Minnesota began the week with a scary reminder that positional depth is never assured. But the on-field & roster implications pale in comparison to the journey back to health that rookie DT Jaylen Twyman will have to make after he was struck by four bullets on a trip to DC. Word remains that he will be able to make a full recovery, which on it's face is crazy & great!
This week also brought up the business of some roster analysis & consideration of possibilities for the season.
The week began with a couple of the next *likely* pros being included on a preseason All-American roll but definitely didn't end with that!
In a matter of days the likeliest of possibilities came to pass when Tod Brown's successor was named: Tyler Oakes, who had already been with the ⚾️ team for a few years. He has some big shoes to fill, but they're also in a strong position to continue ascending.
Then the fun continued in Eugene
It may have taken some extra months but it was worth the wait!
Riley Dolezal put himself in a position to join Payton Otterdahl in Tokyo with a third-place javelin throw but he didn't meet the "Olympic Standard" so whether he gets to go will be determined based on world ranking. In other words, his wait continues even though he did great!
Then came post-season recognitions for some of the current track & field standouts. Akealy Moton & Alex Talley were each named League Outdoor Field Athletes of the Year, not bad for a couple of locals in non-tier-1 sports! Moton kept it rolling with a top-10 shot put at the Trials. Shelby Gunnels had a good showing as well, finishing 16th while Moton rose a couple spots before all the rocks had been thrown.
Then, on Sunday, coaches Entz & Richman joined Carson Wentz at the inaugural Landon's Night event. Click the link to see much of it!
Moorhead State was named a Scholar All-American team on Friday.
Concordia defenseman Nigaba Olivier was named to the Under-23 National ⚽️ Team for Burundi which will begin competing in the CECAFA next week in Ethiopia.
The weeks of waiting came to an end this week for Minnesota as they finally, officially found out that they would not be retaining their selection in the upcoming draft. The worst outcome would have been giving Golden State the fourth pick but instead they will have the seventh. The last time they had the seventh pick linked with Minnesota it worked out better than anyone would have guessed for them, so it still could be nightmarish for the home Dogs. Even in a pool of players as deep as this one has been said to be, lightning striking to that degree again is a long shot...have to try and stay positive!
This week also revved up the rumor mill as roster moves continue to be talked about. Flipping Russell for Ben Simmons and a draft pick would be some more Gers-magic but adding a souped-up Rubio to the Towns, Edwards & Beasley core would be tremendous!
Speaking of the Rookie of the Year, he & Naz Reid are reported to be among the players selected to train with team USA ahead of the Olympics. Going against many of the games best in that environment will more than make up for the loss of experience in Vegas from last Summer for the young duo!
All in all, not a bad way to close out June for the HOWL!
The Bolts had one more player recognized for the season that he had, Jack Peart was named to the Hockey League's All-Rookie second team.
The Birds began the week with an offensive explosion against Chicago - 35 runs scored which propelled them to a pair of wins, 7 - 0 & 17 - 5 before losing the finale 7 - 11. In the middle game Manuel Boscan & Correlle Prime drove in nine of the runs while Will Zimmerman continued his tremendous rookie campaign by crossing home four times.
As a chaser for those games they added another arm to the roster, lefty Tevin Murray during the travel day to Milwaukee.
The Milkmen squeezed slightly more offense out of their bats than Fargo could Friday or Saturday, 7 - 9 & 10 - 11 before closing out on Sunday afternoon with a 2 - 7 victory over Fargo. Even with the slump the Birds are in third place and very much within range of both Chicago & Milwaukee, but they may need to hold onto their guys for the rest of the year to make that happen.
The Vaders trailed twice in the first first half on Saturday, 6 - 0 & 12 - 8 but went into the locker room ahead 20 - 12. The defense shut down MinnDak for the final two quarters while the Will Tudmon-lead offense doubled their production. The QB threw for four touchdowns against no picks while carrying the ball for nearly 2/3 of the 92 total yards. Four of the five passing scores went to Mr. Reliable, Jon Baune. Jamus Neal threw the fifth, also to Baune, while Constant Jackson had a score as well.
The defense only managed two sacks but more than made up for that with four interceptions. Kelvin Robinson, Vince Holmes, Quinn Redmond & Derek Alexander all ended drives for the Grand Forks coalition. Even so MinnDak finished with nearly 250 yards through the air but a paltry 15 yards on the ground. So Fargo isn't the only team with a less-than-stellar run game.
They'll now have two weeks to prepare for a home game against the undefeated Minneapolis Warriors which could all but determine the league standings.
It was a three-game-week for the Fuze but only the score for the women's first was made public: Maplebrook 4, Dakota 0. That's not much but going with what's given.
It was a week full of away games on this front. Post 400 opened the week against EGF but may not be asked back after putting it on them 14 - 2, including seven runs involving Kobe Senn. A day later D/G/F took it to Ada/Borup 10 - 3 and got a grand slam by Jay Greuel out of it.
On the West side of town Williston was similarly mistreated in a pair of contests, 10 - 0 & 12 - 2. Then much of the action moved South.
Post 2 lost to Lincoln SW 1 - 3 before taking care of Sioux Falls E 7 - 3. In the win Connor Holm went 3/3, scoring every time while driving in another run. West Fargo opened their time in the Creighton Prep tournament with wins over Watertown (9 - 2) & Millard S (4 - 3). P400 also showed that they like Corn Country, beating "Windy's Collision" 9 - 1.
D/G/F had another couple games at home, against Ulen/Hitterdahl/Twin Valley. D/G/F took the first one 6 - 1 as Kayden Camacho had a complete game with only one hit allowed! U/H/TV struck back with three runs to open the second game but were stymied the rest of the way while the home team got nine runners across.
Moorhead joined in the activity happening in ⚾️ town, taking down Omaha Westside 9 - 6 but were outplayed by West Linn 3 - 5. They continued play on Saturday but Brookings got the better of them 4 - 7 and Roncalli closed out their time in Nebraska with an 8 - 11 loss.
After an off-day Post 2 played SF East again, replicating their margin of victory, 5 - 1, as Luke Kallod spun a five-strikeout CG. They followed that with a game against the hosts but took care of Creighton Prep 9 - 3.
D/G/F took their next turn against Parkers Prairie, again showing their superiority. 14 hits & seven walks propelled them to a 12 - 1 win and a well-deserved break.
West Fargo was back at it against Rapid City and earned a double-up, 16 - 8. Braydon Jacobson lead the way with three-run home runs in the first and second innings. The Pats closed out their time with one more win, 12 - 9 over Millard W.
Post 400 also ended with a W, against Saline County, 6 - 3 but their well-established neighbors couldn't make it a sweep losing 5 - 6 to Lincoln E.
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