LESTER PRAIRIE – It had been 11 days since the Lester Prairie/Holy Trinity girls basketball team had played a game. Despite not having any game action for more than a week, the Bulldogs came out swinging in a 68-30 blow out of West Lutheran at home Friday night for their third-straight win.

“We had nine days off,” LP/HT coach Mike Lee said. “I was a little bit worried, but I knew the team would be ready.”

There were no signs of rust for the Bulldogs in the early going, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The Bulldogs held the Warriors without a point for almost seven minutes to start the game. With the defense clicking, that led to offense for LP/HT. A bucket from Emily Rademacher gave the Bulldogs a 14-5 lead, and things were just getting started. Rademacher, a junior who’s developed into a bigger role this season, finished with 12 points to help lead the Bulldogs to another win. While Rademacher is becoming a go-to scorer for the Bulldogs, there’s still things Lee hopes she works on going forward.

“She’s had problem with fouls,” Lee said. “She’s too young of a player to player her in the first half with two fouls. I probably should early in the season, but we still want the wins. Everything is about getting the best seed, and these wins are important this time of year, too. She’ll develop. She just has to figure out that sometimes it’s OK to give up two points instead of getting a foul.”

With Rademacher on the bench with two fouls late in the first half, it was sophomore Marissa Radtke who helped the Bulldogs finish off the first half in style. Radtke, who finished with a game-high 21 points, helped the Bulldogs build a big lead as they finished the first half on a 15-1 run.

“She’s a real nice player,” Lee said. “She gets the game pretty well. Now, she’s attacking the hoop and knows when to kick it out. There’s a lot more leadership on her part. It’s nice to see.”

For the complete story and more HJ sports coverage, check out the Friday, Dec. 21 edition of the Herald Journal. Click here for subscription information.

13-3. A Miracle season. A returning “star” running back. The arrival of a star defensive tackle. Resigning core players. The 84 million dollar man coming in like a knight in shining armor. Expectations couldn’t have been higher.

This season has not panned out how most experts or fans thought it would. In August, the words “Vikings” and “Super Bowl” were constantly being uttered in the same breathe and seemingly for good reason. After a 13-3 season that fizzled out quicker than a candle in a hurricane, the Vikings brought back Dalvin Cook, signed DT Sheldon Richardson, and of course signed QB Kirk Cousins. Why wouldn’t the Vikings repeat last year’s magic? The team on paper was simply better.

The NFL is a little more complicated than that. There are few teams that seem to be able to repeat success year after year after year. When you look at those teams, there is usually one key factor that stays steady with those teams. The Patriots have Brady, the Steelers have Roethlisberger, the Colts had Manning, the Packers had Favre. These kind of quarterbacks don’t come around very often and nobody would expect Kirk to be mentioned in the same class as these guys.

Another key factor, for the Vikings specifically, is the offensive line. A quick glance at the advanced statistic analysis site Football Outsiders shows the Vikings offensive line ranked 31st. The last I checked, that is not great. That isn’t even average.

The Vikings have quality players across the board that could be key players on a Super Bowl team. Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs are in the top 5 for receiver combinations in the league. Dalvin Cook is an explosive and quick runner when given the opportunity. Our defensive line, headlined by Danielle Hunter, has been great most of the season.

But it takes more than good players to have a good team. The defense struggled early because Mike Zimmer was over-complicating things. The offense has been up and down to the point where Zim fired Offensive Coordinator John DeFilippo only 13 games into his stint. I really think losing Offensive Line coach Tony Sparano really is a major factor for the lack of performance from the offensive line.

The reality of the NFL is that it really is quite unpredictable. Every year different teams with high expectations fall off the cliff while teams who were supposed to be bad rise to the top. It simply is the nature of the league. It is very hard to win consistently.

Last year, the Vikings were an under the radar team who had the stars simply align for them and they almost took advantage. This year, Minnesota was a Super Bowl favorite who is now clinging to the 6th seed in the playoffs with a 6-6-1 record.

This is also the beauty of the NFL. A win at home against the Dolphins and a win at Detroit might be enough to squeak into the playoffs. Once you are in, really anything can happen. You can win on a 61 yard miracle play or you can get blown out 38-7. Regardless of what happens, enjoy this frustrating, crazy, fun, and unpredictable ride… Because we get to do it all again next year.