By John Rittenhouse
Hills-Beaver Creek High School athletes produced a combined three wins at the Flandreau (S.D.) Wrestling Tournament Saturday.

Dusty Seachris and Kerry Fink, members of the Luverne-H-BC-Ellsworth wrestling squad, mixed it up at Saturday’s event.

Seachris went 2-2 to place fourth at 145 pounds.

Fink went 1-2 without placing at 130.

Seachris ran into Howard’s Scott Stangohr, the eventual runner-up at 145, in the tournament’s first round. Stangohr pinned Seachris 1:44 into the second period.

The Cardinal senior bounced back to pin Elk-Point Jefferson’s Mark Donnelly in 58 seconds before notching a 9-3 victory over Sioux Valley’s Burton Moe in the consolation rounds.

Seachris placed fourth when he lost by technical fall to Flandreau’s Wade Quick.

Fink was pinned at 1:36 by eventual 130-pound champion Derek Pirner, of EP-J, in the tournament’s first round.

Fink then pinned Flandreau’s Noah Luttman in 2:49 before being pinned in 2:14 by Garretson’s Sam Johnson in the consolation bracket.

L-H-BC-E placed seventh out of eight teams at the tournament. Cardinals’ Canaan Petersen and Cody Jagow placed second at 152 pounds and heavyweight respectively to lead the Cards in the event.

L-H-BC-E wrestles at the Jackson County Central Tournament Saturday before competing at the Garretson (S.D.) Triangular Tuesday.

Hills-Beaver Creek sophomore Kale Wiertzema prepares to shoot the ball during Friday’s boys’ basketball game against Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster in Hills. Wiertzema scored 11 first-half points to help the Patriots record their first victory of the season.

By John Rittenhouse
A fast start and a strong finish carried the Hills-Beaver Creek boys’ basketball team to its first victory of the season Friday in Hills.

Entertaining Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster for a non-conference clash, the young Patriots turned in a positive performance.

Their fast start allowed the Patriots to take a lead they would never relinquish, and the strong finish featured H-BC outscoring the Raiders 41-21 in the second half to win by 29 points.

H-BC raced to a 7-0 lead to start the game and led 14-2 with 4:21 remaining in the first quarter.

Kale Wiertzema led the charge by scoring five of his 11 first-half points in the first three minutes of the tilt.
SV-RL-B answered H-BC’s early run by scoring the final eight points of the first period to trail 14-10 at period’s end.

The Patriots extended their lead to eight points three different times in the first three minutes of the second quarter.

H-BC led by 10 points (27-17) with 1:30 remaining in the first half and sported a 31-19 lead when Clint Roozenboom connected for a field goal with 27 seconds left before the Raiders scored three points to trail 31-22 at the intermission.

The Patriots iced the contest in the third quarter, when they went on a 23-8 run to open a 54-30 advantage.

Tyson Metzger, who had a double-double for H-BC with 16 points and 13 rebounds, led the way in the third quarter by netting eight points.

H-BC padded the final margin of victory to 18 points by outscoring SV-RL-B 18-13 in the fourth quarter.

Jesse Leuthold scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half for H-BC, which led by as many as 31 points in the fourth quarter.

Wiertzema added seven assists and six rebounds to the cause, while Tyler Bush chipped in six rebounds, six steals and six assists. Trey Van Wyhe contributed five rebounds and three steals to the winning cause.

A 42-20 rebounding cushion and better shooting from the floor (47-37 percent) played key roles in H-BC’s win.

Box score
Bush 3 0 2-5 8, Elbers 0 0 0-0 0, Wysong 0 0 2-2 2, Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 3 0 3-6 9, Broesder 1 0 2-4 4, Wiertzema 3 1 2-2 11, Metzger 4 1 5-8 16, Leuthold 6 0 2-2 14, Van Wyhe 4 0 0-2 8, Spykerboer 0 0 0-0 0.

Team statistics
H-BC: 26 of 55 field goals (47 percent), 18 of 31 free throws (58 percent), 42 rebounds, 21 turnovers.
SV-RL-B: 18 of 49 field goals (37 percent), five of nine free throws (56 percent), 20 rebounds, 21 turnovers.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek Patriot girls’ basketball team knocked off long-time rival Southwest Christian in a Red Rock Conference game played in Hills Thursday.

The Patriots struggled to score points in the second and third quarters, but they scored enough in the first and fourth periods to set the stage to a 38-29 win.

H-BC’s nine-point win upped its RRC record to 2-0 in the young season.

The victory, however, didn’t come easy.

Leading 21-13 at the intermission after a five-point third quarter, H-BC’s shooting woes continued in the third period. SWC battled back to knot the score before the Patriots regained the lead at 25-23 heading into the fourth quarter.

The E-Gals tied the game again early in the fourth quarter before the Patriots used a late surge to outscore SWC 13-6 in the period.

"We got a few transition baskets, got a few steals and made a few free throws to pull away in the final four minutes," said Patriot coach Tom Goehle.

H-BC also played well in the first quarter.

Cassi Tilstra, who led the Patriots with six assists, scored six of her 10 points to help the Patriots double (16-8) SWC’s scoring output in the first eight minutes of play.

The fast start for H-BC was followed by cold-shooting efforts in the second and third quarters.

"We went stone cold in the second and third quarters," said Goehle. "It’s unbelievable to score nine points in the second and third quarters and still win the game."

Erin Boeve had a double-double for the Patriots with 15 rebounds and 10 points.

Brittney Rozeboom charted 10 points, nine rebounds and six steals.

H-BC turned the ball over eight fewer times (20-12) than SWC, and that helped the Patriots overcome a rough night at the charity stripe (11 of 26).

Box score
B.Rozeboom 2 1 3-9 10, Tilstra 3 0 4-10 10, S.Rozeboom 2 0 0-0 4, Boeve 4 0 2-5 10, Olson 0 0 2-2 2, Mulder 1 0 0-0 2.

Team statistics
H-BC: 13 of 47 field goals (28 percent), 11 of 26 free throws (42 percent), 39 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
SWC: 11 of 37 field goals (30 percent), seven of 11 free throws (63 percent), 38 rebounds, 20 turnovers.

By Jolene Farley
For nearly 20 years, the Steen Reformed Church choir has presented a Cantata during the Christmas season.

This year’s "Hark! The Angels Sing," by Dennis and Nan Allen, was performed Sunday, Dec. 8, but practices began Oct. 1 under the direction of Steen’s Sharon Top. Top has directed since 1996.

Twenty-one singers performed in the 40-minute production, and Hills-Beaver Creek High School students played the drama parts.

The search for a cantata to perform begins early in the year, according to pianist Lorraine Sandbulte.
"Sharon likes to do something new every time," Sandbulte said.

Five or six samples are checked out from Crossroads Book and Music, Sioux Falls, and the directors listen to them and narrow down the selections.

"It just kind of has to appeal to us," Sandbulte said. "Whether it’s the difficulty of the music or the range."

She said the event is well-attended, unless the weather is uncooperative.

Last-minute touches on the production continue until the actual performance.

The final pages of the Cantata are fine-tuned in the final days of practice, and this year, a platform for the angels above the choir was also added.

"As long as they’re not afraid of heights, they’ll be alright," Sandbulte said.

When asked what she enjoys about accompanying the choir for the cantata Sandbulte said, "touching the people’s hearts."

By Jolene Farley
The state of Minnesota’s new system of funding education has jeopardized students’ futures, has taken funding options away from rural school districts and hasn’t done that many favors to local property tax payers.

That’s the position asserted by the Minnesota Rural Education Association in a video detailing the effect of the 2001 property tax reform on rural Minnesota schools.

The Hills-Beaver Creek School Board and Superintendent Dave Deragisch reviewed the video, "Tax Reform One Year Later," at a recent meeting, and Deragisch agrees with the MREA.

"I thought what they said was very true for rural state of Minnesota schools," he said.

It is MREA’s position that the dramatic property tax reform left students with less stable funding, rural school districts with smaller tax bases, students with less funding and taxpayers with increasing property tax bills.

Cost of the takeover
It cost $1 billion to remove education from property tax rolls, according to MREA. When the economy was doing well, costs where covered by surplus sales and income tax revenues. By the second year, after an economic slowdown, the legislature turned to the schools to borrow to cover the cost.

Less stable funding
Dollars are no longer dedicated exclusively to education. In the past, local property taxes paid one-third of the entire cost of education.

"Education is forced to compete with other aspects of state budgets," said the video. "The takeover left education with less stable revenue."

Rural districts have smaller tax bases
MREA maintains that students in rural districts went from a buying power comparable to students in metro districts to having a tax base only one-half as big.

With the removal of agricultural land from the tax rolls, homes and businesses in rural areas may be unable to sustain the cost of excess levies.

If property tax is used to increase basic education funding, MREA believes:

It should be a statewide general education tax on all property.

It must be levied by the state and not at the discretion of local school boards.

It must be fully equalized to be fair to each student.

Students with
less funding
Districts are funded on a per pupil basis by the legislature. Administrators and school boards are sometimes unable to trim costs as quickly as they lose students.

Deragisch agrees. "Everything is based on student pupil numbers, in the rural schools we struggle every year to maintain our number of students," he said.

Currently throughout the state, increased costs are driven by higher special education costs, health insurance cost increases, technology costs, and limited English usage.

Internet access charges for students vary from district to district. For example, the cost per student per year in one district is $530 while in another metro district the cost is $1 per student per year.

In 2003, state funding to equalize technology will be eliminated.

Limited English costs have increased by 230 percent in the last 10 years, according to the video.

Property taxes creep up
Decreased tax burdens implemented in 2002 are creeping back to higher 2001 levels.

Operating or bond levies for schools increased 66 percent between 2002-03.

The dramatic buy down of school levies in 2002 could make a 2003 increase appear large or property valuation increases, from 8 to 10 percent over the last four years, could contribute.

Reimbursement of consistent costs
Deragisch thinks the state should reimburse districts for costs that are consistent from one district to the next, regardless of whether the district is rural or metropolitan. This reimbursement wouldn’t be driven by enrollment.

Some fixed costs are heat, fuel and special education. Every district pays for these costs no matter how many students are in the district.

"There’s direct costs that could be funded that are constant throughout the state," he said.

With a $4.6 billion projected state deficit, Deragisch doubts the new administration, under Governor Tim Pawlenty, will solve funding problems in the near future.

"I along with every superintendent in Minnesota is nervous as to how the schools will be affected," he said. "Any reduction in school funding would be devastating to a lot of school districts."

Deragisch would like to see the state fund mandated programs. "We have mandates, and many times, they are funded the first year and then the funding is absorbed and we still have the reoccurring costs."

Adequate, predictable funding is the goal
MREA is an association of 150 school districts, about 40 percent of the state’s independent school districts, located in non-metropolitan Minnesota, according to their Web site.

The organization was founded in 1985 by a group of school board members and administrators who believed that non-metro school districts need a clearer voice in St. Paul. Members include teachers, school board members, and administrators.

MREA’s 2003 platform includes adequate, predictable funding which includes the full cost of special education mandates, a continued state commitment to equitably and entirely fund basic education, broad technology access and more state technology support and incentives to reorganize district administrative and financial services.

The sixth annual Winterfest celebration brought lots of light to downtown Luverne Saturday and heavy traffic throughout the town. The Parade of Lights drew onlookers from Steen trying to stay warm while watching from the curb. Pictured are Dallas (left) and Dylan Kroon.

Photo by Sara Strong

The Steen Reformed Church performed the cantata "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" Sunday nite.
Jeremy Elbers, Esther Oehlschlagel and Carter Roozenboom played Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. Story inside

Photo by Jolene Farley

Adrian senior guard Dusty Henning sets up to shoot the ball during Saturday’s basketball game against Southwest Star Concept in Adrian. Henning scored six points and snared eight rebounds during a 62-59 loss to the Quasars.

By John Rittenhouse
The Adrian boys’ broke into the win column Tuesday by pulling out a one-point victory over Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in Tyler.

The win followed a two-point loss to Southwest Christian in Edgerton Friday and a three-point home loss to Southwest Star Concept Saturday.

Adrian, 1-3 overall, plays in Mountain Lake tonight and at Edgerton Public Tuesday. The Dragons host Luverne Friday.

Adrian 54, R-T-R 53
A pair of clutch free throws down the stretch gave the Dragons a one-point win over the Knights Tuesday in Tyler.

After leading most of the game, Adrian found itself facing a 53-52 deficit late in the game. Dragon Pete Hohn was fouled with 12 seconds left, and the senior drained a pair of charity shots to provide Adrian with the game-clinching points.

Adrian sported 14-4, 28-21 and 40-38 leads at the first three quarter breaks before winning the contest in dramatic fashion.

"We didn’t play real well, but we got our first win," said Dragon coach Chris Rozell. "Hopefully, after losing three close games, this one will bring some confidence back."

Hohn’s free throws capped a 12-point, three steal, three-assist performance. Kyle Knips had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Casey Knips latched on to 12 rebounds, and Brandon Wolf recorded seven assists.

Box score
Hohn 5 0 2-2 12, Wolf 1 0 1-1 3, Henning 1 0 0-0 2, Spieker 3 0 0-0 6, Block 1 0 0-0 2, Lynn 2 0 0-0 4, K.Knips 7 0 0-1 14, Brake 1 0 0-0 2, C.Knips 4 0 1-3 9.

Team statistics
Adrian: 24 of 60 field goals (40 percent), four of seven free throws (57 percent), 40 rebounds, 17 turnovers.
R-T-R: 21 of 64 field goals (33 percent), 10 of 17 free throws (59 percent), 30 rebounds, 16 turnovers.

SSC 62, Adrian 59
Three free throws in the game’s final minute gave the Quasars a three-point victory over the home-standing Dragons Saturday.

Adrian, which led 47-45 entering the fourth quarter, found itself facing a 56-52 deficit before battling back to tie the score at 56 and 59 late in the period.

SSC’s Tyler Leopold snapped the deadlock by draining a pair of free throws with less than one minute remaining, and another charity shot by Jody Hansen with 8.4 seconds remaining provided the Quasars with a three-point win.

SSC led 10-7 in the first quarter before Adrian put together a 9-0 run featuring five points from David Brake to take a 16-10 lead.

The Quasars trimmed the difference to three points (16-13) by the end of the first quarter before outscoring AHS 20-9 in the first six minutes of the second quarter to open a 33-25 lead.

A field goal by Adrian’s Casey Knips capped a 5-0 run to bring the Dragons within three points at 33-30, but SSC scored four of the final six points of the first half to sport a 37-32 lead at intermission.

Adrian pulled within one point of SSC three times in the third quarter before moving in front 43-42 with a field goal from Kyle Knips at the 1:27 mark. The game was tied at 45 when Dragon Dusty Henning converted an offensive rebound into a field goal with one second remaining to give AHS a 47-45 lead heading into the fateful fourth quarter.

Brake led the Dragons in scoring with 17 points. Kyle Knips added 13 points and snared seven rebounds. Henning and Casey Knips grabbed eight rebounds each, Pete Hohn charted five assists and four steals, and Brandon Wolf recorded four steals.

Box score
Hohn 4 0 0-0 8, Wolf 1 1 1-2 6, Henning 3 0 0-0 6, Klingenberg 0 0 0-0 0, Spieker 1 0 0-0 2, Block 1 0 0-0 2, Lynn 1 0 1-2 3, K.Knips 5 0 3-4 13, Brake 5 0 7-10 17, C.Knips 1 0 0-0 2.

Team statistics
Adrian: 23 of 60 field goals (38 percent), 12 of 18 free throws (67 percent), 40 rebounds, 11 turnovers.
SSC: 17 of 58 field goals (29 percent), 23 of 35 free throws (66 percent), 38 rebounds, seven turnovers.

SWC 53, Adrian 51
The Dragons made a bid to upset four-time defending state champion SWC before falling two points short in Edgerton Friday.

Adrian, which sported a four-point lead during the fourth quarter, had a player on the free-throw line with a chance to tie the game with three seconds remaining.

After the first charity shot was missed, Dragon coach Rozell instructed his player to intentionally miss the second shot in hopes of getting a rebound. The player followed the instructions, and Adrian did rebound the missed free throw, but the potential game-tying shot was off the mark.

SWC sported 15-10, 24-20 and 36-34 leads at the first three quarter breaks.

Pete Hohn scored 17 points, nabbed seven rebounds and led the Dragons with five assists. Wolf added 15 points, Casey Knips had nine rebounds and Cliff Lynn chipped in four steals.

Box score
Hohn 7 0 3-4 17, Wolf 1 4 1-3 15, Henning 0 1 4-4 7, Klingenberg 0 0 0-0 0, Spieker 1 0 3-5 5, Block 0 0 0-0 0, Lynn 0 0 0-0 0, K.Knips 1 0 3-6 5, Brake 0 0 0-0 0, C.Knips 1 0 0-1 2.

Team statistics
Adrian: 16 of 39 field goals (41 percent), 14 of 23 free throws (61 percent), 33 rebounds, 16 turnovers.
SWC: 16 of 40 field goals (40 percent), 11 of 26 free throws (42 percent), 28 rebounds, 18 turnovers.

Hills-Beaver Creek sophomore Kale Wiertzema (31) challenges the drive of a Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster player during Friday’s boys’ basketball game in Hills. Wiertzema scored 11 points to help H-BC notch its first win of the season against the Raiders.

By John Rittenhouse
The Hills-Beaver Creek boys’ basketball team posted a win and a loss over the weekend.

The Patriots downed Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster by 29 points in Hills Friday before losing a nine-point home decision to Central Lyon (Iowa) Saturday.

H-BC, 1-2 overall, plays at Edgerton Public tonight before hosting Southwest Christian Tuesday.

CL 83, H-BC 74
A hot-shooting Central Lyon squad gunned its way to a nine-point win over the Patriots in Hills Saturday.

The Lions drained 59 percent of their field goals in the game to set the stage for victory.

H-BC sported an 18-15 edge after eight minutes of play before CL moved in front 43-33 at the intermission with a 28-15 scoring advantage in the second quarter.

The Lions led 65-52 heading into the final eight minutes of play, when H-BC used a 22-18 scoring edge to trim the final margin to nine points.

Tyson Metzger led H-BC with 21 points and eight rebounds. Jesse Leuthold netted 12 points and collected seven rebounds, while Trey Van Wyhe struck for 12 points and six rebounds. Tyler Bush, who led H-BC with five steals, recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists. Kale Wiertzema added 16 points and six assists to the cause.

Box score
Bush 3 1 2-4 11, Wysong 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 1 0 0-0 2, Broesder 0 0 0-0 0, Wiertzema 5 2 0-0 16, Metzger 6 0 9-13 21, Leuthold 4 0 4-5 12, Van Wyhe 4 0 4-6 12.

Team statistics
H-BC: 26 of 70 field goals (37 percent), 19 of 28 free throws (68 percent), 31 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
CL: 32 of 54 field goals (59 percent), 15 of 22 free throws (68 percent), 30 rebounds, 21 turnovers.

H-BC 72, SV-RL-B 43
The Patriots posted their first win of the season when they rolled to a 29-point home victory over the Raiders Friday.

H-BC opened a nine-point halftime advantage before outscoring SV-RL-B 41-21 in the second half to win handily.

With Wiertzema netting five of his 11 points to set the pace, H-BC scored the game’s first seven points and led 14-2 midway through the first quarter before SV-RL-B put together an 8-0 run to make it a 14-10 game at the quarter break.

The Patriots padded their lead to 12 points (31-19) when Clint Roozenboom drained a field goal with 27 seconds left in the second period, but the Raiders scored the final three points of the first half to trim the difference to nine points (31-22) at the intermission.

H-BC put the game out of reach in the third quarter by outscoring the Raiders 23-8 while extending its lead to 54-30.

The Patriots led by as many as 31 points in the fourth quarter before settling for a 29-point win.

Metzger, who led H-BC with 16 points and 13 rebounds, led the third-quarter charge by scoring eight points in the period. Leuthold, who had 14 points in the game, scored 10 counters in the second half.

Wiertzema had seven assists and six rebounds for the winners. Bush had six rebounds, six steals and six assists. Van Wyhe added five rebounds and three steals to the cause.

Box score
Bush 3 0 2-5 8, Elbers 0 0 0-0 0, Wysong 0 0 2-2 2, Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, Roozenboom 3 0 3-6 9, Broesder 1 0 2-4 4, Wiertzema 3 1 2-2 11, Metzger 4 1 5-8 16, Leuthold 6 0 2-2 14, Van Wyhe 4 0 0-2 8, Spykerboer 0 0 0-0 0.

Team statistics
H-BC: 26 of 55 field goals (47 percent), 18 of 31 free throws (58 percent), 42 rebounds, 21 turnovers.
SV-RL-B: 18 of 49 field goals (37 percent), five of nine free throws (56 percent), 20 rebounds, 21 turnovers.