Sports

The KMS football team had a great season in 2016, going 5-5 overall and 4-3 in the Mid-State Blue sub-district.  The Saints were 0-2 to start the season, but then won five of their next seven games to improve to 5-4 before falling to top-seeded Minneapolis North in the Section 4A semifinals, 40-14.

The Saints opened up the section tourney with an 8-6, double-overtime win over Lester Prairie-Holy Trinity, before losing to the top-ranked team in Class A, the Mpls. North Polars.

Royalton and Upsala-Swanville Area tied for the Mid-State Blue sub-district title, followed by Browerville-Eagle Valley, KMS, and Parkers Prairie, all at 4-3, West Central Area and BBE at 2-5 each, and Kimball Area at 0-7.

Of those teams, Royalton and Browerville-EV went on to earn berths in the state tourney.  KMS beat Browerville-EV in the regular-season finale, 27-6, but one game earlier, the Saints were shut out by Royalton, 29-0.

The KMS volleyball team finished the 2016 season with a 13-18 overall record, but you could also say the team finished 12-6, if you count the matches where the team played at full strength.  Either way you look at it, the Saints had a great season, finishing with a 3-8 mark within the always-tough Camden North Conference.

The Saints were 8-1 at one point in the season before losing a five-game match to Canby, Sept. 15, the same night senior Sam Gjerde went down with an injury.  She wouldn’t return until the Underwood Tourney, where KMS went 1-3 overall.  In the section tourney, KMS topped ACGC in four games, and BBE and Browerville-EV in three-game sweeps before having the season end with a four-game loss to Kimball Area in the sub-section finals.  Kimball Area went on to sweep Braham in three games for the Section 5A title and a berth at state.

The Benson-KMS cross-country teams had great seasons in 2016, including a second-straight state berth for Benson senior Josh Bailey.The boys team had an especially great season, placing second at four meets and third at one other.

The boys team was second of nine teams at the Benson Invitational, second of eight teams at the Montevideo Invitational, second of five teams at the Melrose Invite, and second of nine teams at the Long Prairie-GE Invitational.

The boys team went on to place fourth at the WCC Meet and ninth of 21 teams at the Section 6A Meet.

The girls team meanwhile, had a top finish of fifth at the Melrose Invitational and WCC Meet before placing 19th at the Section 6A Meet.

Josh Bailey highlighted the season for the Benson-KMS cross-country program, placing sixth overall at the section meet to earn a second-straight berth at the State Meet.

The KMS volleyball team moved into the sub-section finals with a 25-22, 25-15, 25-20 victory over Browerville-Eagle Valley last Tuesday night at Little Falls.  The Saints had already opened up the Section 5A Tourney with a four-game win over ACGC and a three-game sweep of one of the four top-seeds in the section, BBE.

With the win over Browerville-EV, the Saints moved on to face second-seeded Kimball Area for the sub-section title.  Kimball Area upset top-seeded Verndale one round earlier.

In that match, KMS won the first set against Kimball, Thursday in Little Falls, but Kimball rallied to win the last three to earn a 20-25, 25-21, 25-21, 27-25 victory.  Kimball went on to sweep Braham for the Section 5A title and advance to the state tourney, set for this Thursday through Saturday.

Josh Bailey competed at the Minnesota State Boys and Girls Cross-Country Meet at St. Olaf College, Saturday, placing 71st overall in a time of 17:24.

Bailey was competing in his second-straight state meet after also qualifying last fall as a junior.  He placed sixth at the previous week’s Section 6A Meet at New London-Spicer, and also placed second at four other meets for the Fighting Braves this fall.

Declan Dahlberg, of Mounds Park Academy, won the Class A boys title with a time of 15:56.9, edging the second place runner by two-tenths of a second, and the third-place runner by four-tenths of a second.

Mora won the boys team title by six points over Perham (93 to 99).  Perham’s last runner placed 36th, but with a time one  second better could have placed 32nd and moved up four points.  Mora’s last runner was 44th, but with a time 1.4 seconds slower, would have placed 47th, losing three points and giving Perham the title.

The Benson football team ended the 2016 season with an 1-8 overall record, which included a 1-7 mark within the Mid State White sub-district.

Benson opened up the season with a 49-0 loss to Eden Valley-Watkins, a team that has gone on to earn a berth in the State Class 2A Football Tourney.

The Braves came back the next week with a 28-26, triple-overtime victory at YME, but then lost the last seven games, only coming close twice to pick up win No. 2.

Benson lost at ACGC, 28-19 in the fifth week of the season, and also lost 30-27 at Sauk Centre in the regular-season finale.  The season came to an end with a 54-12 loss at Osakis.  Benson was the seventh seed in Section 5AA and Osakis was seeded second.

EVW went on to earn the section title with a victory over Osakis.

The Benson volleyball team was eliminated for the season with a 25-18, 25-7, 25-5 loss at Litchfield, Friday night, in the Section 3AA volleyball opener.

The Braves closed out the 2016 season with a 4-20 overall record, which included a 3-11 mark within the WCC.  The only wins for Benson this year were against ACGC twice, Minnewaska Area once, and LPGE during the Minnewaska Tourney.

Litchfield came into the tournament as the second seed, behind top-seeded Morris Area.  Litchfield improved to 21-7 overall with the win over Benson and advanced to face NLS in the next round.

Morris Area earned the top seed in Benson’s half of Section 3AA, followed by Litchfield, NLS, Paynesville, Montevideo, Minnewaska Area, Benson, and Eden Valley-Watkins.

The Section 3AA Tourney continues Nov. 1, 3 and 5 with the Section 3AA championship at SMSU in Marshall at 7:30 p.m.

The KMS volleyball team opened up the Section 5A Tournament with a pair of wins, advancing the Saints into the quarterfinal round this week.

KMS, seeded fourth in one of four “pods” in Section 5A, opened up the tournament with a 25-16, 25-19, 18-25, 25-19 victory over fifth-seeded ACGC, Thursday night in Kerkhoven.

The Saints then upset top-seeded Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, Friday, in a three-game sweep, 25-20, 25-20, 25-14.  “It was an awesome night at BBE,” coach Joquel Molenaar said.  “The girls put everything together and played a clean match.  The girls started the night with the attitude that this was not going to be it for them for the season.  They were determined to play had and multiple players stepped up, playing at the next level.”

Josh Bailey placed sixth at the Section 6A Boys and Girls Cross-County Meet at New London-Spicer, Thursday, earning his second-straight trip to the State Cross-Country Meet.

The Benson-KMS boys team finished ninth overall of the 21 teams, while the girls team was 19th.

West Central Area topped NLS by 18 points to earn the Section 6A team title, while Eden Valley-Watkins edged West Central Area by one point (75-76) to win the girls’ title.

The top two teams and top eight individuals, apart from the top two teams, earn a trip to the state meet.

Libby Peters had the top finish for the Benson-KMS girls, placing 33rd overall, while Jon Tostenson had the second-best finish for the boys team, placing 26th.

If you like football played on a wet, slippery field, with a cold, misty rain falling the entire game, then you enjoyed the Section 5AA playoff game between Benson and Osakis last Tuesday night in Osakis.

However, if you didn’t or if you were a Braves’ fan, you didn’t enjoy Benson’s season-ending 54-12 loss to the Silverstreaks.

There were 10 touchdowns scored in the game, including eight by Osakis and two by Benson.  Seven of the scores involved plays of 26 yards or more, including touchdown runs of 45, 50, 56, and 77 yards.

Benson, seeded seventh in the section, fell behind 28-0 as Osakis scored four touchdowns over a 5 1/2-minute span.  The Brett Sulier ran 45 yards for a Benson touchdown to cut the deficit to 28-6 heading into halftime, but Osakis scored two quick touchdowns to start the second half and the rout was on.