STATE WRESTLING: W/MLBO falls in 1st round

ST. PAUL -- Windom/Mountain Lake Butterfield-Odin's goals for the state wrestling team tournament didn't go quite according to plan.

The Cobras went two and out in the tournament, getting sent home after losing a consolation semifinal match to Monticello Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

"Obviously we're disappointed," W/MLBO head coach Brad Schlomann said. "We wanted to place, but it didn't happen and there's not a lot you can do from there. But the reality of it is the top four teams here are really tough and we were kind of shooting for fifth place. We weren't just happy to get here. We were really hoping we'd be a place-winning team."

The Cobras, who finished the season 19-7, started the day off with a quarterfinal match against Foley.

Foley was the No. 3-seed and was making its fifth-straight appearance in the state tournament, coming off a fourth-place finish last year.

And despite getting throttled 47-10, Schlomann thought that was the team's better match of the tournament.

"I think we wrestled really well against Foley," he said. "I think we competed hard. Everyone worked hard and gave us exactly what we asked for. We knew it was going to be a tough one going in and we battled them to the best of our abilities. I thought we could walk away from that match with our heads held high."

Three individuals won their matches for the Cobras in that dual. Jared Willaby got W/MLBO on the board first with his 11-2 major decision over Spencer Schrupp in the 120-pound weight class to make the overall score 9-4.

Blake Spinks followed suit two matches later with a 5-0 decision over Carter Nielson at 132 pounds. And sophomore leader Vince Johnson defeated Anthony Kipka in a 6-1 decision to bring the score to 38-10.

Two other Cobra wrestlers took their matches into overtime. Drake Borsgard lost in an extra frame to Tyler Bemboom at 145 pounds, and heavyweight Neil Litfin also lost a hard-fought battle to Samuel Olson.

But despite the point differential, Schlomann was pleased.

"We pushed them. We made them work for each win," Schlomann said. "The team score didn't really matter to us. We wanted to earn their respect and let them know that we were going to give them a good match. Our kids did exactly what we wanted them to in that match."

But the coach wasn't as pleased with his team's efforts in the consolation semifinals later that afternoon.

Five Cobras were pinned in that match and what Schlomann and the other coaches considered "swing matches," or duals W/MLBO should've been able to win, tended to go in the other direction.

"I don't think we performed at our best level in the Monticello match," Schlomann said. "That's just kind of how it goes. I'm not nearly as happy as I was a few weeks ago when we punched our ticket here, but what these kids did this season will be remembered and I'm proud of them for that."

Six W/MLBO grapplers picked up wins in the team's 39-31 loss to Monticello.

Wyatt Stevens started off the dual with a 10-0 major decision over Tevin Zavadil in the 106-pound weight class. Willaby followed up with an 8-5 decision over Jack Bourgeois at 113 pounds.

Borsgard finished off his Cobra career with a pin in the 145-pound weight class and Jacob Junker followed his lead and pinned Samuel Secord at 152 pounds.

Johnson went 2-0 on the day after pinning Nick Vetsch at 195 pounds and Litfin finished off the dual with a pin just 12 seconds into his heavyweight match against Brent Riddle.

"It was a momentum deal in that match," Schlomann said. "We just couldn't grab the momentum back after they upset us here and there. I came up here and I hang my hat on the way we wrestled with Foley and if it took something out of us and hurt us in the way we wrestled against Monticello then I don't care because at the end of the day I'm proud of these kids."

The Cobras were making their first state tournament appearance since 2008 and it was their fourth trip overall.

Although the team's season came to an end Thursday, there are still four wrestlers who will work toward an individual state title both today and tomorrow. Willaby and his older brother, Matt, along with Spinks and Johnson will start the individual competition today at 9 a.m.

But until then, W/MLBO will be proud of what the team accomplished this season.

"This is something I'm never going to take for granted," Schlomann said. "We wanted to be wrestling again tonight, but there's nothing you can do about it. We were the underdogs a couple of weeks ago at the section tournament and we really put ourselves in a good spot to be here.

"They worked hard for this."

Foley 47, W/MLBO 10

106 Funk (F) dec. 2-0 Stevens, 3-0

113 Manderfeld (F) fall 1:30 Fischenich, 9-0

120 J. Willaby (W) maj. dec. 11-2 Schrupp, 9-4

126 Jenson (F) fall 0:27 Suess, 15-4

132 Spinks (W) dec. 5-0 Nielson, 15-7

138 Goble (F) fall 3:26 Boyd, 21-7

145 Bemboom (F) OT 4-2 Borsgard, 24-7

152 Sustercich (F) dec. 7-1 Junker, 27-7

160 Kampa (F) maj. dec. 10-0 A. Larson, 31-7

170 Lewandowski (F) maj. dec. 17-9 T. Larson, 35-7

182 Lefebvre (F) dec. 9-2 M. Willaby, 38-7

195 Johnson (W) dec. 6-1 Kipka, 38-10

220 Svihla (F) fall 3:39 Flatgard, 44-10

Hwt. Olson (F) OT 4-2 Litfin, 47-10

Monticello 39, W/MLBO 31

106 Stevens (W) maj. dec. 10-0 Zavadil, 4-0

113 J. Willaby (W) dec. 8-5 J. Bourgeois, 7-0

120 Stiller (M) dec. 4-2 Fischenich, 7-3

126 E. Bourgeois (M) fall 1:37 Suess, 7-9

132 Beaumaster (M) dec. 6-3 Spinks, 7-12

138 Berthiaume (M) fall 2:41 Hockel, 7-18

145 Borsgard (W) fall 2:41 Hanson, 13-18

152 Junker (W) fall 3:18 Secord, 19-18

160 Gardner (M) fall 1:43 Larson, 19-24

170 Henderson (M) dec. 8-2 M. Willaby, 19-27

182 Palmer (M) fall 5:00 Blomgren, 19-33

195 Johnson (W) fall 1:41 Vetsch, 25-33

220 Grimley (M) fall 1:47 Flatgard, 25-39

Hwt. Litfin (W) fall 0:12 Riddle, 31-39

Daily Globe Sports Reporter Jocelyn Syrstad can be reached at 376-7335.

1/4: Jocelyn Syrstad/Daily Globe W/MLBO's John Boyd is lifted into the air by Foley's Chavez Goble in the 138 pound match in the Class AA quarterfinals Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

2/4: Jocelyn Syrstad/Daily Globe W/MLBO's Blake Spinks (top) wrestles Foley's Carter Nielson in the 132 pound match in the Class AA quarterfinals Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

3/4: JOCELYN SYRSTAD/DAILY GLOBE W/MLBO's Tim Larson (left) wrestles Foley's Taylor Lewandowski in the 170-pound match of the Class AA quarterfinals Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

4/4: Jocelyn Syrstad/Daily Globe W/MLBO's Wyatt Stevens grabs hold of Foley's Tyler Funk in the 106 pound match in the Class AA quarterfinals Thursday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.