MARSHALL -- The Worthington Trojans will not appear as a team this year at the Minnesota state Class AA wrestling tournament.
The Trojans, who qualified in 2017, were eliminated in the semifinals of the Section 3AA tourney on Saturday, 43-16, by Marshall at Marshall. The top-seeded team in the southern bracket, Fairmont/Martin County West, defeated Redwood River Valley 54-18 in its semifinal match Saturday afternoon, then went on to beat Marshall 49-20 in the championship.
The state tournament is March 1-3 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Worthington, seeded second in the south bracket, defeated third-seeded New Ulm in a quarterfinal match on Thursday. But against Marshall, the top seed from the north, the Trojans lost four of the first five matches and were unable to recover.
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Things began wonderfully for WHS, however, at 106 pounds as Damon Schutz pinned the Tigers’ Mitchell Bouwman in just 32 seconds.
But the Tigers got wins at 113 by Conner Roth, at 120 by Hsa Khee Lar, at 126 by Hsa La Eh, and at 132 by Lucas Hodges. Khee Lar’s win was by fall.
Worthington’s Jacob Prunty stopped the bleeding at 138 pounds with a 6-1 decision over Marshall’s Noah Jensen. But Grant Louwagie and Jackson Hughes won for the Tigers at 145 and 152, the latter by first period fall.
The Trojans’ Brayden Donkersloot decisioned Elijah Sterner at 160. Marshall’s Zach Stahl won by major decision at 170, but at 182 Worthington’s Mason Byrne scored a major decision, 12-1, over the Tigers’ Tyler Timm.
Marshall won the final three weight classes with Wyatt Martin, Jaiden Bahr and Zack Felcyn.
Marshall 43, Worthington 16
106-Schutz (W) pin Bouwman 0:32; 113-Roth (M) dec. Martinez 8-4; 120; Khee Lar (M) pin Abdulrahman 1:44; 126-La Eh (M) dec. Artiga 6-2; 132-Hodges (M) dec. Paw 7-6; 138-Prunty (W) dec. Jensen 6-1; 145-Louwagie (M) dec. Hennings 8-3; 152-Hughes (M) pin Cornejo 0:43; 160-Donkersloot (W) dec. Sterner 5-4; 170-Stahl (M) MD Mullaney 9-1; 182-Byrne (W) MD Timm 12-1; 195-Martin (M) pin Neuberger 3:32; 220-Bahr (M) pin Russell 3:55; 285-Felcyn (M) dec. Herrera 5-3.
