The Minnesota State High School League’s (MSHSL) Board of Directors on Thursday, Dec. 3, approved a flexible plan for the restart of winter activities when clearance is provided by state governmental leaders. Executive Order 20-99 is currently in place, a directive that mandates a four-week pause in activities designed to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. That is scheduled to expire on...
To see more on this story, pick up the December 10, 2020 print edition of The New Prague Times, Montgomery Messenger or the LifeEnterprise papers.

The shortened season ended for the New Prague football team Tuesday, Nov. 17.
The Trojans were defeated by Waconia, 27-7, in the Section 2AAAAA Quarterfinals.
Waconia entered the game as the No. 4 seed in the Section with a 4-3 record. New Prague was the No. 5 seed with a 2-2 record.
Matt Friedges scored the lone touchdown for the Trojans in the first half, a half in which head coach Jacob Norby said his team played very well in.

The New Prague volleyball team split two matches with Waconia last week to remain in second place in the Wright County Conference East Division.
The Trojans defeated Waconia 25-18, 25-20, and 25-21 Tuesday, Nov. 10 which was Parent’s Night.
Two nights later the Wildcats turned the tables and defeated New Prague 25-19, 25-18, 22-25, and 25-22.

A couple of school records were broken by the New Prague swimming and diving team during the Oct. 22 and 23 Section 2AA Championship Meet.
Freshman Payten Schieffer was involved in both school records.
Schieffer broke her own 100-yard butterfly record with a time of 59.71. She finished eighth overall in this event.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Schieffer, junior Lydia Popple, freshman Ella Lund, and seventh grader Taylor Bassett placed seventh in a time of 1:46.35, which set a new school record.

Unfortunately, a COVID situation will require us to cancel our 10/30 varsity game vs Owatonna and our 11/6 varsity game at Mayo.  Our JV and 9th grade teams are not affected and will continue to play during that time.
We thank our community for their continued support, as our players and staff really appreciate it during a difficult time.   We’ll rest up and prepare to complete the season successfully thereafter.

The New Prague boys’ cross country team finished in the middle of the pack in the final meet of the season, the Section 2AA Championships, held Tuesday, Oct. 13 at Gale Woods Farm in Minnetrista.
The Trojans scored 228 points, placing 10th in the field of 17 teams.
Buffalo was the runaway winner, scoring 45 points. Following Buffalo were Chanhassen (118), Delano (132), Mankato East (152), and Worthington (158).
The Section Meet was split into five different heats in order to meet public health protocols.

Soccer team ends regular season with 5-3-3 record
The New Prague girls’ soccer team played three matches during the month of October and had mixed results in those matches.
They defeated Mayer Lutheran, 3-1, Oct. 2, tied Mound Westonka, 4-4, Oct. 5, and were defeated by Waconia, 5-1, Oct. 8.
In the Mayer Lutheran win, the Trojans fell behind 1-0 before a goal by Josie Parent tied the score heading into halftime. “In the second half we really took control of the game,” head coach Matthew Anderson said. “We were composed and played fast.”

Spectators at Activities, Athletics, Clubs, Youth New Prague Times Sports and School Events
Sporting events are high risk for COVID-19 transmission, and are further high risk for activities that promote airborne particles of COVID-19. The following applies to all indoor sports, concerts, plays, competitions, performances and any other similar events that have spectators. This guidance is specific to the events that will take place in a school building or facility where instruction takes place and include the following parameters:
Capacity Requirements

The remainder of the Minnesota State High School League’s (MSHSL) activities calendar came into view Thursday, Oct. 1 during the Board of Directors meeting.
  After a presentation by the League’s Return to Participation Task Force, the Board of Directors approved a maximized winter activities season that trims 30 percent of the contest dates. By keeping the length of seasons generally intact, member schools will have the flexibility for rescheduling if contests are postponed because of COVID-19 related outbreaks or other interruptions.

The New Prague girls’ soccer team recorded three straight shutouts.
The Trojans fell to Holy Family, 5-0, Sept. 14. They rebounded with a 1-0 win over Jordan Sept. 15.
They ended last week with a pair of 0-0 ties against Orono Sept. 22 and Hutchinson Sept. 24.
Here is a look at the four matches.

The New Prague girls’ cross country team finished third in the Mound Westonka Triangular Sept. 22.
Delano was the team champion with 33 points. Mound-Westonka scored 41 and New Prague followed with 46 points.
Junior Nora Rosemeier led the Trojans with a fourth place finish in a time of 21:36 on the 5,000-meter course.
“Nora ran a balanced first and second half of the race,” head coach Shawn Brandt said. “She was able to maintain close distance to the top girls in the field by placing 4th overall.”

On Monday, the Minnesota State High School League board of directors voted to reinstate both the fall football and volleyball seasons this fall.
The decisions came after the league surveyed nearly 400 member schools, most of which wanted to have the seasons played out in the fall rather than a spring “flex season.”
Last month, the league postponed the football and volleyball seasons to spring due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. The league reconsidered the decision after hearing from athletes and families.

The New Prague girls’s swim and dive team competed in two home meets last week.
On Tuesday, Sept. 8, the Trojans defeated Litchfield, 98-84, at the New Prague Aquatic Center.
Ninth-grader Ella Lund won the 200 IM by a landslide with a final time of 2:25.98.
Bailey Newman (2nd) and Jillian Wiechert (3rd) finalized a 1-2-3 finish with Newman getting a time of 2:38.60 and Weichert at 2:40.59 respectively.

The New Prague girls’ tennis team split a pair of matches last week.
The Trojans defeated Waconia, 7-0, Thursday, Sept. 10, and were defeated two days earlier by Holy Family, 5-2.
In the match with Waconia it only went to three sets in one of the seven individual matches.
“This was Waconia’s first year having a tennis team,” head coach Toby Thietje said. “Even though this was our first sweep, the New Prague girls had to learn to adapt to the way the Waconia girls were playing. It took some real patience adjusting to finish each match.”

The New Prague boys’ and girls’ soccer teams did not allow a goal in sweeping Tri City United Tusday, Sept. 1 in New Prague.
The Trojan boys defeated the Titans, 8-0.
The Trojan girls defeated the Titans, 7-0.
More on these wins in next week’s edition of The Times.
Both teams have a busy upcoming week. They will play at Delano Thursday, Sept. 10, play at....
To see more on this story pick up the September 10, 2020 print edition of The New Prague Times.

St. Patrick won three games this past weekend before dropping their final game of the Class C State Tournament Monday, Sept. 7.
The Irish had their best finish in team history, finishing second in the tournament, losing only one game to Fairmont, 12-0 in seven innings at Springfield.
Union Hill also advanced to the final weekend of play, but were defeated by Young America, 6-0 Saturday, Sept. 5.
Here is a look at the St. Patrick and Union Hill games, courtesy of mnbaseball.org.
Young America 6, Union Hill 0