The Pirates fell 5-1 to the Elk Mound Mounders in the sectional semi-final game, giving up four runs in the top of the seventh to end Grantsburg’s remarkable season.

The game was close until then. Both teams scored one run in the sixth inning, then that fateful seventh inning for the Pirates. The leadoff hitter was hit, there were two or three walks and a couple hits in there that combined for four runs in the final frame.

The Mounders (what kind of mascot is that, anyway? Is it some sort of politically correct compromise? If I were a mound I’d be pretty offended) pitched extremely well giving up only four hits and striking out five. Their pitcher was in control most of the game.

The Pirates had won eleven in a row and they had a chance to win the game. They dodged early bullets by throwing two runners out at home… in the first inning! The first was Nolan Hanson to Ben Larson with Larson tagging out the advancing runner. The second came with the bases loaded and the batter bounced it to pitcher Thane Larson who threw it home for the force then Larson gunned it to first baseman Jake Ryan for a rare 1-2-3 double play.

Though the season didn’t end the way the Pirates and their fans would’ve liked to have seen, the team represented their home town well and they deserve our congratulations. They played ball like it should be and they were rewarded with a great season and a trip to Sectionals. Only sixteen teams get to do that every year.

Congrats, Pirates!

Really cool photo courtesy of Marianne Shira

You know that I love the schools, but I wish they’d inform us sooner.

End of rant.

A possible bomb threat was overheard by someone which led to the evacuation of Grantsburg high school leading to students and staff assembling in the middle school on Friday, Dec. 19 around one in the afternoon.

We are all very thankful that the threat was not real and the outcome was anti-climactic.

For more on the story check out the Sentinel’s article.

Bonneville, who had scored at least twenty in the past two games was pretty much shut out offensively the entire game, he maybe had four points which was mainly due to the defensive scheme of the Pine City Dragons. The Dragons played a good portion of the night in a 2-3 defense which is meant to shut down the opponent’s inside game.

Grantsburg was relegated to jump shots, and they didn’t make a lot of them, especially in the first half. They were 11-32 from the floor in the first half mainly due to having to shoot from the outside and they came out cold. That changed a bit in the second half when they started canning some of those jumpers they missed in the first.

This was the first time I had seen the Pirates this year and they looked like they really knew what they were doing and they played very well together. Coach Danny Judd rotated eight players in the entire night and all played well, including Thane Larson who was, at least for me, a pleasant surprise coming off the bench canning a couple threes early in the second half and giving Grantsburg a nice lead.

Grantsburg has some good shooters, a good inside presence, and an aggressive defense. I also believe they can play a little better than they did tonight. The game tonight could’ve been a 20+ point win had they come out hot in the first half.

NOTES:

Did anyone notice the night and day difference between the roads in Minnesota compared to Wisconsin? It was like driving on a skating rink and then once you crossed the bridge it was like Lightning McQueen had just finished paving the new road! I could not believe the difference.

I interviewed Byron Higgin during halftime of the game and he seemed very upbeat about his situation of being let go at the Sentinel last week. It must have been an adjustment sitting in the stands just enjoying a game without thinking about story lines or deadlines.

Tonight was my last broadcast of the year. There will be more programming on WXCX, but I won’t be back behind the mic until Grantsburg plays Webster on January 6th.

We’re heading to Iowa tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with Renae’s family. I’m so excited to drive through a blizzard.

I would appreciate prayers for my family, especially my dad, who lost his brother today. I found out about my uncle’s death about half an hour before the broadcast. I was not close to my uncle mainly because of proximity, but it is still a bit stunning and of course losing a brother would be very difficult. Thanks.

West Lakeland Girl’s Basketball Standings

The Pirates take their undefeated record across the border tonight to take on the Dragons of Pine City.

Grantsburg Pirates (5-0,2-0) vs. Pine City Dragons (2-1,2-1)

Pine City Notes:

Grantsburg Notes:

I know Carter from the time I spent working for the Sentinel and from what I know of him he is a high energy, go-getter type and is passionate about the newspaper business. I wish him nothing but success with the Sentinel and Press Publications.

He wrote an article about the shake up at the Sentinel (you can find it on page 4A of Wednesday, Dec. 17 2008 edition. As of this post it has not been made available online). In it he outlined that it was a difficult decision to let Byron Higgin (pictured) go, but that it was necessary to keep the Sentinel alive, which I have no doubt is true. Recently the Sentinel decided to shrink the physical size of the paper used to cut costs and I know other staff was cut or consolidated in the past.

I find it a little strange that in the article Carter didn’t offer more of a tribute to Byron, the long-time editor and publisher of the Sentinel. Maybe he has something planned for the next issue. I think it would be a good idea to feature some of the work that Byron did along with his accomplishments. I would think advertisers would be excited to wish Byron farewell and show their gratitude towards him.

I wish Johnson would have given us a vision to what he wants the paper to be, where he wants it to go and how he’s going to accomplish it. He only gave general thoughts and emphasized that the community needs to help with the process. Hopefully he does that in future issues, as well.

I am not sure where the Sentinel is heading. The outlook doesn’t look good for the industry or the paper itself, at least in it’s current form. The Sentinel has beefed up it’s online content and presence, which is the key element in staying viable in this day of instant gratification and fast-paced society.

Receiving a silver medal is the equivilant of being in the top 2% of high schools in the nation.

As if that weren’t enough…

US News and World Report awards gold medals to the top 100 schools in the country. Not one Wisconsin school received a gold medal. Only six received silvers!

Webster, Siren and Frederic received bronze medals.

Here is a link to the story. And here you can see the results for Burnett County Schools (you can easily navigate to find other schools once you get to the website).

Congratulations to the administration, staff and students of GHS!

The Pirates are not running the ball nearly as well as years past and have started to rely on the arm of Trent Bonneville. He has done a very good job after taking over as quarterback the second game of the season. But, in the past two games Grantsburg has pased way too much because of the deficits they find themselves in.

This past game was particularly frustrating as Grantsburg faced winless Unity. The Pirates twice had the ball inside the five yard line, once only 6 inches from the goal line, but were unable to score, getting stopped on fourth down both times.

Grantsburg seemed to be the better team on Saturday, but big plays and penalties against the Pirates were enough to keep the Pirates out of the win column.

On what turned out to be the game winning scoring drive for Unity, Grantsburg had stopped the Eagles twice on fourth down only to have pass interference called against them. Both were very, very suspect. I don’t like to blame officials for things, but those two calls were unacceptable.

Grantsburg lost 28-26. Both teams scored four touchdowns. Unity made every extra pont, Grantsburg was 1 for 4 in that department as they scored on a two point conversion with their last touchdown.

It is a frustrating season for the Pirates, but they are looking to get a victory this Friday night for Homecoming. You can hear the game on WXCX – 105.7 starting a little before 7pm.