Awesome news! West Central Area school's one-act play takes first place at today's sub-section contest

Members of the WCA One-Act play pose with their sub-section championship trophy in the high school auditorium.

What awesome news!

Read all about WCA's championship performance in the one-act competition in next week's Herman-Hoffman Tribune.


The Knights advance to the Section 5A round, held next Saturday (Feb. 5) at A-C-GC High School in Grove City, MN.

Now 1:15am - the WCA levy builds a 46 vote margin lead!

At 1:10am, the tally now stands at 685 yes to 639 no.

West Central Area to hold a levy referendum on Election Day

The West Central Area schools are proposing an increase to the local tax levy from $950 per pupil to $1,370 per pupil, for a period of five years.

More information on the levy will be in this week's Herman-Hoffman Tribune.

Congratulations to the WCA boys cross country team as they won the Bois de Sioux meet on Thursday night

Photo courtesy of John Starner.

At Breckenridge on Thursday night, the West Central Area Knights boys cross country team repeated as champions of the Bois de Sioux meet.



Alex Toms finished as runner-up, following his senior brother Kyle Toms across the finish line. The next WCA runner to finish was Neil Hyttsten, who took 12th.

“Kyle once again led the pack from the start and never looked back, unless to check on his brother Alex Toms, who finished in second place,” stated West Central Area head coach John VanKempen. “They have different running styles but both their techniques have proven successful for us so far. Kyle will keep up a strong pace throughout the race, while Alex has the ability to turn it on and off throughout races.”

Read more about the race, which had some very exciting finishes, in next week's September 9 issue of the Herman-Hoffman Tribune.

WCA Knights football battles through four quarters in a very competitive game with Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa but falls 13-0

The West Central Area Knights football team lost its season opener last night, losing 13-0 to visiting Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa in head coach David Drexler's coaching debut.

The WCA Knights now prepare for a second straight home game, as they host Heart O' Lakes Classic Conference rival Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton next Friday, Sept. 10, at 7:00pm at the WCA High School athletic complex.

Area football scores:
Pelican Rapids 31, Perham 7 (a nice win for the Vikings)
New London-Spicer 20, Morris Area 14 (NL-S is the defending Class AAA champion)
Breckenridge 33, Wahpeton, N.D. 7
Barnesville 45, Lake Park-Audubon 14
Melrose Area 32, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle 0
St.Cloud Cathedral 22, Montevideo 14
Eden Valley-Watkins 33, Pipestone Area 0

Left out of this week's Tribune sports section by mistake - WCA's girls tennis team is a new member of the Prairie Conference

Left out of this week's sports section by mistake - the West Central Area Knights girls tennis team is a new member of the Prairie Conference, joining another new member to the league, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, and former members Osakis, Parkers Prairie, and New York Mills.

The Knights (2-0) host the latter (NYM) this Friday at 10:00am.

I'm in the process of gathering WCA fall sports previews, from the coaches and our sports editor, Kris Beuckens, as well as additional information about Chokio-Alberta/Herman-Norcross football and Wheaton/Herman-Norcross volleyball. In this week's August 26 issue of the Herman-Hoffman Tribune, I had a light story talking about CAHN and WHN football/volleyball, with additional information on those teams coming next week from their coaching staffs.

I hate to say it (because it went by so fast) but the summer is basically over.

A few fun facts on WCA's new football coach - 2001 Knights' alumni David Drexler

David Drexler is a 2001 graduate of WCA, and he was the Heart O' Lakes Conference MVP during his senior year in which the Knights went 7-3 overall and were runners-up in the HOL. He passed for 1452 yards his senior year, and had a 51% completion rate! He also ran for 6 touchdowns and passed for 13. As PAT kicker, he tallied 23 points his senior year as well.

More noteworthy was Drexler's junior year in 1999, when the WCA Knights went all the way through playoffs to the Prep Bowl, where they lost to a very tough Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Buccaneers team. WCA went 13-1 that year, including an 8-0 regular season and an HOL conference championship. Drexler was the featured quarterback that season as well, and he finished with 1270 yards and a 52.8% completion rate. That year the Knights were a run first, run second, and then think about passing team led by senior Jake Sternhagen, who finished with 1,902 yards on 348 carries (5.5 yard average) and 27 touchdowns.

It's official, WCA will ask voters to increase property taxes at the polls this fall - just as I've been saying all year long

Breaking news...at the regular monthly meeting of the West Central Area school board on Monday night, it was decided that the district will ask taxpayers in November to increase the levy from the current $950 per pupil to $1,370 per pupil. The duration of the levy hike is for five years.

The current levy expires in 2012, and it represents approximately $665,000 in funding for the annual school budget.

The board had asked voters to hike the levy to $1,250 per pupil for a period of 10 years last fall. The final tally was 497 yes to 571 no votes, a narrow defeat of just a few percentage points.

A full story on this written by Chris Ray of the Grant County Herald will appear in the July 29 issue of the Herman-Hoffman Tribune.

My 2 cents: voters should have passed last year's levy hike. By not passing it, even greater pressure will be placed on the passage of this year's referendum and the school's budget will be in a very serious situation if it fails.

WCA's Matt Wagner has a strong start on Day 1 of the Class A state golf meet

Matt is starting his drive on Hole #5 at Pebble Creek Golf Course in Becker, MN.













Update at 6:30pm...This just in - Matt's Day 1 score was a 48 on the front nine and a 45 on the back nine for a first day score of 93. He tees off again tomorrow for Day 2, so check back Thursday night to see how he fared in his first run at the state golf meet.

Memorial Day program held at West Central Area high school

Phil Corrigan narrated a Flag-folding ceremony during the Memorial Day program on Monday at the WCA High School auditorium.

2010 Sub-Section 5A-North champions - the West Central Area Knights' boys golf team

Team members were Left to Right: Coach Kraig Hunter, Matt Wagner, Carson Hunter, Calvin Anderson, Logan Pfingsten, Luke LaValley, and Mike Engler.

The West Central Area Knights' boys golf team traveled to Minnewaska Area on Friday and put together their best round of the year, winning the sub-section championship in Section 5A-North. They shot a 343 edging out Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, who shot a 345.

Read more in the June 3 issue of the Herman-Hoffman Tribune.

Wheaton/Herman-Norcross Warriors' baseball is the #1 seed in Sub-Section 6A-South

The WHN Warriors, who are the 2010 Pheasant Conference champions, earned the #1 playoff seed this week in Sub-Section 6A-South. They take a 15-3 overall record into the playoffs, beginning next Tuesday, June 1.

At 3pm in Wheaton, the West Central Area Knights (#8-seed) take on #9-seeded Ashby in a play-in game for the sub-section. The winner of that games faces the host WHN Warriors at 5:00pm at the same site.

Complete Sub-Section 6A-South seedings:
1 - Wheaton/Herman-Norcross
2 - Hancock
3 - Chokio-Alberta
4 - Brandon/Evansville
5 - Hillcrest Lutheran Academy
6 - Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley
7 - Parkers Prairie
8 - West Central Area
9 - Ashby

Also in area playoff action...

Sub-Section 6A track and field action is at the University of Minnesota-Morris campus today, beginning at 4:00pm. From Herman-Norcross school, Evan Ellison, Katlyn Hilbrand, and Amber Sperr will be competing. West Central Area has a number of athletes competing as well. Hope to see some of you there cheering them on!

More information will follow as I get it.

West Central Area Knights' fastpitch softball team receives #7 seed in Sub-Section 6A-South

The West Central Area Knights' girls faspitch team was seeded number seven in the 10-team south half of Section 6A.

They face #10-seed Hillcrest Lutheran Academy on Tuesday, May 25, at 3:00pm at the Ashby high school diamond. If they win, they would take on the #2-seed Ashby Arrows at the same field at 5:00pm the same day.

Bertha-Hewitt is the number one seed.

The championship round of Sub-Section 6A-South takes place on Thursday, May 25, at the Brandon ball diamond. More on that will follow next week.