Seniors add another chapter to storybook finish

Seniors scored all of the points in the win over Owatonna (photo by Jim Lindquist)

It was Senior Night for the Tigers in their final home game of the regular season against Owatonna Thursday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena and the seniors did all of the heavy lifting in a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over the Huskies.

The victory continued the late season surge for coach Jon Holmes' team which stretched its current win streak to five games. The Tigers have won nine of their last 11 outings to raise their record above the .500 level at 11-10-1.

Senior Megan Stivers got the home team off to a good start with a first period goal assisted by classmate Breanna Raske for a 1-0 lead heading into the first break.

Scootie Donnelly gets a hug after scoring the game-winner (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Huskies countered with the only score of the second period but Stivers (on an assist from Brooke Raske) scored her second of the night to give the Tigers back the lead early in the third.

That lead held until a disputed icing call late in the game created a face-off in the Farmington zone with 20 seconds remaining in regulation. Owatonna pulled its goalie, won the face-off and with the extra attacker forced overtime with a score in the final 10 seconds.

"That would have really taken not only the momentum out of many teams, but also would have killed their spirit," Holmes said. "This group collectively came together at the third period/overtime break, moved forward and acknowledged they still had a goal to accomplish and they did it."

To cap off the night's festivities, captain Scootie Donnelly did the honors in the first three minutes of the extra session on a rush up the boards that ended with a wrist shot that beat the Huskie goalie to her short side.

"It was a very fitting goal for a senior captain to get with this being our last home game of the season," Holmes said. "What a great past few weeks with three seniors getting game winning goals."

Megan Stivers scored the first two goals (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Molly Singewald had another big night in the nets for the winners, stopping 17 of 19 shots and picking up her 11th win of the season.

"We spend the last three games of the regular season on the road against conference rivals," Holmes said. "We are currently in third place in the conference and we want to keep that spot with a solid finish. We know we won't be able to catch the leaders, but we can certainly make their race interesting by causing some havoc."

The Tigers begin their final three-game road trip with a Thursday night date with state-ranked Red Wing at Prairie Island Arena.

Boys Hockey: Nine straight and counting

Jack Erickson scored a hat trick (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Tigers ran their win streak to nine games and gained some more Section 1AA seeding credibility with a 9-0 win over Owatonna Tuesday night at Four Seasons Arena in Owatonna.


Farmington is now 14-3-1 overall, 6-0-1 in the Missota Conference and a perfect 4-0 against section competition this season.

The numbers tell the story of the one-sided win. The Tigers outshot the Huskies by a dominant 44-18 for the night. Jack Erickson scored a hat trick and six other Tigers found the net. All in all, 15 different Farmington players scored at least one point.

Defensively, the winners allowed Owatonna but 12 shots over the first two periods to help golaie Gage Overby post his first shutout of the 2013-14 season.

Farmington also did a good job of staying out of the penalty box, picking up just two minor infractions the entire game.

The Tigers led just 1-0 after the first period on John Siebenaler's goal before exploding for five unanswered scores in the second. Erickson accounted for three of them with Tyler Jette and Grady Hauswith also finding the net to begin running time.

Farmington added three more scores in the final frame. Darby Grengs notched the first, his first career goal on his very first varsity shift. Jake Trippel and Devin Bernu each scored later in the period to complete the rout.

Trippel and Tanner Grubb each had a pair of assists. Justin Novak, Austin Martinsen, Alex Aubrecht, Benton Olson, Dallas Tucker, Wyatt Jensen and Erik Holmstrom each had one.

Friday night the Tigers return to Schnitz-Maki Arena to start the second round of Missota Conference play against Red Wing.

Gage Overby recorded his first shutout of the season (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Boys B-Ball: Tigers make it seven out of eight

Zach Speikers 37 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington matched its win total of all last season with an 89-79 non-conference victory over Spring Lake Park in a fast-paced, entertaining game played Tuesday night at Tiger Gym.

The triumph boosted the Tigers' season mark to 14-3. Coach Shane Wyandt's team is 4-1 in Missota Conference play heading into Friday night's road showdown at Chanhassen.

"They (Spring Lake Park) are a tough match-up for us," Wyandt said. "They like to get the ball out and shoot the three. If you get caught up in that game and they are shooting the ball well, they're tough to beat.

"I thought we played with a lot of savvy and didn't panic when they started off so hot. They beat us on the glass in the first half, but we locked down defensively and hit the boards in the second half. That's what turned it around for us."

Both teams lit up the scoreboard in a back-and-forth opening half which ended in a 43-43 draw.

The first 18 minutes featured several outstanding individual efforts with Zach Speikers and Eli Rockett scoring 17 and 15 points respectively for the Tigers, numbers still below the 20 put up by the Panthers' talented point guard  TC Robinson.

"We had a hand in his face most of the half," Wyandt said, "but he was still knocking down the shots. He's a very good player."

Farmington started the half on a 14-5 run that included a one-handed dunk by Rockett off a Johnny Dittman lob. After the throw down, the Tigers never lost the lead.

The biggest lead of the night came at 67-54 and the margin stayed at or near double digits the rest of the way. The Tigers nailed down the win by hitting 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch.Farmington helped itself from the line all night, cashing in on 29 of 37 attempts, 20 of the makes coming in the second half.

Nick Varner 14 points, 15 rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Speikers had another big second half for the winners with 20 more points for a game total of 37. Rockett finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. Nick Varner added 14 and pulled down a team-high 15 boards. Mac Bassett added eight rebounds and Dittman handed out a half dozen assists.

Robinson went off for 21 second half points and grabbed game scoring honors with 41 points.

The win was especially rewarding for Wyandt, who played high school ball and coached at Spring
 Lake Park under current coach Grant Guzy.

"We've beaten them the past two years, but every time we play them it seems to be shootout," Wyandt said. "They are very well-coached team."

After Friday's big game at Chanhassen the Tigers return to Tiger Gym next Tuesday to host league-leading Shakopee.

Boys Swimming: Tigers 3rd at True Team

Jonathan Bovee section diving champ (photo by J. Lindquist)

For the first time in four years someone other than Farmington wears the crown of Section 1AA True Team champions.

Rochester Century put together a dominant performance to win the meet held Saturday in Owatonna.

The Tigers were originally scheduled to host the six-team get-together but had to go to Plan B after a power outage at Dodge Middle School.

Century finished with a winning 963 points. Hastings nipped the Tigers 866.5-859 for the runner-up spot. Winona totaled 579.5 points, Owatonna 570 and Rochester Mayo 553.

Jonathan Bovee was the only Farmington performer to win an event, capturing the diving competition in which the Tigers placed two others in the top five. Oscar Hanifl ranked fourth and Sean Dougherty fifth on the one-meter board.

Two individuals and two relay teams finished third for the defending champs. Austin Kueck ranked third in the 200 individual medley and Brandon Dion took third in the 100 butterfly.

The third place relay teams included the 200 freestyle combination of Eric Schimmel, Robin DeCastro, Jonathan Kingsbury and Daniel Berg and the 400 freestyle foursome of Schimmel, Garrett Haugen, Dion and Berg.

The 200 medley quartet of Ben Gunderson, DeCastro, Dion and Haugen came in fourth.

Schimmel ranked sixth in the 200 freestyle as did Kueck in the 500 freestyle and Gunderson in the 100 backstroke.

Spencer Kabran gets off to a fast start (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Three Tigers scored seventh place points: Berg in the 50 freestyle; Brock Lange in the 100 butterfly and DeCastro in the 100 breaststroke. Berg finished eighth in the 100 freestyle and Spencer Kabran was eighth in the 100 butterfly..

Three more Farmington entrants ranked ninth: Dion in the 50 freestyle; Schimmel in the 100 freestyle and Jake Bauerle in the 100 breaststroke.

Kabran finished tenth in the 100 breaststroke and Haugen took tenth in the 100 backstroke.

The Tigers splash back into action next Thursday when they travel to Chaska for a Missota Conference dual meet with Chaska/Chanhassen.

Wrestling: Tigers place six at Eastview

Jamin LeDuc went 3-0 to win the 113-pound title (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Despite competing without three of their four state-ranked wrestlers, the Tigers finished eighth in a quality 12-team field at Saturday's Eastview Invitational in Apple Valley.

Taylor Venz, Matt Rustad and Joe Hoeve sat out the meet because of concerns about excess matches for the season.

"It was a great day of wrestling for us," Farmington coach Chad Olson said. "Last year we scored 42 points and this year we had 85.5. The past two years we have had three place winners. Today we had six."

Jamin LeDuc continued his dominant 2013-14 season, winning the 113-pound division with three straight wins to run his season record to 26-2.

Victor Gliva won three of his four matches at 106 pounds to grab third place honors. Gliva owns a 19-9 season mark.

According to coach Olson, Joe Liden wrestled "the best tournament of his career'' in finishing fourth in the 152-pound bracket. Liden went 3-2 with both losses to the No. 5 state-ranked wrestler in Wisconsin.

Three other Tigers came home with fifth place medals: Brayden Chapman, 3-2 at 138 pounds; Mason Hawkins, 3-2 at 145 pounds and Godfrey Mpetey, 3-2 at 285 pounds.

Brian Caravantes (0-2); Santana Perdomo (1-2); Jake Rudeen (0-2); Trevor Frost (0-3) and CJ Wynings (1-2) also wore the Tiger colors at the  Eastview meet.

After a busy two-month schedule the Tigers are now idle until Thursday, Jan. 30, when they travel to Northfield for a Missota Conference quadrangular.

"We have earned a well-deserved 12 days off," Olson said.