Don’t let her looks or her gender fool you. Dressed in football pads with a fierce determination, Anastasia “Ana” Stasney is out to win on the gridiron. 
 
According to veteran coaches, Stasney is the first female to play football for Tri-City United School and the previous Montgomery-Lonsdale School District.
 
Ana’s introduction to football started when her brothers Tadd, 23, and Jayden, 20 played the sport. Even then, she thought it was rather boring - until she started to play it. 
 

The students and staff of Tri-City United Elementary and Middle School remembered the horrific events of September 11, 2001 at the event's 17th anniversary on Tuesday. The students and staff held a memorial ceremony by gathering around the school’s flag pole outside where Principal Deb Dwyer read a short poem written by a seventh grade student after the event. Everyone finished by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. (Photo provided by TCU Schools)

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A Le Center woman reached an incredible milestone on Saturday.
 
Surrounded by family, friends, and local well-wishers, Crystal Krenik celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday, Sept. 8.
 
The lifelong Le Center native was born a hundred years ago in a little house west of Le Center to Ben and Amelia Sautter. At a young age, her family moved to a farm east of Le Center where her family lived with her grandfather. Today, part of the farm site is now the Traxler Hunting Preserve. 
 

The popularity of a car show, craft booths, good food and weather with a good cause led to another successful Community Day at Heidelberg on Sunday.
 

Thomas James Thornton, age 92, of Montgomery, passed away peacefully surrounded by family and loved ones in the early morning of Thursday, September 6, 2018 at Mayo Systems Hospital in New Prague. Visitation will be held on Friday, September 14, 2018 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Montgomery. Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 12 p.m. Father Victor Valencia will be officiating. Interment will be held at St. Thomas Cemetery in St. Thomas. Military Honors provided by the Montgomery area Veteran’s Honor Guard.

Whether it was the luck of the Irish or event coordinator Janice Sneller's prayers for good weather, Mother Nature smiles on the Irish in Kilkenny on Saturday, September 8 during the city's Halfway to St. Patty's Celebration. A large crowd flocked to the community to enjoy a day full of music, good food, a parade, a car show, and shamrock-filled fun.
Pick up a copy of the September 13, 2018, print edition for more information and photos.

Three Dakota-Rice-Scott League teams qualified for the final weekend of the Class C Minnesota Amateur Baseball Tournament, with New Prague and Faribault losing in the third round on Saturday, and New Market advancing to the quarterfinals before losing in 14 innings on Sunday.
Two DRS players, Matt Lane of Faribault and Nate Rost of New Market, were named to the All-Tournament team.

Approximately 40 people gathered outside the Joe G. Hruby Blacksmithing, Horseshoe, Woodwork and Truck Bodies Museum in Montgomery on Thursday, Aug. 30, to learn about Hruby and the historical role he and his business played in the community. 
 
The museum event was part of Montgomery Historical Society’s Show and Tell series. 
 
Many in attendance Thursday evening were relatives of Joe Hruby and had memories to share, including Joe’s daughter, Joanne.
 

If you are a longtime resident of Montgomery and subscriber to the Montgomery Messenger, the name Marlene Kolars will be familiar to you. Marlene worked at the Montgomery Messenger for more than 15 years before passing away on October 1, 2007. 
 
Her columns were called “Easy Reading” and were very popular with our readers. She wrote about a variety of things from root canals to her beautiful peonies or television commercials. 
I didn’t know she could predict the future. 
 

Mary Emily Steinhouse, age 85 of Montgomery, passed away on Wednesday, September 5, 2018 at her home. Visitation will be held on Monday, September 10, 2018 at St. John Lutheran Church in Montgomery from 9:30 a.m – 11:30 p.m. Celebration of Life will be held at 11:30 a.m. with Pastor Jason Pollington officiating. Interment will be in St. John Lutheran Cemetery in Montgomery.

A bluebird house may be just a few pieces of wood nailed together and mounted on a post, but it’s become much more than that to one man, his family and the thousands who have been touched by their story.
Ron Rudolph’s story began the day he met his future wife, Pat, at a party more than 35 years ago. They met on a blind date, were introduced to each other by friends and “the rest is history,” he said. 

Dale William Benson passed away on Friday, August 31, 2018 at the age of 59. Dale was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 15, 1959.  
Dale was born to parents Elinore (Lynn) and William (Bill) Benson. He married Vicki Benson on August 11, 1979. They have two children: Son, Kaleb (Cassie) Benson and granddaughter, Kendra Benson; daughter, Krystle (Shawn) Bloch and grandsons, Viktor, Thor, and granddaughter, Vivian. Dale and Vicki lived in Montgomery, MN until Dale was diagnosed with cancer.  After that time they moved to the hunting shack in McGrath, MN.

The New Market Muskies were the last Dakota-Rice-Scott baseball team to bow out of the State Amateur Baseball Tournamet, but they didn't go down easily. The Muskies tied Young America late in regulation before falling to the Cardinals in 14 innings, 4-3. the quarterfinal game was played Sunday afternoon in Shakopee
In the semifinals in Shakopee Sunday evening, Sobieski defeated Young America 2-1 and Plato downed defending state champion Kimball 12-5. 
Sobieski and Plato are scheduled to play at 3 p.m. Monday at New Prague for the State Class C Championship. 

New Prague could not come up with the timely hit and lost its State Class C Tournament third round game to the Kimball Express 2-0 Saturday, Sept. 1, in New Prague. 
Nathan Sprouls pitched six innings and allowed just six hits while striking out 11, but one of those hits was a solo home run in the fifth inning that put the defending state champions on top 1-0. The Express also scored a run in the seventh off reliever Johnny Houston. Justin Novak had two hits for the Orioles. 

The Minnesota Amateur Baseball Tournament will conclude this weekend with games at three sites, New Prague, Shakopee and Jordan. 

Champions in Class B and Class C will be crowned on Monday, Sept. 3, with the Class B championship game or games scheduled for noon in Shakopee. The Class C Championship game is scheduled for 3 p.m. in New Prague. 

The Tri-City United Titan Football Team opened its season by shutting out the Belle Plaine Tigers 15-0 in Montgomery.
 
The  Titan defense had a spectacular performance and held the Tigers to one interception at the end, three turnovers on downs, and six punts in the game.
 
The Titan offense put themselves on the board in the first quarter on their second possession when Matthew Bartholomew handed off to Kyle Sladek for a touchdown. Sladek added a successful two-point conversion that put the score at 8-0.