Blue Earth Area’s Cory Kitchel is in control in his 182-pound match against NRHEG’s Aden Berg. Kitchel did not get the pin but his major decision put the Bucs over the top and assured a victory over the Panthers.

The No. 4-seeded Blue Earth Area Buccaneers defeated the No. 5-seeded New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva Panthers 40-28 in Section 2A quarterfinal action Feb. 17, in Blue Earth.

BEA faced Maple River/United South Central in the semifinal round on Saturday, Feb. 19. Results of that contest will be in next week’s edition of the Faribault County Register.

“A lot of stuff went wrong but we still prevailed,” Bucs’ head coach Dan Eckhardt commented. “We still need to clean up some things.”

Timmy Nagel scored BEA’s first points of the night when he received a forfeit at 106 pounds.

BEA’s Cooper Peterson pinned Seth Staloch in 1:21 at 113 pounds and Carson Sturtz needed just over a minute to pin Annabelle Petsinger to give the Bucs an 18-0 lead.

Caleb Langager lost 5-4 , and the BEA bench was assessed a one-point penalty for an unsportsmanlike comment from the bench which made the score 17-3 with the Bucs out in front.

The Panthers won the next three matches by a major decision, a pin and a decision to cut the Bucs’ lead to 17-16.

Kade Gaydon got BEA back on track when he pinned Harbor Cromwell in 56 seconds at 152 pounds.

Parker Meyers earned a 4-1 decision over Clay Stenzel at 160 pounds to extend the Bucs’ lead to 26-16.

Kean Hicks made it 32-16 when he won the 170-pound match by pinning George Roesler with five seconds left in the first period.

Cory Kitchel guaranteed BEA’s victory with a 14-1 major decision over Aden Berg at 182 pounds. Kitchel’s win gave the Bucs a 36-16 lead with only three matches remaining.

NRHEG got a pin at 195 pounds before BEA’s Adam Schavey, who bumped up to wrestle at 220 pounds, earned a 12-2 major decision to give the Maroon and Gold a 40-22 lead.

The Panthers won the 285-pound match by a pin to make the final score 40-28.

“I was proud of the way we persevered,” Eckhardt said. “We bounced back when things did not go right and did what we had to do to get the win.”