The emotional hangover from last season's playoff loss to Centennial threatened No. 1 Blaine's undefeated volleyball season last week.

The Bengals fell behind 0-2 to the No. 10 Cougars but roared back to win the match 22-25, 16-25, 25-23, 25-18, 15-11.

The five-game match was reminiscent of last season's Class 3A, Section 5 final. Only then, Blaine built a 2-0 lead it couldn't finish.

"We were flat coming into that match and it really showed in games one and two," Blaine coach Celeste Gorman wrote in an e-mail. "The girls were overly emotional about facing Centennial since the last time we played them it was such a heartbreaker. Once they settled in and got fired up, I felt a different energy from them."

Blaine entered this week 18-0 and has lost just five games all season.

Totino-Grace to Northwest Suburban

Totino-Grace will move its football team to the Northwest Suburban Conference for a two-season experiment beginning in 2012-13. The private school, located in Fridley, is leaving the North Suburban Conference after two seasons of choosing to schedule additional nonconference opponents and becoming ineligible for a conference championship.

In addition, Elk River's football team returns to the Northwest Suburban Conference after two seasons in the Mississippi 8. The 12-team conference will be split into two divisions: North and West.

NBA all-star game at Osseo

Osseo High School will be the host of Michael Beasley's All-Star Classic basketball game on Oct. 21. Tip-off is 7 p.m. Tickets start at $100. Players include Timberwolves Beasley and Kevin Love plus NBA superstars Kevin Durant and Paul Pierce. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is a celebrity coach.

David La Vaque • 612-673-7574

Park Center to honor Dave Bauer

Dave Bauer, who started coaching at Park Center in 1971 and is best known for cross-country, will be honored at an open house from 2 to 5 p.m. on Oct. 16 at Pine Grove Bible Church in Brooklyn Park.

Bauer is retiring after this season. The informal open house will honor his contributions to Park Center.

Cake and coffee will be served.