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I love Grantsburg Volleyball. They play hard. They know what they're doing. They win. Simple.

Wissports.net loves 'em, too as they take the top spot in Jay Messar's rankings. Here's his rankings.

Checking out last year's final rankings from the Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association's website I noticed something interesting. Of course Grantsburg was ranked #1 as they won the championship and Cuba City got second billing, but #4 was not one of the state participants. It was Washburn. If you remember last year, the Washburn Castle Guards gave the Grantsburg Pirates their biggest test of the year. In fact either team could've gone to state, it was that tight of a Sectional Semi-final.

It was cool to see Washburn get some love by the coaches. They deserve it.

While I'm a little slow on the uptake, my friend at Wissports.net, Jay Messar, was not. Click the link for his preview of the Large Lakeland conference.

Here's my play-by-play schedule for the next few weeks on 105.7 WXCX (football starts at 7, volleyball at 7:30)

As of now we only have the one volleyball match scheduled, but it is my understanding that we will be bringing you many more volleyball matches as we get into this season.
 

The sky housed no clouds tonight as the football season kicked off in Grantsburg. Unfortunately, for the Pirate football team, there were some metaphorical clouds that lasted the entire game.

Grantsburg starting quarterback Brent Myers was knocked out of the game in the first quarter with some kind of shoulder injury. He spent the remainder of the game on the sideline and afterward received an x-ray to try to figure out the extent of the damage. Junior Daniel Larsen took over the quarterbacking duties and did very well in Myers stead.

The return game for the Pirates left a lot to be desired. On kickoffs the Pirates struggled as they were never able to get it to the 20 yard line except for one touchback.

The Pirates turned the ball over on downs four or five times while just inside Spooner territory. This, to me, was one of the biggest stories of the game. Not only because it killed a drive, but it gave Spooner a short field to move the ball to score.

The final ended up being lopsided: 23-0 in favor of the visiting Spooner Rails.

That isn't to say there weren't some silver linings on these clouds. As I stated earlier, I thought Daniel Larsen stepped in at quarterback and did a fine job. I think the offensive line got better as the night went on. And, for the most part, Grantsburg's tackling was good… lots of guys to the ball.

Grantsburg has been hurt by injuries. Fullback Derek Bertelsen told me before the game that he would be ready to go against Cumberland, which would be a huge addition to the team if that happens. Tackle Seth Coy says he will be ready by week three when West Lakeland play begins as Grantsburg travels to Unity. He will be a welcomed addition to the offensive line.

One game does not a season make. I hope the guys will realize that. There are many games left and they still have a great opportunity to make it back to the playoffs.

The Pirates host Cumberland next week and the game will be on 105.7 WXCX starting at 7pm.

Here's my schedule for the rest of the week…

Wednesday – Church night… kids- go to youth group or confirmation.

Thursday – Siren hosts Drummond… tries to get retribution for those pesky Drummond boys always knocking the Dragon boys out of the tourney (since 2007).

Friday- The Webster Tigers look to get by their nemesis, Eau Claire Regis in the Sectional Semi-Final. Do the Tigers have it in them to make an improbable run to Madison?

Saturday – Could be two games, or could be zero games. We'll follow Siren girls and Webster boys as far as they'll take us!

Good luck to our area teams!!!

Tune into 105.7 WXCX to get the games.

The winter seasons are complete.

Tonight the Grantsburg girls met their demise in St. Croix Falls (as their male counterparts did just one week prior).

The Pirate ladies fell 46-26 to the Saints, thus ending their season.

The girls improved upon their previous season's win total and got better this year. Hopefully the trend continues as the Pirates have a young team and would like to finish in the top half of their conference next season.

I caught up with Grantsburg's head coach Penny Curtin after the game.

For some reason the WIAA goofed up their bracket last night putting South Shore down as the winner over Siren. Well, in true "Dewey Defeats Truman" fashion, the powers that be had to eat a little crow this morning and revised the bracket to look like this:

Congratulations to Webster, Luck and Siren boys basketball teams… all three have advanced to their regional final games.

Webster and Luck were the higher seeds and it is not shocking that they won their respective games.

The shocker lies in Siren where the boys dismantled the number 1 seeded South Shore 54-45. Heck, even the WIAA can't believe it…

I'm very happy for the Dragons and head coach Jon Ruud. The team has come so far this season and they deserve many pats on the back. I think it is safe to say that this is the biggest win in the history of Siren boys basketball, and maybe in boys sports at that school ever.

If the Dragons and the Luck Cardinals both win on Saturday they will meet for the sectional semi-final.

Webster also looked good tonight. That was the game I was broadcasting. They played great defense and Prescott proved to be no match for the Tigers.

Here are the brackets:

Webster

Luck/Siren

The West Lakeland represented nicely for the opening round of the boys' tournament. Five of seven won their opening round playoff game (there was never a chance for a perfect 7-0 as Grantsburg and St. Croix Falls locked up for their first round tilt… SCF won 54-45).

Only Unity lost (by two to Colfax, the number 2 seed).

Pesky Frederic won by a point to beat the number 4 seed Bruce.

Here are the results:

Division 3

Division 4

In an extremely physical game, the Grantsburg Pirates were bruised, battered and finally, beaten by the St. Croix Falls Saints 54-45, ending the Pirates' season. They finished 12-11.

The punishing game went both ways, and in fact, Grantsburg was the aggressor for most of the way. The Saints finally caught up to Grantsburg's physicality and ended up pulling away down the stretch.

Grantsburg had a lot of trouble scoring in the middle quarters and ultimately that's what did them in. It was a close game through the night and Grantsburg pulled within four with about four minutes remaining. Then SCF scored six unanswered and Grantsburg was not able to make a clutch shot the rest of the night. The closest they got from then on was six points.

The Pirates end their season on a sour note (all but four teams in the state do), but the future is bright and the sky is the limit with this crew. The Pirates return EVERYBODY for the 2010-2011 campaign. IF they all work on their individual games (as in… how can I improve to benefit the team) and IF they gel more as a team, there might be nobody to stop them next year in the conference (I'm sure Siren and Webster might not agree with that).

It was an entertaining year to watch these guys mature to varsity players and I think new Head Coach Nick Hallberg is just the right guy to lead them back to a deep run in the playoffs next year.