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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2022 | BRAINERD DISPATCH
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You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch: Trying WR ā W LQ XS QRUWK LQ Brainerd for 3½ years
HO HO HO: JUST THE FACTS hen I started writing a Christmas column years ago it began as a sarcastic piece poking fun at pro and college athletes and coaches with probably a few lame jokes sprinkled in. That tone continued until an emailer ripped me a new one for what he considered amateurish, smalltown journalism. So since then I’ve pretty much abandoned any attempt at humor and go with, as fictional Los Angeles Police detective Joe Friday used to say in “Dragnet,” “Just the facts Ma’am.” It’s a fact that in the last 12 months my wife, Judy, and I have taken to the skies for a few Gopher football trips put on by Creative Charter in Stillwater. Our most recent trip was to watch Minnesota play Penn State in the annual White Out game at State College, Penn., where literally every Nittany Lions fan wears white. The atmosphere is electric and it’s an event on many sports fans’ bucket list. It’s a spectacle to see almost 110,000 fans clad in white waving white towels and cheering from one end of the stadium to the other. Seating was possibly the most disappointing aspect of the game. Other than a few areas, Beaver Stadium features almost exclusively bleacher seating (no backrests) with an estimated 13 inches wide
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per seat. My knees were knocking into the backs of people in front of me and I was kneed in the back by people behind me. It was somewhat of an uncomfortable 3-plus hours but that was nullified by the atmosphere. With seemingly every one of the 100,000 fans tailgating, it was a spectacle much greater than Met Stadium in Bloomington used to be for Vikings games. Every parking lot was jammed with grills, beverages, board games and more. Before and during the game, Penn State fans chant their famous “We are Penn State (3 times). Thank you. You’re welcome.” The chant dates back to 1946 when Penn State refused to play the thensegregated University of Miami. When Penn State was told it must leave its black players at home, the team voted unanimously to cancel the trip. In 1947, the question rose again, and a Nittany Lions player said, “We are Penn State,” so the team went on to play Southern Methodist in a Cotton Bowl game that became symbolic of desegregation in athletics. I’m always concerned about how a home
team’s fans treat outof-towners dressed in opposing colors. But Penn State fans were among the most hospitable we’ve ever encountered. Some even stopped us to ask if we were being treated properly. Not once did we feel disrespected or intimidated. Included in the trip was an inspiring stay in historic Gettysburg to visit the Gettysburg National Battlefield, site of a turning point in the Civil War. Among the many markers in the Gettysburg National Military Park is a memorial where Pres. Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address in 1863. In addition, the town of Gettysburg is packed with other historic locations including where Lincoln stayed the night before his speech and where he got off the train. Late December 2021 included a trip to the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix where Minnesota beat West Virginia at Chase Field, home of baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Not sure why the game was played in a domed baseball stadium when State Farm Stadium in Glendale, 18 miles away, is home to the NFL’s Phoenix Cardinals. Sod was brought into Chase Field to create a football field. Grass would have been fine had jumpers not parachuted through the retractable roof as it began to rain and
made players’ footing slippery all night long. Thankfully the roof closed when all of the parachutists had safely landed. The Kimpton Hotel Palomar, a few blocks from Chase Field, is probably the nicest hotel at which we’ve ever stayed. One of its floors featured an open-air section that provided a stunning view of the activity in downtown Phoenix and at the Footprint Center across the street, home of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. In between football trips was a month spent in Sun City West, Ariz., which is surrounded by spring training ballparks. Unfortunately, there was a lockout so spring training games didn’t start until we were long gone. There were college baseball games played during that time which oftentimes are just as enjoyable or better than MLB games. Otherwise, I finished my fourth season as assistant coach of the Brainerd Warriors junior varsity baseball team. Although I’m a coaching novice, in my estimation, the most rewarding part of coaching is not wins and losses. It’s the relationships you build with players during the season and beyond. Now I know why people want to coach. After taking a year off in 2019, my first year of retirement, I’ve
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MALE AREA ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Yorek starts Nordic ski season strong By Conrad Engstrom Brainerd Dispatch Ethan Yorek comes from a skiing family. Now a senior at Little Falls, the younger Yorek has started the season s t r o n g , including a win in the Mora Nordic ski Invitational Saturday, Dec. 17. Yorek won Yorek with a time of 39:19 which helped the Flyers boys’ team finish first. Yorek skied the classic in 21:02 and the skate in 18:17. Both were top times. “It was a good course for me,” Yorek said. “It was a longer race, which I enjoyed. It was also super flat which was nice for the classic race because it’s not super technical. So, I was able to just kind of double-pull it. You don’t need a ton of technique, you can just kind of hammer it out.” Little Falls head coach Mattia Hendrickson said Yorek is always motivated when it comes time to race. “He is always striv-
ing to do his best and leave everything he has out there in the race,” she said. “He’s always trying to push himself to be stronger and faster. In this race, he went out with a significant lead, so we talked about how to continuously push yourself and continue to get stronger. He ended up making a bigger gain on the guys chasing him because he was racing himself to see how fast he could go.” Connor Grant and Elliott Oberton both finished in the top five for the Flyers at Mora. Alexander Oberton was in the top 10. “It’s incredible to have everyone looking out for the team,” Yorek said. “Everyone wants to do well and make sure we are pushing each other at practice and keeping things going during the workouts. It’s a super cool environment for sure.” Hendrickson said it’s fun to watch her team compete at practice. “When they are doing workouts, they are pushing each other super hard and are very, very competitive,” she said. “At the same time, they
get along really well and I’m proud of the team in how they put it all out there, but if someone needs something they can put that aside and be friends and good teammates after.” Yorek teamed up with Elliott Oberton to win the sprint relays at Detroit Mountain Nov. 29. “He’s a strong overall skier,” Hendrickson said. “We have always been able to rely on him to put together a good race every time we are on the course. Whether it’s classic, skate or combo he is just overall a very strong skier.” Both Yorek and Hendrickson said the biggest improvement he’s made is in his classic technique. “The coaching is incredible,” Yorek said. “Mattia does an incredible job of making sure we video each other at practice and see our forms side-by-side. Practices are great and they really know what they are doing. Connor (Grant) and Mattia have helped greatly in improving my form and it’s been nice to have that improvement.” Hendrickson added:
“His classic ski has come a long way in the past couple of years. He proved it with his classic and skate times in Mora. He’s always working on getting faster.” Yorek’s older brother, Colton, was someone Ethan looked up to as a skier. His older brother Grant Yorek graduated last year. “Colton is the one who got me into it,” Yorek said. “Definitely having the older brothers to keep me going and they are always super encouraging. It’s all my family.” Yorek is a Flyer captain. He said he tries to lead by example. “Working hard in the workouts and trying to let my work ethic speak for itself,” Yorek said. Hendrickson added: “He is really a strong leader. He leads quietly, but through his actions. He is a positive leader for his teammates and has a lot of positive things to say. He is motivating others and we are going to miss his leadership next year.” Last season, Yorek missed All-State honors
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Whoville few weeks before I, the lakes area sports grinch, moved to Brainerd to start my job as the newest sports scribe for the Dispatch, I had a conversation with my former junior varsity basketball coach and high school activities director Curt Wetsel at church. Wetsel retired after 36 years as the AD at the wonderful New Life Academy in Woodbury (not New Hope) in 2016. “I’m excited for you to go up to Brainerd,” he told me. “You’ll cover my old football coach Ron Stolski. He’s a great guy and coach.” Wetsel, a 1967 Princeton High School graduate, played for Stolski a few stops before Stolski came to Brainerd in 1975. So I’ll be covering your high school football coach and you retired three years ago, I thought to myself. What am I getting myself into? (I also tell this story to remind you, the reader, that I did in fact go to a private high school. Wade Haapajoki just stopped reading.) Well, after a season of “off the record interviews” and lessons
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on the “Warrior Way,” Brainerd went 3-7 in my first season covering Stolski and Warrior football in 2019. Stolski retired from the sidelines in January of 2020. I highly doubt a naive 23-year-old reporter taking over the Warrior football beat made him retire, but it was an honor and a privilege to document the last season of a coaching icon and legend. I guess the 2019 football season was the start of what became known as the “Conrad Curse.” Before I could even finish a year in the lakes area, a virus swept through the nation and canceled the spring season of 2020. The first baseball game I’d cover as a Dispatch reporter was a VFW 16U game. Jason Freed, who took over for Stolski as the new Warrior football coach, won his
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FEMALE AREA ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Oehrlein tabs a near triple-double By Conrad Engstrom Brainerd Dispatch After a slow start to the season by her standards, Tori Oehrlein picked things up last week. The Crosby-Ironton freshman scored 39 points and recorded 22 rebounds and nine assists in the RangOehrlein ers’ 77-68 win over Wadena-Deer Creek Monday, Dec. 12. It was C-I’s only game of the week and improved the team to 2-2. “What was going well for me was our defense was pretty good,” Oehrlein said. “My drives were going really well too.” Oehrlein was held to under 20 points in the Rangers opening losses to Proctor and Albany to start the season. She poured in 23 points in C-I’s first win of the season against Esko Dec. 8. Things clicked for Oehrlein against WDC as she was more aggressive, attempting 29 field goals and making 16 of them. “The first three games I was not playing the way I should’ve,” Oehrlein said. “I was
playing more passive and not as aggressive. Now I’m getting into the flow.” C-I head coach Peter Vukelich said some of his actions during the WDC game might’ve helped Oehrlein be more aggressive. “It was probably after I got my (technical foul),” he said with a laugh. “I like to walk up and down the sidelines and when the coach can’t be in your ear all the time I think she really took the on-court leadership to the next level in that second half.” Oehrlein wasn’t the only player to reach 30 points in the game as WDC’s Madison Carsten put in 33 points in a losing effort. “It was fun to see when you take a step back after the game,” Vukelich said. “I didn’t realize (Carsten) had 30 until I looked at the book afterward. It was a quiet 30 and it’s not too often you can say that. I knew she was scoring, but I didn’t think it was that much.” Despite being a freshman, Oehrlein is the two-time Brainerd Dispatch All-Area Player of the Year. As an eighth grader, she finished 826 points (29.5 per game), 321 rebounds (12.3 per
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2022 | BRAINERD DISPATCH
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Even Freed mentioned the elephant in the room at the end-of-year football banquet: “This year, we broke the ‘Conrad Curse,’” he said. Let it be known that I’m not the only grinch in the lakes area. My Twitter timeline in the fall gets flooded every football Friday with armchair coaches who bash Freed and his staff. Get a clue. Freed promptly shoved it right in the faces of all the haters by winning Coach of the Year in the subdistrict. Offensive Coordinator Troy Nelson, who received his fair share of Scrooge McDuck commentary from these Twitter trolls, also got the last laugh as he won assistant coach of the year in the subdistrict. Well deserved for both coaches if you ask me. I’d be lying if I said Brainerd hasn’t grown on me and made this Grinch’s cold heart a little bigger. Schoeck was gracious enough to allow me to join him in the gym and help coach the boys’ basketball team this summer and fall. It was fun to be back in the gym in a team environment. It also gave me a chance to play with the high schoolers to see how washed I’ve become. Predictably, my first time playing 5-on-5 this summer I got a steal and as I’m about to start the fast break with the ball in my hands, I trip and fall to the floor like it was a Slip ‘N Slide. After the embarrassment, I knew I was washed. If you don’t believe me, senior guard Nick Evanson will gladly tell you. (Side note: The Rad-Evanson combo has never lost on the golf course). It would be foolish of me to not mention tennis in this manifesto. I dubbed myself the lakes area’s best tennis reporter on Twitter in one of my “‘hey, I’m working’” tweets I do when I’m at an event. Brainerd activities director Jack Freeman now strictly refers to me by the acronym TLABTR. And what’s not to like
about Warrior tennis? The boys’ tennis team won the Central Lakes Conference title outright in May after Eli McConkey won a second-set tiebreaker 7-3 at No. 3 singles to knock off St. Cloud 4-3. He was carried off the tennis court by his teammates like he was Rudy and I was there for it. The girls’ tennis team followed the boys with an 8-0 Central Lakes Conference record and their fourth consecutive conference title this fall. There are so many cool moments that happened over the last year that I got to tell the story of: Girls basketball winning its first playoff game since 2012; girls’ hockey coach Tate Rusk giving me a big bear hug at center ice in Fergus Falls after his team won the Section 8-2A title against Moorhead to reach state; Andrew Albright winning the state title in the shot put, which boys’ track and field coach Rod Reuer said was the first state champion he’d coached. My boss, Jeremy Millsop, covered most of the Brainerd Warrior softball team’s journey to a secondplace state finish in Class 4A. However, the one softball game I covered last spring was a thrilling 2-1 win over Forest Lake which clinched a perfect regular season for the Warriors. It’s hard to be too much of a Grinch when I get paid to go cover these games with great coaches and athletes, who always take time to answer questions after wins and losses. A special shoutout goes to Brainerd running backs coach John Stumpf, whose truck transported the Grinch to and from away football games this fall. I’m thankful for the power strip in his truck, so I could file my stories on the road and be home by midnight most Friday nights. It also gives me a chance to remind Stumpf I’ve written nearly 1,200 words without mentioning
Pequot Lakes which he jokes is “my favorite school.” And he’s right. I’ve written enough about the Patriots and their state-caliber girls’ basketball, boys’ basketball and volleyball teams. I’m excited to see what 2023 will bring. I sincerely thank you for
Year: Freshman School: Crosby-Ironton Sport: Basketball Position: Guard Highlights: She recorded 39 points, 22 rebounds and nine assists in a win against Wadena-Deer Creek.
CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-8555861 or conrad.engstrom@ brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ the_rad34.
ETHAN YOREK Year: Senior School: Little Falls Sport: Nordic ski Highlights: He won the Mora Invite with a pursuit time of 39:19 to help the Flyers finish first as a team.
by four spots. He finished 29th in 31:15.5 which led the Flyers to a 13th-place finish at state. As a sophomore, Yorek finished 30th at state in 21:47.4. He also raced in state as a freshman and placed 97th. “I’m hoping to get All-State this year if I make it,” Yorek said. “It would be super cool and something I am reaching for.” Other notable performances: Basketball: Jaxon Janski, Little Falls, scored 23 points against Willmar. Beau Thoma, Little Falls, scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds against Willmar. He grabbed 25 points against Zimmerman. Christian Hooge, Pillager, scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds against Verndale. CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-8555861 or conrad.engstrom@ brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ the_rad34.
welcoming a metro guy like me with open arms. In true Grinch fashion, I end by saying my heart has grown to love Brainerd and the lakes area. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-8555861 or conrad.engstrom@ brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ the_rad34.
returned to the sideline as statistician for the Warriors football team. In my 40-plus years of covering football as a sports writer, I used pens and paper to keep stats. Now we use a digital program that tallies everything automatically at halftime and when the game ends. I‘m still not used to walking off the field after games without having to interview coaches and players. I’m also not used to having to tally stats by hand for several minutes following the game. Brainerd finished its second year in Class 6A football with a 5-4 record. The Warriors have no business being assigned to 6A. The discrepancy in enrollment is staggering. Brainerd was the only outstate team in 6A. Metro schools, not outstate schools, should play 6A football. On a sad note, my dad died in June. Some of you may remember him as a business/accounting instructor at what was then Brainerd Area Vocational Technical Institute. He had suffered from Alzheimer’s the last few years but fortunately was able to remain at home until the end with my mom. I now know what it means when people say no matter how old you are it’s never easy to lose a parent. Here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Mike Bialka can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ mikebialka.
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first game as Brainerd head coach. It was a cold autumn Saturday in late October because of the virus. It’d be the only win the Warriors would see in 2020 as after four games a virus outbreak forced them to end the season. A strange moment in time. “Conrad’s Curse” didn’t stop there. It spread. Even to basketball. After covering another under .500 season of Warrior football in 2021, the boys’ basketball team lost the first three games I covered. The real test came in February of this year. Before heading back to Brainerd after a weekend in the cities, I invited a buddy to watch Brainerd play Robbinsdale Armstrong with me on a Saturday afternoon. They lost 60-56. After the game, I went to chat with head coach Charlie Schoeck and before I could muster out a “‘tough loss’” he says: “Oh, Conrad was here? No wonder we lost.” I quickly fell back into favor with the boys’ basketball program when I rode the bus with the team down to Buffalo for a Section 8-4A semifinal last March. It was a Warrior upset over the top-seeded Bison behind 20 secondhalf points from soonto-be Brainerd Dispatch All-Area Player of the Year Johnny Pecarich. The “Conard Curse” was put to bed for good this fall. The Brainerd Warriors football team finished with a winning record for the first time since my arrival to the area. Brainerd would finish 5-4 with a perfect 4-0 North Central Red Subdistrict record. It featured Freed’s first wins over Moorhead and Bemidji. It featured an improbable comeback win against Alexandria where the Warriors scored 15 points in the last seven minutes to prevail 15-14.
Vukelich said he’s pushed Oehrlein to take over games more this season. “I’ve had college coaches tell me this, that she is being selfish by being too unselfish,” Vukelich said. “She wants her teammates to score, but realistically she is the best player on the floor and when you are that much above everyone else on the floor sometimes you have to take that initiative.” As a rebounder, Vukelich said it helps when Oehrlein grabs defensive rebounds when teams
Vukelich says speaks volumes about what her teammates think of her. “Us coaches OKed it after she was voted captain and she has that respect from her teammates to be the on-court leader,” he said. “Now how she portrays it sometimes depends on how teammates take it. In the heat of the moment, she might sound a little snarky, but it’s because Tori wants to win.” Oehrlein added: “I’m really happy about it. I have to keep being a leader and show the girls how it’s done. I’ve just been talking more on defense.” Other notable performances: Basketball: Madison Carsten, Wadena-Deer Creek, scored 33 points against Crosby-Ironton.
game), 117 assists (4.5 per game), 92 steals and 22 blocked shots. She also shot 52% (306-585) from the field, 36% (97268) from 3-point and 69% (109-157) from the free throw line. She eclipsed 1,000 points in her career as an eighth grader with her career-high being 48 points against Staples-Motley last season. She’s the fastest girl to reach 1,000 points in state history. As a seventh grader, she finished with 456 points (21.7 per game), 212 rebounds (10.1 per game), 140 assists (6.7 per game), 60 steals and 20 blocked shots. She also shot 50% (165-330) from the field, 45% (67148) from 3-point and 66% (54-81) from the free throw line.
throw junk defenses at them, like a box-inone or triangle-in-two, where defenders face guard Oehrlein. “The best thing we can do sometimes is to run sets on the inside while girls are shooting, so she can get the offensive board and get her points that way,” Vukelich said. “No one can jump Tori and she has such an eye for the ball off the rim.” Oehrlein said some of her improvements have come naturally. “It’s a little bit harder to get rebounds now because teams are really trying to box me out,” she said. “But I can get more rebounds because I’m stronger. Usually when I’m getting doubled or tripled teamed my passing can find someone open and they can make an easy play.” Oehrlein was also named captain of the Rangers’ by her teammates. An honor that
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year of his rookie deal. He would have become a free agent in March. Jenkins, who turns 27 on Monday, rebounded from tearing his ACL midway through last season to start all 12 games in which he appeared in 2022. He has started 50 of 52 games since being selected by the Packers in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Per NFL Network, Jenkins’ new contract includes a $24 million Left guard Elgton Jenkins signing bonus and has an aversigned a contract extension with age annual value of $17 million, the Green Bay Packers, which making him the second-highest NFL Network reported was for paid guard in the NFL. Indianapolis Colts star Quenfour years with a base value of $68 million and a maximum ton Nelson pockets $20 million per season on his four-year, $80 value of $74 million. The Packers announced the million deal that he signed in contract extension on Friday September. Selected to the Pro Bowl in but did not divulge any financial 2020, Jenkins was in the final details.
Packers, Jenkins agree to 4-year, $68M extension
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