Wrestling: A couple of close ones

Jake Rudeen scored a 15-0 technical fall against Monticello (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Thursday's triangular  meet at Tiger Gym had  plenty of drama but no happy endings for the Tigers as they lost a couple of close ones, 36-33 to Monticello and 42-31 to Eastview.

"Both meets were very good," Tiger coach Chad Olson said. "We left a lot of bonus points which in the end cost us. It was a great learning experience for our boys."

The Tigers jumped to a 12-0 lead against Monticello, ranked No. 9 in Class AA, on a forfeit win by Victor Gliva at 106 and a pin by Taylor Venz at 113 before the Magic scored a pair of falls to even the score and set up a nip-and-tuck rest of the night.

Jake Rudeen (152) registered a technical fall and Kyle Benjamin (132) won a major decision for the Tigers who also got three-point decisions from Joe Hoeve (160) and Godfrey Mpetey (220) and a forfeit victory by Chris McCue (182).

Mpetey's win gave Farmington a 33-30 heading into the final bout where Brent Riddle scored a second period pin of Jamie Scavone to provide the final margin of victory for Monticello.

Kyle Benjamin was a 12-4 winner over Monticello's Cooper Hanson (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Against Eastview Jamin LeDuc ran his season mark to 7-1 with a decision in 106-pound bout and Venz upped his perfect record to 7-0 with a pin at 113 to give the Tigers a quick 10-0 lead but the Lightning countered with two straight six-point wins to set up a nip-and-tuck match through the next six bouts.

Eastview led 26-25 after the 152 bout were Rudeen scored a six-point fall but the Lightning won five of the final six matches to extend their lead. McCue's pin in the 182-pond match provided the only Farmington win in the run.

Matt Rustad's major decision at 132 lbs. and Brayden Chapman's pin in the 138-pound match-up provided the other Farmington points.

Next Tuesday the Tigers head to Richfield for a quadrangular meet with Chaska/Chanhassen, Shakopee and the host Spartans.

"Next week will be a good mesuring stick to see how we stack up in our section," Olson said. "We have duals against five section teams.

Boys Hockey: Hauswirth paces Tigers past SLP

Grant Hauswirth scored two goals, including the game-winner (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Grant Hauswirth scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner 55 seconds into the third period, to pace the Tigers to a 4-3 win over Spring Lake Park (3-2) Thursday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

Farmington upped its season record to 4-3 and the win serevd as a nice rebound from Tuesday night's 1-0 loss at Apple Valley.

"Spring Lake Park has a good club," Tiger coach Keith Revels said. "This was a good non-conference match-up to prep us for Saturday's date with Mayo.

"We seemingly got back on track, at least with our legs. We did a much better job applying pressure and creating turnovers all over the rink."

The start and finish to periods proved to be the Tigers' biggest allies.

Justin Novak scored the first Tiger goal (photo by Jim Lindquist)

In the opening frame Justin Novak (from Kevin Olund and Justin Hyytinen) found the net just 29 seconds after the opening face-off and Hauswirth scored his first of the night unassisted with just three seconds remaining to give the home team a 2-1 lead.

The Panthers scored the next two goals before Corey Rudrud tied the count with his first varsity goal on the power play with under a minute to play in the second period.

Hauswirth provided the game-winner in the opening minute of the third period and then the Farmington defense and first-time starting goalie Gage Overby combined to keep the visitors off the board the rest of the way.

Overby finished his varsity debut with 24 saves as the Tigers held a held a 36-27 shots on goal advantage.

Overall, Revels was happy with his team's play in the non-conference win but he admitted concern with special teams play. One of the Panther goals came on the power play and another was shorthanded.

"We need to be a bit more composed with the puck on the power play," he said.

Face-off for Saturday's matinee match-up with section rival Mayo is 3:00 pm at Schmitz-Maki Arena. 

Tiger Scoreboard: December 14, 2012

Boys Swimming
Farmington 95 Hopkins 89

Boys Hockey
Farmington 4 Spring Lake Park 3

Wrestling
Monticello 39 Farmington 36
Eastview 42 Farmington 31

Girls Basketball
Red Wing 80 Farmington 66

Alimni Tracker: Berg comes full circle...again

Jason Berg

Jason Berg came to Farmington High School in the mid-1990's as boys basketball coach. He held that position for five years before leaving for Luther College in Decorah, Iowa where he served as an assistant men's basketball and head women's golf coach.

Eight years later he returned to FHS as girls' basketball coach where he twice took the Tigers to the section championship game. Last year he accepted an elementary school principal job in Owatonna but when FHS assistant principal Kerry Timmerman left in November for a principalship in Cottage Grove, Berg jumped at the chance to return home.

The St. Olaf College grad says he will officially start his new position no later than Dec. 17 and has already been helping out with supervision at some athletic events. 

A trio of Berg's former players continue to see increased playing time for area college basketball teams. Elena Koch has started half of the games for the College of St. Benedict where she is averaging 16.4 minutes, 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds a game....Jamie Kenealy is playing 15 minutes a night for the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, averaging 3.9 points and 3.4 boards. 

Taylor Meyer is logging 14 minutes a night with averages of 4.3 and 3.0 for the University of Minnesota-Duluth where there is another Farmington connection. The top rebounder and second leading scorer for the Bulldogs is Hannah Rutten, the daughter of former Tiger assistant baseball coach Louie Rutten.

2009 FHS female Athlete of the Year Kirstee Rotty, a three-year volleyball starter and two-year regular on the St. Olaf College basketball team is not playing her senior season for the Oles. She will be doing her student teaching assignment....2003 Tiger grad Michele Swedin is a sixth grade teacher and middle school girls basketball for the North Polk County Schools in Alleman, Iowa, located north of Des Moines.

Carl Elmer-St. Olaf College

2011 FHS male Athlete of the Year Carl Elmer owns an 8-4 record record for the St. Olaf College wrestling team this winter...Another 2011 graduate, Kaitlin Kracke is swimming for Iowa Lakes Community College...Veteran Tiger football coach Gary Burr is back at his familiar winter job as an assistant coach for the Hastings girls' basketball team.

Former Tiger Alex Carlson has played in all 16 games this season for the Ohio State University men's hockey team...2012 Tiger graduate Betsy Anderson has a goal and an assist in 12 games for the University of Stevens Point women's puck team...

Two former Tiger athletes are serving as graduate assistant coaches at NCAA Division I level schools.  2004 male Athlete of the Year Matt Simon, who played college football for Jerry Kill at Northern Illinois, is with the Rutgers football team that will square with Virginia Tech in the Russell Athletic Bowl December 28 in Orlando, Florida....Trevor Davis, a member of the FHS class of 2008 and a Hamline University graduate, is a grad assistant for the men's basketball program at Northwestern State University located in Natchitoches, Loouisiana.

When the Tiger boys' basketball team plays 10th-rated Lakeville North Friday night in Lakeville there will be at least two fans with Farmington connections rooting for North. Panther starting guard Grant Erickson is the son of 1986 FHS grad Jill Horstman and former Tiger boys basketball coach Randy Erickson.

Boys BB: Tigers break SLP jinx

Mac Bassett career-high 34 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Tiger coach Shane Wyandt played high school ball at Spring Lake Park and later returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach so it seemed natural that he would want to add his former school to the Farmington non-conference schedule.

That tradition started in 2005-06 and until Tuesday night Farmington was winless in seven tries against the Panthers.

The Tigers broke the  losing streak in style, pulling out a heart-pounding 97-95 road win over the Panthers who came into the contest 2-0 with impressive wins over Mounds View and Rogers.

"I had a lot of family and friends there and they said it was a great game to watch," Wyandt said. "From my view it was an intense game between two good teams who like to push the basketball.

"It's a relief to finally beat those guys. They have built a power there over the past 12 years or so. It's been tough playing golf with some of those guys over the summer after all the losses."

The Tigers dug themselves an early hole, falling behind by 12 points five minutes into the game. Back-to-back steals and baskets by Darren Beenken sparked a comeback, however, and the teams hit intermission tied at 45-45.

Beenken and Mac Bassett led a seven-player Tiger contingent who scored in the opening half with 10 and eight points respectively.

Bassett had a dream of a second half, scoring 22 points, including a pair of three-pointers, but that wasn't enough to win the game in regulation. Farmington led by seven points with two minutes to play before a couple of late three-pointers by the Panthers knotted the score at 80-80 and forced overtime.

In the extra session, the visitors jumped on top early on a couple of Johnny Dittman-to-Bassett lay-ups and the strong inside play of Eli Rockett. Again they held a seven-point edge, this one with a little over a minute to play.

Two ill-timed turnovers and a phantom offensive foul led to a couple of baskets and then two missed free throws in the final seconds set up a last second three-pointer by the Panthers that missed the mark.

"I think the big thing for us was our resiliency early," Wyandt said. "When we got down we clawed our way back and regained control. We wanted to use this week as a big steppingstone in gaining some respect and we got off to a good start."

Bassett finished with a career-high 34 points, one fewer than Spring Lake Park's Gary Cook who torched the Tigers for 35.

Eli Rockett 19 points, 12 rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Rockett tallied a career-high 19 and Beenken was right behind with 18. Dittman hit double digits for the third time in four games with 10 and Nick Varner and Zach Speikers chipped in with seven apiece.

Rockett and Varner led in rebounds with 12 and seven respectively. Dittman handed out five assits and Varner had four. Beenken came up with a trio of steals.

Farmington shot 57 percent from the floor, connecting on 29 of 51 shots. The Tigers were aggressive with the ball and cashed in on 35 of 41 from the foul line.

It's out of the frying pan and into the fire for the Tigers as next up is a Friday date at unbeaten Lakeville North (3-0), the defending Section 1 champion.

"They graduated their top seven or eight guys from last year and they are still tough," Wyandt said. "This will be another big game for us."