PREP WRESTLING: No. 4- ranked Luft sparks Trojans in dual loss

ST. JAMES – Anthony Luft’s pinfall victory in 5 minutes, 35 seconds over Cody Hanson in the 120-pound weight class highlighted a young Worthington wrestling team’s effort in a season-opening 46-24 dual loss to the St. James on Thursday.

Luft, who is ranked No. 4 in Class AA, gave the Trojans a 12-6 lead early with his fall of Hanson, who is ranked seventh in Class A.

“We put a lineup out there with six wrestlers either in eighth or ninth grade,” Trojans head coach Mark Prunty said. “Some of them were wrestling in their varsity matches, but the kids didn’t back down from the challenge. We saw a lot of good things out of the kids.”

WHS freshman Hser Eh Pwae earned a pinfall win at 106 over Mario Garcia in 5:06 before Hser Moo Pwae lost by pinfall at 113 to Angel Zamarripa in 3:44 to bring the score to 6-6 after two weight classes.

Following Luft’s win at 120, Richard Soto got the Saints back to even with a fall in 1:59 over Colton Poppema at 126.

Cody Michelson put the Trojans ahead 15-12 at 132 with a 7-3 decision over Sammy Guzman, but that was Worthington’s final lead of the dual.

The Saints won the next four weight classes as Isaac Carreon pinned Vince Riley in 2:09 at 138, Kody Curry defeated Zach Bruns with an 8-2 decision at 145, Connor Engel earned a fall in 5:20 over King Saenz at 152 and Zack Gleiter pinned Joey Mills in 2:45 at 160.

“We need to stay off our backs,” Prunty said. “We took too many pins.”

Zach Kempema stopped the Saints’ run at 170 with an 8-7 decision over Ryan Westman, but the hosts claimed three of the final four classes to seal the win.

Carson Hagen provided the Trojans with their final victory at 195 with a fall in 1:11 over Colin Hoppe, while Devin Wolle won a 5-1 decision against Blake Schroeder at 182, Adrian Torres pinned Joe Pavelko in 3:48 at 220 and Victor Torres earned a 6-0 decision over Peter Abraham at heavyweight.

“St. James is always a great opponent,” Prunty said. “We saw a lot of promising things from our kids in the first time out there this season.”

Worthington travels to compete in the Blue Earth Invitational on Saturday.

Tags: sports, prep, wrestling, trojans