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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 girls brackets are out (Division 3, Division 4) and there are some noteworthy matchups.

In division 3, Grantsburg will be traveling to St. Croix Falls, a West Lakeland rival, to start their postseason. It's also who they play to end their regular season. So March 5th will be a playoff preview game against SCF for the Pirates. Another note… the boys playoffs also see Grantsburg and SCF with the opening game of the playoffs.

In division 4 The Siren Dragons receive a number two seed (behind Northwood). Siren lost their first conference game this past week against Luck. Both teams are now 10-1 in the conference and will most likely finish tied for first (Luck still plays Frederic and Siren has one left against Webster). Both Siren and Luck received number two seeds in division 4.

I think Siren is still a very dangerous team, although they've been shaky down the stretch here losing to Luck and getting shut down in the second half against Grantsburg. Hopefully coach Ryan Karsten can right the ship and provide another deep run in the playoffs.

My most recent Inside the Huddle column features me trying to predict the end of the season in the crazy boys conference known as the West Lakeland.

Three teams still have a chance at winning the thing (Luck, SCF and Siren). Read the story to see where I think each team will finish in the conference.

It took a while, but the West Lakeland conference volleyball team has been announced and here it is…

Grantsburg
Emily Cole, junior
Kortney Morrin, junior
Annie Palmquist, senior
Lauren Romanowski, senior

Clayton
Annie Grossenbacher
Ashley Grossenbacher
Lindsey LaBlanc
Krystal Kohnen – honorable mention

Clear Lake
Rachel Norby – honorable mention
Jaici Vangsness – honorable mention

Frederic
Chrissy Chenal

Luck
Morgan Denny, junior

Shell Lake
Ashley Anderson
Stephanie Clark – honorable mention

Siren
Carley Emery – honorable mention

St. Croix Falls
Sarah Petznick
Megan Yunker

Turtle Lake
Ashley Lahti
Tricia Hanson – honorable mention
Alex Tschida – honorable mention

Unity
Crystal Donahue – honorable mention

Webster
Mary Johnson
Siiri Larsen – honorable mention

I don’t think I’ve posted the volleyball brackets here yet, so here you go…

Division 1 (Superior – defeated by Grantsburg)

Division 2 (Hayward- only losses on Grantsburg or Hayward schedules were to each other)

Division 3 (Grantsburg, Webster)

Division 4 (Siren, Luck, Frederic)

The football brackets are out and even though Grantsburg missed them this year I thought you might like to know where other area teams are scheduled.

Congrats to the Webster Tigers, Luck Cardinals and Frederic Vikings… the only area teams to receive a berth.

Division 6 (Webster)

Division 7 (Frederic, Luck)

105.7 WXCX will be following the Webster Tigers.

Good luck to all three teams!

The Pirates have won their conference 21 times in a row. That’s a crazy phenomenal stat. They finished this season undefeated in conference play and honestly, they were never challenged. Not even against division 4 state qualifiers, Clayton.

The Pirates are ranked number one again according to the Wissport.net poll. They remain number one in the WVCA poll as well.

The Pirates look like they’re ready for the post-season which starts next Tuesday and you can listen to every match on 105.7 WXCX. (If you’d like to advertise please call the station at 888.629.7575 – no, I don’t get a commission)

Here are the nearly final standings for the West Lakeland conference. Grantsburg still has the Cameron Tournament this weekend so the overall records will change, but the conference season is over.

The Grantsburg football team will don their purple jerseys for the last time tonight as they take on the Comets from Cameron at Robert Olson field. The game can be heard on 105.7 WXCX. Tune in around 6:20 for Red Rock Radio Replay then listen to the game at 7:00.

It looks like Grantsburg has a pretty good chance of getting their second conference win of the season and their third win overall because Cameron has only one win this season and it was a non-conference game against the Northwood/Solon Springs Evergreens (3-3, 3-4) 35-0.

Both teams have had trouble stopping their opponent’s from scoring this year. Grantsburg has given up 202 points this year (last year they gave up 298), Cameron has allowed 201 points.

Grantsburg has scored 114 points, while Cameron has only mustered 75 (35 against one team).

The first half was full, FULL, of mistakes for the boys in purple. Botched punts, lost fumbles, a safety, penalties. All of these things going against them, yet they were only down by 9 heading into halftime. Trailing 9-0 at halftime of the rainiest day of this fall, the Grantsburg Pirates found a spark. I don’t know what the coaches said or what adjustments they made during that 15 minute period between the second and third quarters, whatever it was it worked. Big. They came out of the halftime locker room seemingly more focused and with more intensity than they showed in the first half.

The second half started with the Pirates stopping Colfax with a nifty three-and-out drive. The Pirates then scored on their first drive. Again, they held the Vikings to a three-and-out. The defense was all over the place. Gavin Meyer was outstanding from his linebacker spot and the interior of the defensive line held their ground wonderfully. The Vikings were not able to move the ball in the second half.

The Pirates did. They scored twenty unanswered points in the second half to win the game 20-9. It was a great come from behind game.

Grantsburg hadn’t won a game since October of 2007. Now they have won two in a row heading into Homecoming week against the Webster Tigers. (The Tigers are undefeated after smoking the Clear Lake Warriors, 31-0 tonight. I couldn’t believe that score when I heard it. )

Since the second half of the Luck game three weeks ago the Pirates have played inspired football (not flawless, obviously, but inspired). They are a fun team to watch and who knows, if they keep improving they might find themselves battling for a playoff spot. Who would have guessed?

The new WVCA poll came out today and Grantsburg remains ranked #1. The Wissports.net poll also gives the highest ranking to the Pirates.

The Pirates have a 14-1 match play record. Their one loss came to the Hayward Hurricanes during pool play during the Ashland Tournament. Hayward is is ranked #11 in Division 2 (Grantsburg is in Division 3). The Hurricanes only have one match loss… a rematch with the Pirates for the Ashland Tournament championship. Grantsburg won that 2-1.

Grantsburg has only lost three sets all year, all three to the Hurricanes (0-2, 2-1).

So, yeah. They’re pretty good.

I was able to take in some of the tournament hosted by Grantsburg this past weekend and to say they dominated would be an understatement.

Speaking with several people (fans/family of players) during the tournament I asked if they thought the team could be beat. The common response was a pause and then some variation of "no". The only thing that seemingly stands in the way of the Pirates and a return trip to the Resch Center in Green Bay would be some kind of injury to one of the starters, even then I wouldn’t count the girls out.

Tonight the Pirates take on the Luck Cardinals at home as a final tune up before heading north to Duluth for the Duluth-Marshall tournament. Hopefully the girls get some good competition during that tourney.