The Bucs D.J. Gronewald (above) works for an escape during his 119-pound match against USC’s Brady Thisius,

It was a battle of cross-county rivals as the Blue Earth Area Bucs hosted the USC Rebels in wrestling on Thursday evening.

The Bucs made the most of a fast start to take a 12-0 lead after three matches on their way to a 36-19 win.

“We knew going in to tonight’s match that USC still had a quality team even after losing a number of kids to graduation,” says Bucs coach Randy Wirtjes. “I thought Travis Hagedorn did a good job of going out there and setting the tone for our team.”

Hagedorn, wrestling at 103 pounds, earned a decision over the Rebel’s Jan Staloch to give the Bucs an early 3-0 lead. Jake Wirtjes followed with a pin over Seth Olson in 29 seconds and D.J. Gronewald scored an 8-4 decision over Brady Thisius as the Bucs opened up a 12-0 lead.

It would get a little interesting later in the match as the Rebels closed to within five points at 21-16 before Daniel Eckhardt, wrestling at 160, notched a 7-1 decision over Dylan Thisius.

Cody Eckhardt lost an exciting 6-4 match to Jake Herman at 171 pounds. It appeared that Eckhardt was going to force the match into overtime with a takedown, but he was unable to get control until the final buzzer sounded as USC cut the margin to five points again, 24-19. The excitement didn’t end there however as the Bucs’ Taylor Andrews outlasted the Rebels’ Cole Wenzel by a score of 4-2. Wenzel had tied the score at two apiece when he escaped with 19 seconds left in the match, but Andrews got a takedown as time ran out to gain the two-point victory.

Mat Willner, ranked No. 8 in Class A, followed with a 9-8 win over USC junior AJ Dreyer.

Jake Lee, the No. 3-ranked Class A heavyweight, ended the meet as he put his opponent on his back to earn a first period pin at 1:54.

BEA 36, USC 19

103: Travis Hagedorn (BEA) dec. Jay Staloch, 5-1.

112: Jake Wirtjes (BEA) fall Seth Olson, :29.

119: D.J. Gronewald (BEA) dec. Brady Thisius, 8-4.

125: Zac Wigern (USC) major dec. Jared Resutek, 14-4.

130: Joe Franta (BEA) forfeit.

135: Dustin Dylla (USC) dec. Bryce Werner, 5-2.

140: Collin Nienhaus (BEA) dec. Thane O’Rourke, 10-4.

145: Matthew Wood (USC) dec Sinjin Bell, 7-4

152: Preston Staloch (USC) fall Tyler Johnsrud, 1:38.

160: Dan Eckhardt (BEA) dec. Dylan Thisius, 7-1.

171: Jake Herman (USC) dec. Cody Eckhardt, 6-4.

189: Taylor Andrews (BEA) dec. Cole Wenzel, 4-2

215: Mat Willner (BEA) dec. AJ Dreyer, 9-8

285: Jake Lee (BEA) fall Tony Willette, 1:54