Abandoned places are so much fun to explore. The history, the old structures, and the stories they tell just fascinate me. I have at least three kids in my family that feel the same way I do, so we hop in the car regularly and go looking for neat places to see.
This is what the abandoned Jabs Farm was supposed to look like. However, it wasn’t necessarily what I found on a recent Saturday afternoon. (Picture courtesy of the AllTrails App)
This was a solo trip for me on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I have an app on my iPhone called AllTrails that shows me great places to hike all around the state. The Mazomani Trail between Jordan and Carver drew my attention because of something called “Jabs Farm.” Another adventurer had posted several pictures of the app that immediately caught my eye.
The Jabs Farm sits in the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which automatically makes it a great place to visit. It’s a lovely place to hike (at your own pace), get some exercise, fresh air, and some beautiful pictures.
Hiking the Mazomani Trail looking for an abandoned farm built in the early 1900s. (Photo by Chad Smith)
The farmstead was first built between 1860-1880. In 1905, the Jabs family bought the property from the Riedel family, who initially owned the property. The Valley News says there are still members of the Jabs family living in the area today. The structures themselves are remarkable, a combination of wood and blocks of local limestone that’s produced in the area. I HAD to see this site.
Exploring the Mazomani Trail, which offered a great view of the Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge, first established in 1979. Notice a lot more water than would seem normal? (Photo by Chad Smith
The site was owned by the Jabs family for a long time. Back in 1979, the area, including the farmstead, became the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge area. The farm was first restored in 1981, and sat untouched until another restoration project in 2017. Believe it or not, the buildings were redone by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I had no idea they did things like that, but I am sure glad they did.
Heck, they even brought in a full-fledged archaeologist to oversee the renovations.
The views up high of the wildlife area were striking and I’ve got some pictures to prove it. Walking along the bluffs was beautiful that day, with a slight breeze and temps a little over 40 degrees, but it did feel a little warmer than that. It was nice and quiet. I did run into a few people, along with the occasional rustling of the leaves on either side of the trail that likely heralded a squirrel, woodchuck, or some other member of the vermin, err, rodent family.
So after about a 20-minute hike, I came to a split in the trail. One direction would take me to the other trail head, which I had no interest in. But hey, the other one said “Jabs Farm, 1/4 mile” the other way. Well, I came around a slight bend as the trail angled downward and this is what I found.
The most remarkable thing about this? The buildings were less than a quarter mile away and were nowhere in sight. As near as I could tell, they must have been ALL underwater. Wow. That’s a lot of snowmelt in a short time, I guess.
The trees looked like they’d make a great horror movie setting. (Photo by Chad Smith)
As I get a little more experienced in the urban exploration game, I’m finding out that it does take some patience. Not every place you go is going to be “lit,” as the kids say. Let me offer one final example before I leave you.
I got back to the car and realized I didn’t want to head back yet. It was nice to be outdoors and I wanted to see if I could find another place to explore. Well, I pulled up the “Abandoned” app and scanned for something close by. Turns out, there was (supposed to be) and abandoned barn about 15 miles away. Well hey, I’m an old farm broadcaster/writer. Let’s take a look.
Well, needless to say, the app hadn’t been updated. I wound up in downtown Chanhassen. It happens. Hey, at least it was a nice day.
Here’s the complete conversation with John Loney, Rushford-Peterson High School Athletic Director, looking ahead to the possibility of spring sports. No question, there’s a lot of uncertainty right now.
Spring sports in Minnesota have been put on hold, just as many other sectors of the state have, due to the coronavirus. Just as spring sports athletes across the state were getting underway with practices they’ll have to take a short break. The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) suspended all activities between Wednesday, March 18, through Friday, March 27.
Because of the Emergency Executive Order signed on March 15 by Governor Tim Walz, there will be no MSHSL activities and athletics at any of the member schools. That includes training, practices, scrimmages, and contests. Rushford-Peterson Athletic Director John Loney says students won’t have any organized practices with coaches after Tuesday, March 17.
Spring sports like baseball, softball, track, and golf are all on hold in Minnesota, thanks to the coronavirus. As of right now, they’re tentatively scheduled to resume on April 6. (photo from kfilradio.com)
“As of right now, we’re scheduled to return to school on March 30,” he said. The activities association says we can resume spring sports on April 6. I’m sure they’ll be gathering information and monitoring the situation leading up to that date.
“The one thing we have going for us here is the spring activities we offer are all outside,” Loney added. “They are also not quite as physical as basketball and football, where kids spend a lot of time running into each other.”
Loney is concerned about the fact that the recommended number of people in group settings keeps getting smaller to help control the spread of coronavirus, which could be a challenge for getting spring sports contests going once school resumes. Loney is still hoping to get at least some games in so the seniors can end their high school years on a positive note.
Hemp is being called a “new tool” in farmers’ toolboxes. I’m curious to see what kind of production Minnesota will see during the 2020 growing season. Does anyone have any idea as far as what kind of production we’re looking at this year?
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture wants to remind farmers and processors who want to grow and manufacture hemp to apply for a license before the March 31 deadline.
Anyway, those farmers wanting to grow or process the crop in Minnesota in 2020 must apply for a license with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) by March 31.
This is the fifth year of the state’s Industrial Hemp Program. Last year, 550 people held licenses to grow or process hemp. Over 7,300 acres and 400,000 indoor square feet were planted in Minnesota.
“We believe in the potential of the developing industry,” said Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Whitney Place. “We want to ensure that everyone who would like to grow and process it in Minnesota is able to do so. They simply need to apply by March 31.”
The online application for growers and processors can be found on the MDA website at www.mda.state.mn.us/industrialhemp. Along with the online form, first-time applicants need to submit fingerprints and pass a criminal background check.
The 2018 Federal Farm Bill legalized hemp as an agricultural commodity. Last fall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released an interim final rule that outlined state and tribal plans for growing the crop. Minnesota is continuing under the existing pilot program in 2020.
Questions about the MDA’s Hemp Program should be sent to hemp.mda@state.mn.us or 651-201-6600.
Blogging. What’s it all about? Every time I sit down to
write a blog post, I freeze. Writer’s block is not something that happens to me
very often, but in this case, I’m not sure what’s interesting enough in my life
and the lives of others around me to write about.
Blogging about sports is a good place to start. Watching the Timberwolves play the Miami Heat and realizing just what a dull and uninteresting franchise they are. Notice I didn’t use the words “professional sports” in front of the word “franchise.” I’m honestly not sure they qualify. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a team revamp virtually their entire roster and not reap any kind of rewards.
Is Karl-Anthony Towns the right guy to lead the Timberwolves for the next several years? Great offense. LOUSY defense. Doesn’t appear to think he commits fouls at all.. and hurts the team with his constant bellyaching. (Photo from onlinegambling.com)
I suppose I need to give them time. We’ve already given them
decades and gotten a couple of good seasons for all of our patience. Where have
you gone, KG? Can I ask an honest question? As good as the big KAT is, IS he
the right guy to lead this franchise into the future? Fantastic offensive
talent. Lousy and disinterested on the defensive end. This is a team that
cannot play a lick of defense. Great to score 137 points, unless you give up
140 to the opposition. It’s still a loss.
The NFL Combine is in full swing and I couldn’t be more blasé to the whole thing. Why am I so uninspired about the Vikings and their potential future draft choices? What direction is this franchise going in and how are they going to disappoint their fans next? I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I think it bears repeating; WHY do you want to be a running team first and spend so damn much on a quarterback and two wide receivers? I’m getting a bit of a mixed message here.
Still trying to figure out the direction of this franchise, especially with the head coach and general manager going into the last year of their contracts. (Photo from bleacherreport.com)
By the way, isn’t the NFL a passing league now? And if that’s
the case, does Zimmer’s insistence on running the ball mean the game has passed
him by a little bit? Not saying it has or it hasn’t. Just reading the tea
leaves here.
On to other topics. What’s up with the coronavirus outbreak? Have you seen the hysteria surrounding the “Pandemic?” I’ve been looking behind the headlines and am finding out that the coronavirus fatality rate appears to be three percent. My South Dakota/Minnesota math tells me that 97 percent of the people who are infected appear to actually survive? If that is the case, WHY are we hearing about a “global epidemic” in every major news outlet, making it sound like the second coming of the plague? What don’t I know about this?
Why am I still on social media? I was just perusing a short time ago and couldn’t believe how much the current president is being skewered over the coronavirus. And before you get snippy, I didn’t vote for him. If I blamed presidents I didn’t vote for as much as the current political left does, NOTHING would get done. Ever. Didn’t vote for Clinton either. I’d give my kingdom for a reliable third-party candidate or possibly a middle-of-the-road Democrat. The current list of Democratic presidential candidates are all bat-crap crazy. Not sure the incumbent is a great option either.
I really enjoyed social media when it was first ramping up.
After all, I’d just left full-time media for the first time in my adult life
and it was my only outlet to keep doing what I loved. I really don’t enjoy it
much anymore. Have we as a society ALWAYS been this spiteful and vindictive? Is
social media just a convenient outlet for all that vitriol we’ve been saving
up? Frankly, the behavior of grown adults on social media is the same thing we
all remember growing up during the turbulent teenage years.
Well, there you go. Almost 700 words later and I guess the writer’s block is gone? I do welcome comments when I’m done blogging. You don’t have to agree with me. Just don’t be a jerk about it. Let’s be adults and educate each other about the things we don’t know. Be willing to listen to other people’s point of view once in a while. You and I both might learn something. Think I’ll try this blogging thing again really soon.
Bethel basketball took on St. John’s in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men’s basketball matchup on Saturday afternoon. What a doozy. Bethel came into the game with 16 wins on the season while the Johnnies had 22 wins at tipoff. Both teams put on quite a show for a packed house at the Robertson Center.
I don’t know for sure if the team’s were nervous going into the game but they played like it early on. They both had already qualified for the MIAC playoffs which began the following week. But, the Johnnies and the Royals put up a lot of shots in the first half and I lost count halfway through the period as to the number of bunnies that both teams missed under their respective baskets. St. John’s led a low-scoring game, 26-25 at the half.
The tempo and the number of made baskets picked up dramatically in the second half. The Johnnies outscored the Royals by six points (47-41) after halftime, thanks to a combination of deadly three-point shooting, key free throws, and a couple of iffy officiating calls very late in the game. Irregardless of whether you thought the calls were good or not, St. John’s capitalized and came out of there with a hard-fought MIAC win.
Here’s a file photo from a recent Bethel University men’s basketball game. I saw the Royals drop a hard-fought game to St. John’s on Saturday, 73-66. It was one of the more entertaining Bethel basketball games I’ve seen in a long time. (File photo from Bethel basketball website.)
Physical strength in the post played a big factor in the St. John’s win. Johnnie’s center Zach Hanson scored a game-high 19 points (8 of 17 shooting) on the block, with Bethel unable to stop his running hook shots in the lane. The big Johnnie completed a double-double with 10 rebounds. Colton Codute added 17 points and Jubie Alade, one of the smoother guards you’ll see in the MIAC, added 12 points.
Bethel basketball senior guard Jack Jenson likely needed an oxygen mask after the game. He played 38 of the 40 minutes in the game, including all 20 minutes of the second half. Jenson finished as the top scorer for Bethel with 14 points, while forwards Isaiah Carver-Bagley and Chandler Wellman each scored 13 points.
Three-point shooting along with free throws were likely the difference in the game. Bethel outshot St. John’s overall, but the Johnnies held a nine-point advantage outside the arc, making 6 treys (18 points) to just three (9 points) from long range for Bethel basketball.
Free throws were also a big advantage for St. John’s, much to the irritation of Bethel fans on hand. St. John’s was 15 of 21 at the stripe while the Royals made just nine of 14 tries.
The one place the Royals had more success on offense was in the paint, outscoring the Johnnies 48-36. In this case, it was outside shooting that made the difference in the game for both teams.
Both teams are getting set to open up the MIAC playoffs during the week ahead.
Water quality is a hot topic of conversation in Minnesota right now, with the state’s farmers at the forefront of the discussion in award-winning fashion.
Two Minnesota farmers are being recognized for their commitment to agriculture, water quality, and wildlife. Randy Schmiesing of Stevens County, as well as Tom Cotter of Mower County, were recently given the new Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP) wildlife endorsement at the Pheasants Forever National Pheasant Fest in Minneapolis. Schmiesing and Cotter are the first farmers in the state to receive the endorsement.
“Conserving our natural resources for future generations to enjoy has been a lifelong goal and commitment,” said Randy Schmiesing. “We are proud to be one of the first farms to be certified by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture for the wildlife endorsement through the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program and encourage other farmers to pursue this wildlife endorsement and reap the many benefits it achieves.”
Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen presents Tom Cotter of Mower County with his Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program wildlife endorsement. (Contributed photo)
Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen presents Randy Schmiesing of Stevens County with his Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program wildlife endorsement (Contributed photo)
MAWQCP launched the wildlife, soil health, and integrated pest-management endorsements in December as additions to the 10-year certification a farmer or landowner receives in the program. The certification program partnered with various non-profit organizations like Pheasants Forever and the Minnesota Soil Health Coalition, as well as state agencies, to develop the endorsements.
“Many conservation practices targeting water quality also have benefits for other conservation goals, such as wildlife,” said Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen. “With the help of organizations like Pheasants Forever, we want to recognize farmers who are making efforts to protect our numerous natural resources in Minnesota.”
“Pheasants Forever appreciates the opportunity to work alongside the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and other partners in highlighting the new wildlife endorsement through the MAWQCP at Pheasant Fest,” said Tanner Bruse, Agriculture and Conservation Programs Manager, Pheasants Forever. “It’s our honor to be a part of the recognition of those implementing conservation practices that represent a win-win scenario for their operation, soil, water and wildlife. We congratulate them and thank them for their stewardship.”
Certified producers who achieve an endorsement will receive an additional sign for their farm and recognition for their conservation excellence.
Certified farmers and landowners interested in an endorsement, or those interested in in earning a certification in water quality, can contact their local Soil and Water Conservation District. They can also visit MyLandMyLegacy.com.
About the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program
The Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program is a voluntary opportunity for farmers and agricultural landowners to take the lead in implementing conservation practices that protect our water. Those who implement and maintain approved farm management practices will be certified and in turn obtain regulatory certainty for a period of ten years. The program is available to farmers and landowners statewide. To date, the program has certified 832 farms totaling 566,862 acres.
Sports on any level is never dull. However, professional sports continues to leave me “confuzzled,” as the kids say. Take the Houston Astros “apology tour” press conference they held to start off their spring training to address their sign-stealing scandal. Or WAS it a scandal?
Stealing Signs scandal and the “apology”
Straight from the horse’s mouth right here. Fast forward to about 2:25.
I can remember standing in a batter’s box in both high school (South Dakota calls it American Legion baseball) and amateur games in my youth. I’ll just come out and say it point blank. I would have LOVED to know what pitch is coming. Yes, you still have to put the bat on the ball. I understand it’s one of the hardest things to do in all of sports. But you can’t tell me for one second that knowing what was coming wouldn’t SUBSTANTIALLY improve the odds of at least making solid contact?
Look, I’ll admit I’m not the most perceptive person the Good Lord ever decided to put on this Earth (my wife is currently laughing hard at that statement). How’s that for honesty? Help me out. Were the Astros apologizing for doing something wrong? After all, the reporter in the video clip asked Crane about “cheating.” Crane’s response? Call it “whatever you want.” Seriously? You can’t even use the word “cheating?”
Sounds like someone was apologizing for getting caught. And I don’t think I’m off on that at all. If it “didn’t make any difference in our games,” as you say, then why keep doing it?
Minnesota Wild
Okay, let’s dive into this a little bit. The Wild fired their head coach, which didn’t surprise too many people. I think that’s a relatively safe statement. However, only in Minnesota do we make coaching changes when the team is PLAYING WELL? Seven wins in your last ten games to put you right outside a playoff spot? Here’s a video of the press conference from KAAL TV in Rochester.
I get that Bruce wasn’t coming back. Having watched multiple games over the course of his almost four years here, the guy did an amazing job considering what management gave him to work with. And the new head coach is some guy named Dean Eveson? That’s an improvement over a coach that’s won more than 500 games?
Good luck, coach. His first interview with the St. Paul Pioneer Press has him preaching accountability among the Wild players? I’m honestly not sure some of the older veterans know the meaning of the word. Let’s start with my old buddy, Ryan Suter.
Sports news never ceases to amaze me. Just as their climbing back into the playoffs, the Wild decide to fire Bruce Boudreau? Seriously? He’s one of the least of their problems.
Ryan Suter, who I’ve had a problem with almost since he walked in the door, and Zach Parise are both an albatross to the organization because of their ridiculous contracts (thank you, Chuck Fletcher). However, at least Zach plays hard. Suter looks disinterested to me on the ice. I hope I’m wrong. Oh well, at least he gets paid a lot, right?
Would it be a good thing for this middling franchise to make the playoffs this year? They need a serious influx of young talent that can score goals consistently. They also need a number one goalie. God bless Devyn Dubnyk. I can’t imagine trying to go through the grind of an NHL season worried about the health of your wife and the future of your family. On the ice, however, he looks distracted. I’d like to see Stalock take his spot, at least for the rest of the year.
Oh well. You don’t have to agree with me. Just venting.
Wild Hockey reporter Kevin Gorg interviews Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk during the intermission of a recent hockey game. (Photo from Pinterest.com)
Wild hockey, or any hockey, for that matter. You can hear the passion for the sport in the voice of Kevin Gorg, a hockey analyst for Fox Sports North. He was a recent guest on the Minnesota Sports Weekly podcast, a voice we hadn’t heard in a while. Gorg wished he could be talking about the Wild under better circumstances.
“Unfortunately, the season is not going the way we want for
the Minnesota Wild,” he admitted ruefully. “There is still time to get it
turned around. Things were very promising from November through December of
last year, but January has not been kind so far.”
Struggling in the new year
Minnesota was one of the highest-scoring teams in the
National Hockey League from November through December when they didn’t lose a
lot. What happened? First of all, Gorg said no one close to the team saw a
stretch of hockey like that coming from a team built from the defensive zone on
out.
“It’s not a case of the team not being able to score goals,”
he said. “Those of us who cover the team thought if they were to make the
playoffs, it would be with solid goaltending and good defense. The firepower up
front doesn’t match up with some of the elite teams in the NHL. We thought they
could defend, we’ve loved their blue line, and the goaltending’s been good for
years.
“That’s what caught us by surprise,” he said. “They were
outscoring teams. If you look at who the Minnesota Wild really is, that wasn’t
a sustainable way of doing things. Now, goal-scoring has run dry and the team
is having to play from behind, which makes things worse. You saw that the other
night during a (7-2) loss at Pittsburgh.”
It’s difficult in the NHL, the highest level of professional
hockey, to always be down a goal or two and playing from behind. Compounding
that during the recent game at Pittsburgh was the fact that the Penguins were
welcoming back their team captain and top goal scorer, Sidney Crosby. Could the
timing have been any more unfortunate for the Wild?
“He’d been out for nine weeks,” Gorg said. I could almost see him shaking his head even though Gorg was on the phone. “For anyone that knows hockey, he’s a hero in that town. The crowd was amped up, the team was amped up, and Crosby got going. You thought there’d be a little rust there, but no, he put up four points in that game.”
Here’s a few high, er, lowlights from the Wild hockey game at Pittsburgh.
Back to Basics
Teams that hit a losing skid tend to try to do too much to get
off the slide. Players will try to overcompensate and their desire to play
outside of their roles can make things even worse. Gorg, a lifelong hockey fan
and one-time coach, talked about how the Wild get out of their current run of
non-winning hockey.
“They just need to get back to basics,” he said right away. “They’re
not going to outscore people. Maybe that run of high-scoring hockey late last
year got in their heads a bit. They’ve got to be a lot more responsible in
their defensive zone, a better back-checking team, they’ve got to take fewer
penalties, and be much better on the penalty kill.”
Starting goaltender Devan Dubnyk has been carrying quite a load this year. He missed a month of the season because of his wife’s serious health problems and recently came back to take his place between the pipes. Gorg says the Wild’s top goalie is hanging in there through his family challenges.
“He’s got to be a rock back there, along with (backup goalie)
Alex Stalock,” Gorg said. “If you look at the defensemen in front of them, this
core is as good as any you’ll find in the NHL, especially when you talk about
the top four. However, they haven’t played that way.
“The forwards have to be better in the offensive zone,” he
added. “This team has to win games 3-2, rather than 5-4. Score early and play
good defense. We don’t have pure scorers like Crosby on the roster. We do have
Zach Parise (16 goals, 28 points), who’s on pace for 30 goals, Jason Zucker (12
goals despite just coming back from a broken leg), who should score 25-30
goals, and a guy like Eric Staal (16 goals, 33 points), who’s on pace to score
25-30 goals.”
Young players
That core of young players is what will likely put the Wild
into the playoffs if they can raise their level of play. Guys like Kevin Fiala,
Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Ryan Donato all have to elevate their games.
So far, it’s just been Fiala (9 goals, 17 assists) that’s taken that step, with
Gorg calling him a potential “25-30-goal scorer.”
The guy many hockey fans are most curious (and maybe
concerned) about is Jordan Greenway (5 goals, 11 assists). The one-time U.S. Olympian
has been a bit of an enigma. Six-foot-six inches tall off his skates, the big left-winger
can look like a freight train on skates, but many times simply disappears in
long stretches.
“Last year was his first full season of professional hockey,” Gorg recalled. Between Iowa and the Wild, he played over 100 games last year. You’d think that foundation would have him set up for bigger and better things this year. We’ve seen the flashes. For a guy his size, he’s got really good hands and offensive instincts. He just can’t stretch it out four or five games. But, you don’t give up on a guy that size.”
Buyers or Sellers?
One interesting topic is the trade deadline, which is coming up on Feb. 24. Will the Wild be buyers or sellers? As of right now, it’s not looking like they’ll be buying under new General Manager Bill Guerin.
“Eight points out of a playoff spot in the standings, I think that’s still to be determined,” Gorg said. “I’m impressed with Guerin’s patience. That may be because he’s already got four Stanley Cups in his pocket, two coming as a player.”
College football recruiting is quite a process, both for players and coaching staffs. A Spring Grove, Minnesota, high school standout had played his first year of college ball for the University of Minnesota-Crookston and very unexpectedly found himself going through the process a second time. Here’s what it looked like when the news first broke late last year.
Spring Grove native Alex Folz enjoyed a successful first
season of college football at the University of Minnesota-Crookston in 2019.
After getting significant playing time as a freshman for the NCAA Division 2
level Golden Eagles, Folz was into offseason workouts and studies when he got the
news that no college athlete expects. He wouldn’t be playing football for
Crookston again.
The school had decided to ax its football program due to “budget concerns.” Folz was left without a team to play for, decided to open himself up to the college football recruiting process once again, and found a new team to play for. This time around, it’s going to be a much-bigger road trip from Spring Grove to his new home. The Spring Grove high school standout is now a member of the Eastern New Mexico State University Greyhounds football team. Why decide to join the team in Portales, New Mexico?
“The first few days of looking for colleges generated some interest from NAIA schools, NCAA Division 3 schools, but nothing that big,” Folz recalled. “I had a couple of offers from NCAA Division 2 schools in southern states like West Virginia. I sent some film out to Eastern New Mexico and by the fourth day of my college football recruiting process, the head coach (Kelley Lee) sent me an email saying he loved my film and thought I’d be a good fit there.
Spring Grove native Alex Folz, shown here as a freshman playing for the University of Minnesota-Crookston, found himself going through college football recruiting for a second time after Crookston decided to cut it’s football program after the 2019 season. (Contributed photo)
“Coach said they might even have opportunities for me to do
more things than just offense, which I loved doing at Spring Grove and did at
Crookston,” he added. “The recruiting coordinator called to talk to me, and
they eventually gave me a pretty nice scholarship.”
He began to look into the team and program, including their
facilities and liked what he saw. Folz said the multiple coaches he talked to
“seemed nice.” Appropriately enough for the social media age, Folz followed
several of the Greyhounds’ players on Twitter, who all seemed to enjoy what
they were doing down in New Mexico.
“I thought to myself ‘is this what I really want?’,” he
recalled with a laugh. “Minnesota is great, and I have family here, but it’s
got to be nice to live in warmer weather and get out to explore the U.S. a
little bit.”
Folz admits that the whole “re-recruiting” process ended a
little quicker than he thought it would.
The highly decorated high school player had a successful
first year with the Crookston program, more so on a personal level than in
terms of team success (0-11). He felt the team had something building as a member
of a large recruiting class for the Northern Sun Conference school. The team
was doing offseason conditioning work when they got notified of an “emergency
team meeting” out of the blue.
“I’d just finished class and was sitting with one of my
roommates when he got a phone call saying a friend had heard the football team
was getting cut,” Folz said. “The friend on the phone knew someone at St. Cloud
State that had a meeting at the same time and their program also got cut. We
initially thought it was just rumors and nothing like that would happen.”
However, after scrolling through social media reports and
other online articles, Folz and his teammates slowly started to think there
might well be bad news coming. A lot of his teammates had no idea what they
were going to do if it was true because this was the only place they could play
while going to school.
“Our coaches came into the meeting room and sat at the back,
which is not something they normally do,” he recalled. “The Chancellor (Mary
Holz-Clause) stepped up to the microphone and told us she was sorry we had to
find out the way we did because they wanted to news to come straight from the administration.
She also said, ‘as of today, we’re cutting the football program.’
“You could see it in the faces of every guy in the room,”
Folz added. “The look in their eyes said, ‘are you kidding me?’”
What Folz didn’t appreciate was the fact that Holz-Clause
told the team they’ve been trying to cut the football team for the previous 18
months. “That’s what got me,” he said emphatically. “Our coaches found out just
ten minutes before she told us (on Dec. 10). Why couldn’t they have told us as
soon as the season ended (Nov. 16)?”
That meant more than 60 players had to find new colleges by
spring. That’s when coaches typically want their new players enrolled so they
can get to know the team and practice in the spring. That left them less than a
month to find a new home.
And, the school wasn’t prepared to offer a lot of extra help to the students. Folz said athletes who had questions could ask and they’d try to assist them. However, the former Golden Eagle football players were on their own in the college football recruiting process.
From a personal perspective, Folz was disappointed because he had a successful freshman season.
Spring Grove, Minnesota, native Alex Folz is shown here carrying the ball for the University of Minnesota-Crookston football team. Crookston decided to cut its program after the 2019 season, forcing Folz to undergo college football recruiting a second time. (Contributed photo)
“I started the season playing on all four of the special
teams’ units,” he said. “I was also a running back. As the season went on, I
took over the punting job, returned kicks, and was on the punt return and
kickoff teams. Halfway through the season, I moved from running back to slot
receiver just because their numbers were low at the position.”
The former high school quarterback also took snaps as the
backup quarterback in practice, just in case of an emergency.
The biggest adjustment to college sports came in the
classroom. He said Friday and Saturday were his busiest days for football. “That
meant you couldn’t be as much of a typical college kid the rest of the week,”
he said. “You really have to take your time to study and get your homework
done. When all that’s done, you still have to pay attention to the game of
football. It’s a big time-balancing exercise.”
Folz is heading out for New Mexico on Jan. 8, will move into
his apartment, and then have a couple of days to adjust to the new
surroundings. School starts on Jan. 13. Folz is leaving familiar surroundings
and heading almost 1,150 miles from home. What’s the first thing that comes to
mind when he thinks about the distance?
“I’m really excited,” he said after some thought. “I’ve
always wanted to get out and see the country. The only thing I’m nervous about
is meeting new teammates. We had a close brotherhood at Crookston. I felt as
though I could have gone to any of the players or coaches with anything. I’m
hoping all those guys down there will be the same way and I’m sure they will.
“We all just want to play football,” he said with a laugh.
SEC Showcase. Just a cool name for a great day of watching high school basketball. The first-ever Southeast Conference Showcase in Rochester, Minnesota, featured a full slate of basketball games featuring every team in the league. I went down to Rochester from the Twin Cities to specifically take in the Kingsland vs. Mabel-Canton boys’ and girls basketball games.
Kingsland won the girls’ game 53-43. The Kingsland boys made it a sweep, beating the M-C boys 53-49.
Here’s a few video highlights from both games, with the articles and pictures down below.
SEC ShowcaseGirls’ Game
The Knights came out firing early in the game and ran off 11-straight points to start the game before Mabel-Canton would score their first points. All-SEC standout Payton Danielson gave the Cougars their first two baskets of the game, the first coming with 13:38 left in the first half.
The Kingsland and Mabel-Conference game featured a couple of solid guards. All-conference guard Payton Danielson of Mabel-Canton (in blue) brings the ball up the floor, where Alyssa Link of Kingsland awaits to play defense. (Photo by Chad Smith)
The Cougars would knock that Kingsland lead down to 15-11
with 9:18 left in the period. M-C stretched its scoring run to 15-8 with five
minutes to go in the half. The Knights kept their lead around four points over
the final minutes of the first half, leading 21-17 with four minutes to go.
Kingsland would head into the halftime locker room with a 26-22 lead. However, most of the half belonged to Mabel-Canton, who outscored the Knights 22-15 after being down 11-0 early in the game.
The Kingsland girls came out firing in the second half, going on a 10-4 run to take a 36-26 lead six minutes into the second half. The Knights stretched their scoring run to 15-6. Leading by double-digits at 41-30 with 10 minutes on the clock. But Mabel-Canton still wouldn’t go away.
Lauren Wyffels of Mabel-Canton looks to inbound the basketball during their matchup with Kingsland at the SEC Showcase in Rochester. The Knights won the game 53-43. (Photo by Chad Smith)
The Cougars whittled the Kingsland lead down to four points
(42-38) with 4:35 left. It was 42-40 Kingsland when MaKenzie Kelly of
Mabel-Canton hit a free throw to tie the game at 42-all with 3:34 left.
However, Alyssa Link of Kingsland answered with a big three-point basket.
It was 46-42 Knights with 2:15 to go. Link hit a couple of
big free throws late to make it a 50-42 Knights’ lead with 25 seconds left.
Anika Reiland hit free throws to stretch the Kingsland lead to 53-42 with five
seconds left. A Danielson free throw for M-C made it a 53-43 final.
Link, who looks completely healthy and is playing without a
brace after recovering from a serious knee injury last season, led the team
with a double-double, getting a team-best 15 points and pulling down 11 boards.
She had three big three-pointers and went three of four at the free-throw line
in the second half, coming up with big points in clutch time. But she had help
on the perimeter as well.
Sam Wernimont finished with 13 points, hitting three shots
from outside the arc in the first half. Meredith Farlinger provided scoring in
the paint, finishing with another double-double of 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Free throws were huge for Kingsland in the second half, when
they made 12 of their 16 attempts (75%). It was a marked improvement from the
first half when the Knights were just three of 10 at the stripe.
On the defensive end of the floor, Kingsland finished with
six steals (Wernimont 2, Audrey Webster 2) and nine blocked shots (Farlinger
4).
SECBoys’ Game
The SEC Showcase game tipped off in the Mayo Civic Center and points were slow in coming for both teams. The Knights trailed just 4-3 with five-and-a-half minutes off the first-half clock. Just over two minutes later, Brayden Gjere of Mabel-Canton grabbed an offensive rebound and landed a put-back shot to give the Cougars an 8-7 lead with 12:16 to go in the first half.
The Kingsland Knights boys’ basketball team is shown here warming up for their SEC Showcase matchup with Mabel-Canton in the Mayo Civic Arena, right in downtown Rochester. The Knights won the game 53-49. (Photo by Chad Smith)
The Knights trailed 10-9 when Luke Howard drained a
three-pointer to make it a 12-10 Knights’ lead with 7:23 left in the half.
However, the Cougars’ Reid Crawford answered with a trey of his own to give MC
the lead back at 15-14 with six minutes on the clock.
Both teams were settling into the neutral court and were
finding the range more consistently on their jump shots. As the tempo picked
up, another Luke Howard trey made it 22-15 Kingsland at 3:44 to go in the half.
He attempted another three as the first half buzzer sounded and was fouled. He
dropped in one of three free throws to make it a 25-19 Kingsland lead at the
half.
Mabel-Canton came out swinging in the second half with a 7-0
scoring run to take a one-point lead (26-25) with 16 minutes left in the game.
An offensive rebound and made basket by Reed Merkel broke the streak and gave
the lead back to the Knights, 27-26 with 15 minutes left.
The lead would go back and forth for the rest of the game. Kaden Rath hit a jumper to tie the game at 37 with just over eight minutes left. Another Howard three-pointer and a steal and layup from Nick Eickhoff made it 42-39 Kingsland with 7:15 on the clock.
Braydin Gjere (#10) of Mabel-Canton looks for an open teammate as Kaden Rath (#2) as his Kingsland teammates play defense during their SEC Showcase game in Rochester on Saturday, Dec. 21. (Photo by Chad Smith)
As the game wound down, Kingsland started showing a
full-court press. The Knights had shown a half-court trap before that and had
some success forcing Mabel-Canton mistakes with the basketball.
Walker Erdman nailed one of two free throws to tie the game
at 44. The teams traded baskets and tied the game at 46 all, when Howard hit
the biggest three of the game off a Mabel-Canton turnover and Kingsland was
back on top, 49-46 with 1:21 to go.
The Cougars’ Reid Crawford line up a three-point try that
rolled all the way around the rim and fell away. The Knights grabbed the
rebound and Erdman hit two free throws to make it a two-possession game at
51-46. However, Crawford came back the other way and drained a three to cut the
Kingsland lead to just two points, 51-49 with only 4.7 seconds left.
Mabel-Canton tried hard to swipe the inbound pass and was
forced to foul. Two free throws from Howard sealed the game and a Knights’ win,
53-49.
Howard and Erdman tied for the team lead in scoring, each
finishing with 14 points. Howard was two rebounds from a double-double,
grabbing eight missed shots and finishing with two steals. Erdman also grabbed
eight rebounds and hit three of five free throws. Eickhoff chipped in 12 points
on five of 11 shooting.
The team hit 19 of its 53 shots (35%) from the field. They
were most effective down under the basket, making 13 of 27 shots (48%) from
two-point range. The Knights did make enough free throws to win the game, but
they could have given themselves a little more breathing room late. Kingsland
was just nine of 18 from the stripe.
They finished with 32 rebounds, 12 offensive.
Defensively, the Knights came up with seven steals and four blocked
shots.
