SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – chrisjfee@yahoo.com

Believe it or not, the first Minnesota High School football games are this Friday, and KROX will have one of the games on the radio.
Defending Section 8 9-Man champion Stephen-Argyle opens the season at defending Section 6 9-Man champion and defending State 9-Man Champion Fertile-Beltrami at 7:00 p.m. The game is a battle of two teams that should be in the top 10 rankings all year long. KROX will have the game with the RiverView Health pre-game show at 6:30 p.m. You can listen on the radio, on this website by clicking Listen Live, the KROX app, or on your smart speaker by saying listen to K-R-O-X in Crookston.

Stephen-Argyle won the Section 8 9-Man championship last year and lost to Mountain Iron-Buhl in the first round of state. The Storm lost only a few seniors from last year’s team, but one of them was the lone senior starter, Blaine Smith, the outstanding running back and defensive player who led the team and is now playing at Mayville State.
They return a boatload of talent with outstanding athletes like Anders Thompson, Raydon Woinarowicz, Dylan Widner, Shay Setterholm, Caden Pagnac, and many more.

They return the following offensive starters (8 of 9 from their last game of the season last year) –
Lineman/Tight ends – Jake Carlson, Dylan Widner, Owen Widner, Rylan Anderson, and Caden Pagnac.
Quarterback Shay Setterholm
Runningbacks – Raydon Woinarowicz, Darby Benitt, and top reserves Ryan Swanson, Kellen Johnson
Wide Receiver – Anders Thompson

Defensive starters (8 of 9 return)
Jake Carlson, Kobe Clauson, Keenan Srnsky, Rylan Anderson, Caden Pagnac, Dylan Widner, Anders Thompson, Raydon Woinarowicz, and Shay Setterholm

Fertile-Beltrami has made it to the State Championship twice in the last three years, winning the title last year and making it to the semi-finals two years ago. U.S. Bank Stadium has become their home away from home, and they are looking to get back again this year after suffering some big losses from last year’s team.
On the defensive side of the ball, Fertile-Beltrami loses Jack Lieser, Keyton Wang, Caleb Stoltman, Jonah Harstad, and Isaiah Wright.
On the offensive end, the Falcons lose starters – Caleb Stoltman, Micah Iverson, Jack Lieser, Easton Petry, Isaiah Wright, and Jonah Harstad.

Fertile-Beltrami has two big tight ends returning with Preston Hanson, Drew Gullickson. They also have an outstanding back in Bryer Strem, and quarterback Gavin Aakhus, and running back Creed Tollefson. Briley Raaen will also be one of many to see some time. You will also see Brady Bjerk, Steven Sather, Caleb Sather, Julian Ystenes, Teegyn Johnson, Gage Henrickson, Noah Swenby, Caden Stoltman and more. It should be a great game and I would say Stephen-Argyle has to be the favorite coming in pretty much their entire team coming back. Whoever wins the game, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the two playing each other in the state playoffs in October!

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Last week, we had the Crookston Pirate Boys’ Soccer and Girls’ Tennis roster/participant list, and this week, we wrap up the team rosters with Volleyball, football, and girls’ soccer.

Crookston Pirate Football – 26 out 9-12 (They are expecting a handful more to come out)
Seniors (5) – Casey Weiland, Masen Reitmeier, Caleb Overby, Tate Hamre, Zachariah Ali
Juniors (3) – Xsavior Ramos, Juan Ramirez, Colton Osborn
Sophomores (3) – Tuck Lubinski, Jaron Knutson, Lukas Helgeson
Freshman (15) – Anderson Cameron, Jacob Biermaier, Gavin Brault, Joseph Burnette, Jacob Doda, Maddox Hoerner, Nolan Johnson, Keegan Lessard, Eli Marsyla, Nathan Pahlen, Dane Peterson, Suarez Raymond, Paul Thornhill, Zach Waslaski, Asher Wieland.

VOLLEYBALL – 36 out 9-12 and 54 out 7-12
Seniors (1) – Jazmine Blow
Juniors (8) – Madi Abrams, Riley Anderson, Brylee Darco, Adalyn Hanson, Brea Lessard, Izzy Pahlen, Addie Schiller, Ally Wagner
Sophomores (12) – Ella Anderson, Rilynn Aubol, Ali Beegley, Abi Bruley, Cadence Corona, Lexi Durhman, Madi Hanson, Summer Londis, Makenzie Ness, Leia Parkin, Lana Peterson, Jayde Uttermark
Freshman (15) – Morgan Boll, Emmagail Frantz, Perry Jackson, Keatyn Kliner, Brynna Kopeckey, Cece Newquist, Ana Noyes, Ava Oliver, Lyla Oman, Emma Pierson, Cora Prudhomme, Peyton Senum, Molly Workman, AnnaLee Espinosa, Kasey Fritz
Eighth graders (13) – Mckenna Amiot, Violet Bengston, Hadley Bruley, Charlie Coauette, Sophia Fee, Lenox Hebert, Delta Hodgson, Charm Mendoza, Amira Mohammed, Melody Ortiz, Elaina Rodriguez, Kenya Rodriguez, Jazmine Speldrich
Seventh graders (5) – Clara Cymbaluk, Stormy Luckow, Clarissa Magdeleno, Emma Perrault, Skyla Fredrich

Crookston Pirate Girls Soccer (12 out 9-12 and 18 out 7-12)
Seniors (3) – Nashelle Tellez Vasquez, Makayla Tahran, Madelyn Knutson
Juniors (3) – Brooklyn Waldal, Kira Daniels, Aubrey Bartrum
Sophomores (3) – Hailey Fritz, Shyuh Burnette, Allison Abeld
Freshman (3) – Kinsley Wangen, Jennika Reese, Anna Heldstab
8th graders (2) – Lainee Wagner, Colianna Donarski
7th graders (4) – Hilary Weber, Kambree Wangen, Ariana Schiller, Hallie Perry

Click the link for the Fall Sports Schedules- Pirate Fall Sports Schedules – KROX

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The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldog Football team has Fertile-Beltrami grad and state champion Isaiah Wright on the roster. The Freshman is listed at 5’11 and 195 pounds.

The Bemidji State Beaver Football team has a few area kids on the team-
Ty Hamre (Crookston) – the senior is listed at 6’5 and 260 pounds
Caden Bolte (Bemidji)
Eli Pfeiffer (Walker)
Eli Klimek (Nevis)
Gavin Oelschlager (Walker)
Ryan Carroll (Park Rapids)
Heaton Hall (Moorhead)
Broden Benson (Clearbrook)
Ethan Biehn (Bemidji)
Jameson Cozad (Moorhead)

Minnesota State Moorhead Dragon Football has several area kids on the team.
McKale Pierson (Glyndon)
Timmy Guler (Pelican Rapids)
Derek Tibbetts (Hawley)
Jacqui Fitzpatrick (Moorhead)
Brody Friend (Dilworth)
Brayden Spears (Thief River Falls)
Brady Olson (Thief River Falls)
Nick Haugrud (Pelican Rapids)
Will Martin (Detroit Lakes)
Reign Battle (Moorhead)
Gannon Bolgrean (Barnesville)
Ryan Gravlos (East Grand Forks)
Caleb Johnson (Glyndon)
Rufus Kermee (Moohread)

North Dakota State University Bison Football has a few area kids on the roster –
Kaden Zenzen (Barnesville)
Austin Schultz (Moorhead)
Noah Nelson (Hawley)
Finn Diggins (Perham)

The University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks football team has several area kids on the roster-
Ethan Boll (Crookston) listed at 6’2 and 220 pounds
Kaden Vig (Hallock)
Owen Thielges (Moorhead)
Jack Ames (Hawley)
Isaac Cariveau (Detroit Lakes)
Seth Anderson (Moorhead)

Mayville State Comet Football has several area kids on the team –
Cameron Spaeth (Halstad)
Aiden Marcussen (Ada)
Blaine Smith (Stephen)
Chisum Schmiedeberg (Lancaster)
Mantana Jorgenson (Fisher)
Daniel Suda (Halstad)
Dante Frank (Blackduck)
Isaac Folland (Halma – KCC)
Timothy Wells (Barnesville)
Will Christen (Fosston)
Marcus Johnson (Kelliher)

Concordia College Cobber Football has a few local kids on the roster –
Ryne Duppong (Fosston)
Jonah Horan (Moorhead)
McHale Korf (Pelican Rapids)
Cameron Bergman (McIntosh)
Hayden Hauf (Dilworth)
Ethan Larson (Barnesville)
Jack Caron (Bemidji)
Brayden Sjoblom (Detroit Lakes)
Jacob Gulbranson (Moorhead)
Max Baumgartner (Dilworth)
Aiden Edeen (Dilworth)
Noah Thompson (Perham)
Hunter Korth (Detroit Lakes)
Quincy Wright (Argyle – played for Warren-A-O)
Victor Sosa (Dilworth)

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The University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Men’s Hockey team got a commitment from four-star defenseman recruit Ben Geiger from Northfield High School.  At Northfield last year, the 6’3 defenseman recorded 61 points in 30 games and will play in the NTDP this year.

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The Bemidji State Beaver Women’s Hockey team has announced the 2025-26 roster, and some area players are on the team.

Talya Hendrickson (Warroad)
Kate Johnson (Warroad)
Katy Comstock (Warroad)

The Director of Operations is Crookston High School grad and former Pirate Girls Hockey Coach Emily Meyer!

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The Minnesota Timberwolves have laid off 35 employees. The layoffs, first reported by the Sports Business Journal, included staffers working on the Wolves’ business side of the operation, for the Iowa Wolves, and those with dual responsibilities with the Wolves and Lynx. The move followed a 7-week assessment of the franchises business operations.

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The Crookston Pirate Girls Tennis team will host a Tennis Camp August 27-28 from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. The camp is for 2nd – 5th grade boys and girls with a cost of $20. The camp will be at the Crookston High School Tennis Courts. To register, or for more questions, email ginagunderson@isd593.org.

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The Crookston Youth Basketball Association will hold a Mini Hoopers Intro to Basketball Academy for ages 4 to 6 at the Crookston High School gym.
The academy will meet on Saturdays from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. September 6 through October 4.
This introductory program teaches basketball basics using simple drills and fun games.
Cost is $10. For more information, contact Erik Griffin at 218-201-2767.

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JOKES

A doctor at an insane asylum decided to take his patients to a baseball game.

For weeks in advance, he coached his patients to respond to his commands.

When the day of the game arrived, everything went quite well. As the national anthem started, the doctor yelled, “Up Nuts”, and the patients complied by standing up. After the anthem, he yelled, “Down Nuts”, and they all sat back down in their seats.

After a home run was hit, the doctor yelled, “Cheer Nuts” They all broke out into applause and cheered. When the umpire made a particularly bad call against the star of the home team, the Doctor yelled, “Booooo Nuts” and they all started booing and cat calling.Monthly joke subscriptions

Comfortable with their response, the doctor decided to go get a beer and a hot dog, leaving his assistant in charge. When he returned, there was a riot in progress.

Finding his missing assistant, the doctor asked:” What in the world happened?”

The assistant replied: “Well everything was going just fine until this guy walked by and yelled, “PEANUTS!”

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Little Johnny was caught swearing by his teacher.

“Johnny,” she said, “you shouldn’t use that kind of language. Where did you hear such talk, anyway?”

“My daddy said it,” he responded.Monthly joke subscriptions

“Well, that doesn’t matter,” explained the teacher. “You don’t even know what it means.”

“I do, too!” Little Johnny retorted. “It means the car won’t start.”

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A teacher told her young class to ask their parents for a family story with a moral at the end of it, and to return the next day to tell their stories.
In the classroom the next day, Joe gave his example first, “My dad is a farmer and we have chickens. One day we were taking lots of eggs to market in a basket on the front seat of the truck when we hit a big bump in the road; the basket fell off the seat and all the eggs broke. The moral of the story is not to put all your eggs in one basket..”
“Very good,” said the teacher.
Next, Mary said, “We are farmers too. We had twenty eggs waiting to hatch, but when they did we only got ten chicks. The moral of this story is not to count your chickens before they’re hatched..”
“Very good,” said the teacher again, very pleased with the response so far.
Next it was Barney’s turn to tell his story: “My dad told me this story about my Aunt Karen…. Aunt Karen was a flight engineer in the war and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a bottle of whisky, a machine gun and a machete.”
“Go on,” said the teacher, intrigued.
“Aunt Karen drank the whisky on the way down to prepare herself; then she landed right in the middle of a hundred enemy soldiers. She killed seventy of them with the machine gun until she ran out of bullets. Then she killed twenty more with the machete till the blade broke. And then she killed the last ten with her bare hands.”
“Good heavens,” said the horrified teacher, “What did your father say was the moral of that frightening story?”
“Stay away from Aunt Karen when she’s been drinking…”

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The Sunday school teacher is a little concerned that his kids might be a little confused about Jesus, so he asks his class, “Where is Jesus today?”
Suzy replies, “He’s in heaven.”
Mary replies, “He’s in my heart.”
Little Johnny says, “He’s in the bathroom!”
The teacher says, “How do you know this?”
Then Little Johnny says, “Well, every morning, my father gets up, bangs on the bathroom door, and yells, ‘Jesus Christ are you still in there!?’”

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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST. Email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com

Addie Fee is a freshman playing tennis and hockey at Wisconsin-Superior.

Kambelle Freije is a freshman playing hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Naomi Johnson is a freshman playing volleyball at Alexandria Community College.

Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.

Reese Swanson is a sophomore playing hockey at St. Olaf.

Carter Coauette is a sophomore playing football at Minot State.

Isabelle Smith is a sophomore playing Tennis at Concordia College.

Isaac Thomforde is a sophomore playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.

Halle Bruggeman is a Junior on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.

Ethan Boll is a Sophomore on the University of North Dakota Football team.

Breanna Kressin is a Junior on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.

Jacey Larson is a Junior playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.

Aleah Bienek is a Senior playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.

Ty Hamre is Senior playing football at Bemidji State University.

Elizabeth Erdman is a coach for the Moorhead Red Dragon swim team.

Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Ben Parkin is the head Pirate Baseball Coach.
Jason Cassavant is a Jr. High Baseball Coach
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ben Trostad is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ethan Magsam is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach

Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc

Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.

Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.

Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball

Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.

Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.

Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.

Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida.

Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown.

Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.

Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park

Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.

Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.

Matt Harris is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.

Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of North Dakota.

Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.

Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.

Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.

Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.

Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.

Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis

Jaren Bailey is serving our country and is currently in the Marines’ Boot Camp.

Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.

Philip Kujawa class of 2004, from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.

Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome

That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments, and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com.

Tags: sports, Sports Feever