The Lumberjacks dug deep and flipped a 14-point deficit into a 14-point win, topping Sartell-St. Stephen 64-50 on Friday for a season-opening victory inside the BHS Gymnasium.
Bemidji took Moorhead, last season’s top seed in Section 8AA, to overtime in a 4-3 road loss on Tuesday. The adrenaline of that game wore off in the interim, though, and the Jacks struggled to bring the same quality of performance to the table on Thursday.
Over the course of the evening, the BHS boys topped St. Cloud Tech 42-21, Moorhead 39-21 and Buffalo 59-14. The Lumberjack girls also prevailed by a 36-21 margin over Moorhead.
Entering Tuesday’s contest at 5-0 – the Lumberjacks’ best start in at least 21 seasons – Bemidji had hopes of matching up with Warroad, the reigning Class A state champions. But the Jacks instead ran into a humming buzzsaw, losing for the first time this season.
The Lumberjacks and Spuds combined for four goals in a span of two minutes and 24 seconds -- with BHS twice bagging a late, go-ahead strike on the road but Moorhead answering back each time.
The Lumberjacks trailed the Sabres by just five points at halftime, staying attached alongside Sartell-St. Stephen’s potent offense. That dangerous group found another gear in the second half, though, and Bemidji ultimately fell 65-45.
The Bemidji High School girls basketball team picked up a 68-42 win for new head coach Darin Schultz at the BHS Gymnasium, rolling over Hermantown for the Lumberjacks’ first season-opening victory since 2019.
The Lumberjacks defeated previously-unbeaten Roseau 3-1 on the road, which snaps the program’s 34-game losing streak to the Rams in a drought that dated back to 2007.
The 4-0 start is the Lumberjacks’ best since the 2005-06 season and caps a week where Bemidji also defeated Grand Rapids/Greenway and Thief River Falls – the latter a 3-0 shutout victory as well.
