Saturday, March 13, 2021

State wrestling quarterfinals (VIDEO)

The Class 1A state wrestling quarterfinal match has begun at West Central Area high school in Barrett, and the first two matches make it a draw. It's 3-3 through the 113 pound weight.

*Later...with the 182-pound weight complete, the Jaguars are ahead 30-18.

Final score: Bertha-Hewitt/Parkers Prairie/Verndale 33, B-B-E 30. The Jaguars have concluded the team portion of their unforgettable and record-setting season. They won 28 of 32 matches this year to finish 28-4.

BH/PP/V takes a 28-7 record into the Class 1A state semifinals. In their Section 6A championship match earlier today, the Raiders defeated West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville 44-33 to advance to state. The state wrestling tournament will be held at St. Michael-Albertville high school on March 25-March 27. That tournament will include individual state qualifiers.

More to follow. Time to pack up my gear.

I just learned that Royalton/Upsala's wrestling team will be one of the four State Final Four teams. They defeated Crookston 49-26 in their Super Section match today. Crookston, the Section 8A champions, finished 22-11 overall. Crookston avenged an earlier-season 42-35 loss to Badger-Greenbush-Middle River by defeating the Gators 39-27 to win their section title.

In Section 4A, No. 4-ranked Kimball Area (23-4) upset defending champion and No. 3-ranked Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 34-21 to advance to state. The Cubs put an exclamation mark on that win by defeating Zumbrota-Mazeppa 35-23 in their state quarterfinal match to advance to the state semis. Zumbrota-Mazeppa was the Section 1A champion. The Z-M Cougars missed out on state in 2019 and 2020, but back in the 2017-2018 season they were Class 1A state champions.

In Section 3A, Minneota lost 45-30 to No. 11-ranked Jackson County Central. The JCC Huskies then beat Kenyon-Wanamingo 45-30 in their state quarterfinal match-up today. Kenyon-Wanamingo (21-5) won the Section 2A title by defeating Blue Earth Area 45-29. JCC takes a 30-3 record into the state semis.

One video clip is uploading and will be posted here soon.

Here's the video clip featuring the early weights of the Section 5A championship between B-B-E and Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville:



More to come later tonight. It is time to unwind and relax! Please feel free to take in that video clip. It is about 45 minutes long.

*Breaking down that 45-minute video clip:
Right around the 7:00 mark, Brett DeRoo finishes out his win by a 7-5 decision at 106 pounds. He defeated No. 4-ranked and sophomore Connor Flan. This was a terribly exciting match from start to finish. It really set the tone for what was an outstanding day of wrestling at West Central Area high school.

At 113 pounds, B-B-E's Tanner Viessman faced No. 6-ranked and sophomore Gavin Albers. Viessman wrestled an incredible match in a loss by a 10-7 decision. This was another match that helped put B-B-E in the driver's seat for the section title. Viessman started his third period trailing 10-4, and he put in the performance of his life during that final period to narrow the deficit to 10-7 before the final buzzer.

At 120 pounds, Wyatt Engen won by a pin with a time of 3:37 over Mason Bruder. This gave B-B-E an early 9-3 lead. In the video clip, Engen's 120-pound match starts at about the 17:00 mark. During the second period, Engen was briefly put on his back, but he was able to roll off of his shoulders and just give up back points instead of a pin. Right around the 20:40 mark of the video, Engen had a fantastic move to put Bruder on his back. Shortly after the 21:00 mark, Engen earns the pin!

At 126 pounds, No. 3-ranked Walker Bents won by pin against Rudy Determan. In the video, Bents puts Determan on his back at around the 25:15 mark. He was awarded back points. Then at about the 28:15 mark of the video, Bents puts Determan on his back once again and got the pin just seconds later with an official time of 4:28. This put B-B-E ahead 15-3.

In the next match at 132 pounds, B-B-E's No. 9-ranked Ryan Jensen faced No. 5-ranked Braden Thom. They are both ranked in the 120-pound bracket of The Guillotine. This match was completed at about the 36:45 mark of the video, and Ryan Jensen won by a 9-2 decision.

At 138 pounds, B-B-E's No. 8-ranked and junior Tyler Jensen faced No. 7-ranked and senior Cael Lorentz. This match gets rolling at about the 37:15 mark of the video. Tyler Jensen won this match by a 6-2 decision, and that completes the video.

That's a wrap for this blog post.




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