In the second chapter of Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol", Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, reliving his life first as a lonely boy, then as a young apprentice and finally as a young man that spurns the love of a woman in favor of the love of money.

Reading with Rick brings you the first chapter of the timeless Christmas classic from Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol". Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old partner Jacob Marley, and is warned that he will be visited by three more ghosts over the next three nights.

In this edition of the Christmas Reading with Rick, we enjoy stories about Curious George and Winnie the Pooh, and then a story about discovering that it doesn't take money to give Christmas gifts in "Clarinda's Gifts".

Listen to 3 Christmas stories on Reading with Rick: "The Poky Little Puppy's First Christmas", "Corduroy's Christmas Surprise" and "A Christmas Memory".

The Pioneers fell 41-8 to a powerful Huskies squad in Sauk Centre in the final game of the season.  Nolan Rueter ran for 158 yards and 4 touchdowns to lead Albany to the Section 6AAA Title. The Pioneers got a late-game touchdown run from Michael Burggraff and a conversion run by Mitchell Smude. The Pioneers end the year with a record of 7-1 while Albany finishes off a perfect 8-0 year.

The Pioneers lost 3-0 to the Huskers by scores of 15-25, 24-26, 18-25.  Maddie Poster was 14-14 serving with 4 aces, Emily Sadlovsky had 18 digs, Ashley Kimman led the team with 9 kills and Kiara Olesch dished out 10 assists.

Michael Leidenfrost carries the ball 30 times for 154 yards and 3 touchdowns while Noah Cekalla fires a 35 yard scoring strike to Zach Jones as the Pioneers defeat the Crusaders 28-19 in the 1st Round of the 6AAA Playoffs.  

The Pioneers closed out the regular season with a 33-13 win over the Thunder Hawks in a game played at Minnewaska Area High School.  The 20-point margin of victory is highly misleading as the game was tied 13-13 heading into the 4th quarter. It took 3 touchdowns in the final 12 minutes for the Pioneers to pull away.  Michael Leidenfrost had a huge game rushing for 139 yards and 3 touchdowns while catching a Noah Cekalla scoring pass and returning a kickoff for a score to account for all 5 Pierz touchdowns.

Fresh off a 12 day layoff, the Pioneers battled their way to a 3-2 win over the Wolves in Milaca by scores of 23-25, 25-19, 25-17, 23-25, 15-7.  The victory improves the Pioneers record to 3-4.

The Pioneers beat the Rockets 32-13 in a Week 5 matchup behind Michael Leidenfrost's 135 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns, along with Ross Boser's 75 yards and a score.  Noah Cekalla found Zach Jones for a 53 yard touchdown as well. On the defensive side of the ball, the secondary had 3 picks with Trevor Radunz nabbing 2 and Kamden Happke collecting the other, while Pierz also recovered 2 Rockets fumbles.  Overall, the Pioneers limited the Rockets offense to under 100 yards of total offense.