of the field in 14 plays to their second score. With the score 14-12, the Panthers tried a pass for the 2 point conversion but it failed and the Trojans held a slim 14-12 lead.

However Ortonville retaliated by taking the ensuing kickoff and moving to a score in only 6 plays. The kick was good and the Trojans led 21-12.

In the fourth period the Trojans put up two more touchdowns while T/M/B’s possessions ended with a fumble lost on the Trojan’s 9-yd line, losing the ball on downs on the Ortonville 24-yd line and a pass interception on their own 39-yd line.

Derek Daniels and Paul Carlson led the defense with 4 tackles each, Tristan Larson, Kyle McIntire and Dan Deiter had 4 each, Brady Jackson, Kirby Arens and Matt Rosa had 3 each, Matt Bauer had 2 plus a fumble recovery, Chad Stibbe and Gary Knott had 2 each, David Schmidt and Sean Fox had 1 each, David Schiller 1 and Matt Hagberg, Erich Swenson and Erik Frisvold had 1 tackle each.

Seth Swan led the offense with 88 yards in 22 carries, Isaac Dolan had 43 yards in 7 carries, Kyle McIntire 23 yards on 2 attempts, David Schmidt 43 yards on 8 carries and Chris Swenson 5 yards on 2 carries.

Dolan completed 10 passes in 27 attempts for 137 yards, McIntire had 4 receptions for 81 yards, Schmidt had 2 for 26 yards, Carlson 1 for 6 yards, Rignell 1 for 8 yards and Swan 2 for 16 yards. Schmidt had 2 kickoff returns for 31 yards and Daniels had 1 for 23 yards.

Ortonville 7-7-7-13-34

T/M/B 0-6-6-0-12

Ortonville-Gere 45 yard pass from Dawald (kick good)

Ortonville-Ringsaker 46 run (kick good)

T/M/B-Swan 3 run (kick failed)

T/M/B-Swan 1 run (pass inc.)

Ortonville-Ringsaker 9 run (kick good)

Ortonville-Schmeichel 50 run (kick failed)

Ortonville-Schmeichel 44 run (kick good)

B-squad becomes team on way to 5-1 record

By Brian Michelson

The Panther B-Squad football team finished their season on Oct. 10 with a 5-1 record, allowing just 24 points all season.

The season started with a 21-0 victory over the MCC Rebels. This avenged a 28-0 thrashing that the Rebels handed the Panthers the previous season. Next, the Panthers traveled to Canby to take on the Lancers. Due to several key players missing from the line-up, John Gervais was given the majority of the carries to maintain a good ball control offense. Brandon Kirk moved to quarterback from the flanker position and carried the ball on a long run around the right end for a touchdown and a 7-0 victory.

Then the Panthers faced MACCRAY in another defensive showdown with the Wolverines coming out on top 6-0. In the fourth game of the season the Panthers faced the R-T-R Knights. Again it was another defensive struggle with the score Panthers 7 and Knights 6 until the fourth quarter when Taylor Hagberg, who made the move from defensive end to safety, intercepted a pass and ran it in for a touchdown leaving the final score Panthers 14, Knights 6. The Panthers continued their winning ways after traveling to Dawson-Boyd and came away with a 17-6 victory over the Blackjacks. In the game Aaron Frisvold kicked a 25-yard field goal and Derek Evans made a one-handed grab of an errant Blackjack pass and scampered 54 yards for a touchdown. Finally, on the 10th of October, the Panthers faced the Fulda Raiders in a 7:00 p.m. match-up under the lights. The Panthers won the contest 25-6 forcing 6 turnovers, one being an interception by Steve Paradis for 9 yards and a touchdown.

In this article you hear about the big plays that turn a game in a team’s favor. What you didn’t hear is how the offensive line made a push every play so the back could pick up those yards. You didn’t hear how the defensive line pressured the quarterback to force a bad throw and cause the interception. You didn’t hear how the special teams didn’t give up a return for a single point. Finally, you didn’t hear how 37 kids came together to form a “team.” If there is an accomplishment that is more important than a turnover, a touchdown, or a win, it is the fact that the kids, your kids, learned to work as a team.

Panthers open volleyball playoffs Friday night

Win over BOLD seen as confidence builder

The Panther volleyball team gained momentum for the Section volleyball play-offs by beating BOLD in four games Thursday. BOLD is the second seeded team in the Section 3AA North tournament. Tracy/Milroy/Balaton, the fifth seeded team, opens tournament play Friday, Oct. 28, at Redwood Falls against Minnesota Valley Lutheran.

Scores against BOLD were 17-25, 25-22, 25-19 and 25-15. The win improved Tracy/Milroy/Balaton’s season record to 15-11.

“After the first game we played our best volleyball of the season to date,” said Panther Coach Katie Gervais. “It gives us a boost in confidence as we go into the playoffs.”

Emily Miller led in kills with 20, Michele Lanoue had 8 and Rachel Gervais 7. Gervais also had 2 blocks while Lanoue, Emily Miller and Krysta Tholen had 1 each.

“Our blocking was much improved in this match,” said Gervais. “We keep track of solo blocks only but our other blocking not only scored points but slowed many hits for our backrow players.”

Krysta Tholen had 25 set assists and 10 digs, while Emily Miller and Michele Lanoue had 19 each and Sarah Fritz had 14. Emily Miller was 19 of 19 serving with 2 aces, Molly Miller was 17 of 17 with 1 ace, Lanoue was 17 of 17 with 1 ace, Tholen was 15 of 15 with 1 ace and Jackie Haecherl was 14 of 15 with 2 aces.