Bucs pin down 2nd place
The Blue Earth Area Buccaneer wrestling team claimed second place at their own Dick Maher Invitational Wrestling Tournament despite the fact the Bucs did not come in with any championship wins in the 14 weight classes.
However, the Buccaneers did pick up six second place finishes at the meet held in Blue Earth on Saturday, Dec. 5.
Those six runnerup placings, along with one third place, two fourth place, three fifth place and one sixth place finishes, gave the maroon and gold a team score of 170.50 and the second place trophy.
The team from Brainerd, with their five first place championships, earned 223 points and were the tourney champions.
Fairmont-MCW was in third place with 156 points, Lake Mills fourth with 113.50, United South Central fifth with 113, Maple River sixth with 111, WEM-JWP seventh with 80, Mankato East eighth with 73 and Madelia-Truman ninth with 28.
The USC Rebels claimed two championships, two second place finishes, one fourth, one fifth and three sixth places to get to their team score.
The Bucs’ Joe Schavey fought to a second place finish at 113 pounds.
After winning his first match with a fall at 5:55, he won his quarterfinal battle 8-6. But, he then fell in the championship match by a 6-2 decision to Chad Osburn of Brainerd.
Dalton Nagel opened his competition at 120 pounds with a technical fall at 5:15 leading 16-1 over Micah Hamson of USC.
Nagel won his quarterfinal match 4-2 in overtime against Jordan Wolter of Fairmont-MCW. But he lost in the championship match to Cole Kubesh of Brainerd and ended in second place.
At 138 pounds, Cole Klinkner got a bye his first round, then pinned his Brainerd opponent in the quarterfinals to advance to the finals.
He lost 5-1 to Mario Maldonado of Fairmont-MCW for the championship and ended in second place.
Jordan Stelter, at 145 pounds, pinned his Maple River opponent, Jared Moore, in the first round and won a 11-7 decision in the second round over Collin Steuber of Fairmont-MCW to gain a spot in the championship match.
Stelter took second place when he lost to Andy Schlosser of Brainerd.
Zach Buseman also came home with a second place trophy after he lost to Adam Knutson of USC in the championship match at 152 pounds, 8-0.
Buseman won a 4-0 decision in his opening match over Dustyn Schmidt of Maple River and pinned Parker Anderson of Fairmont-MCW in the quarterfinals.
Jared Armon was the Buccaneer’s other second place finisher, at 195 pounds.
Armon started the day with a bye, then major-decisioned his WEM-JP opponent 11-0 in the quarterfinals.
He lost to Slade Sifuentes of Lake Mills in the championship match.
Jesus Quintero was the Buccaneer’s only third place finisher, at 182 pounds.
After winning his opening bout 7-2, he lost in the quarterfinals and dropped to the lower bracket. There he pinned his Lake Mills opponent then also pinned Morgan Gibson of Brainerd to claim third place.
Adam Legred took fourth place at 126 pounds after winning his first match with a pin, then losing 5-4 in the quarterfinals.
He decisioned Dillion Schmidt of Maple River before falling 3-2 to Brayden Johnson of WEM-JP in the battle for third place.
Wyatt Tungland also took fourth place at 160 pounds.
After losing his first match 6-0, Tungland major-decisioned Dayton Nielsen of Fairmont-MCW 11-3 but then lost to Eli Horn of Brainerd when he withdrew due to injury.
The Bucs also got fifth place finishes from Max Ehrich at 106 pounds, Camden Bowers at 132 pounds and Trevor Oppedahl at 220 pounds.
Bowers pinned Hunter Johnson of USC to claim fifth place. Bowers and Johnson had faced each other earlier in the day when they met in the opening round. Bowers won that match 7-3.
Oppedahl also faced a Rebel wrestler, Ethan Morales, in the consolation-fifth place bout, winning with a pin.
The Bucs also had one sixth place finisher, Roger Ziegler at 170 pounds.
The Rebels two champions were Adam Knutson at 152 pounds and Derek Herman at 170 pounds.
Knutson won by defeating the Bucs’ Buseman.
Herman cruised through the competition with three straight pins, the first one in 31 seconds, the second in 1:34 and a fall in just 16 seconds in the championship match over CJ Wohl of Brainerd.
The Rebels also had two second place finishes, Blake Legred at 106 pounds and Jonas Gonsalez at 160 pounds.
Keenan Biddle took fourth place at 138 pounds for the Rebels, and Casey Dobbe took fifth place at 182 pounds.
Gavin Sonnek at 113 pounds, Hunter Johnson at 132 pounds and Ethan Morales at 220 pounds all took sixth place for USC.
USC 35, BEA 34
Fans of the Blue Earth Area Buccaneer and United South Central Rebels wrestling teams certainly got their monies worth when the two cross-county rivals met in Wells on Friday night, Dec. 4.
Both of the teams won seven matches out of the 14 on the schedule. But, when the final match of the night was over, the Rebels had claimed a one-point victory over the Bucs, 35-34.
BEA won six out of the first eight matches of the contest to build up a commanding 28-8 lead.
But, USC came roaring back, winning five of the last six matches to claim the narrow one-point win with a pin in the last match of the night.
Here is how the match went.
At 106 pounds, USC’s Blake Legred defeated BEA’s Max Ehrich 10-0 for a major decision and four team points.
The Bucs’ Joe Schavey had a 9-3 win over the Rebels’ Gavin Sonnek at 113 pounds.
Buccaneer Dalton Nagel scored a major decision, 15-4, over Micah Hamson at 120 pounds.
At 126 pounds, Adam Legred of BEA pinned Brett Byrne of USC in 3:28.
Rebel Hunter Johnson took a 12-0 major decision over Jonah Legred at 132 pounds to make the score 13-8 with BEA leading.
The Bucs Cole Klinkner pinned Keenan Biddle in 5:22 at 138 pounds. BEA’s Jordan Stelter defeated Jesse Meyer at 145 pounds, 7-0. And the Bucs’ Zach Buseman pinned Masyn Elvebak at 152 pounds in 35 seconds.
That put BEA ahead of USC 28-8.
The Rebels responded with three pins in a row.
At 160 pounds, USC’s Jonas Gonsalez pinned Wyatt Tungland in 56 seconds. At 170 pounds, Derek Herman pinned Roger Ziegler in 1:04. And at 182 pounds Casey Dobbe pinned Jesus Quintero in 4:52. The Bucs still led by a score of 28-26.
The Buccaneers Jared Armon received six team points on a USC forfeit at 195 pounds pushing the score to 34-29 in favor of BEA.
Then at 220 pounds USC’s Mitch Harpestad defeated Trevor Oppedahl in a close 8-6 contest, making it 34-29.
The Rebels’ Ethan Morales clinched the 35-34 win with a pin in 1:20 over Damian Chapa.