ST. PAUL -- Adrian capped another state team wrestling tournament with another Class AA third-place trophy Saturday as the Dragons edged the Kasson Mantorville Komets 27-23 with a victory in the final match at the Xcel Energy Center.
The Jackson County Central Huskies handily beat the Big Lake Hornets 40-16 to bring home fifth place.
Down, 23-21, with one battle to go, Adrian heavyweight Will Lutmer put the Komets' Casey Johnson on his back two minutes and 37 seconds in to pull out the victory.
"As a team, I think we wrestled very well," Adrian head coach Gregg Nelson said Saturday. "We wrestled aggressively and with urgency."
The Dragons fell behind 4-0 after the 103-pound match as Jake Dorn lost a major decision to K-M's Garrett Garness, but won the next three tussles by decision as Steven Loosbrock (112), Brock Bullerman (119) and Luke Tiesler (125) controlled their opponents -- giving the Dragons a 9-4 advantage.
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The Komets surged ahead with victories in the 130 and 135-pound divisions. K-M's Jade Mehling managed a late takedown to win a 9-7 decision over Adrian's Matt Gades, while the Komet's Spencer Garness beat Tony Their 13-4 for a major decision to give K-M an 11-9 lead.
The Dragons' Nate Barker (140) and Andy Heitkamp (145) each won close contests over their Komets' opponents to put Adrian back in the lead 15-11, with six matches to go.
Looking to stay on top, Adrian sent in Jordan Reker against Jake Gosch for a tough 152-pound battle. Gosch nipped Jordan Reker, 2-0, to pull the Komets within one at 15-14.
Zach Reker (160) quickly pulled those three points back for the Dragons, winning a 6-1 decision over Tim Carver to give Adrian a little cushion at 18-14. Tyler Wagner (171) widened the gap further as he shut out Michael Shaffer in an 11-0 major decision -- giving the Dragons a 22-14 advantage.
"This was a hard match for us, because we just lost the night before," Nelson said. "We had to fight for every point in this one."
It took the K-M five minutes and 36 seconds to put the pressure back on Adrian as Tanner Sorenson won by fall late in the third period against Dragon 189-pounder Calvin Loosbrock, and the Komets were again within on at 22-21 with two bouts to go.
The Komets pulled ahead for the first time since the 130-pound match as Mark Gransee knocked off Glen Kruger, 8-3, at 215 pounds. The match was stopped several times, because Kruger was bleeding badly from his nose.
With the Komets' faithful on their feet, K-M sent Johnson out against individual heavyweight finalist (eventual champion) Lutmer. The Dragons needed only to win a decision, but Lutmer took a couple of shots to see which way the K-M big man was leaning before he slammed Johnson to the mat for the fall -- bouncing to his feet to greet his onrushing teammates.
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"I knew I'd take him down. I just had to find the right way to do it," Lutmer said. "It was nice to come back with a victory after losing to Perham last night."
Could the Adrian fans have come to the arena floor, they surely would have hoisted Lutmer on their shoulders and carried him around. Unfortunately for the Dragon faithful, they had to settle for loudly chanting LUTMER... LUTMER... LUTMER.....
"We've been here the last three years, and I think the kids like ending the year this way," Nelson said."
Winning 10-of-14 matches against Big Lake, JCC ran away with the consolation championship.
Cooper Moore (103) started things off for the Huskies, beating eventual individual third-place winner, Matt Nelson, to give JCC a quick 3-0 lead. Justin Nelson exacted revenge in the 112-pound match, beating Derek Schlager, 15-4, for a major decision victory -- giving the Hornets a momentary 4-3 advantage.
Cole Von Ohlen (individual champion at 119 pounds) put the Huskies back on the right track with an 11-0 major over Aaron Stolp, and Zach Croatt followed with an 8-5 decision over T.J. Johnson at 125 to put the Huskies up by six at 10-4.
Sterling Bargfrede (130) kept the ball rolling for JCC, winning an 8-4 decision over the Hornets' Jake Lumley. In a rare move at a state tournament, Big Lake forfeited the 135-pound match to the Huskies Torey Stewart -- putting the Huskies out in front, 19-4.
The move didn't slow JCC down a bit as Jake Johnson (140) won a tight 3-2 decision over Big Lake's Dan Brown to make it 22-4.
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The Hornets' Mathias Baker pulled three points back for his club in the 145-pound bout, defeating Randy Hummel, 8-4. But the Huskies bounced right back to win the next four matches.
Devin Bezdicek (152) wrestled a very smart match and dispatched of Big Lake's Justin Haag, 6-3.
"Both Devin and Calvin wrestled well for us today," JCC head coach Randy Baker said. "We also had a good match at 103. Their kid was a semifinalist."
Calvin Ferguson (160) looked to be in trouble at several times during his match with the Hornets' Tyler Sonenstahl, but with his long tentacle-like arms managed to pull four reversals for eight points -- winning a 13-9 decision.
"I was trying to set him up for those reversals," Calvin Ferguson said after his match. "I've also been working hard on my takedowns and was able to pull a couple of those off."
Travis Rutt (eventual individual champion at 160 pounds) made it three in a row for the Huskies, earning the first of back-to-back pinfalls for JCC. Rutt took all of 50 seconds to put Big Lake's 171-pounder, Zach Peterson, on his back. Caleb Lines (eventual third-place winner at 171 pounds) stepped up at 189 pounds and put Josh Ledin down 4:59 in to give the Huskies a 40-7 lead.
Big Lake managed to keep its pride intact, winning the final two matches of the dual. Ben Brown won a 12-5 decision over Joe Skow in the 215-pound bout, while Aaron Mevissen earned a pinfall of JCC's Mitchell Ferguson at 1:55 of their heavyweight match.
"You could tell they've been here before," Big Lake head coach Loren Holthus said of the Huskies. "Give credit to Jackson County, they're a very well-coached team. (Randy) Baker keeps them going all year round. They're solid all the way through their line-up."
