JCC advances to Class A finals, Cobras bow out of Class AA team competition

ST. PAUL -- While the match was not as dramatic as Thursday's bout against Kenyon-Wanamingo, the result was the same for Jackson County Central.

The Huskies defeated the Frazee Hornets, 40-22, Friday evening to advance to the Class A team finals of the Minnesota State High School wrestling tournament at the Xcel Energy Center. JCC will take on the Canby Lancers today.

"I think we can wrestle better in a few places, and I was a little disappointed in our technique," JCC head coach Randy Baker said following the match. "We didn't get quite the performance we got (Thursday) night, but the kids wrestled hard and we came away with the result we wanted."

The Huskies, as opposed to Thursday night, got off to a tremendous start, as Darick Vancura earned a 22-7 technical fall at 5:57 of his match against Frazee 103-pounder Tanner Ellenberg. Bronson Steuber followed with a technical fall against the Hornets' Tyler Ziegler in the 112-pound tilt, and the Huskies were quickly out to a 10-0 lead.

The Hornets responded with a 6-4 victory at 119 pounds, as Frazee's Wade Huckriede defeated JCC's Patrick Hanson.

The Huskies bounced right back in the 125-pound bout. Taylor Menke, who earlier in the day bowed out of the individual tournament, roared back with a solid performance against the Hornets' Mike Lucero -- winning a 5-3 decision to put JCC up, 13-3.

At 130 pounds, Cole Von Ohlen -- the Huskies' individual finalist at this weight -- demonstrated why he's in the finals. The senior won by fall at 1:27 of his match against Frazee's Isaac Galbrecht, giving the Huskies a 19-3 advantage.

In the next contest, Baker opted to wrestle a seldom-utilized senior at 135 pounds -- Andrew Hodnefield. The lanky Huskies' grappler proved his worth in not being put on his back, but gave up an 11-2 major decision to Frazee's Kyle Janke.

"We had things rolling our way, and I decided to get some other kids in the match," Baker said. "We have so many kids that wrestle and train hard, and I wanted to give everybody the experience of the state tournament."

Trailing 19-7, the Hornets inched closer as their 140-pounder, Jacob Schermerhorn, won a hard-fought, 8-6 decision over JCC's Randy Hummel -- pulling Frazee within nine points at 19-10.

The Huskies responded by sending out one of their big guns, Torey Stewart, at 145 pounds. Stewart, who will wrestle in the 145-pound title bout today, wasted no time in putting the Hornets' Tyler Blauert on his back several times en route to a 22-4 technical fall -- giving the Huskies a 24-10 advantage.

Frazee came back with a victory in the 152-pound bout, as Andrew Lockrem shut out JCC's Jacob Johnson, 4-0, to keep the Huskies honest. Cody Numn followed for the Hornets, and won a 6-3 decision over the Huskies' Devin Bezdicek at 160 pounds to again pull Frazee closer at 24-16.

But JCC's Travis Rutt put a momentary halt to the Hornets' momentum, as the senior won a 14-3 major decision against Frazee's Kody Lafreniere-Sorenson at 171 pounds.

Never giving up, the Hornets came back to post six points in the 189-pound match. Frazee's Ben Ratz earned a pinfall against Calvin Ferguson 2:32 into the bout, and the Hornets were within six at 28-22.

But that was all the Hornets could muster. The Huskies' Caleb Lines (215) and Joe Skow (285) each won by pinfall against Ben Lujan and Jamie Holmer, respectively, sending JCC to the Class A team finals.

In Class AA team competition, the Windom/Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin Cobras lost a 35-19 decision to the Foley Falcons and made their exit from the tournament.

"I think it was a tremendous building experience for this young team," W/ML/B-O head coach Dave Elg said following the match. "They wrestled with a lot of heart tonight. They wrestled with a lot of heart last night, too, but had some bad things happen to us.

"I think we wrestled to the best of our ability, and I think that was about as good as we were going to do," Elg added. "I think it was something to build on, for sure. They're very hungry; they want to come back. We have a real big youth program, and hopefully this is going to encourage those guys to keep moving forward."

The Cobras' Drake Borsgard put W/ML/B-O out in front after the 103-pound contest, as the eighth-grader won an 11-2 major decision over the Falcons' Taylor Rothfork.

But the Falcons returned the favor, as their 112-pounder, Mark Gehling, won an 11-1 major decision over the Cobras' Heath Quiring to even the score at 4-all.

Josh Falk came back for the Cobras at 119 pounds, edging Foley's Brandon Seppelt by a score of 9-7. Tim Larson followed Falk with a fall against Foley's Taylor Lewandowski at 125 pounds to give the Cobras a 13-4 advantage.

The Falcons responded with a 4-3 double-overtime victory at 130 pounds, as Jacob Bowland managed an escape against W/ML/B-O's Sam Fischenich in the second overtime period -- helping the Falcons edge closer at 13-7.

The Falcons made it two straight, as 135-pounder Cory Foss won an 11-6 decision against the Cobras' Bill Hochstein. But the Cobras' responded with a win in the 140-pound match that pitted A.J. Stevens against Foley's Zach Jackson. Stevens, while having to stop several times to care to his bleeding nose, battled through for an 8-3 decision to put W/ML/B-O up 16-10.

The Cobras' Spencer Johnson followed with an 8-6 overtime victory against Foley's Jeremy Weber to give W/ML/B-O a 9-point advantage at 19-10.

But that was the last contest the Cobras' would win, as the Falcons won the final six bouts to win a 35-19 match decision and advance to the consolation finals today.