It didn’t look good for Hill-Murray through one half on Friday.

Fresh off a season-opening shutout loss to Becker, the Pioneers — a Class 4A state entrant a year ago who possesses similar aspirations this fall — trailed St. Agnes 13-7 in Maplewood through two quarters.

The Pioneers were seemingly in need of a spark.

It came on the very first play of the third quarter. Hill-Murray forced a fumble on the Aggies’ opening kick return, and recovered the loose ball around the St. Agnes 25-yard-line. The Pioneers parlayed the turnover into a touchdown, as Jackson Reeves hit Jacob Dornan for an 8-yard scoring strike, shortly after Reeves connected with John Pietruszewski on a critical 4th-down play to keep the drive alive.

Reeves got into the end zone on his own on Hill-Murray’s ensuing drive via a quarterback sneak from a yard out, and the Pioneers were well on their way to a 28-13 home victory.

St. Agnes is a Class 2A program in St. Paul with just a handful north of 300 kids. But the Aggies proved Friday they’re capable of punching above their weight class. Stacked with 19 seniors — a number that would make many larger programs in the state jealous — St. Agnes figures to feature heavily into the state equation this season.

Trailing 7-0 early, Reeves hit Austin Williams for a 3-yard touchdown pass to cap a game-opening drive that took nearly seven minutes of clock, St. Agnes responded with a 64-yard rushing touchdown from Joshua Lopez. Then, early in the second frame, Lopez hit Danny Plamann for a 94-yard touchdown on a fly route on 3rd and 20 to put the Aggies (1-1) in front.

But St. Agnes made a few too many mistakes — penalties, fumbles and botched snaps — to hang with the Pioneers (1-1) over the course of four quarters, especially on a night when the Aggies lost a couple key players to injury, including starting running back Evonson Plamann. Even Lopez exited the game slowly with 39 seconds to play after a roughing the passer penalty.

By the fourth quarter, Hill-Murray seemed to have worn the Aggies down. While the Reeves-and-Pietruszewski powered passing game did most of the damage for the Pioneers throughout the evening, it was Xavier Daniels who effectively sealed the game midway through the final frame with a 45-yard touchdown run to put the Pioneers up two scores.

Pietruszewski finished with nine catches for 107 yards.

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Lakeville North had to overcome deficits twice Friday night — including a two-touchdown hole early before the Panthers’ offense even touched the ball.

But on each occasion, senior running back Sam Ripplinger and his teammates proved equal to the task.

Ripplinger rushed for a pair of touchdowns, including one with 9:02 remaining that put the Panthers on top to stay in a 24-21 victory over Rosemount before a big crowd at Lakeville North High School.

The Panthers improved to 2-0, though that seemed in doubt in the first quarter. The Rosemount running game — which came up big in a win over Eastview a week ago — was effective again early Friday.

On the game’s third play from scrimmage, Irish junior Ja’khi Hollie rumbled 74 yards for a touchdown. Then, after Rosemount recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, senior quarterback Gavin Caswell kept the ball himself on a 10-yard scamper to put the Irish on top 14-0.

Lakeville North did manage to stem the tide with a 28-yard field goal by senior Drew Kolander on its first possession, then the Panther defense found its groove — forcing two-straight Rosemount punts.

It was after the second of those that senior quarterback Riley Grossman led his team 90 yards to score on a 1-yard run by Ripplinger that cut the gap to 14-10 with 1:55 to play before halftime.

The Panthers’ defense then came up big, recovering a fumble at the Rosemount 32-yard line with under a minute to go.  From there, Grossman connected with senior Caleb Pedersen on a 9-yard touchdown pass to put Lakeville North on top 17-14 at halftime.

The Irish didn’t roll over, though, retaking the lead at 21-17 on a 3-yard touchdown run by senior Finn Biegel with 2:03 to play in the third quarter.

But on their next possession, a 27-yard pass from Grossman to senior Ayden Forsgren helped set up a touchdown run by Ripplinger from just outside the 1-yard line.

The Panthers then drove all the way to the Rosemount 4 on their final possession to run out the clock.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Napheesa Collier scored nine of her 26 points in the third quarter, Bridget Carleton made three 3-pointers in the final four minutes and the Minnesota Lynx overcame a 25-point night by Caitlin Clark to snap Indiana’s five-game winning streak with a 99-88 win over the Fever on Friday night.

The Lynx trailed 50-45 at halftime before Collier scored nine of their opening 20 points of the third quarter for a 65-57 lead.

Collier blocked Clark’s shot in the paint and Courtney Williams made a jumper from the free-throw line at the other end to extend Minnesota’s lead to 70-60. Clark went to the bench and Myisha Hines-Allen scored the next three points to give Minnesota a 13-point lead.

Indiana made just three field goals in the third quarter before making three in the opening two minutes of the fourth to get back in it.

The Fever were within 81-80 before Carleton sank a 3-pointer from the corner. She added a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 87-80 and she grabbed an offensive rebound on the Lynx’s next possession, leading to Williams’ 3-pointer.

Carleton’s third 3-pointer of the frame gave Minnesota a 96-85 lead.

Clark, coming off her second career triple-double on Wednesday, continued her record-breaking season for Indiana (18-17). She made one 3-pointer in the first quarter to become the franchise leader for made 3-pointers in a single season, passing Kelsey Mitchell (102). Clark was 5 of 10 from 3-point range and has made 107 this season.

Mitchell added 23 and Aliyah Boston scored 20 for Indiana. Mitchell has scored 20-plus points for the eighth time in her last nine games.

Carleton scored 16 points for Minnesota (25-9). Williams added 15 points, to go with seven rebounds to go over 1,500 for her career. Collier also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Carleton closed the first half on a 3-pointer with 7.2 seconds left off a nice pass from Hines-Allen. Then the Lynx scored the opening nine points of the third quarter for a 52-50 lead, their first since 7-6.

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An Arden Hills bar owner was sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation Friday for stashing a gun his friend used to fatally shoot a man during a fight inside the business, then lying to investigators by claiming the shooting was not captured on video surveillance.

James Henrey Welsch, 49, of Vadnais Heights, pleaded guilty in June to felony aiding an offender after the fact in connection with the March 2022 shooting at Welsch’s Big Ten Tavern. As part of Welsch’s plea agreement, attorneys agreed that the felony offense should be ranked at a severity level of seven, resulting in a stayed prison sentence and probation.

James Henrey Welsch, left, and Eric Eugene Baker (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Eric Baker, 47, of Minneapolis, who shot 36-year-old Dustin Kukowski, of Mounds View, was given an 11-year prison term in March after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

At sentencing, Ramsey County District Judge Joy Bartscher granted a request from Welsch’s attorney, Thomas Kelly, for a stay of imposition, which means the felony conviction will be deemed a misdemeanor as long as Welsch successfully follows terms of his supervised probation.

Kelly wrote in a Tuesday court filing that Welsch hid Baker’s gun “while in an extremely intoxicated condition” and that Welsch is a “good parent, a good partner to his companion … a good employer” and “is the type of person deserving” of a stay of imposition.

“Importantly, with a Stay of Imposition, the bar license might be preserved,” Kelly added.

He apologized for lying

Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the bar at 4703 U.S. Highway 10 around 12:30 a.m. March 25, 2022, and saw a patron holding napkins to Kukowski’s chest. He was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where doctors performed several surgeries to try to save his life. The father of two died April 5.

A bar patron told deputies he saw Baker and Kukowski fighting before the shooting. Deputies recovered a 9mm casing from the bar and later arrested Baker at a Roseville hotel. He declined to speak to authorities.

Welsch told deputies he was downstairs at the bar when the shooting happened. He was evasive when asked about Baker and denied having a phone number for him, according to the criminal complaint.

Dustin Kukowski (Courtesy of Debbie Kukowski)

Deputies found images on Facebook that showed Welsch and Baker together at the Minnesota Wild game earlier that night. Welsch then admitted he had a phone number for Baker and gave it to deputies.

Welsch agreed to let deputies look at the bar’s surveillance system. The equipment did not appear to be powered up, and Welsch said he was in the middle of construction projects and that he had not used his camera system for a while.

Later that day, an investigator took a call from someone who wanted to remain anonymous and said that Welsch and Baker are “best friends” and that the bar’s surveillance video system worked, the complaint says.

A bartender later told investigators she grabbed the gun off the bar top after the shooting so that no one else would be hurt. She said she brought it to the kitchen and showed Welsch, who took the gun downstairs.

Four days after the shooting, Welsch reported finding the Glock 9mm under trash bins at the bar. The handgun did not have a magazine when an investigator recovered it.

Welsch later that day said he didn’t remember much from the night of the shooting because he was drunk.

Investigators told Welsch that they knew he had taken possession of the gun that night. Welsch then admitted he grabbed the gun from a kitchen counter, unloaded it and hid it in the basement rafters. He said he later put the gun outside to get some distance from it, and apologized for not telling deputies where it was on the night of the shooting.

Investigators opened the bar’s digital video recorder and discovered the hard drive had been disconnected from its contact site. Investigators cloned Welsch’s network video recorder and found video that stopped about a half-hour after the shooting.

Probation includes AA meetings

Judge Bartscher ordered that Welsch serve at least one month of his six-month jail sentence in custody. He can serve the rest of the time on programs the workhouse deems him eligible for, such as electronic-home monitoring.

The judge approved an Oct. 1 turn-in date for Welsch to begin the sentence, and he will be given credit for the two days he served in custody after his arrest and before he was released after posting a $10,000 bond.

Bartscher ordered that Welsch continue to go to at least one Alcoholics Anonymous meeting weekly while on probation.

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