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Four wrestlers headed to state

By Staff | Mar 4, 2018

Joe Schavey (right), controls the action during the Section 2AA Individual Wrestling Tournament. Schavey, along with teammates Zach Buseman, Trevor Oppedal, and USC’s Blake Legred all qualified for state.

Three Blue Earth Area Buccaneer wrestlers and one Rebel from United South Central punched their tickets to the State Wrestling Tournament this weekend.

The four did it by winning their weight classes at the Section 2AA Individual Wrestling Tournament held on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23 and 24.

Bucs Joe Schavey, Zach Buseman and Trevor Oppedal, and Rebel Blake Legred, were scheduled to compete this Friday and Saturday, March 2 and 3, at the State Meet at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Schavey took the Section championship at 132 pounds, Buseman at 152 pounds, Oppedal at 285 pounds, and Legred at 126 pounds. All three BEA wrestlers are seniors, while USC’s Legred is a junior.

Schavey, 25-13, carved his way to his first-ever State Meet by pinning Ethan Rider of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown-Janesville-Waldorf- Pemberton (WEM-JWP), then earning a 20-3 technical fall over Tommy Gupton of Le Sueur-Henderson.

In the championship match, Schavey won a 10-3 decision over Cody Walters of Maple River.

Buseman, 39-5, first defeated Dalton Pauly of Le Sueur-Henderson by pinning him. Then he won a 13-4 major decision over Nathan Bauer of Kenyon-Wanamingo.

In the championship match, Buseman took a 5-0 win over Adam Rients of WEM-JWP. This will be his fifth State Tournament appearance, but his first as a Section champion, as the others he was always the second place finisher.

Oppedal, 30-5, pinned David Garza of USC in 41 seconds in their first match. Then he won a hard-fought, close 1-0 decision over Jesse Jackson of Kenyon-Wanamingo.

In the championship match, the No. 6 ranked Oppedal pinned the No. 4 ranked Mitchell Oswald of the Westfield Razorbacks in 1:35 in the first period.

This will be Oppedal’s first State Tournament appearance.

USC’s Legred, 36-5, pinned Jack Morsching of WEM-JWP in his first match, then took a 12-2 major decision over Alec Johnson of Kenyon-Wanamingo.

In the championship match it was Legred versus BEA’s Max Ehrich, 25-8, a freshman.

Legred took the match and the 126 pound championship by a score of 5-2.

Ehrich then was in second place, but had to wrestle Johnson of Kenyon- Wanamingo to determine “true second” and see who would earn a trip to the State Meet. Johnson had taken third place after losing to Legred.

BEA’s Ehrich had defeated K-W’s Johnson 10-5 just a week earlier in the Section Team Tournament.

However, disaster struck as Ehrich suffered an ankle injury just 1:23 into the true second match and had to withdraw with an injury default and lose out on a trip to the State Meet.

Other Buccaneer and Rebel wrestlers placed in the top five at the Section Individual Meet, but only the first and second places move on to the State.

At 106 pounds, BEA’s Caleb Beeler defeated USC’s Bryce Sonnek by a score of 2-0.

Both wrestlers eventually entered the wrestle backs and ended up facing each other once again in a battle for third place. This time Sonnek won the close match, by a score of 6-5.

The Rebel wrestler was then involved in a match for “true second,” but lost a 7-3 decision and did not advance to state.

Beeler ended up in fourth place.

BEA’s Davis Sunken won his first match at 113 pounds, but lost his second one.

That put him into the wrestle back where he pinned Tyler Ash of Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial and then took third place with a 5-2 win over Tyler Miller of LS-H.

At 138 pounds, David Nagel of BEA defeated USC’s Micah Hamson 12-7 in their first round.

Both wrestlers, however, ended up in the wrestle backs and faced each other in the battle for third place.

Nagel again came out the winner this time by a score of 10-3, giving him third place and Hamson fourth.

At 145 pounds, Jaxen Klinkner of BEA took on Hunter Johnson of USC and won by a 7-5 decision.

Both wrestlers ended up in the wrestle backs, but did not face each other again.

Klinkner pinned Wyatt Simon of Westfield to get into the match for third place. But he lost 10-0 to Wyatt Simon of Maple River and had to settle for fourth place.

Johnson defeated Wyatt Simon of Westfield with a pin, to take fifth place.

At 160 pounds, BEA’s Rylee McGuire won his first match, lost his second and ended up in the wrestle backs. There he won one match by a 17-2 technical fall that put him into the match for third place.

He lost that match by a pin to Cole Staloch of NRHEG, and so had to settle for fourth place.

The Buccaneers 170 pound wrestler, Akeira Morrow, was injured in his first match, but still earned sixth place in his weight class.

With only five wrestlers competing at 182 pounds, both BEA’s Dominic Whitlow and USC’s Masyn Elvebak lost their first matches and ended up in a battle for third place, which Whitlow won by a 9-0 major decision, putting Elvebak in fourth.

At 195 pounds, Buccaneer Jordan Huse lost his first match which put him into the wrestle backs. There he ended up losing the battle for fifth place to Logan Ziegler of Maple River, and so ended up in sixth place.

At the State Tournament, BEA’s Schavey will first face Roseau senior Riley Eidsmoe (13-6), while Buseman will take on Aitkin junior Carter Endrizzi (28-18) and Oppedal will battle Caledonia/Houston junior Brent Robley (19-4).

Details on the State Tournament, along with photos by Kevin Mertens, will be in next week’s Faribault County Register.