Awesome Blossoms, Cobras Advance in Nickname Tourney

In the absence of spring sports, the Minnesota State High School League's John Millea has created a virtual nickname tournament that has Twitter aflame. The Awesome Blossoms of Blooming Prairie are understandably a top seed and rolled through their first opponent, the Timberwolves from Ely, on Monday 76-24 percent.

BP's athletic flower will face a daunting match up in the second round of the Pretzel & Cheese Region. That's the actual name. The Blossoms will tangle with the eigth-seed Flying Dutchmen of Edgerton. Too bad we can't arrange a virtual basketball game between the Dutchmen of 1960 (state champs of the single-class tournament) and this year's BP section title team.

Triton's Cobras are a three-seed in the P & C Bracket and defeated the Islander's of DeLaSalle 62-38 percent. That would have been a tough basketball match up for Triton against the multi-time defending state champs from DeLaSalle. The Cobras name goes up against the Green Wave of East Grand Forks who upset the sixth-seed Mainstreeters from Sauk Centre by less than a percentage point.

Voting in the second round begins next week, I believe. Find full details on the state high school league's Facebook page.

Other opening day results saw the Greyhounds (Duluth East, New Ulm Cathedral, or Fosston) upset International Falls' Broncos. The Elks (Elk River) edged the Packers (Austin, South St. Paul) 52-38 percent. St. Paul Johnson's Governors beat the Huskers of Holdingford 66-34 percent. Number-two seed Lanesboro's Burros dominated the Rangers from Mountain Iron-Buhl or Forest Lake.

The Waseca Bluejays face a tough day two scenario of top-seed Spuds of Moorhead in the #ThankARef Bracket. Other battles include the Battlers (Battle Lake, of course) versus the Blackjacks (Dawson-Boyd), Cubs (Kimball) and Freeze (Tri-County Northern), Gobblers (Aitkin) against Dragons (Adrian/Pine City/Litchfield), Winhawks from Winona versus Hylanders from Columbia Heights, Ponies (Stillwater/Warren-Alvarado-Oslo) against Bluestreaks (Chisholm), Cowboys from Breckenridge against Flyers of Little Falls, and Otters (Fergus Falls) against Raptors (East Ridge).

It's the kind of tournament where Huskies (Owatonna), Tigers (Medford), and Panthers (NRHEG) had to real chance to make it into The Dance. Razorbacks (Westfield-Blooming Prairie/Hayfield wrestling coop would have been a nice Cinderella).