BOYS WRESTLING: Pipestone seals win against Worthington

WORTHINGTON — Stringing together four straight wins in the middle weights and finishing with a pair of key triumphs Friday night, the Pipestone Area Arrows claimed a 41-31 victory over the Worthington Trojans in a Southwest Conference wrestling dual on ‘Meet the Trojans’ Night.

PA, which improves to 5-2 overall, trailed 18-6 after the first four individual matches of the night. The Arrows then swung things in their favor with four straight wins to take a 26-18 advantage.

Worthington (1-5) came back and regained a 28-26 lead with four matches remaining, but PA earned a trio of individual wins down the stretch to prevail with a 10-point team victory.

“This really was a total team effort on our part,” PA head coach Brian Bos said. “We had a number of different kids step up and get big wins for us. We shuffled our lineup around a little bit and bounced kids around to different weights, and they responded well to the adjustments to help us get a nice win on the road.”

While the Arrows controlled most of the matches toward the latter stages of the dual, the Trojans jumped out to early leads of 6-0, 12-6 and 18-6. The young Worthington squad earned a trio of quick wins by pinfall and competed well throughout the night.

“It’s certainly a tough loss overall, but our kids worked hard and continue to make improvements,” Worthington head coach Mark Prunty said. “We started well in the lower weights and did a great job of battling through the middle weights, where PA is very strong. We gave ourselves a chance to win and just came up a bit short.”

Hser Eh Pwae gave Worthington a 6-0 lead when he pinned PA’s Garrett Ploeger 5 minutes, 18 seconds into the opening 106-pound match.

The Arrows’ Michael Suda countered with a pin of his own at 113 pounds, defeating the Trojans’ Hser Moo Pwae in a time of 3:58 to even the score at six points apiece.

The next four matches were also decided by pinfalls, with the first two of those going Worthington’s way for an 18-6 margin.

It took both Anthony Luft (120) and Jeffrey Camacho (126) just over a minute apiece to pin Nathan Westfield and Logan Steenstra, respectively, to put the Trojans up by 12 points.

PA’s Cole Nordmeyer (132) and Alex Ossefoort (138) answered with back-to-back quick pins — over Cody Michelson and Zach Bruns, respectively — to again tie the score, this time at 18 points apiece.

The Arrows kept the momentum by claiming major decisions in the ensuing two matches. Walker Kor’s 14-4 win over King Saenz at 145 pounds made it 22-18 in favor of PA.

That lead grew to 26-18 after the 152-pound match, as the Arrows’ Brady Bos captured a 17-5 win over Joey Mills.

Worthington’s Zach Kempema then put the brakes on PA’s run, earning a hard-fought 10-2 win over Allan Hachmann in the 160-pound match to make it 26-22.

The Trojans’ Blake Schroeder was awarded a six-point win via a forfeit in the 170-pound spot, as Worthington took a 28-26 advantage heading into the upper weights.

PA’s Will Smith pinned Cole Bartels in 4:38 during the ensuing 182-pound match, lifting the Arrows to a 32-28 lead.

Worthington’s Carson Hagen emerged with a 2-0 decision over Jared Hillard at 195 pounds, trimming the gap to 32-31 with two matches left.

The Arrows’ Blake Wolters then locked horns with the Trojans’ Joe Pavelko at 220 pounds. In a match that could have gone either way, Wolters emerged with a 3-2 decision to put PA up 35-31.

Jared Nygaard followed with a pin in 5:32 over Peter Abraham in the 285-pound match, securing the Arrows’ 41-31 victory in an exciting and intense finish.

PA hosts a tournament today, while Worthington is off until Thursday when it hosts Marshall and Jackson County Central in a triangular.

Tags: sports, boys, wrestling, trojans