Sports from the week of August 27, 2003

Grid opener is Thursday

7 p.m. kick-off set on Tracy field

Tracy/Milroy/Balaton opens its 2003 football season with a home game against Redwood Valley Thursday night.

Kick-off is at 7 p.m.

A tailgate supper sponsored by the Tracy Elementary School Parent-Teacher Club begins at 5 p.m. in the parking lot outside the stadium.

The Panthers prepared for their opener at a four-team scrimmage Saturday morning at Sleepy Eye. The Panthers joined Sleepy Eye St. Mary's, Windom and Red Rock Central.

"Windom was by far the best team there," said Panther Coach Randy McIntire. "We did all right against the other two, but couldn't stop Windom. If we played them it would have been a high scoring game because we couldn't stop their running game and they couldn't stop our passing game."

McIntire said the Panthers' pass blocking was "pretty good," enabling TMB to complete about two thirds of their passes.

When a depth chart was requested from Coach McIntire he responded, "We don't have any depth. We will just have to move the same players around on offense and defense."

On defense the Panthers will likely play Kong Her, J Hamilton and Derrick Vandromme at guard, John Knott and Paul Carlson at tackles, Brett Jackson, Pat Spielman, Eric Peterson or Ross Ladehoff at ends, Jason Morin, Josh Ruppert, and Paul Johnson as linebackers and Anders Davidson, Pat Spielman, Donald Strand and Ross Ladehoff as safeties.

On offense David Schiller or Chris Swensen will be at center, the guards will be Kong Her, Daniel Malmberg or Josh Ruppert, the tackles will be Derrick Vandromme, J Hamilton or John Knott, playing at the ends will be Anders Davidson, Paul Johnson or Jason Heern, the wideouts will be Ross Ladehoff or Eric Peterson, the quarterback will be Donald Strand or Ross Ladehoff and the remaining backfield will be made up of Jason Morin, Andy Nelson, Matt Persons and Trevor Morin.

Rosenberg wins title

Renee Rosenberg edged Mary Munson for the ladies golf championship Tuesday, 126 to 127 at the Tracy Country Club. Munson was the defending champion and it was Rosenberg's medalist score of 39 for one of the three rounds that tipped the scales. Carol Fales posted a 41 on the last nine to take third place with a total score of 129.

Cleone Richardson won the first flight with a score of 89 for 18 holes. Jan McFarlane was second with a 94 and Charlene Lenertz was third at 103.

Ella Hanson won the second flight with a 98, Glenda Johnson was second at 104 and Ann Baker was third with a score of 106.

Minneota tops TMB 3-1 in home volleyball opener

The Minneota Vikings spoiled the Panthers' home volleyball opener with a 3-1 victory Tuesday.

Game scores were 25-22, 22-25, 25-16, and 25-17.

The B-squad lost also to the Vikings two games to one while the C-squad split two games with Minneota, winning 25-13 and losing 25-23.

"We did not play as well as we expected to," said Panther Coach Katie Gervais. "I would much rather open against a good team like Minneota than a team that gives the kids the impression that points and games come too easily."

The Vikings won the opening game by three points after the Panthers, who trailed from the very beginning, closed to a 20-20 score. The second game found Tracy/Milroy/Balaton leading 22-19 when a Tessa Nelson block and 2 Nelson kills closed out the game for the Panthers at 25-22.

The Vikings dominated the third game, 25-16.

"In the third game 14 out of their 25 points came from our errors," observed Gervais.

The fourth game found T/M/B trying to come back but falling to the Vikings 25-17 with the last point coming on a Panther net serve.

"With the new rule that if a net serve goes over the net it is in play we will try to serve low and risk hitting the net rather than serving long," said Gervais.

Nelson led in kills with 17 while Emily Miller and Kasey Loeslie had 8 each. Nelson also had 4 blocks while Miller and Krysta Tholen had 1 each. Miller had 2 serving aces and Sarah Fritz 1.

"With the new rally scoring ball control is all-important," said Gervais. "Minneota did a good job of keeping the ball in play until we made the mistake. Our team last year would have been helped by rally scoring as Laura Zwach did an exceptional job of keeping the ball in play and we did not have a very powerful offense."