*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.
