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Fall sports are ready to take center stage once again at Bemidji High School, as the Lumberjacks get set to raise the curtain on a new season at the fields, courts, course and pool.
With the arrival of the 2021-22 school year, here’s what to look for during week one of high school fall sports.
The girls tennis team has the busiest week of all, and they’ve already kicked off the season with a third-place showing at Monday’s Pine City Power Tournament . Longtime ace Savannah Haugen won the No. 1 singles bracket, while Darby Neis and Maddie Jensen captured the No. 3 doubles title.
The team is back in action Wednesday, Aug. 25, for its home opener, hosting Alexandria at 2 p.m. and then Thief River Falls under the lights at 7:30 p.m. BHS won’t get much of a break from there, as it has home matches on Thursday against Eveleth-Gilbert and Perham, as well as Friday against Hibbing.
The Bemidji volleyball team ushers in a new campaign against one of its most heated rivals. The Jacks will host an annual adversary in Alexandria at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 26. BHS will also take part in Saturday’s Breakdown Tip Off Classic at Hopkins High School.
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The Bemidji soccer teams kick off the year on Saturday, Aug. 28, with a doubleheader at St. Cloud Cathedral. The boys play at noon and the girls at 2 p.m. The Lumberjacks will get their first taste of playing at home the following week, with the girls hosting Detroit Lakes on Sept. 2 and the boys hosting Moorhead on Sept. 3.
Cross country will also be off and running by 9:30 a.m. Saturday, when BHS will compete at the Perham Invite. The Lumberjacks will have to wait until Oct. 19 for a home meet, but they’ll sooner be close to home for the Bagley Invite on Sept. 21.
The wait for the regular season is a little longer for the football and girls swimming and diving teams. The swimmers will go first, heading to the Detroit Lakes Invite on Aug. 30 before a road dual at Brainerd on Aug. 31. The BHS pool will welcome in a myriad of swimmers on Sept. 11 with the Bemidji Invitational.
And the football team will finally return to the gridiron at 7 p.m. on Sept. 2 for a home game against Rogers.
All of these teams missed out on a chance to compete at state in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns throughout Minnesota. The girls tennis team captured the Section 8AA championship, and, just hours later, the boys cross country team did the same behind Nathan Alto’s medalist performance.
The football team won a Section 8-5A semifinal game but didn’t get to play for the title because state restrictions shut down the playoffs, and the volleyball team didn’t even make it to the postseason before meeting the end of the line.
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Mady Schmidt also had an unbeaten diving season in the pool and captured the individual Section 8A championship in 2020.
So, as the fall sports season returns to a full-fledged affair in 2021, be ready for a bevy of Bemidjians to make new headlines.
