ST. PAUL -- The Adrian Dragons cut it close Thursday morning, but managed to edge the Plainview/Elgin-Millville Gophers 33-26 to advance to the team semifinals of the Class AA state wrestling tournament at the Xcel Energy Center.
With the victory, the Dragons will face defending champion St. Michael-Albertville, who beat Scott West 46-8. The match is scheduled for noon.
Behind by 14 points with four matches remaining, the Dragons needed to win out and score big in a least one contest to come out on top.
Tyler Wagner started the comeback for the Dragons in his 171-pound match with an 8-6 victory over the Gophers' Zac Peterson. Adrian scored three points for the victory, but still needed a fall or two.
"Tyler wrestled very well at 171 to help get us through," Adrian head coach Gregg Nelson said. "Nate's pin at 189 really took the pressure of the last two guys."
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Nate Engelkes (189) stepped up on cue for the Dragons, recording a fall over Nick Konkel 2:51 into the match. With the victory, Adrian trailed by five at 26-21. Picking up where Engelkes left off, Cody Reverts pinned his Gopher opponent, Jeff Chapman, with 15 seconds left in the second period to give the Dragons their first lead since the opening match. Will Lutmer finished it off for the Dragons, with a fall in 56 seconds over Cameron Miller, to earn the victory.
In the early going, the Dragons put three points on the board in the first match as Brock Bullerman won a tight decision, 6-5, over P-E-M's Greg Naschansky. Bullerman was behind in the final minute, but turned the tide with a reversal.
The Dragons didn't fair as well in the three matches that followed, losing at 112, 119 and 125 by decisions. Stephen Loosbrock couldn't turn P-E-M's Jesse Campbell after falling behind in the first round of the 112-pound match, eventually losing a 7-3 decision. Camron Bullerman was outscored 13-0 to lose a major decision to the Gophers' Blaine Miller at 119, while Matt Gades lost a close contest to Cody Dillinger, 7-4, at 125 pounds.
Trailing, 10-3, the Dragons wrestled Tony Thier against P-E-M's Jesse Schumacher in the 130-pound match. Thier jumped out to a fast start, scoring a quick takedown and following with a 3-point nearfall. Thier would go on to win a 10-0 major decision to pull the Dragons to within three at 10-7.
But the Gophers would add to their lead in the 135-pound match as Rafe Snyder defeated Adrian's Tannar Loosbrock, 13-5, for a major decision and another four points for P-E-M.
Bumped up from 135 to wrestle at 140 pounds, Brock Bullerman wasted no time with the Gophers' Ethan Carlson. Bullerman took Carlson down just seconds into the match and rode him the entire way to win a 19-3 technical fall, cutting the deficit to two at 14-12.
"We tried to move Brandon up to wrestle one of their better kids," Nelson said. "But then they (P-E-M) up, so that didn't work out too well."
The Dragons would drop the next three matches and fall behind 26-12 with four matches to go. At 145, Andy Heitkamp couldn't get the two points he needed to force overtime, falling to P-E-M's Brad Reiter 6-4. Jaime Wolf scored six huge points for the Gophers, as he pinned Adrian's Zach Reker 1:12 into the 152-pound match. And, at 160, Clint Metz was called for stalling twice in overtime against P-E-M's Paul Meyers to lose by a score of 8-6.
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Adrian 33, P-E-M 26
103 Bro. Bullerman (A) dec. G. Naschansky 6-5 3-0
112 J. Campbell (P) dec. S. Loosbrock 7-3 3-3
119 B. Miller (P) maj. dec. C. Bullerman 13-0 3-7
125 C. Dillinger (P) dec. M. Gades 7-4 3-10
130 T. Thier (A) maj. dec. J. Schumacher 10-0 7-10
135 R. Snyder (P) maj. dec. T. Loosbrock 13-5 7-14
140 Bra. Bullerman (A) tech. fall E. Carlson 3:23 12-14
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145 B. Reiter (P) dec. A. Heitkamp 6-4 12-17
152 J. Wolf (P) fall Z. Reker 1:12 12-23
160 P. Meyers (P) dec. (OT) Z. Reker 8-6 12-26
171 T. Wagner (A) dec. Z. Peterson 8-6 15-26
189 N. Engelkes (A) fall N. Konkel 2:51 21-26
215 C. Reverts (A) fall J. Chapman 1:45 27-26
Hwt. W. Lutmer (A) fall C. Miller :56 33-26
