Boys Hockey: A clean sweep at Simley

Landon Nielsen 2 goals, assist vs. Albert Lea (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington (8-3-1) completed a dominant, three-game sweep of the Simley Holiday Tournament field Saturday afternoon with a 7-0 shutout victory over Albert Lea in the title game.

Over the three-game tourney the Tigers outscored Simley, Cambrdige-Isanti and Albert Lea by a combined score of 21-4.

The Battle of the Tigers in the title game turned out to be anything but as Farmington dictated play the entire 51 minutes, outshooting Albert Lea by a massive 58-9 count.

"We had three lines score at least two goals," Tiger coach Keith Revels said. "Albert Lea was 5-4 coming in but they weren't on their game and we had things clicking pretty well."

The Tigers set the tone early, peppering Albert Lea goaltender Garret Matz with 20 shots in the opening period, four of which found the back of the net.

Jon Siebenaler, Justin Novak, Grady Hauswirth and Tanner Grubb all scored in the first 17 minutes and Chris Fitzgibbons' goal in the second made it 5-0 with a period to play.

Landon Nielsen scored back-to-back goals in the final period to put an exclamation point on the win that ran the Tigers' unbeaten streak to four games.

Grady Hauswirth goal, assist (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Tigers dominated all aspects of the title game. In addition to their eye-catching shot numbers, they converted both of their power play opportunities, killed off three man-short situations and generally kept the "other" Tigers back on their heels.

Nick Schoening who manned the nets in Farmington's 8-1 romp over Cambridge-Isanti on Friday was back between the pipes Saturday and barely broke a sweat, finishing with nine saves for his first career shutout.

As has been the case all season the winners did a good job of spreading around the scoring. Six different players recorded goals and a dozen scored at least one point.

The Tigers kick off the new year Friday (Jan. 3) when they pay a visit to Richfield Arena to to take on perennial Missota Conference power Holy Angels. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.

Boys Swimming: Tigers 5th at Apple Valley

Dan Berg top 10 in 3 events at Apple Valley

Farmington got back in the pool following its Christmas break and finished fifth in a 10-team field at the Apple Valley Invitational on Saturday.

Tiger coach Ryan Hamen didn't have too much to say about his team's middle-of-the-pack finish at the meet held at Valley Middle School.

"Not a lot of good swims today," he said. "Not really very much to report on."

State power Stillwater won the meet with 2443.5 points. Lakeville South finished second with 1856, followed by Eau Claire Memorial /North 1799, Anoka 1679, Farmington 1631, Apple Valley 1411.5, Northfield High School 1307, Cretin-Derham Hall 1242, Lakeville North High 1160 and Rochester Mayo 1007.

The best finish of the meet for the Tigers came from the 200 freestyle relay foursome of Eric Schimmel, Brandon Dion, Daniel Berg and Jonathan Kingsbury that finished fifth.

Individually, Berg turned in the highest Farmington finish of the day with a sixth place effort in the 50 freestyle.

The 400 freestyle relay quartet of Berg, Garret Haugen, Dion and Schimmel ranked seventh.

Three Farmington individuals scored ninth place points: Schimmel in the 100 freestyle; Austin Kueck in the 500 freestyle and Robin DeCastro in the 100 breaststroke.

Ben Gunderson placed 10th in the 100 backstroke. The 200 medley relay team of Gunderson, DeCastro, Spencer Kabran and Adam Dougherty also placed tenth.

The Tigers resume their dual meet season next Thursday (Jan. 2) when they host Missota Conference rival Northfield at the Dodge Middle School pool.

Girls Hockey: Building some momentum

Ellie Moser scored the game-winner with 29 seconds to play (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Tigers limped into the Louie Schmitz Holiday Classic with an anemic offense, sagging confidence and a 2-8-1 record.

They left Schmitz-Maki Arena with two more victories, a third place trophy, renewed self-esteem and a little momentum heading into the 2014 portion of their schedule.

The highlight of the three-day tournament came Saturday evening when Ellie Moser's goal with 29 seconds left in regulation gave Farmington a hard-earned 4-3 win over Rosemount in the third place game.

"We played three solid games in the tournament," coach Jon Holmes said. "As a team we certainly have been establishing a reputation as a group that works hard, is aggressive, and will play until the final buzzer.

"Our biggest challenge is now to add the description that we finish as well... If we continue to work on the finishing part, the outlook for the second half of our season could be very optimistic."

In the third place contest, Breanna Raske gave the home team the first lead midway through the opening period on an assist from Dani Wright before the Irish tied the count late in the period.

Moser (from Scootie Donnelly) and Maddi Oines found the net early in the second  period to give the Tigers some momentary breathing room but Rosemount once again rallied to tie on a pair of scores by Hannah Enright. With the clock ticking, overtime looking very much a possibility.

Scootie Donnelly made the six-player all-tournament team (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Moser re-wrote that script when she skated through the slot and put the game-winner top shelf to the glove side of the Irish goalkeeper. Raske and Tyler Words assisted on the game-winning goal.

"It was nice to score four goals and really nice to see Ellie put the puck away with time running out," Holmes said.

Rosemount put a lot of pressure on Molly Singewald throughout the game but the sophomore netminder was up to the task, stopping 29 of 32 shots. The Tigers finished with 25 shots on goal.

Holmes and his team got more good news after the tourney when they learned Donnelly had landed a spot on the prestigious, six-player all-tournament squad.

"It's been a few years since we've had someone do that," Holmes said.

Farmington will try to extended its recent strong play Monday night when they entertain St. Louis Park in a non-conference game at Schmitz.Maki Arena.

Boys B-Ball: Speikers, Rockett go off for 62

Zach Speikers career high 38 points (photo by J. Lindquist)

Zach Speikers and Eli Rockett combined for 62 points Saturday night as Farmington (8-2) downed host Hastings 93-80 in the third place game of the Hastings Holiday Tournament.

The win, the second of the season over the Raiders, upped Farmington's record to 8-2 with two non-conference games remaining before the start of the 14-game Missota Conference campaign.

Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said the victory in the third place game was bittersweet.

"It was good to see us bounce back after last night's loss to Burnsville," he said, "but we have a lot of work to do. We came into this tournament with the goal of winning it and that stings a little bit....At this point we are nowhere near where we want and need to be."

At times the rematch with the Raiders took on the look of a playground game with the Tigers fast break alternately producing easy baskets and turnovers. The Raiders countered with an outside shooting barrage and an assault on the offensive glass.

Speikers who was held to a season-low six points in the Burnsville loss, scored 10 quick points as the Tigers led by as many by as many as 15 points in the opening half.

By intermission, the lead stood at 49-37 with Speikers hitting the break with 21 points on a variety of lay-ups, short jumpers and arcing three-pointers.

"No question about it," Wyandt said. "Zach was ready to go tonight. The first few possessions we ran some specials to get him going and he took it from there."

Eli Rockett (No. 21) scored 24 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Nick Varner who would finish with a double-double with 11 points and a dozen rebounds had 10 points in the first half. Rockett added eight and Wyatt Ferm chipped in with seven off the bench.

"Wyatt's play in the tournament was a real positive for us," Wyandt said. "We're going to need that in the conference."

With Speikers and Rockett leading the way, The Farmington lead swelled to as many as 18 in the second half but the feisty Raiders wouldn't go away. With fewer than three minutes to play, the lead had been cut to six points at 83-77.

Two free throws apiece by Rockett, two more by Johnny Dittman and a slam dunk by Rockett off a lob by Mac Bassett stretched the cushion back to double digits with a minute left in regulation.

Speikers was uncanny from the field, missing only two of 18 shots and canning a trio of three-pointers. He and Rockett also yanked down six rebounds apiece. Varner and Dittman tied for team honors in assists with three.

"It's nice to see one or two of our guys go off like that," Wyandt said of the Speikers-Rockett outburst, "but to be honest we are a better team when we are more balanced. You don't like to depend on one or two guys to do it all. That's not a good recipe for success."

The Tigers will have several days to work on that scoring balance. They don't play until next Thursday (Jan. 3) when they kick-off a back-to-back finish to their non-conference season with a home game against North St. Paul. The following night they travel to Irondale.

Girls B-Ball: Losing streak over

Jordyn Homeier 14 points, 6 rebounds (photo by J. Lindquist)

Farmington snapped a four-game losing streak with a 59-48 win over Princeton Saturday night at the Monticello Holiday Tournament.

The victory raised the Tiger's season record back near the .500 mark at 4-5.

"Another slow start for us but we finished the first half strong," coach Sondra Chadwick said. "The difference in the game was we did a great job attacking the basket and drawing fouls in the second half."

Farmington led by a single point, 24-23, at halftime before pulling away after the break thanks in large part to getting to the charity stripe.

The Tigers went to the free throw line 31 times for the night, converting 19. Sofia Chadwick and Abby Gallus each made clutch free throws down the stretch to preserve the lead.

Chadwick had a solid all-around game, topping all scorers with 20 points, pulling down a team-high 10 rebounds, handing out seven assists and coming up with three steals. She also drained 12 of 14 free throw attempts.

Jordyn Homeier turned in her best effort of the the season with 14 points and six rebounds.

"This was one of the best all-around games I have seen Jordyn play," coach Chadwick said.

Gallus, who spent much of the first half on the bench with foul trouble, scored all nine of her points in the second half.

Coach Chadwick also liked her team's defensive  effort that held Jenna Doyle, Princeton's leading scorer, to just four points.

"I thought Kaitlyn Gorden, Sydney Speer, Aly Grebner and Heidi Lambrecht did an incredible job on her," she said.

The Tiger junior varsity and ninth grade teams each went 2-0 at the tournament, giving Farmington a 5-1 run over the two days.

 "Overall, it was a great showing for our program," Chadwick said.

The Tigers will try to get back to the .500 mark next Friday (Jan. 3) when they travel to Henry Sibley for a non-conference game.

Wrestling: Tigers a big hit in Fargo

Jamin LeDuc finished runner-up in the 113-pound division (photo by Jim Lindquist)

For four years coach Chad Olson has taken his Tiger wrestling team to the multi-state Rumble on the Red marathon at the Fargo Dome in Fargo, North Dakota, and each year the team's point total has trended upward.

This year it took off like a rocket.

Farmington racked up up 115.5 points over the weekend to place seventh among 69 teams in the mega-meet that featured competition from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Last year the Tigers scored 69 points and placed 27th in a 65-team field.

"To compete in a tournament of this size and competition and to be in the top seven is amazing," Olson said. "I received a lot of compliments from other coaches about how much our wrestlers have improved.

 "As their coach, I am so proud of how hard our young men competed against great competition for the third weekend in a row. It is only going to make us better in February."

Four Tigers found their way to the medal stand with 113-pounder Jamin LeDuc leading the way. LeDuc won his first four matches before losing a 4-3 decision to Owatonna's Tanner Cole in the championship bout. Leduc will take a 14-2 record into the 2014 portion of the schedule.

Joe Hoeve (182 lbs) finished 6-1 and placed third (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Joe Hoeve had a busy weekend for Tigers, winning six of seven matches to take third place in the 182-pound division. Hoeve won the his first two, dropped the third and then reeled off four straight, including a 4-1 verdict over United South Central's Colten Carlson in the third place match-up. In his last four matches Hoeve defeated opponents ranked in the top five in their respective states.

"Joe wrestled with confidence and was fun to watch," Olson said.

Defending state champion Taylor Venz (106 lbs.) provided a fourth place finish in the 120 lbs. bracket. Venz followed the same path to the third place finals as Hoeve, losing to Windom's
Joe Fischenich on a 9-6 decision in his last match of the weekend.

Matt Rustad won four of his first five bouts before losing the final two in the 132 lbs. bracket to finish in sixth place. Rustad dropped a 5-1 decision to Owatonna's Brandon Moen in the fifth place match.

Farmington filled 13 of 14 spots in their lineup for the big meet. Other Tigers competing included Victor Gliva (106 pounds), 2-2 ; Brian Caravantes (126), 0-2; Brayden Chapman (138), 2-2; Eric Heusbourg (145), 0-2; Joe Liden (152), 0-2; Jake Rudeen (160), 2-2; Zach Seufer (170), 0-2; Trevor Frost (195), 0-2 and Godfrey Mpetey (285), 2-2.

Farmington now takes a short break from its busy schedule. The Tigers return to action next Saturday when they host their annual eight-team Tiger Duals.

"We have had guys wrestle 15 or 16 matches in the last two weeks and are looking forward to some rest," Olson said.

Tiger Scoreboard: December 29, 2013

Boys Hockey
Simley Holiday Tournament
Championship
Farmington 7 Albert Lea 0

Wrestling
Rumble on the Red Tournament in Fargo, North Dakota
Farmington 7th out of 69 teams
Jamin LeDuc 2nd place; Joe Hoeve 3rd place; Taylor Venz 4th place; Matt Rustad 6th place

Boys Basketball
Hastings Holiday Tournament
Third Place
Farmington 93 Hastings 80

Girls Hockey
Louis Schmitz Holiday Classic
Third Place
Farmington 4 Rosemount 3

Girls Basketball
Monticello Holiday Tournament
Fianl Round
Farmington 59 Princeton 48

Boys Swimming and Diving
Apple Valley Invitational
Stillwater 2443.5, Lakeville South 1856, Eau Claire Memorial /North 1799, Anoka 1679, Farmington 1631, Apple Valley 1411.5, Northfield High School 1307, Cretin-Derham Hall 1242, Lakeville North High School 1160, Rochester Mayo 1007

Gymnastics
Rosemount 142.975 Farmington 132.15

Girls B-Ball: Cold second half costs Tigers

Sofia Chadwick scored a team-high 15 points (file photo by Jim Lindquist)

In what has become somewhat of trend the Tigers stayed with a quality team for a half only to struggle after the break.

This time the second half fade came in a 66-34 loss to state-rated Minneapolis Washburn in Friday's opening round of the Monticello Holiday Tournament.

Farmington trailed just 29-25 at intermission but managed only nine points over the final 18 minutes to lose its fourth straight game and see its season record dip to 3-5.

Part of the problem came in the lack of a balanced scoring attack. All-Missota Conference guard Sofia Chadwick scored a team-high 15 points and backcourt mate Alicia Hett had seven but the rest of the lineup produced just 12 points.

The Monticello tournament continues today. The Tigers will meet Princeton, a 75-67 loser to Staple-Motley in its opening round game, in second round play. Tip-off is slated for 5:00 p.m.

Boys B-Ball: Blaze burns Tigers

Nick Varner scored a team-high 19 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Burnsville erased a 10-point halftime deficit by outscoring the Tigers 41-25 after intermission in a 77-71 victory Friday night in the opening round of the Hastings Holiday Tournament.

With the victory the Blaze advanced to tonight's championship game against Simley. The Tigers will face off against host Hastings in the third place game at 5:00.

Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said his team's performance in the opener was not one of the season's finest.

"We were pretty inconsistent in both halves," he said. "The officials tightened up the calls in the first so we were able to get to the line.

"But in the second half we turned the ball over five of our first seven possessions and that really set the tone for the rest of the game."

Despite the spotty play the Tigers took a 46-36 lead to the halftime break but that went by the boards early with the poor start to the second half.

"Silly mistakes, lazy passes, and poor rebounding sealed the deal," Wyandt said. "We got beat up on the glass, badly at times, and that is an absolute killer for us."

Farmington, playing without the services of starting forward Mac Bassett (illness), did manage to finish with four players in double figures. Nick Varner topped the list with 19 points. Eli Rockett had 14, Wyatt Ferm 12 and Johnny Dittman 10.

The big stat, however, was rebounding where the Tigers managed just 19 for the night. Guard Jordan DeCroock led the team with six.  The starting post tandem of Varner and Rockett combined for just six rebounds.

The Burnsville defense also managed to hold down Farmington leading scorer Zach Speikers (6 points).

"They did a good job of denying Zach the ball," Wyandt said. "He never managed to get into any kind of rhythm."

Foul trouble also came into play as both Varner and Speikers picked up their fifth fouls with the game still hanging in the balance.

Today's third place contest with Hastings will be a re-match of the season opener won by the Tigers 71-52.

Girls Hockey: Tigers pay the piper in semifinals

Molly Singewald 23 saves (photo by Jim Lindquist)

A season-long nemesis, too many penalties, reared its head again in Friday night's 2-0 loss to Rochester Century in the semifinals of the Louie Schmitz Holiday Classic at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

Eight infractions were whistled in the contest and six of them sent Tigers to the penalty box.

The Farmington penalty kill unit managed to skate off four of the six player-short situations but the Panthers converted two of them to advance to today's (Saturday) title game against Shakopee.

The penalty disparity was especially frustrating because the Tigers still finished the night with a 30-25 edge in shots on goal.

Century scored its power play goals midway through the second period and in the first two minutes of the third.

Molly Singewald kept the Tigers in the contest with some quality net play, finishing the contest with 23 saves.

The Tigers will try to break out of their recent scoring slump this afternoon when the take on Rosemount in the third place game. The Irish dropped a 2-0 decision to Shakopee in their semifinal game.

Boys Hockey: Tigers reach Simley title game

Jake Trippel scored his first varsity hat trick (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Jake Trippel recorded his first varsity hat trick and six different Tigers scored goals in an 8-1 romp over Cambridge-Isanti in the second round of the Simley Holiday Tournament Friday night at Veteran's Arena in Inver Grove Heights.

With the win Farmington (7-3-1) advances to Saturday's title game where it will square off against Albert Lea, a 4-3 winner over host Simley in its second round game.

"We got off to a good start and got the full roster some ice time," coach Keith Revels said. "We put a lot of shots on net."

Four different Farmington players--Trippel, John Siebenaler, Justin Novak and Jack Erickson--netted goals in a first period that saw the Tigers outshoot the opposition by a one-sided 17-4 margin.

Erik Holmstrom and Austin Martinsen added power play goals in the second period to stretch the lead to 6-1 and then Trippel completed his hat trick with a two-goal third period.

Austin Martinsen goal, 3 assists

All in all, the winners had nine players score at least one point with Martinsen finishing the night with four points on a goal and three assists. Holmstrom and Erickson each had a goal and two assists.

Farmington finished the night with a 44-11 bulge in shots on goal. The Tigers converted two of five power play opportunities and skated off both of their man-short situations.

Nick Schoening went the distance in the nets for the Tigers, finishing with 10 saves.

"Nick had a solid outing after being out with an injury the past couple of weeks," Revels said.

Face-off for today's (Saturday) championship game is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Veterans' Arena.

Tiger Scoreboard: December 28, 2013

Boys Hockey
Simley Holiday Tournament
Farmington 8  Cambridge-Isanti 1

Girls Hockey
Louie Schmitz Holiday Classic
Rochester Century 2  Farmington 0

Boys Basketball
Hastings Holiday Tournament
Burnsville 77 Farmington 71

Girls Basketball
Monticello Holiday Tournament
Minneapolis Washburn 66 Farmington 34

Wrestling
Rumble on the Red in Fargo, North Dakota
Farmington 11th out of 69 teams after Day 1

Shane Wyandt reaches 100-win milestone

Tiger coach Shane Wyandt joins 100-win Club

Over the past 40 years the successful Tiger football program has had but three head coaches--Chuck Hansen, Earl Wetzel and Mark Froehling.

That continuity and consistency in the coaching staff has produced several conference and section championships, state tournament appearances and a Prep Bowl runner-up finish.

During that same period, the FHS boys basketball head coaching position has been a revolving door with the head job changing hands no less than a dozen times.

That's one of the reasons Shane Wyandt's 100th career victory, a non-conference triumph over Rochester Century on Dec. 12, as Tiger head coach is so impressive.

Wyandt, who played and coached at Spring Lake Park before assuming the Farmington position at the outset of the 2004-05 season, said he took the job with the idea of sticking around awhile.

"Spring Lake Park has had the same coach for 20-plus years and they have become a power in that area," he said. "I'm not the type of coach that's interested in hopping around just to advance."

Wyandt's first year at Farmington didn't produce many of his now 103 wins. In fact it produced only one of them.

"I was told when I took the job that it wouldn't necessarily be an easy transition and there was a lot of work to be done," he said. "I don't think that was meant to be a negative, just a result of the continual change in coaches."

"The thought of 100 wins didn't even occur to me back then. Looking back, I would have liked to have gotten to that number sooner but I am proud of my players and coaches who have put in a tremendous amount of work to build our program."

Wyandt said stability and tradition are the two biggest improvements he has seen over his now nine-plus years with the Tiger hoops program.

"We have off-season program opportunities year round," he said. "Our youth programs have grown in numbers and those teams are playing higher level competition. That is very important because that is what they will see once they get to the high school."

The Tiger coach said he had two long-range goals when he assumed the head coaching position at FHS: 1) improving the overall program and 2) making boys' basketball something the student body and community would take pride in supporting.

 "I think we have made great strides toward those goals," he said. "I'm very proud that we have earned the respect of other teams in our league and that we are seen as a competitive program year in and year out."

Farmington won its first Missota Conference championship in 37 years in 2009, the same season they advanced to the Section 1AA semifinals. Wyandt's tenure as coach has also produced three of Farmington's seven 1000-point career scorers--Jake Lippert, Josh Zitzmann and Darren Beenken.

This season the Tigers are off to a 7-1 start and are ranked 10th in the most recent Class 4A state poll.

Next season will provide another transition for Wyandt and his staff as the Tigers move to the ultra-competitive South Suburban Conference.

"It will definitely be a challenge," Wyandt said. "Night in and night out we will be facing some of the top basketball programs in the state...For now though we are focusing on making our last year in the Missota the best it can be. Then we can start thinking about the South Suburban."

Wyandt said reaching the 100-win milestone was rewarding but he made clear getting there was by no means a one-man accomplishment.

"We started in an extremely tough position and the kids in the beginning didn't receive all of the positives the ones are today," he said. "But they worked just as hard and I hope they are proud of being part of the foundation for the success we are having now.

"I'd also like to recognize my assistant coaches, especially Tharen Johnson who has been with me from the beginning, for all of their time and effort. The loyalty of players and coaches in this work-in-progress have been great."

Girls Hockey: A win in the opening round

Rachael Welzin's first goal of the season was the game-winner (photo by J. Lindquist)

The Tigers gave themselves a belated Christmas gift with a 3-1 win over Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (LDC) in the opening round of the Louie Schmitz Holiday Classic played Thursday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

Farmington scored a goal in each period and outshot its guests 43-13 to snap a five-game winless streak and boost its season record to 3-8-1.

"It was a solid effort to get the puck to the net and we had some really good opportunities to put more than three away," coach Jon Holmes said.

Kaitlyn LaCroix netted her first career goal to stake the home team to a 1-0 lead heading to the first break but LDC tied the count early in the second period.

Rachel Welzin responded with her first score of the season, a shorthanded goal, later in the second that gave the winners the lead for good.

Keena Cavanaugh put the game away with her second goal of the year midway through the third period to send the Tigers to Friday's semifinals against section rival Rochester Century. The Panthers downed Hastings 5-3 in their opening round game.

"We will have to take it up a notch if we are going to beat Century," Holmes said. "They are a solid team but we certainly have the ability to hold our own and it is another big section rivalry game for us."

Face-off is scheduled for tonight (Friday) at 7:00 at Schmitz-Maki.

Boys Hockey: Big third period saves Tigers

Erik Holmstrom scored his first goal of the season

Farmington scored three unanswered goals in the third period to defeat host Simley in the opening round of the four-team, round-robin Simley Holiday Tournament Thursday night at Veterans' Arena.

"If good teams find a way to win when things are not going their way, than we must have something," coach Keith Revels said. " It was a good test for us to play through some adversity and find a way to win."

Part of the adversity to which Revels referred was the depletion of his defensive corps to injury and illness. Tyler Jette got sick during warm-ups and Devin Bernu left the game with an injured knee in the first period.

Blue line regulars Erik Holmstrom, Benton Olson and Alex Aubrecht saw a lot of ice time with forwards John Siebenaler and Jack Erickson also logging some defensive duty.

The other problem the Tigers faced was self-inflicted and came in the form of seven minor penalties, including four straight in the second period when Simley pulled even at 3-3.

The Tiger penalty kill skated off five man-short situations, including two 5-on-3 situations, but the Spartans did score two of their three goals while playing with a man-advantage.

Holmstrom, Justin Novak and Tanner Grubb scored Farmington's third period goals helped up the Tigers' season record to 6-3-1.

Siebenaler, Jake Trippel and Grady Hauswirth netted the other Tiger goals as nine Farmington players found their way into the scoring column. Erickson, Grubb, Hauswirth, Aubrecht and Olson each had assists for the winners.

The Tigers outshot Simley by a wide 31-15 margin, including a 26-11 bulge over the first two periods.

Gage Overby picked up his sixth win of the season with a 12-save performance in the Tiger nets.

Today the Tigers return to Veterans' Arena to take on Cambridge-Isanti, a 5-0 loser to Albert Lea in the opening round.

2013 Tiger Highlights in Pictures

Pictures courtesy of photographers Jim and Ruth Lindquist*

*Unless otherwise noted

Winter 2012-13

Taylor Venz: Class 3A 106-pound state champion

Boys Swimming: Missota Conference, True Team section champions

Darren Beenken joined the 1000-point Club

Kylie Wharton: 7th on balance beam at Class AA state meet*

Jamin LeDuc: 6th place at 113 lbs. at Class 3A state meet

SPRING 2013

Softball: Section 1 Champions for second straight year

Ashley Betzold: All-State, All-Metro selection

Missota Conference Boys Track champions*

4x400 relay (M. Graham, M. Kiminski, A. Hett, I. Ferm): 2nd at Class AA state meet*

4x800 relay (T. Lerbakken, J. Hyytinen, D. Webb, J. Wolt): 5th at Class AA state meet*

FALL 2013

Kaitlyn O'Reilly: All-state in thee events

Izzie Ferm: 2nd team All-State

Jared Wolt: 2nd team All-State

Girls Swimming: Section 1AA True Team champions*

Justin Hyytinen: Class AA state meet qualifier*

Lauren Peterson: Class AA state meet qualifier*

Girls Tennis: 11-6 record best in more than a decade*

C. Gehrke, C. Ruzicka, K. O'Reilly, K. Kracke: 1st Tiger all-state relay team*

Tiger Scoreboard: December 27, 2013

Boys Hockey
Simley Tournament
Farmington 6 Simley 3

Girls Hockey
Louis Schmitz Holiday Classic
Opening round
Farmington 3 Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 1

Football: Two Tigers Academic All-State

Coach Mark Freohling with Nick Ruark (above) and Kade Kearney

Tigers Kade Kearney and Nick Ruark have been named to the Academic All-State Gold Football Team, a honor earned by only 19 Class 6A players in Minnesota. 

In addition, Farmington was one of eight programs to qualify for the All-State Academic Team Award. Both honors are presented annually by the Minnesota High School Coaches Association.

Players selected for Academic All-State distinction must carry a 3.0 grade-point average in core curriculum during their sophomore, junior and first quarter of their senior years as well as show outstanding football and leadership abilities. 

They must also be starters on offense or defense or be a kicker and have no Minnesota State High School League eligibility penalties or infractions during their high school career.

Wrestling: A good showing in Rochester

Jamin LeDuc placed second in the 113 lbs. division (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington continued its rugged December schedule this weekend with their first-ever appearance in the prestigious Minnesota Christmas Tournament in Rochester.

The 33-team, multi-state event featured top notch competition and the Tigers did more than hold their own, finishing 15th in the final team standings with 87 points. National power and defending Minnesota champion Apple Valley led the talented field with 292.5 points. Fargo West (North Dakota) placed second with 179 and Prior Lake ranked third with 169.

"The weekend was very enjoyable," coach Chad Olson said. "Our wrestlers competed hard in a tournament which is much tougher then the state tournament...We placed ahead of 4four state-ranked teams even though we had some wrestlers who were fighting some illnesses."

113-pounder Jamin LeDuc led the effort at Rochester, winning his first four matches before losing by decision to Hunter Marko of Amery, Wisconsin in the title bout. Marko is a returning Wisconsin state champion and the No. 1 ranked 120-pounder in the state this season. Three of LeDuc's four wins came against state-rated opponents.
 

Matt Rustad took fifth place at 132 lbs. (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Matt Rustad may have had the best tournament of any of the Tiger grapplers. Despite missing most of the week to illness, the 132-pounder won six of eight matches to win a fifth place medal. Three of his wins came against ranked opposition.

"Matt showed his mental toughness this weekend," Olson said.

Defending state champion Taylor Venz, who is wrestling up a couple of weight classes this season, went 3-3 at Rochester to finish sixth in the 126-pound division.

""Taylor wrestled well," Olson said. "He just ran into some really good competition."

Olson also praised the efforts of Brayden Chapman (2-2) and freshman Eric Heusbourg (0-2), both of whom wrestled well against stiff competition.

Other Farmington results from the meet: Victor Gliva (106), 3-2; Jacob Gabbard (120), 2-2; Joe Liden (152), 1-2; Zach Seufer (160), 0-2; Jake Rudeen (170), 1-2; Joe Hoeve (182), 2-2; Trevor Frost (195), 0-2 and Godfrey Mpetey (285), 1-2.

Over the holidays the Tigers take their annual trip to Fargo, North Dakota for the multi-state Rumble on the Red at the Fargodome.

Girls Hockey: Can't find the twine

Scootie Donnelly scored the first Tiger goal (photo by J. Lindquist)

Farmington did what it wanted to do in Friday night's Missota Conference match-up with New Prague at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

The Tigers took the game to the Trojans, outshooting them by a 34-17 margin, and for the most part stayed out of the penalty box (2 minors for four minutes).

But the bottom line is still goals scored and when the final horn sounded New Prague escaped with a 3-2 victory.

"We outplayed them, out-skated them, and the ice was tilted downhill to their end of the rink the entire night," coach Jon Holmes said. "We just couldn't find the twine."

The Tigers have scored just three goals in their past four games.

Through the first two periods Farmington (2-8-1) outshot New Prague by a one-sided 22-9 count but trailed on the scoreboard 2-0.

The Trojans added a third score early in the final period before the Tigers finally found the net for two late goals. Scootie Donnelly scored the first unassisted and Ellie Moser made it a one-goal game with two minutes to play in regulation.

The Tigers, who outshot the Trojans 12-8 over the final 17 minutes, had a couple of chances late but couldn't convert.

Madison Bowe worked the entire game in the Tiger nets, stopping 14 of 17 shots.

"We never packed it in and kept playing hard the entire night despite being down 3-0 after really controlling the play for the entire game," Holmes said.

"Hopefully with some hard work on the ice and playing at home, our shots will gain some zip to get to the back of the net. Until then we will have to be sure to play a tight defensive zone and keep crashing the net with some good old fashioned hard work."

The Tigers will get three chances to do those things over the holidays as they host their annual Louie Schmitz Holiday Classic Dec. 26-28 at Schmitz-Maki.

Tiger Scoreboard; December 21, 2013

Boys Basketball
Farmington 61 St. Paul Harding 22

Gymnastics
Farmington 136.7 Chaska/Chanhassen 134.875

Wrestling
Farmington 14th out of 33 teams after 1st day of Minnesota Christmas Tournament in Rochester

Girls Hockey
New Prague at Farmington

Gymnastics: Davenport leads Tigers past Chaska/Chanhassen

Amanda Davenport won vault, bars and all-around (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Amanda Davenport had a career night and the Tigers put up a season-best team score in a 136.7-134.85 win over Chaska/Chanhassen Friday night at the District Service Center.

Davenport dominated the competition, finishing first in vault (9.1) and uneven bars (8.25) and second on the balance beam (8.8) and floor exercise (9.0). Her all-around point total of 35.25 was easily a meet best.

"Amanda was the one to watch tonight," Tiger coach Lynn Bauman said. "The Tiger spirit was high. I am happy, happy, happy!"

Rachel Kiminski also had a big night for the Tigers who claimed their first dual meet decision of the season after facing state powers Northfield and Lakeville North in their first two head-to-head competitions.

Kiminski placed third on the beam and fourth in floor exercise and her all-around score if 33.7 was good enough for second place behind Davenport.

Tahra Eckert took third in vault and fifth on floor and ranked third in all-around with a score of 33.65.

Three other Tigers scored fourth place points: Racquel Beckett in vault; Kenzie McCuddin on bars and Sidney Comes on beam.

The Tigers are now off until after Christmas. They return to competition Saturday, Dec. 28 when they travel to Rosemount for a non-conference dual meet.

Boys B-Ball: No. 9 Tigers sail by Harding

Mac Bassett team-high 16 points

The Tigers celebrated their No. 9 rating in the latest Class 4A state poll with a 61-22 rout of over-matched St. Paul Harding Friday night in St. Paul.

The victory was the seventh in eight starts for Farmington with the only loss a 104-99 overtime defeat at the hands of No. 4 Lakeville North.

Friday in St. Paul the host Knights managed an early lead before the visitors got their game legs under them and took control.

"We came out of the gate a little slow but once we settled in, we played pretty well," coach Shane Wyandt said. "We played good defense and when we applied pressure they (Harding) turned it over a lot.

"After playing a lot of tough games in a short period of time, it was kind of nice to have a game like this. We played our whole roster and it is also good to get out of our physical environment once in awhile."

Harding actually led by a couple of points early but by the halftime break the Tiger lead stood at 38-16 and the only thing in doubt was the final score.

Harding scored but six points in the second half and finished the night with just half a dozen field goals.

Mac Bassett scored a team-high 16 points and Zach Speikers added 10 but for the most part the starters didn't log enough floor time to fill up the stat sheet.

The Tigers now turn their attention to next weekend's Hastings Holiday Tournament where the competition level will increase dramatically. The four-team field includes Farmington, host Hastings, Burnsville and Simley.

"Burnsville (4-6) doesn't have a great record but they lost to Shakopee by four and Eagan on a buzzer-beater," Wyandt said. "They have played some very good teams....Simley is 6-1 and Hastings (3-5) is much improved over when we played them in our opening game."

Farmington opens the two-day tourney Friday (Dec. 27) against Burnsville. Tip-off is 5:00 p.m. in Hastings.

Boys Swimming: A+ in Conditioning

Austin Kueck won the 500 freestyle

The Tigers tested their early season conditioning and scored an A+ Thursday night at Hopkins, defeating the Royals 99-84 in their second dual meet win in 24 hours.

"Last night was a great eye opener as to how much potential we really have," Tiger coach Ryan Hamen said.  "Looking at least year's meet against Hopkins, which was held at the same time of year, we are ahead overall from where we were a year ago."

Farmington garnered 10 of the 14 points available in the 200 medley relay, the first event of the night, and gradually extended its lead over the final 11 events.

Like the previous night's win over Hudson, the Tigers didn't score a lot of first place finishes (5) but piled up the points in places two through five.

Four Farmington individuals came through with victories, including Dan Berg in the 50 freestyle; Eric Schimmel in the 100 freestyle, Austin Kueck in the 500 freestyle and Jonathan Bovee in one-meter diving.

The 200 freestyle relay team of Schimmel, Adam Dougherty, Jonathan Kingbsury and Berg provided the other Tiger first place points.

"We lost Christopher Kirchmann, our big gun from last year," Hamen said, "But Berg, Schimmel and  Garrett Haugen are swimming faster than last year's seniors at this point."

Dan Berg 2 1st place finishes

A half dozen other Tiger entrants managed runner-up finishes, five individuals and a relay.

Individuals included Berg in the 100 freestyle; Dion in the 100 butterfly; Ben Gunderson in the 100 backstroke; Brooke Lange in the 200 freestyle and Nick Stephan in the 100 breaststroke.

The runner-up 200 medley relay team consisted of 200 medley grouping of Gunderson, Robin DeCastro, Brandon Dion and Haugen.

Seven more Tigers finished in third place: Spencer Kabran, 100 breaststroke; Oscar Hanifl, diving; Ian Alexander, 200 freestyle; Haugen, 200 individual medley; Schimmel. 50 freestyle; Lange, 100 butterfly and Gunderson, 500 freestyle.

In addition to the final score, Hamen expressed satisfaction with the way his swimmers have been pushing each other in practice.

"In the 100 back, Gunderson is almost breaking the minute mark and Haugen and David Bovee are close behind him," Hamen said.

"In our breaststroke, we didn't lose any swimmers from last year while Kabran, DeCastro, and Stephan continue to take the leads."

The Tigers resume their schedule on Dec. 28 when they compete in the Apple Valley Invitational at the Valley Middle School pool.

Boys Hockey: Tigers get a tie for Christmas

Tyler Jette scored first varsity goal (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington led most of the night but then had to battle back late in the third period to leave New Prague Thursday night with a 4-4 overtime tie against the defending Missota Conference champion Trojans.

Missed chances and too many penalties plagued the visitors who gave up three power play goals while managing a robust 33 shots on goal, one fewer than New Prague.

"It was a bit frustrating as we seemed to be in reach of putting the game away a couple of different times," Tiger coach Keith Revels said." New Prague has a 12-senior line-up that won the Missota last year so a comeback tie is something we can live with."

The Tigers accounted for the only first period score on a goal by Justin Novak (from John Siebenaler and Tyler Jette) and then made it 2-0 early in the second on Jette's first career goal (from Novak and Siebenaler).

That's about the time the Tigers started wearing a path to the penalty box.

The Trojans scored two power play goals in the second frame although Farmington still took a 3-2 lead into the third thanks to goal by Benton Olson (from Tanner Grubb).

Farmington, which picked up three two-minute minors in the second period, was whistled for two more in the third, leading to another power play score.

"No comment on the officiating," Revels said.

John Siebenaler had two assists vs. New Prague (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Trojans led 4-3 with the clock ticking when Jack Erickson (from Grubb and Devin Bernu) netted his second goal of the season with 4:45 left in regulation to force overtime.

The Tigers outshot the Trojans 5-3 in the extra session but neither team could find the net.

"We had a penalty shot on which their goalie made a nice save and throughout the game we had some near misses that we just couldn't get to go," Revels said.

Gage Overby had a solid night in the Farmington goal, stopping 29 of 33 shots, including a significant number while playing a man short.

Farmington, 5-3-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the conference, is idle until after Christmas when they play in a holiday tournament at Simley December 26-28. Other teams in the round-robin tourney include Cambridge-Isanti, Simley and Albert Lea.

" I think we have a bit more game than we showed at New Prague," Revels said, "and we look forward to the rematch at home which could be pretty meaningful game standings-wise.

"For now we need to take care of what we have control over and hopefully have a strong showing in our first holiday tourney in a number of years."