WA/ML-B-O, Adrian reach 3AA semifinals

By Daily Globe News

February 14, 2006 at 11:00 PM

WORTHINGTON -- The No. 1 and No. 2 wrestled as expected Tuesday night, earning victories to advance to the semifinals of the Section 3AA team tournament.

The top-seeded Adrian Dragons dispensed of the Pipestone Area Arrows, 60-15, with eight falls in the match. The Arrows had advanced to the second round by defeating the Worthington Trojans, 57-18.

The Windom Area/Mountain Lake-Butterfield-Odin Cobras were given a tougher match, but eventually beat the Fulda/MCC Warriors, 40-24.

Adrian's Brock Bullerman set the tone early with a fall at 1:33 over PA's Jadon Evans at 103 pounds. The pin gave the Dragons a quick 6-0 lead heading into the 112-pound match.

PA's Brandon Alfson pulled an upset of Adrian's Stephen Loosbrock, garnering a fall at 3:47 into the match.

"Brandon is a good wrestler," PA head coach Brian Bos said. "When he's on, he can beat anyone."

With the score tied at 6-all, the 119-pounders took to the mat -- Taylor Aaland for PA and Luke Tielser for Adrian. Aaland, who had lost earlier in the evening against Jessie Regaldo of Worthington, came back to post an impressive 5-2 decision and earn the victory to give the Arrows a slim 9-6 advantage.

That would be the only time the Arrows would find themselves in the lead as Matt Gades and Tony Thier picked up forfeit victories at 125 and 130 for an 18-9 Adrian lead.

But Taylor Evans fired back for the Arrows at 135 pounds, earning a 6-1 decision over Adrian's Tanner Loosbrock and cut the deficit to six points. Brandon Bullerman quickly pulled those six points back for the Dragons with a pin of Tyler Fruechte, 2:38 of the 140-pound match. Andy Heitkamp followed that with another Adrian pin, placing PA's Ben Morgan on his back 4:35 into his 145-pound matchup.

PA's Jesse Evans (152), who picked up his 100th career victory earlier in the night against Worthington, then picked up No. 101 with a 6-1 decision over Adrian's Zach Reker to put the Dragons up 30-15 with five matches to go.

But that was the last match the Arrows would get close to winning as the Dragons finished Pipestone Area off with five consecutive pins.

Dalton Engelkes (160) knocked off Jared Purdin in 2:14, Clint Metz (171) pinned Matt Dunn 1:57 in, Tyler Wagner (189) put Stanton Kelly on his back at 2:33, Nate Engelkes made short time of Sean Ennen with a pin just 40 seconds in, and Will Lutmer finished it for the Dragons with a fall over John Lentz 2:23 into the heavyweight match.

I thought we picked it up after the 112 match," Adrian head coach Gregg Nelson said. "I thought we wrestled well. Our match with them on Thursday was closer, so I think we did alright."

In the closest and, perhaps, most exciting team match of the evening, the Cobras encountered a rough and tumble Warrior side.

With four matches decided by two points or less, this was a closer bout than the score might reflect.

Josh Falk gave the Cobras a quick 5-0 lead with a technical fall over the Warrior's Elissa Reinsma. But Justin Reinsma fired back for F/MCC with a 4-3 decision over Sam Fischenich at 112 pounds.

WA/ML-B-O's Bill Hochstein would let the Warriors get no closer, as the 119-pounder scored posted the fall over Chris Witzel, 4:40 into the match. W/ML-B-O's A.J. Stevens made it 14-3 with an exciting 2-1 decision over Tyler Giese in the 125-pound contest.

The Cobras would go on to score two more close victories in the next weight divisions, as Colt Bergendahl (130) beat Scott Beech, 3-1, and Mason Anderson (135) outlasted Cory Sandhurst, 6-5. At 140 pounds, Ruben Silvas pinned Dillon Hotovec at 5:05 to give the Cobras a commanding 26-3 advantage.

But in perhaps the biggest upset of the night, Warrior 145-pounder Andy Henning pinned WA/MLBO's Christ Fast 5:01 in to give F/MCC six points and cut the deficit to 26-9.

"We didn't expect that," WA/MLBO head coach Dave Elg said of the 145-pound match. "To overcome that and finish with a 16-point victory -- we did okay."

Cobra Travis Elg quickly cut the Warrior momentum, as the 152-pounder pinned Kenny Deuschle at 2:47 to quell any comeback hopes.

Derek Radtke (160) and Jerome Rodney (171) followed Elg's win with major decisions over Kody Kramer and Travis Christians, respectively, to give the Dragons a 40-9 lead.

The final three matches went to the Warriors, as Nick Henning (189) pinned Eddie Zamarripa, Will Steinmetz (215) defeated Kevin Zschetzsche 13-9 and Andy Witzel (HWT) pinned Harlan Horkey.

"I have to take my hat off to the kids who beat us," F/MCC head coach Dan Blankenship said. "That's the experience they have. I'm happy with the way we wrestled. Do I think we can beat them? Yeah, but were going to have to work our tails off -- that's what we're going to do."

Adrian faces Marshall Friday in Lamberton, while WA/MLBO faces T-M-B. Both matches begin at 6 p.m.

Adrian 60, PA 15

103 Bro. Bullerman (A) pin Ja. Evans 1:33 6-0

112 B Alfson (P) pin S. Loosbrock 3:47 6-6

119 T. Aaland (P) dec. L. Tiesler 5-2 6-9

125 M. Gades (A) forfeit 12-9

130 T. Thier (A) forfeit 18-9

135 T. Evans (P) dec. T. Loosbrock 6-1 18-12

140 Bra. Bullerman(A) pin T. Fruechte 2:38 24-12

145 A. Heitkamp (A) pin B. Morgan 4:35 30-12

152 Je. Evans (P) dec. Z. Reker 6-1 30-15

160 D. Engelkes (A) pin J. Purdin 2:14 36-15