John's Journal: It’s A Special Night When The Jug Is On The Line

LAKE CRYSTAL – I almost decided against traveling to this small town southwest of Mankato on Friday night. That would have been one of the biggest mistakes of my life, because what I witnessed was something that’s hard to describe. But I will try … even though words won’t do it justice.

The event was a South Central Conference boys basketball game between the home team, the Knights of Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, and the visiting Eagles of Maple River, about 30 miles away.

The game had been on my calendar for months, going back to an August evening when I received an email from LCWM activities director Doug Burns: Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial would like to invite you to LCWM High School on February 7, 2025 for our boys basketball game versus Maple River. This night will be the 66th Annual Jug Game between LCWM and Maple River. It is a rivalry game that has been contested since 1959 when Garden City HS played Amboy HS for the little brown jug. The tradition has survived over the years of pairings and co-ops to what it is today.”

I was immediately sold. As I’m in my final school year as a member of the MSHSL staff before retirement beckons this summer, one of my goals is to visit places I have never seen. I have driven past LCWM on Highway 60 many, many times over many, many years and wondered if I would ever have reason to stop in. Doug made it easy, and I put the game on my calendar.

And then, as is often the case in this neck of the woods, weather entered the chat. The forecasts predicted three to six inches of snow, beginning sometime Friday night. It was a 90-minute drive each way for me, and at my age, being closer to 70 than 60, I have no interest in navigating a blizzard. All week, I checked the forecast and looked at the radar, ultimately deciding to make the trip to Lake Crystal. Oh, I also packed a bag in case the snow came roaring in early and strong and I needed to spend the night in Mankato or elsewhere.

The good news: I never saw one flake of snow while driving home from Lake Crystal. The great news: I had one of the best experiences I’ve ever had at a high school sporting event. I had no idea what the evening would hold. I’ve been attending activities over many decades and I rarely go in with many preconceived notions. I like to let things flow, and I’m often surprised at what I experience, almost always in a good way.

Let me say this: The friendliest people in the world live in the Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial school district. From a friendly greeting at the ticket table to people introducing themselves and welcoming me to town, it was all big smiles and big hearts.

I knew Doug Burns from a story I wrote in 2020; he is a 1981 graduate of Princeton High School who set school records in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters as well as cross-country. He coaches track and cross-country at LCWM. (Click here to read that story: https://shorturl.at/FZ5qg)

Doug was an outstanding host for my visit to LCWM. He had reserved a seat for me at the scorer’s table, and as the game was winding down he sat next to me, pulled some bills from his pocket and said he wanted to reimburse me for whatever I spent at the concession stand. I said to him, “Doug, don’t be silly. I spent a dollar on the best bag of popcorn I’ve ever had, and you’re not gonna do that.”

Point of clarification: Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial does not include an incorrect spelling of “Welcome.” The school district and community indeed are very welcoming, but the word “Wellcome” is a reference to Sir Henry Wellcome, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur and philanthropist who died in 1936. As a child, Henry lived in Garden City, which is part of the LCWM district along with the communities of Butternut, Judson, Lake Crystal, Rapidan and Vernon Center. The Wellcome Memorial school, which merged with Lake Crystal in 1987, was named in honor of Sir Henry for his many contributions to the district.

The topic of school mergers and consolidations bring us to the 66^th annual Jug Game between LCWM and Maple River. A glance at the history of the rivalry results in what looks like a discombobulated list of school names. When the Jug was new, during the 1959-60 season, the final score of the game was Garden City 66, Amboy 49. In 1969-70, Garden City became Wellcome Memorial and defeated Amboy-Good Thunder 98-65.

The schools remained Wellcome Memorial and Amboy-Good Thunder until 1987-88, when Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial beat Mapleton-Amboy-Good Thunder 84-77. The schools have been LCWM and Maple River since 1989-90, when Maple River won the Jug, 72-69. (The girls basketball teams from the two schools also have a traveling trophy, a giant coffee mug.)

The Jug Game is played once each year, even though the two teams meet twice during conference play. When the owner of the Jug hosts the other team at home, that’s the Jug Game. LCWM and Maple River could meet again in the Class 2A Section 2 playoffs, and Friday’s result threw some uncertainty about what could happen in that scenario.

LCWM had defeated Maple River twice this season before Friday, a 55-51 decision during a holiday tournament and a 65-57 score on Jan. 14 at Maple River. If those results made the Knights feel like Friday’s game was in the bag, that notion disappeared quickly.

Point of clarification: Lake Crystal, a town of 2,500 people in Blue Earth County, is not to be confused with Crystal Lake, which is in Burnsville, across Interstate 35 from the Buck Hill ski slopes.

Before the starting lineups were introduced -- with most of the lights in the gym turned down (great touch!) -- juniors Nettie Parsons and Aidan Moeller were introduced to big cheers as LCWM’s winners of the MSHSL ExCEL Award (Excellence in Community, Education and Leadership). At halftime, LCWM seniors Chloe Sargent and Max Magnus were honored as winners of the MSHSL AAA Award (Academics, Arts, Athletics). Moeller, a member of the basketball team, was also named a statewide winner of the ExCEL Award, as was Maple River hoopster Wyatt Birr in the AAA category.

The LCWM band, under the direction of Malia Jones, put on an incredible pregame concert. I have listened to thousands of high school pep bands and the talented kids from LCWM are as good as any.

The media coverage was big-time, with Randy Allen calling the action for KBEW in Blue Earth, and Seth Toupal and John Harrington broadcasting for KFAN in Mankato. I was happy to chat with Seth during a halftime interview.

I knew I was in for a special night long before the varsity game tipped off. The junior varsity teams played a close contest, with Maple River winning 46-40 in front of a nearly full gym. The Eagles fans let out a thunderous cheer when Caleb Thompson hit a three-point shot with 10 seconds left to clinch the win.

One side of the gym wore Maple River green, the other was dressed in LCWM blue. A large, boisterous group of LCWM students stayed on their feet the whole game. Maple River head coach Chad Osterman and his assistants wore suits and ties; LCWM head coach Logan Manska and his staff were in matching hooded pullovers.

The gym in Lake Crystal is fantastic. It’s roomy (even when all the seats are filled), the lighting is first-class and in a rarity, scoreboards on BOTH ends of the gym display points and fouls for each player. There are wonderful graphics on the gym walls, too. And the scorer’s table? Oh, the scorer’s table. It’s 24 feet long, seats at least 10 and according to reliable sources in Lake Crystal is longer than the table at Timberwolves games.

When the band played the school song, all the locals stood and clapped and sang along to the tune of the Minnesota Rouser: “LCWM hats off to thee! To our colors true we will ever be!”

The enthusiasm from the fans was nonstop. And the sportsmanship was as solid as I’ve ever seen. The officiating crew of Mike Barten, Coby Kaus and Matt Schoper did a splendid job, huddling before a couple decisions were finalized, showing respect to the players and coaches, keeping everyone safe and showing nothing but professionalism. One thing I heard from the crowd made me smile; as the crew gathered to discuss a call, a fellow in the stands hollered, “C’mon! There are THREE of you!”

As if all that wasn’t enough to make it a great night, the basketball game was an all-timer. Maple River’s Zach Trio – true to his name -- opened things with a three-point shot on the first possession of the game and Avery Bergemann did the same for a 6-0 lead. As the LCWM students chanted “DEE! FENSE!”, a layup by Trio made it 8-0. After another three for the Eagles, this one by Cole Davis, the score was 11-0 and Manska called a timeout.

The Knights came back as Jack Goeringer and Carter Lowis, a 6-foot-9 sophomore coming off the bench, each hit two threes. Lowis scored from down low to help LCWM forge a 17-17 tie with nine minutes to go in the first half.

Maple River led by as much as nine before another Knights surge cut the Eagles’ lead to 39-36 at halftime. By this time, it was clear that the hometown rims were not being kind to the Knights. The boys kept firing and the hoop played stout defense, rejecting shot after shot, often teasing the local five by having the ball roll around in circles before falling away to nothingness. And oh yes, Maple River’s defense also had something to do with the Knights’ offensive woes.

Despite their bad shooting luck, the Knights stayed strong but the Eagles’ accuracy from the perimeter and Birr’s inside game was too much. I can’t attest to Wyatt’s performance in Academics or Arts, but he is talented in Athletics. The 6-foot-7 senior led the Eagles with 24 points as they built a 15-point lead in the second half en route to a 72-58 victory and possession of The Jug.

“That was really fun,” Wyatt said after the team posed for photos with the trophy, which is green on one side and silver on the other, carrying the score of each game. “(The Jug) means so much to both teams and you can tell just by the atmosphere in the gym. It gets loud every single time, and it's something that you circle on the calendar. It's a fun game and we played really well.”

Davis added 14 points for the Eagles, Trio had 13 and Bergemann 12. Braxton Dudgeon had 15 for LCWM and Charlie Gengler had 12.

“When (shots don’t fall), you’ve got to do other things at a higher level and we didn't necessarily do that tonight,” Manska said. “It's really, really hard to beat a really good team three times, and they came out with a little bit more energy than we did.”

After photos and interviews, the Eagles went to their locker room. A few minutes later the players walked back into the gym as a throng of fans clad in green cheered and cheered. It was obvious that taking The Jug home was special. Maple River had won The Jug game eight years in a row before LCWM held it the last two years. Friday’s result made the all-time Jug score Maple River 41, LCWM 25.

“This game is a cool deal,” said Manska. “It’s no fun when you lose but it’s still a cool deal.”

I can’t wait for Jug Game No. 67. Regardless of snowstorms and retirement and anything else, I just might be there.

--See more photos from the game on the MSHSL Facebook page,

--MSHSL staff member John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Bluesky at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]