Sports News

Ben Gordon and Andrew Mikkelsen are playing in the 2007 9-man Shrine Bowl tomorrow (Saturday) at Dakota field in Fargo.
Kickoff for the July 21 9-man game is 7 p.m. The 11-man game kicks off at 4 p.m.
Gordon and Mikkelsen played for the Hillsboro Burros’ playoff team last year. The two spring HHS graduates will play for the east Shrine Bowl team. Gordon quarterbacked the Burros in 2006. Mikkelsen was a running back for coach Mark Rerick’s Burros.
Central Valley’s Aaron Delvo and Jason Novacek are also playing for the east team.
Rerick and Central Valley’s Randy Vigen are on the east team’s coaching staff. Head coach for the east team is Napoleon’s Dave Laber.
This is the 34th annual Shine Bowl.
Two other Hillsboro 2007 graduates, Keith Asheim and Lee Siegert, played for Team North Dakota in last week’s Saskota Bowl in Rolla, won by Team Canada, 28-20. Team North Dakota holds a 3-1 edge in the North Dakota-Saskatchewan football game featuring high school seniors.
Ashley Haines, Hillsboro’s all-state volleyball player, participated in the annual East-West volleyball matches played last month. The west all-star senior team of Class A and B players won the Bismarck match while east team, featuring Haines, won the match played in Fargo.

Blue Sox splitdoublehader with Casselton
The Hillsboro-Central Valley American Legion baseball team has a busy week ahead, playing four games in five days.
The H-CV Blue Sox play Mayville at Reynolds Sunday. Thompson plays in Hillsboro Tuesday night.
The Sox are in Fargo Wednesday, playing the Bombers, and in Hatton Thursday.
The section tourney starts Aug. 1 in Hatton.
The Blue Sox are 5-5 in league play and 14-11 overall.
The local Legion team split a double header last Friday with Casselton. The Blue Sox on the first game, 3-2, but dropped the second game, 16-8.
In another twin bill last week, the Sox were tripped twice by Hope-Page, 4-2 and 10-1.

Five local athletes and two local coaches have been chosen for the 2007 Shrine Bowl, the 34th annual all-star North Dakota high school football game.
Named to the 9-man East team were seniors Ben Gordon and Andrew “Gumpy” Mikkelsen, both from Hillsboro; and seniors Dustin Brend, Aaron Delvo and Jason Novacek, all of Central Valley. Twenty-five players were selected for the 9-man East team along with 15 alternates.
Their coaches — Mark Rerick of Hillsboro and Randy Vigen of Central Valley — were picked as assistant coaches for the 9-man East team.
Two East-West games (11-man and 9-man) are scheduled July 21 at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks.
Players will report for practice at UND and NDSU July 15.

After claiming a spot in the state dual tournament, Hillsboro’s wrestling team earned three Region 2 individual championships and qualified seven more wrestlers for the state tournament this weekend in Fargo.
At the region tournament last Saturday in Carrington, Burro coaches were hoping 10 of their 13 competitors would earn berths in the state meet — and 10 did.
“We had a great tournament,” said coach Eric Ptacek. “We thought we had a good chance of qualifying anywhere from eight to 10 and we ended up getting 10. That is great!” (more…)

With just one game remaining on their schedule, the Hillsboro Burro boys basketball team will start preparing Tuesday for the District 3 basketball tournament, starting next Friday at Mayville.
The Burros, who hosted Larimore last night at the Events Center, play at Halstad Monday night in the last regular season game on the 2006-2007 schedule. The Burros haven’t played either team this year.
Hillsboro, 2-6 conference, 5-12 overall before last night’s game with the Polar Bears, can expect a six or seven seed in the district tournament. (more…)

Walking wounded.
Burro wrestling coach Eric Ptacek can count his healthy wrestlers on one hand.
Healthy or not, his 13 regulars — plus three junior-high aged reserves — were eager to hit the mat this weekend at the state dual tournament in Fargo.
A sore shoulder, a braced ankle or a case of walking pneumonia wasn’t enough to keep the Burros from wrestling this weekend — nothing was keeping them from giving their all at state.
The Burros coaches — Ptacek and Mark McLean — know it won’t be easy with a bumped and bruised bunch — a bunch that’s long on talent but short on experience. (more…)

A team of destiny?
Hillsboro, which hasn’t played in a regional girls basketball tournament in eight years, is returning to the second round of post-season play for the first time since 1998.
The Burros, coached by Kyle Morehart, play Fordville-Lankin-Park River Monday night in quarterfinal action of the Region 2 girls basketball tournament. The region tourney will be played at The Betty in Grand Forks, home to the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux men’s and women’s basketball teams. (more…)

State-bound.
For the first time since 2002, the Hillsboro Burro wrestling team will compete in the state dual tournament.
The favored-but-battered Burros “survived” the Region 2 qualifying tournament, eking out a win in a tie-breaker and overcoming a challenge match to secure a “true 2nd” place finish.
“The team accomplished a goal the Burros have had for five years now,” coach Eric Ptacek said.
With a 10-0 dual record in the region, Hillsboro entered the tournament at Central Cass Feb. 3 as the No. 1 seed. The Burros opened with a 48-27 win over Harvey.
“Good enough,” remarked coach Eric Ptacek. (more…)

Riding a six-game wining streak and ranked in the statewide media poll, the Hillsboro girls basketball team lost its last regular-season game Tuesday, losing to the Norman County West Panthers, 49-36, at the Hillsboro Events Center.
The 14-5 Burros, tied for first in the final District 3 standings and seeded third in this week’s tourney, play the Thompson Tommies in the final game of the first round Saturday.
Tip-off for the Hillsboro-Thompson game is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse on the Mayville State University campus.
Hillsboro, Dakota Prairie and Hatton-Northwood each finished the regular season schedule 12-2 in the district standings. Dakota Prairie was given the No. 1 seed. Hatton-Northwood was seeded second, after the names of the three schools were drawn from a hat. (more…)

In one of their better games of the year, Hillsboro beat Griggs County Central last Friday on the Burros’ home court only to play one of their poorer games three nights later in a 51-29 loss to Thompson at the Hillsboro Events Center.
The 5-10 Burros, who played Dakota Prairie at McVille last night, are at home tonight (Friday) against the Hatton-Northwood Thunder.
Hillsboro’s 29 points against the Tommies Tuesday night were the fewest scored in a game this year. Against the Cougars Saturday night, three players scored in double figures in the Burros’ 50-31 victory. (more…)

Hillsboro 55 Cavalier 15
103 - Oakly Zink (H) pinned Chris Miller 3:00; 112 - Josh Riendeau (H) pinned Ryan Cleem 1:22; 119 - Tyler Anderson (H) pinned Kyle Williamson 2:31; 125 - Nick LaWonn (C) over Alex McLean 9-8; 130 - DevinDeMaine (C) pinned Tanner Boeddeker 4:54; 135 - Lee Mooney (H) over Drew Sagert 8-2; 140 - Anthony Von Ruden (H) won by forfeit; 145 (more…)