51-18 ! Boom! Bring on the Cardinals (UPDATES)

In a truly dominating performance to open the state tournament, the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team dismantled No. 10-ranked United North Central by a 51-18 score in the Class 1A quarterfinals.

Next: the Jaguars head to the State Final Four, where they take on No. 3-ranked and No. 2-seeded Staples-Motley in the Class 1A semifinals at 1 p.m. today at Xcel Energy Center. In their quarterfinal today, the Cardinals took apart unseeded LeSueur-Henderson by a 51-9 score to advance to the state semis. Staples-Motley, champions of Section 7A, will be a formidable opponent.

Top-ranked and top-seeded Chatfield easily defeated unseeded Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie by a 50-9 score in their quarterfinal dual. They held an initial 31-0 lead through 145 pounds. A win by decision at 152 pounds made it 35-0 before BH/V/PP got on the board with a pin at 160 pounds.

No. 4-seeded and No. 5-ranked Jackson County Central prevailed 36-33 against No. 5-seeded and No. 6-ranked Lake Crystal-Wellcome-Memorial Area to earn a spot in the state semis and a match up with Chatfield.

B-B-E vs. UNC notes...
Ahead 21-12 through the 145-pound match, the Jaguars poured it on in a big way with three straight first-period pins by Brett DeRoo, Ethan Mueller and Maximus Hanson. They continued building on that 39-12 lead with two additional pins at 189 and 215 pounds by Hunter Laage and Carson Gilbert. Laage's pin also was earned in the first period with a time of 1:05. UNC earned a pin at heavyweight with their other state-ranked wrestler, No. 10-ranked junior Kevin Dailey, pinning Harley Weber in a time of 28 seconds.
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Dual updates against Staples-Motley will follow after 1 p.m. on this blog post. The Cardinals are 33-1 overall heading into the state semis.

State semifinal update: through 160 pounds, the Cardinals are ahead 35-7. Through 139, Staples-Motley had a 31-0 lead. They have five ranked wrestlers in the first five weights, and it showed as they won by fall at 107, 114, 121 and 133 pounds. At 172 pounds, Ethan Mueller won a 6-0 decision to cut it to 35-10. Maximus Hanson then won a 21-6 tech fall (5:12) to make it a 35-15 deficit.

At 215, Hunter Laage faced Adrian Gomez and trailed 5-0 after the first period. Update: that 5-0 score stood through the second and third periods, with Laage losing by a 5-0 decision to expand Staples-Motley's lead to 38-15.

At 285 pounds...the dual concludes on a high note...Carson Gilbert faced Steven Petrich and won by fall in the closing seconds (5:58) to make for a final score of 38-21.

Sidebar: it's crazy, but it is likely true...at the MSHSL website with Staples-Motley school information, their wrestling team has 8 coaches listed. Eight coaches!!! B-B-E, meanwhile, has 3 coaches on staff. I also noticed that Staples-Motley finished sixth at the prestigious Rumble on the Red invitational at the FargoDome on December 30. The top five teams at the Rumble on the Red were all Class 3A schools. For what it's worth, Holdingford has six coaches listed on their wrestling staff. The Huskers, runners-up in the Central Minnesota Conference behind our Jaguars, lost 32-25 in the Section 7A championship to Staples-Motley. On January 13 at the Bemidji Duals, Staples-Motley lost 32-22 to Holdingford.

Re-posting...let's go back again to yesterday's elementary pep fest, with this video recorded near the end. It was a great opportunity for elementary students to interact and get an up close look at our outstanding group of wrestling student athletes!


Next at state: the Jaguars (22-3) look to finish the team portion of the 2023-2024 season with a win as they head to the third-place match, which starts at 5 p.m. tonight at Xcel. Once again, the Jaguars will face a formidable opponent as they will take on two-time defending state champion Jackson County Central. The JCC Huskies were roughed up in a 49-12 semifinal loss to Chatfield. The JCC Huskies are 20-4 overall. They won the Big South Conference's West division with a 6-0 record.

Tonight, Chatfield (20-1), champions of the Three Rivers Conference, faces Staples-Motley (34-1) in the Class 1A state championship.

Third place updates vs. JCC:

At 107, Noah Jensen lost by a 10-3 decision. 

The Huskies have built a 27-12 lead through 145 pounds. The Jaguars got pins by Noah Welte (114) and Ryan Jensen (139).

At 152, Tanner Viessman is trailing 5-0 in the second period. Final: Viessman lost a 16 to 4 major decision to Nolan Ambrose. The hopes are dimming.

More to follow in a NEW blog post. This blog post is a wrap.