Bucs fall to No. 1 ranked JCC Huskies
The Blue Earth Area Buccaneer wrestling team had a tough struggle when they traveled to Jackson on Thursday and took on the Class A No. 1 ranked Jackson County Central Huskies.
The Bucs lost 46-29 in a match that featured nine pins out of the 14 weight contests.
BEA had four wrestlers notch pins.
At 120 pounds, Zach Buseman had the Buccaneer’s first points with a fall, making the score 9-6 in favor of the Huskies.
Jordan Stelter’s pin at 138 pounds cut the Huskies lead to 19-12 and Mike Ankeny’s pin at 145 pounds brought the Buccaneers to within one point at 19-18.
However, JCC won the next four matches and took a commanding 40-18 lead.
At 195 pounds, Jacob Johnson finally got the Bucs some more points by notching a 16-1 win over his Husky opponent, putting the score at 40-23.
Martin Granados ended the night by pinning his opponent in the second period of the 285-pound match. That put the final score at 46-29.
After having wrestled nine matches in seven days, the Bucs take a Christmas break but will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 2 when they travel to New Ulm, and Friday, Jan. 3 when they go to New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva.
BEA 54, LSH 27
The Blue Earth Area Buccaneer wrestlers bounced back from their earlier in the evening loss to the New Prague Trojans by blistering the LeSueur-Henderson Giants 54-27.
It was the final match of a triangular meet at the BEA gym last Tuesday evening.
Quite a few of the matches of the Bucs and Giants were decided either by pins or forfeits.
BEA was on the board first when Adam Legred received six points for a forfeit at 106 pounds.
The Bucs’ Wyatt Tungland (113 pounds) and Cole Klinkner (120 pounds) were both pinned putting BEA behind 12-6.
At 126 pounds, Camden Bowers stopped the Giants roll by pinning his opponent and tying up the match. Alec Huber (132 pounds) and Jordan Stelter (138 pounds) also pinned their Giants opponents, putting BEA ahead 30-6.
Giant wrestlers pinned both Mike Ankeny (145 pounds) and Tanner Wolf (152 pounds) making the score 30-18.
The Bucs got some easy points after that.
Brandon Williams (160 pounds), David Franta (170 pounds) and Gus Phillips all won by forfeit and the score went to 42-18.
At 182 pounds BEA’s Jacob Johnson lost a close match, 14-12, and at 220 pounds the Bucs’ Justin Ritter was pinned, giving the Giants their 27 total.
At 285 pounds BEA’s Martin Granados ended the last match of the night with a pin, making the final score 54-27.
New Prague 46, BEA 18
The Buccaneers struggled against the No. 6 ranked New Prague Trojans in the first match of the night at the BEA triangular last Tuesday night.
The Trojans prevailed by a score of 46-18.
New Prague started off with three straight pins before Camden Bowers won at 126 pounds by a score of 10-5, making the score 18-3.
The Trojans won the next five matches, including a marathon 22-14 battle at 138 pounds where BEA’s Jordan Stelter came up on the short end.
Finally at 170 pounds David Franta notched three more points for the Buccaneers by 8-5 over his New Prague opponent, making the score 40-6.
Gus Phillips gave the Bucs six more points with a quick pin in the first period at 182 pounds.
That was followed by BEA’s Jacob Johnson fighting to a very close 12-11 win at 195 pounds, and Martin Granados pulling off a big 1-0 win at 285 pounds.
That made the final 46-18.
“We had some guys battling a little sickness,” Coach Randy Wirtjes says. “We have had a lot of matches this week, one more to go before the Christmas break. Hopefully we can come back at full strength in January.”
Park-Cottage Grove
Invitational
The Buccaneers wrestled four matches in two days on Saturday, Dec. 14 at the Park-Cottage Grove Invitational. BEA went 1-3 on the day.
In their first match, the Bucs lost a close contest to Chatfield, 39-27.
Zach Buseman won a close 4-2 victory at 113 pounds. At 132 pounds Alec Huber also won a tight match, 2-1.
That put the score at 15-6 in favor of Chatfield. However, the Bucs couldn’t pull out another win in the next four matches.
David Franta scored a 9-3 win at 170 pounds, Gus Phillips got a pin at 182 pounds and Jacob Johnson followed with another pin at 195 pounds.
That cut Chatfield’s lead to 33-21.
Jared Ankeny suffered a pin at 220 pounds but the Bucs’ Martin Granados scored one at 285 pounds.
That made the final 39-27.
In the second match the Bucs suffered an even closer match, falling 36-34 to Tartan.
In this match, Adam Legred lost 2-0 at 106 pounds, Zach Buseman won 13-4 at 113 pounds, Matt Goodrich won 5-2 at 120 pounds and Camden Bowers was pinned at 126 pounds.
Alec Huber pinned his opponent at 132 pounds, Jordan Stelter lost 17-7 at 138 pounds and Mike Ankeny at 145 pounds and Tannor Wolf at 152 pounds were both pinned.
The Bucs had to forfeit at 160 pounds. And Chatfield forfeited to the Bucs’ David Franta at 170 pounds.
BEA’s Jacob Johnson was pinned at 182 pounds, making the score 36-19 in Chatfield’s favor.
But, the Bucs were not done yet. Gus Phillips got a pin at 195 pounds and Jared Ankeny received a forfeit at 220 pounds, giving BEA 12 more points and making the score 36-31.
A pin at 285 pounds would give the Buccaneers a one point victory.
However, BEA’s Martin Granados was going up against the No. 7 ranked wrestler in Class AAA.
Granados won, but not by a fall. He outscored his opponent 8-3, and the Bucs fell by the total score of 36-34.
BEA’s next match was against the No. 5 rated team in Class AA, the Hutchinson Tigers.
BEA’s two biggest wins in the match came from David Franta and Gus Phillips.
Franta won a close 3-2 win over Chris Schmidt at 170 pounds. Schmidt is ranked No. 4 in state in Class AA.
Franta’s win tied the match at 24-24.
Then at 182 pounds Phillips defeated the No. 8 ranked wrestler in Class AA by a score of 8-2. That put BEA ahead 27-24.
Unfortunately they couldn’t score again and Hutchinson won 41-27.
At 285 pounds, BEA’s Martin Granados suffered a rare loss, falling 2-0 to his Hutchinson opponent.
The Bucs final match at Park-Cottage Grove was a 66-12 shellacking of Rochester-Century.
BEA scored on falls from Adam Legred at 106 pounds, Zach Buseman at 113 pounds, Camden Bowers at 126 pounds, Jordan Stelter at 138 pounds, Mike Ankeny at 145 pounds, David Franta at 170 pounds and Jacob Johnson at 195 pounds.
In addition the Bucs received six points each from forfeits to Gus Phillips at 182 pounds, Jared Armon at 220 pounds and Martin Granados at 285 pounds.
BEA’s Matt Goodrich scored a 10-0 win at 120 pounds and Tannor Wolf scored a 7-2 win at 152 pounds.
Rochester-Century’s only points came with a pin at 132 pounds and a Buccaneer forfeit at 160 pounds.