The Purple had a busy week before the second-half of the season began.
The first news was the discovery that former co-defensive coordinator Adam Zimmer passed away, with no other details being known at this time.
Not long after it was announced that Minnesota swung the deal with Detroit for TJ Hockenson and placed Irv Smith on injured reserve. The early return for Hock couldn't have been much better and we'll get to see how he continues to develop a rapport with Cousins for the next year & a half.
They also found out that because of his three-sack performance against Arizona Za'Darius Smith was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week & then of October!
🏐 started the week with a 3 - 1 loss to SDSU Tuesday. They bounced back Saturday with a 3 - 2 win over North Dakota.
The next day men's 🏀 had it's lone exhibition against Crookston, showing proficiency from beyond the arc & near the rim. They will need to do that and much, much more Monday & Thursday against #10 Arkansas & #5 Kansas just to keep the scores respectable.
As the weekend began made it's own statement to the nation, taking down #8 Nebraska in Lincoln!
Meanwhile, in Macomb, 🏈 trucked the winless Bulldogs in a way that should make all the opponents of the spread offense smile.
Moorhead State started the week with a look forward as the men's 🏀 team was ranked 21st in the country and a look back as Davies freshman Jensen Seidel was named second team All-Conference.
When the weekend came 🏐 took care of Bemidji St. 3 - 2 but lost by that score to Crookston Saturday.
🤼 opened it's season Friday in Jamestown and finished with a 23 - 16 win.
In Wayne, NE Saturday 🏃 finished 8th (men) & 11th (women) at the conference meet.
In Bismarck 🏊 dropped their eighth event of the season, 119 - 79.
They had to hold-off a fourth quarter rally by Concordia-St. Paul but in-so-doing got it's fourth win of the season and Gage Florence re-set the school record for single-season receptions with one game to go! If he's with the team next Fall it will be a giant win by the coaches.
Concordia's week also began with an All-Conference nod as junior setter Kaia Lill was recognized for 🏐.
A full weekend started on the ice, with the women in Michigan, winning 8 - 0 & 6 - 0 over Finlandia. The men opened their pair in Wisconsin with a 3 - 1 win over Northland but came up short, 5 - 4 against Wisconsin-Superior.
At the pool for the first competition it was MN-Morris that finished with the better set of results, 139 - 78. They were quick to turn it around as Hamline come to town, winning 120 - 98.
On the mat in Jamestown it was great debut, with eight top-three finishes including four outright winners.
And last, but certainly not least, 🏈 rolled Hamline 59 - 0 on Senior Day.
They weren't beaten terribly by teams that will make the playoffs & probably advance. That seems like a positive step but it was two more losses and Rudy Gobert will miss time with an illness so the season is already feeling a little murky.
It was an early weekend for the Bolts as they continued to show offensive effectiveness, scoring four in a loss, Thursday to Tri-City. They bounced back the next evening with a 4 - 0 show as Cole Knuble got his team-leading seventh & eighth scores of the season. They will be on the road for three next weekend.
Reminder that scores and recruiting news are updated regularly so check back often!
Now for this week's highlights
The final days of volleyball's regular season included 3 - 0 wins by Davies & South. Horace & West Fargo did the same on Thursday while Davies took the play-in against Devils Lake in the minimum. Shanley & Horace also advanced into the main bracket with a 3 - 0 win over Wahpeton & a 3 - 2 over Valley City.
Here's how the field stacks up for Tuesday
Across the river Barnesville was the only team able to keep it's season going with 3 - 1 wins over Hawley Wednesday & EGF Saturday.
The Trojans 🏈 team also punched it's ticket back to the state tournament with a 56 - 3 win over Crookston. They will face Moose Lake Thursday in St. Cloud. Fertile/Beltrami also rolled to another section title, 46 - 14 over Blackduck. It continued a streak of scoring at least 30 points in every game & winning each game by that margin or more. They will be in Grand Rapids to face Ogilvie. It took a stopped two-point conversion attempt but D/G/F also got another piece of hardware for the trophy case, 7 - 6 over East Grand Forks. It will be Esko, Saturday in Brainerd for them. Moorhead made it a clean sweep for the region, coming back from a 20 - 7 deficit mid-way through the third quarter to avenge the first of their four-straight losses to end the regular season, 28 - 26 over Sartell/St. Stephens. Their "neutral" site will be in Maple Grove against Elk River, Saturday.
To the West Shanley closed on a 32 - 6 tear to upend Mandan & advance back to the championship for the first time at the highest level where they will face Bismarck Century who has totally overcome their 0-5 start to the year. One level down North found it's offense in the second half to beat South 26 - 7 and to get back to the championship for the first time since Y2K. Central Cass also continued it's unexpected tournament run, knocking-off #4 Beulah 28 - 6. They will go for the title against Velva, who edged Hillsboro 20 - 12.
The week also included EDC girls 🏊. Sheyenne had the top team performance. Here's how the rest of the it unfolded:
Comments