Tough, tough loss - Jaguar wrestlers get close but fall short against Kimball

Final score in the Section 5A wrestling semifinals: Kimball Area 35, B-B-E 27. After Patrick Rooney won by pin at 182 pounds, the Jaguars held a 27-22 lead. Heading into freshmen Ben Feuerhake's heavyweight match, the Jaguars trailed 29-27.

Remember this: in a triangular at Kimball on January 31, the Jaguars lost 43-22. The Cubs, now 21-12 overall, are the 9th-ranked team in the state in the last regular-season Guillotine poll. They won the last 2 section championships and placed 2nd at the Class A state tournament last year. They are very, very good!!

Some time late either later tonight or early on Saturday morning, a video will be posted showing the last 12+ minutes of the match. This puppy went literally down to the wire! At 195 pounds, Lee Borgerding came OH so close to picking up an upset win before losing 8-6. At 220 pounds, Marshall Zachman gave everything he had in a 9-0 loss to state powerhouse Austin Schiefelbein. The performances at 195 and 220 by the Jaguars allowed things to be in doubt heading into heavyweight, where Feuerhake gave all he had in an incredible match that he lost in the final part of the final minute of the third period. He trailed only 1-0 heading into the last 60 seconds of his match.

A tough, tough loss indeed.

I couldn't be prouder of this wrestling team. They rallied behind one another and left nothing to chance while leaving no one wondering if they could've put any extra effort into it. How about that crowd!!! That was simply an incredible hometown crowd on hand. They cheered from start to finish and really came through when our wrestlers needed them.

Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City destroyed Paynesville Area 61-9 in the other semifinal. The Section 5A championship match is set to begin at about 20:25 between the Falcons and the Cubs.

Action from earlier in the match tonight with Austin Jaeger at 138 pounds...

I am doing my best to get the large video uploaded from the end of the match. It's just shy of 900 megabytes, so I had to upload part of it at school and then try getting the rest of it uploaded while traveling home via my Smartphone and AT & T's incredible 4G network. By 10:30pm tonight I'll know whether or not I was successful or rather have to try uploading it again on Saturday morning. It's a video you will not want to miss out on watching!!!

**Good news! (I think) It appears that the 12 minute, 38-second upload worked out. I'll get it posted shortly after 11:00pm tonight. There is so much more to write about from this match. I'm finally reviewing some of the individual matches in terms of just how good the Cubs were. For example, at 220 pounds, Marshall Zachman went up against state-ranked (#7 in the state) Austin Schiefelbein. In their match on January 31 in Kimball, Marshall was pinned only 36 seconds into the first period. Tonight he lost a major decision 9-0 but managed multiple times to get off of his back and avoid being pinned.

*Update: A-C-GC beat Kimball Area 34-27 in the section championship to return to the state meet for the first time since 2010.

At the girls' basketball game, Pierz holds a 37-26 lead at halftime. *Final: Pierz 72, B-B-E 52.

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