On the Bench with Byron Higgin

There was no help awaiting the Minneota football kicking team this year. The only foreign exchange student on the team is Amos Tu of Taiwan and he’s not a kicker.

So instead, the Minneota squad will go “in-house” for a kicker this year. That job is falling to junior Landon Rolbiecki, who has been training for the kicking job for a while now. “He’s doing a good job, hitting 80 to 90 percent of his point after kicks.

And he does a good job kicking off,” said Coach Chad Johnston. The punting chores will again fall to Minneota quarterback Alex Pohlen. He did most of the punting last year.

Nobody’s kicking about not getting that extra foot from abroad. But it’s been an extra boost in the past. As Coach Johnston is fond of saying about his team this year ... “The cupboard is not bare.”

ODDS AND ENDS: •The Minneota Golf Team, headed by Coach Greg Gile, is holding a, “Drive, Chip and Putt Contest” for kids in grades six through 12. It will be held from 9-11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9 at the Countryside Golf Course Driving Range in Minneota.

Awards will be handed out for the first three places in each grade for boys and girls. •The annual Tracy Football Scrimmage will be held Saturday, Aug. 26 at Tracy’s football field. It will begin at 9 a.m.

Both JV and Varsity teams will hold scrimmages. “We try not to play teams on our schedule,” said Coach Chad Johnston. So, despite the fact Dawson-Boyd, Springfield and Yellow Medicine East will be at the scrimmage, Minneota will not scrimmage them.

That leaves Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (which is not on the schedule this year), Pipestone Area and perhaps one other school. This scrimmage is always instrumental in giving the coaches a look at what to expect during the upcoming season.

•There are four teams on the Viking schedule they haven’t played in recent years: Sleepy Eye, Springfield, Yellow Medicine East and Lac qui Parle Valley. Although they did play LqPV a couple of years ago, the team has a new coach and, “We don’t have a current tape on how they play,” said the coach.

•The first team to swing into action this fall will be the Canby-Minneota Cross Country team. The boys’ and girls’ squads will hold a huge “night” meet to kick off the season at 7 p.m., Friday, Aug. 25 at the Canby Golf Course.

A few years ago, Coach Beth Jessen discovered another team holding a night meet and she like the idea and wanted to get her team involved. So she started the “night” meet. While it starts in the daylight, it usually ends as the sun is setting. Because it’s such a large meet, it gives Coaches Jessen and Allison Pesek a good idea of the competition this year. Among the teams competing against Canby-Minneota are: Community Christian of Willmar; Lakeview; MACCRAY-Renville Co. West; Marshall; Murray Co. Central; Ortonville; Pipestone area; Redwood Valley; Russell-Tyler-Ruthton; Sioux Falls Washington; Tracy-Milroy Balaton; Worthington and Yellow Medicine East. It’s quite a spectacle and well worth the time to watch some excellent runners.

•The next to kick off their season is the Minneota Volleyball team. Minneota scrimmaged at Marshall on Tuesday of this week. The Breakdown Sideout Classic is being held at Hopkins Lindbergh High School in Hopkins, MN. The JV plays at 1:30 p.m. and the varsity at 5 p.m. against Underwood.

The team then turns around and travels to Willmar and will play Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa in the annual Ridgewater College match. The JV plays at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity follows at about 7 p.m.

These two games should give Coach Hayley Fruin and her staff a good idea of where they are before they jump into conference action.

•The Countryside Golf Club Championship is being held on Sunday, August 27 in Minneota. “That should be a fun time,” said Manager Robin Traen.