Tiger Scoreboard: January 19, 2014

Wrestling
Eastview Invitational
Farmington 8th out of 12 teams with 76 points
Jamin LeDuc 113-pound champion

Boys Swimming and Diving
Section 1AA True Team meet at Owatonna
Farmington 3rd out of 6 teams with 859 points
Jonathan Bovee one-meter diving champion

Girls Hockey: Coming full circle

Breanna Raske scoerd the game-winner (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Breanna Raske's goal (from Dani Wright) with 1:08 remaining in regulation gave the Tigers a dramatic 3-2 Missota Conference win over Shakopee Friday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

The victory brought Farmington full circle in one of the feel-good stories of the winter season. The Tigers compiled an early 2-8-1 record before winning eight of their next 10 to even their season record at 10-10-1.

"I honestly did feel we could get back to .500," coach Jon Holmes said  "In fact. we had a team meeting going into the start of the holiday tourney and we talked about realistic goals we could accomplish if we put in the time and effort.

 "Since then we have spent every day at our new dry land facility we have constructed at Boeckman Middle School that consists of shooting tarps, stick handling areas and, of course, plenty of room for running and weights.

 "The girls held themselves accountable and made a miraculous turnaround that we knew we could make but it took nothing less then everyone's complete buy-in to do it."

Friday night's win was a grinder with the evenly matched teams trading goals until Raske's shot beat the Saber goalie over her glove side with the clock winding down.

"It was a beauty," Holmes said of the game-winner, "one of the best game-winning shots I have ever seen."

Molly Singewald stopped 24 shots (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Maddi Oines (from Megan Stivers and Michaela Tonsager) gave the Tigers an early first period lead but the Sabers countered with a goal of their own to knot the score after 17 minutes.

Ellie Moser's goal (from Raske)  at 1:24 of the second frame regained the lead for the home team but at the second break the score was back deadlocked at 2-2.

Things looked headed to overtime before Raske stepped up to score the most important goal of her career.

Molly Singewald had a big night in goal for the Tigers, stopping 24 of 26 shots and raising her season save percentage to a robust .914.

The win completed a three-win week for the Tigers who hit the ice next Tuesday when they entertain Section 1AA Owatonna at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

"We still have a goal to accomplish by the year's end, so we still have much work to do,"  Holmes said, "but in many years of coaching high school hockey, this particular group of kids really get their strengths and weaknesses and are realistic about what and how they need to do things to win."

Girls B-Ball: Tigers outlast Holy Angels

Aly Grebner scored 10 points off the bench (file photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Tigers pulled two games above the .500 mark (8-6) with a solid 62-56 Missota Conference win over Holy Angels Friday night at Tiger Gym.

Farmington is 3-1 in Missota Conference play, a half game behind Chaska (3-0) in the league standings.

The Tigers started the contest on a 12-2 run that included three-point baskets by Sofia Chadwick, Abby Gallus and Alicia Hett but the Stars got back in it thanks to some strong post play.

"They adjusted quickly and started going to their bigs," Farmington coach Sondra Chadwick said. "They took the lead at one point but we went on a little run at the end to lead at halftime."

Farmington led 32-28 at the break thanks to a late steal and put-back by Aly Grebner.

Alicia Hett 8 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The teams played through an even second half although the Tigers got into foul trouble late with both Sofia Chadwick  and Abby Gallus whistled for their fifth in the final three minutes.

"I was very impressed with the composure of our kids to maintain the lead," coach Chadwick said. "We hit our free throws down the stretch."

In the end, the difference in the game did come at the foul line although for the night the winners ironically had a sub-par night, converting on only 16 of 27 opportunities at the charity stripe.

Another key to the victory was scoring balance. Sofia Chadwick led the way with 17 points but Gallus and Grebner provided plenty of support with 11 and 10 points respectively. Jordyn Homeier added nine and Hett finished with eight.

Coach Chadwick was especially pleased with the performance of Grebner who supplied a big boost off the bench, scoring eight of her points in the second half.

"She gave us a scoring punch and some physical rebounding against their bigs," she said.

Hett had seven assists and six rebounds to go with her eight points. Gallus totaled four assists and came up with a trio of steals; Chadwick had a team-high four steals.

"The girls have shown they know how to win the close games," coach Chadwick said.

In games decided by seven points or fewer Farmington owns a 5-2 record.

The Tigers have an off day next Tuesday, returning to action Friday with a conference home game against Chanhassen.

Gymnastics: A most narrow victory

Amanda Davenport

Farmington and Chaska/Chanhassen have had some hotly contested meets over the past couple of seasons but Friday night's 137.375-1375.25 Tiger win at Chanhassen may have set a new standard for closeness.

The Tigers finished first in three events and all-around to squeeze by the Stormhawks by a razor-thin one-eighth of a point.

"What a close meet!," Tiger coach Lynn Bauman said. "We are getting much steadier. Now it's crunch time. Time to keep it clean and, of course, "stick it."

Farmington's team point total was its highest of the 2013-14 season, a fraction higher than its 137.35 mark set two weeks ago at the Farmington Invitational.

Amanda Davenport had a big night for the winners at Chanhassen, capturing first place in vaulting (9.25), uneven bars (8.7) and all-around (35.725). Davenport also tied for second with teammate Rachel Kiminski on the beam with a score of 8.65.

Abby Schwartz provided the other Farmington first of the night with a win on the balance beam with an 8.7 mark.

Tahra Eckert also had a good night for the winners, taking third in both vault and all-around and ranking fifth in floor exercise.

Gina Mercurio finished fourth in vault and Schwartz placed fifth on the uneven bars.

The Tigers will be looking to move closer to the 140-point mark next Friday when they host Red Wing in a Missota Conference dual meet at the District Service Center.
 

Boys B-Ball: Dittman's three buries Stars

Johnny Dittman's late three-pointer beat Holy Angels 60-59 (photo by Jim Lindquist)

With leading scorer Zach Speikers sitting out with a knee injury and his team trailing by a point with time running out, Johnny Dittman stepped into the spotlight and made the shot of his career.

The senior point guard's three-pointer from the top of the key, his only field goal of the night, hit nothing but net with 2.4 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Tigers an improbable 60-59 Missota Conference comeback win over Holy Angels Friday night in Richfield.

Dittman's game-winner capped a remarkable rally from a five-point deficit over the game's final 1:40.

"Thank goodness for Johnny's shot," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said.  "It wasn't exactly how we drew it up in the huddle, but it got the job done.

"I can't say too much positive about our offense tonight but I thought our defense did a good job of keeping us in the game. We really scrapped, especially down the stretch."

Early on, the absence of Speikers (18.4 points a game) showed in major fashion. The Stars led by four points midway through the period before a late spurt led by Wyatt Ferm and Jordan DeCroock rallied the visitors.

Ferm finished with a dozen points off the bench in the opening half. DeCroock had seven, including a pair of three-pointers. Mac Bassett's rainbow three-pointer from 35 feet gave the Tigers a 34-29 halftime lead.

"With Zach (Speikers) out, I think we got a little out of sync," Wyandt said. "We are so used to running specials for him that the other guys sometime start to stand and watch. Overall, our decision making was very poor tonight.

Wyatt Ferm (center) had 16 points off the bench (photo by Jim Lindquist)

"We also got some guys in foul trouble early and our rotation got even more out of whack. We had combinations of players out there who were not used to playing with each other."

Things started to go downhill after the break when Holy Angels opened with a 12-2 run. With three minutes to play the Stars' lead stood at 57-54.

From there on, it was as tense as a high school basketball game could get. The Tigers did a good job of getting to the free throw line, but made just four of eight tries in the closing minutes.

Bassett made one of two with 51 seconds to go to cut the deficit to 59-57. The Stars then turned the ball over to set up Dittman's heroics.

"We were looking for the outside shot but Mac and Jordan were our first two options," Wyandt said. "But Johnny can shoot the ball. He's showed he can hit the three all season."

Dittman's shot found the bottom of the net with 2.4 seconds remaining but the officials added .8 of a second to the clock to further add to the intrigue.

A couple of time outs later, DeCroock made the point moot with a steal of the inbounds pass.

Ferm and Bassett finished as the top Farmington scorers with 16 points apiece. Ferm's total was a career high. DeCroock and Eli Rockett each added nine points to the winning recipe.

"Wyatt (Ferm) gave us a big spark tonight, especially in the first half," Wyandt said.

The victory was Farmington's 13th of the season (against three losses), one fewer than their entire win total from last season. The Tigers are 4-1 in Missota Conference play.

Tuesday night the Tigers step away from their Missota schedule when they entertain Spring Lake Park at Tiger Gym. Thursday they travel to Chanhassen to take on the Storm who are also 4-1 in conference play.