On the Bench with Byron Higgin

Here comes football

t a letter this week and kind of inaugurated the start of the football season. That, and the end of baseball season suddenly thrust us into that magic time of year in Minneota.

Football season is always heralded in with high hopes, and this year is no exception. “We are less than a week away from our summer team camp,” said Johnston. “The summer has gone by fast like usual and we are less then a month away from the beginning of the season.

With the late start for school, we have made some minor adjustments to the schedule for fall camp from the last several seasons.”

This year’s Parent’s Night/Media Night will again take place during the first week on Friday, August 17.

“We will have an Open Varsity Practice that will be scheduled to start at 6:30 and conclude around 8:30, on the practice field,” said the coach.

There will be pictures for all of the groups starting around 5 o’clock beginning with the Jr. High. The varsity will have pictures at 5:30 p.m. and the elementary will go at 6 p.m.

Everyone is welcome to hang around after pictures to watch the varsity offensive practice. We are hoping it will give the community the opportunity to see all our kids participating in football. Fall Football Camp is due to begin on Monday, August 13th.

“I hope you’re as excited about the upcoming season as the coaching staff is and I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the beginning of fall camp,” said the Viking coach.

Heartbreaking

All year long, the Minneota Mudhens really believed they were putting themselves in a position to get into the state tournament. They had more pitching than they’ve ever had and everything was going so well.

Then the old ways set in and they lost two tournament games and were eliminated. But despite the heartache, a lot of good things happened. Tyson Sonnenburg and Beau Buysse, with help from Austin Buysse did a GREAT job organizing the team, getting the players they wanted and building a solid pitching staff. The players all gave it everything they had — but in the end, it just wasn’t to be. It’s not all a loss however. With a good nucleus of players to work with, the future still looks bright for the Mudhens. One thing they’ve discovered for sure is the fact there are many other teams who have very good baseball players and they’re all still wanting to play in the state tournament as well. I love a quote from the movie, “Coach Carter.” The coach calls his players together and says, “You deserve to win. But just because you deserve it, they’re not going to give it to you. You’ve got to go out and take it.” You know what they say. There’s always next year! Thanks Mudhens for a great season.

Here’s how the tournament has been so far, with one week to go:

SECTION 9C PLAYOFFS

Saturday, August 4

Winner’s Bracket Chokio Coyotes 8, Morris Eagles 3 (Chokio qualifies for state)

Loser’s Bracket Dumont Saints 7, Madison Mallards 5 (11 innings) Madison eliminated

Rosen Express 5, Minneota Mudhens 4 Minneota eliminated

Sunday, August 5 Dumont Saints 4, Clinton Cards 2 Clinton Eliminated

Ortonville Rox 12, Rosen Express 5 Rosen Eliminated

Saturday, August 11 Dumont Saints vs. Ortonville Rox, 1 p.m. at Rosen Dumont/Ortonville winner vs. Morris Eagles, 3:30 p.m.

Sunday, August 12, 11 a.m. Chokio vs. Dumont/Ortonville/Morris winner (Second game if necessary)

Contact Us

The Minneota Mascot
Address: 201 N. Jefferson
Minneota, MN 56264

Phone:(507) 872-6492