Tigers 5th at Maroon and Gold meet

Chelsea Gehrke 3 top ten finishes (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington capped off a busy three-meet week with a fifth place finish in the Maroon Division of 12-team Maroon and Gold Invitational held Saturday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

Woodbury won the division title with 309 piints, followed by East Ridge 302, St. Michael-Albertville 296, Hutchinson 281, Farmington 217.5, Minneapolis Southwest/Henry 186, Albert Lea 175.5, St. Louis Park 155, Marshall 149, Moorhead 71, Anoka 68, Andover 67 and Apple Valley 48.

Three Tigers--Kaitlyn O'Reilly. Kirsten Kracke and Cora Ruzicka--scored top ten finishes in four different events.

O'Reilly recorded the only Farmington first place finish by winning the 100 backstroke in 1:00.77. The all-state performer also placed third in the 200 individual medley and swam a leg for the third place 400 freestyle and sixth place 200 medley relay teams.

Kracke swam on the two relay teams, took sixth in 100 backstroke and seventh in the 100 freestyle.

Ruzicka was also on the two relay teams and placed eighth and ninth respectively in the 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly.

Chelsea Gehrke earned a trio of top ten finishes, placing ninth in the 200 individual medley, logging a leg on the 400 freestyle relay and joining Robin Ellis, Ellie Sundet and Chloe Holton on the ninth place 200 freestyle foursome. Sundet also swam on the 200 medley relay team.

Ellis ranked eighth in the 50 freestyle and Sara Kintner took ninth in the 500 freestyle.

Farmington coach Jen Marshall seemed pleased with her team's performance and just as upbeat about its off-day on Thursday.

"I'm looking forward to having only one meet this week, as the team has earned a much needed break," she said.

The Tigers get back in the pool Tuesday when they entertain Minneapolis Southwest/Henry at the Dodge Middle School pool.

Tiger Scoreboard: September 30, 2012

Girls Swimming and Diving
Maroon and Gold Invitational
Maroon Division
Woodbury 309, East Ridge 302, St. Michael-Albertville 296, Hutchinson 281, Farmington 217.5, Minneapolis Southwest/Henry 186, Albert Lea 175.5, St. Louis Park 155, Marshall 149, Moorhead 71, Anoka 68, Andover 67, Apple Valley 48

Happy, Hair-Raising Homecoming

Darren Beenken 16-22, 210 yards, TD; Athen Aston 34 carries 195 yards, 2 TD's  (photos by Jim Lindquist)

Much to the delight of likely the largest crowd ever to witness a Farmington home game, the Tigers remained unbeaten in 2012 with a nail-biting 27-23 homecoming victory over Chaska Friday night at Tiger Stadium.

The win upped coach Mark Froehling's team's season record to 5-0 and left it in a dead heat with Holy Angels atop the Missota Conference standings with a 4-0 mark.

"This was a great football game against a great football team," Froehling said. "They (Chaska) had a couple of really talented runners and they made some big plays on us.

"But our kids made the plays when they had to. Our goal-line defense has been great all year. I think we've had a goal-line stand like the one at the end in just about every game this year. That's what we teach...protect the end zone."

This game's red-zone stand came in the final minutes of regulation after Chaska marched from its own 15-yard line all the way to the Farmington 14-yard.

Facing a fourth-and-four from the 18 with 51 seconds left, the Tigers hurried Hawk quarterback Justin Arnold into a pass picked off by Alex Chadwick to send the raucous crowd into one last frenzied roar.

Alex Chadwick game-saving INT (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Overall, the contest was tale of two halves. The first two quarters featured all-out offense and the final two nothing but defense.

After Chaska scored with ease on its first possession (60 yards on 4 plays), the Tigers oiled up their offensive machine to score 17 straight points.

The first came on a 26-yard field goal by Reid Taubenheim with five minutes to play in the first period.

The second, a five-play 60-yard drive set up by a Denver Robinson fumble recovery, came two minutes later when tailback Athen Ashton found the end zone on a 24-yard scamper.

Early in the second period, Ashton scored on a draw play from 17 yards out to make it 17-7.

Chaska countered with another long scoring drive but Robinson blocked the extra point to keep the Farmignton lead at four points with 7:48 left in the half.

Taubenheim booted another field goal, this one a 41-yarder, on the next Tiger possession to stretch the lead to 20-13 but two plays later Arnold rambled 74 yards to tie the count in what was rapidly becoming a horse race.

The Tigers had just 2:22 of clock remaining before the break but that was more than enough for senior quarterback Darren Beenken to do his thing. Beenken connected on all six of his passes for 75 yards on a lightning-quick, 85-yard drive that ended with a 25-yard toss to Mac Bassett with 18 seconds left.

The Tiger offensive unit finished the first 24 minutes with 346 yards of total offense. Ashton ran for 135 yards and Beenken was 13 of 16 passing for 176 yards.

Mac Bassett 5 catches for 59 yards (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Assistant coach Lew Miskowicz who runs the Tiger offense admitted he could find little fault with his unit's first half performance.

"We got a couple of breaks, but, no, we couldn't have played much better," he said. "We executed very well."

Defensive coordinator Glenn Mogensen who saw his team give up 206 yards in the opening half had a completely different story to tell.

"We were getting our butts kicked and the offense was carrying us," he said. "We told them it was time to step up and start making some plays."

Mason Auge 11 tackles (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The defenses for both teams must have gotten the message as the only scoring of the second half was a Chaska field goal early in the fourth quarter set up by a debatable roughing the kicker penalty.

"We have to play assignment defense and we missed some assignments in the first half," Froehling said. "We got out of position and a good team like Chaska is going to take advantage of that."

Ashton and Beenken took advantage of some quality interior line play by Nate Retterath, Alex Witkowski, Josh Patterson, Ryan Gowen and Josh Boatwright amd tight ends CJ Wynings and Tanner Thode to put up some gaudy individual numbers.

Aston toted the ball 34 times for a season-high 195 yards and two touchdowns while Beenken finished 16 of 22 through the air for 210 yards and a score. Beenken also picked up 34 yards on 10 carries.

Bassett had five catches for 59 yards and a touchdown to lead the receiving corps. Jordan DeCroock grabbed three for 65 yards and Ashton, Wynnings, Johnny Dittman and Tyler VanWinkle each had a pair of receptions.

And then there was Taubenheim who had a foot in all five of the Farmington scores--two field goals and three extra points.

Reid Taubenheim 2FG, 3XP's (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington finished the night with a balanced 439 yards of total offense, 229 rushing and 210 passing.

Defensively, linebacker Mason Auge had another busy night, finishing with 11 tackles, two for loss and a quarterback sack. John LeBlond totaled 7-5 tackles, a sack and a tackle for loss. Taubenheim and Jack Erickson each had five stops and Chadwick 4.5 to go with his game-saving interception.

Things don't get any easier next week for the No. 6-rated Tigers when they travel to Chanhassen to take on the Storm. Chanhassen (3-2) downed Chaska 18-7 earlier in the season.

"They have some speed and they try to spread you out," Froehling said. "We'll have to be ready to play."

Tiger Scoreboard: September 29, 2012

Homecoming Football
Farmington 27 Chaska 23

Volleyball: Hawks down Tigers 3-0

Emma Fahning 14 receptions, 11 digs 9 kills (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The injury-riddled Tigers put up a good fight but couldn't hold off  a talented Chaska team in a 3-0 Missota Conference loss Thursday night at Tiger Gym.

The Hawks (10-3) won by scores of 17-25, 16-25 and 15-25 to drop the Tigers below the .500 mark at 9-10. Farmington is 1-3 in Missota Conference play.

Emma Fahning scored team-highs in both kills (9) and digs (11) in the match played before a large Homecoming-week crowd.

Emily Nelson chimed in with seven kills and Mia Johnston totaled 11 set assists. Kaylene Seurer came up with a team-high four blocks.

Four Tigers reached double digits in serve receptions, led by Rachel Eckert with 15. Fahning recorded 14, Diana Comes 12 and Makenzie Hesse 11.

The Tigers have a week off before their next match and coach Mike Woody is hoping the respite will allow his team to return to good health.

Farmington resumes its schedule next Thursday with a Missota Conference match-up at Chanhassen.

Girls Swimming: O'Reilly scores 3 firsts at Chanhassen

Kaitlyn O'Reilly scored 3 wins at Chanhassen (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Kaitlyn O'Reilly was in on three of the four Farmington first place finishes in the Tigers' 97-85 dual meet loss  at Chanhassen Thursday night.

The Storm who figure to battle it out with Northfield for Missota Conference honors this season won eight of the meet's 12 events and built a commanding lead before swimming the final two as exhibitions.

"It's been a couple of long weeks with a lot of meets and we're looking forward to getting in some good training next week," Tiger coach Jen Marshall said. "We're doing alright but I think a break from racing would help wonders."

O'Reilly, an all-state performer last season as a sophomore, claimed the 200 and 500 freestyle races and also swam a leg on the winning 400 freestyle team. Ellie Sundet, Chelsea Gehrke and Kirsten Kracke joined O'Reilly on the winning relay foursome. 

The other Tiger first came on the one-meter board where Kendall Novak claimed the top spot for the second meet in a row.

Nikki Cayard finished runner-up in diving and Chelsea Gehrke place second in the 200 individual medley for Farmington.

Five Tiger individuals turned in third place times: Gehrke (100 butterfly); Sundet (100 freestyle); Kracke (500 freestyle); Hannah Seitzinger (100 backstroke) and Sara Kintner (100 breaststroke).

Ex-Tiger Zoe Avestruz who transferred to Chanhassen after last season led the Storm with three first place finishes.

Next Tuesday the Tigers entertain Minneapolis Southwest in a non-conference dual at the Dodge Middle School pool.

Boys Soccer: Huskies slip by Tigers

Sam Peterson 18 saves (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Owatonna scored the game's only goal 18 minutes into the opening half and managed to hang on for a 1-0 win Thursday afternoon at Tiger Stadium.

The defeat leaves Farmington with an overall season mark of 8-5-1.

"We would have liked to have won this one to lock-in home field advantage for the first game of the playoffs," Tiger coach Julian Buss said. " We did our best but unfortunately we could not control the ball as well as we had hoped. 

"In general, we spent too much time working on obtaining possession, only to give the ball back before a scoring opportunity developed."

Buss said he was again impressed by the work of the defensive corps of Hunter Meyers, Robin DeCatsro, Jeffery Hanson and Eric Stoeckman that did a solid job of containing Owatonna's three-forward attack.

Keeper Sam Peterson had a another good outing, finishing the contest with 18 saves.

The Tigers now begin preparations for next Tuesday's big Missota Conference match with unbeaten Holy Angels at Tiger Stadium. The Stars are a perfect 4-0 in conference play with Farmington right behind at 4-0-1.

Girls Soccer: Huskies snap unbeaten streak

Kelli Elmer scored the Farmington goal (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Owatonna scored the deciding goal with six minutes to play in regulation and snapped the Tigers five-match unbeaten and unscored-upon streak in a 2-1 victory Thursday afternoon in Owatonna.

The loss to its Section 1 rival dropped Farmington's season record to 9-3-2; 5-0 in Missota Conference play.

"We didn't play badly, but we never had the electricity we've had in other games," Tiger coach Rob Carpentier said. "We never fired. We never played with a sense of urgency."

Kelli Elmer put the visitors on the board early in the first period and according to Carpentier, that's where his team squandered a golden opportunity.

"We should have put the game away in the first 15 minutes," he said. "We hit the bar twice within five minutes."

Owatonna countered with a goal four minutes before intermission and then claimed the win with the late second half score.

The Tigers outshot the Huskies 16-15 but Carpentier noted that most of the good Farmington scoring opportunities came early.

"Nine of them came in the first 14 minutes of the game," he said.

Carpentier said his team needs to put the loss in its rear-view mirror and start focusing on next Tuesday's home showdown with Holy Angels, a tilt that will likely determine the 2012 conference champion.

"This game changes nothing about the importance of the Holy Angels game," he said. "That is our first priority right now."

Girls Tennis: Tigers end regular season

Callie Olmscheid team-leading 12-5 record (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington brought down the curtain on its 2012 regular season with a 5-2 Missota Conference loss Tuesday afternoon in Shakopee.

The Tigers finished their dual meet season an improved  4-8 overall; 1-6 in the conference.

Despite the outcome of the season finale, coach Jack Olwell was pleased with his team's performance.

"We saved our best for last," he said. "I would venture each player turned in a near best-of-the-season effort. It turned out to not be enough but it was an awesome performance against a talented team on their home turf."


The Farmington wins came at second and third singles where Ryan Jara and Callie Olmscheid each won in straight sets.


"Ryan not only kept the ball deep but moved her opponent around the court with sharp angles," Olwell said. "Callie's was a command performance with great depth and controlled aggressiveness."

Olmscheid's win upped he team-leading won-loss record to 12-5.



The Tigers now await the section seeding process to see who they draw in next Tuesday's post-season opener.

Tiger Scoreboard: September 28, 2012

Boys Soccer
Owatonna 1 Farmington 0

Girls Soccer
Owatonna 2 Farmington 1

Girls Tennis
Shakopee 5 Farmington 2

Volleyball
Chaska 3 Farmington 0 (17-25, 16-25, 15-25)

Girls Swimming
Chanhassen 97 Farmington 85

Hyytinen 1st, Tigers 4th at New Prague

Justin Hyytinen meet champion at the New Prague Invitational

Justin Hyytinen's first season as a cross country runner just keeps getting better and better.

Tuesday at the 12-team New Prague Invitational held at the New Prague Golf Course, the Tigers sophomore held off Red Wing's Aiden Win to win the 5000-meter race in a finishing time of 16:38. Win clocked 16:44.

Red Wing won the team championship with 59 points. Faribault ranked second at 72, followed by New Prague 88, Farmington 95, Jordan 131, Loyola/Cleveland 139,  LeSueur-Henderson 233, Tri-City United 237, Norwood Young America 238, Saint Peter 245, Belle Plaine 253 and Cannon Falls 303.

Alex Hart returned to ther second place spot in the Tiger pecking order with a 19th place finish in 17:53. Tyler Lerbakken was two places and four second back in 21st. Tommy Weigel (26th; 18:07) and Adam Wallenta (28th; 18:12) were the other Tiger point-scorers. Caleb Eiffert ranked 43rd in 18:45 and Sean Dougherty 47th in 18:50.

Next Tuesday the Tigers return to action with an appearance at the Chaska Invitational scheduled for the Chaska Par 30 Golf Course.

Volleyball: Short-handed Tigers fall at Mayo

Courtney Johnston team-high eight kills (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Injuries sidelined three players and two more played through them in Tuesday's 3-0 non-conference loss to Rochester Mayo Tuesday night in Rochester.

 
The Spartans swept the three game-set by scores of 25-13, 24-26 and 25-12.

"It was bad night for us," Tiger coach Mike Woody said. "I am hoping having a week off between Thursday night matches will allow us time to heal."

After what Woody termed an "ugly" first game, the Tigers battled back to forge a 24-22 lead in game two before May went on a deciding 4-0 run to pull ahead 2-0.

Courtney Johnston led the team in kills with eight. Rachel Eckert recorded a team-high 22 serve receptions while Emma Fahning counted 15 receptions and 10 digs. Setter Mia Johnston had nine assists and Kaylene Seurer chipped in with a team-best five blocks.

The loss was the third in the last four matches for the Tigers and dropped their season record to the .500 mark at 9-9.

Thursday they resume Missota Conference play with a home match against Chaska (9-3).

Girls Tennis: Tigers drop a close one

Molly Rudorfer 6-1, 6-1 winner (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Midway through the first set of Tuesday's Missota Conference home match with Holy Angels, Tiger coach Jack Olwell scanned the in-progress scores on the seven courts and made a prediction and a request.

"It's going to be close, probably four-to-three," he said. "I just hope when it's all over, we have the four."

At the end of the match, Olwell proved to be an dead-on prognosticator but didn't get his wish in a 4-3 loss to the Stars.

The defeat dropped the Farmington season record to 4-7 overall and 1-5 in the conference.

Oddly enough, none of the individual matches was close at all. All were straight-set affairs and the scores were decidedly one-sided.

"You would expect in a 4-3 match that there would be a lot of close games and matches or at least some that came down to the wire," Olwell said. "But that was not the case at all."

Farmington got two points from it singles ladder with Ryan Jara winning at No. 2 and Molly Rudorfer victorious at No. 4.

"Ryan is really playing well right now," Olwell said, "and Molly played her best tennis of the season. She was aggressive, consistent and had good depth."

The other Farmington point came at second doubles where Jess Novotny and Beth Fairchild combined for a dominant 6-1, 6-2 victory.

"They are getting better with every match," Olwell said.

The Tigers close out their regular season Thursday at Shakopee and then open Section 1 team play next week.

Girls Swimming: Raiders down Tigers 97-87

Kendall Novak won the diving competition (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Hastings won nine of 12 events enroute to a 97-87 non-conference dual meet win over the Tigers Tuesday night in Hastings.

"Hastings is a very solid and talented team," Farmignton cacoh Jen Marshall said. "We swam well in spite of the craziness of Homecoming week. The girls are a little lethargic right now but will shine during championship season."

Kailtyn O'Reilly and Kendall provided the lone Farmington firsts with victories in the 200 individual medley and one-meter diving events.

The other win came from O'Reilly, Kirsten Kracke, Chelsea Gehrke and Cora Ruzicka in the 400 freestyle relay.

Six other Tigers scored second place finishes, including Kracke in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke; O'Reilly in the 100 breaststroke; Ruzicka in the 200 freestyle; Gehrke in the 100 butterfly; Robin Ellis in the 50 freestyle and Melanie Brothers in diving.

Tori Sontag's third place finish on the one-meter board gave the visitors a clean sweep in diving. Three other Farmington entrants also came in third: Ellis (100 backstroke); Gehrke (200 freestyle) and Ruzicka (500 freestyle).

Things don't get any easier Thursday when the Tigers travel to Chaska Middle School to take on  Missota Conference-favorite Chanhassen in a dual meet.

Girls X-Country: Second again

Maricella Pacheco ran a personal best  16:49 at New Prague

For the second time in six days the Tigers posted a second place finish at a large invitational meet. The most recent came Tuesday afternoon at the 11-team New Prague Invitational held at the New Prague Golf Course.

New Prague won the meet with 53 points with Farmington checking in at 71, Belle Plaine totaled 96, Red Wing 109, Faribault 162, Norwood -Young America 168, Cannon Falls 184, Jordan 207, Tri-City United 223, Saint Peter 224 and LeSueur-Henderson 266. 

"The girls ran an amazing race," coach Heidi Revels said. "We are finally finishing closer together which is making a huge difference in how we place as a team. It’s a great way to be heading into the last few meets of the season."

Pack mentality again played an important role in the Tigers' strong showing. The top five Farmington finishers hit the chute in 16:49 or under and six Tiger runners placed among the top 25.

Maricia Pacheco and Sofia Chadwick continued to lead the Farmington pack. Pacheco ranked fourth over the 4000-meter course in 15:38; Chadwick took sixth in 15.57..

Maria Kiminski (18th; 16:25); Alexis Johnson 20th; 16:41) and Maricella Pacheco (23rd; 16:49) rounded out the varsity point-scorers. Lexi Laube finiahed 26th in 16:52 and Sarah Cummings took 39th in 17:21.


Revels said she was encouraged to see her team finish ahead of Missota Conference rival Red Wing and predicted the Tigers and New Prague would carry their rivalry over to the Missota Conference Championships next month.

"We actually beat them by 10 points at the Dakota Classic meet in August with the same runners on the roster," she said. "They got us by 18 points today. I think it is a fair competition and that we definitely have a chance of beating them again if the girls keep running the way they have been."

 
Next up for the Tigers is a trip to the Chaska Par 30 Golf Course next Tuesday for the Chaska Invitational.

Girls Soccer: Case for the defense

Alex Frost scored on penalty kick (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Farmington defense and keeper Ashley Becker wrapped an invisible protective shield around the Tiger goal in a 2-0 Missota Conference win over Chaska Tuesday night at Tiger Stadium.

The shutout of the Hawks marked the fifth consecutive game that the Tigers have not allowed a goal and raised their season record to a lofty 9-2-2.

How does a team produce eight shutouts in 13 games? Coach Rob Carpentier said the formula is a simple one.

"We have an all-state caliber defender in Izzie Ferm and an all-state caliber keeper in Ashley Becker," he said. "Leah Zak is a multi-year starter on defense, Kayla Kucala has been a quiet hero and as a team we understand our assignments...We communicate well and we execute. This is a very mature group of players."

While the defense did its customary job of shutting down the opposition, the offense produced scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity in the first half only to find itself in a scoreless tie at the break.

"We could have easily have had five goals in the first half," Carpentier said. "Our halftime talk was very short. We came out aggressively and were doing what we wanted to do. It was just a matter of finishing."

Alex Frost's penalty kick shorlty after intermission finally broke the scoring ice and Kelli Elmer's rebound of a Hannah Miller direct kick with eight minutes left supplied a little breathing room.

The Tigers finished the night with a lopsided 21-2 advantage in shots.

Izzie Ferm (No. 11) led the defense (photo by Jim Lindquist)

"Our not being able to finish has been largely a matter of technique and we are working on that," Carpentier said. "We have had no shortage of scoring chances."

Farmington (5-0 in the Missota Conference) travels to Owatonna Thursday in a game with Section 1 seeding implications and then returns home next Tuesday for a showdown with Holy Angels (4-0) in a contest that will likely decide the league championship. 

Boys Soccer: Tigers stay unbeaten in Missota

Michael Torgerson scored the game-winner (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Michael Torgerson's rebound of a Urive Omana shot with just 3:46 remaining in regulation produced a hard-earned 1-0 Missota Conference win over Chaska Tuesday night at Tiger Stadium.

The win gave Farmington (8-4-1 overall) an unbeaten 4-0-1 mark in the conference and dropped the Hawks to 3-1. The Tigers and Holy Angels (3-0) are the only league teams without a loss.

"We played an outstanding game," Tiger coach Julian Buss said. "When we were on we were unstoppable... The boys were making overlapping runs, communicating very well, using the sides of the field and really creating some excellent scoring opportunities while playing a very exciting game.  It seems we have found our identity as a team."

One of the heroes of the night was senior keeper Sam Peterson whose aggressive play and 10 saves helped the Tigers to their third shutout of the season.

"Sam earned the shutout," Buss said. "Chaska did take some very good shots at him. In the last three minutes alone they had multiple shots and corner kick opportunities where Sam stepped up and took control."

Sam Peterson 10 saves (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The game-winner began with Mikkel Peterson dribbling the ball up the left side and passing to Jared Wolt who hit Omana on a crossing pass. Omana's shot from 18 yards out deflected off the Chaska keeper and Torgerson slammed it home for the night's only score.

Buss said he was especially pleased with the defensive play of Hunter Meyers, Eric Stoeckman, Robin DeCastro and Jeffery Hanson.

"They did a great job getting in front of Chaska and limiting the shots on net," he said.

The Tigers step out of their conference schedule Thursday with a home contest with Section 1 rival Owatonna. Their Missota Conference showdown with Holy Angels takes place next Tuesday at Tiger Stadium.