Boden Simon works to pin his opponent during the State Individual Tournament on Friday, March 4. Simon and his MR/USC teammates also competed as a team on Thursday, March 3.

The Maple River/United South Central wrestling team squared off against the No. 1-seeded and No. 1-ranked Jackson County Central Huskies in the opening round of the Class A Minnesota State Team playoffs on Thursday, March 3, at the Xcel Energy Center, in St. Paul.

The Big South Conference Champion Huskies rolled over MR/USC 52-9, the first of three victories JCC recorded on their way to winning the State Championship.

MR/USC managed to win three matches against JCC, all by decision.

After the Huskies had taken a 25-0 lead, Ethan Evenson got MR/USC on the board when he won a 3-1 decision over Dylan Withers in the 145-pound match.

Konnor Harpestad made it back-to-back wins for MR/USC when he won a 7-6 decision over Isaiah Rodriguez at 152 pounds.

Thayne Decker picked up the final win of the contest for MR/USC when he triumphed over Trace Michelson 10-4 in the 220-pound match.

The loss by MR/USC sent them into the consolation round where they faced the Kimball Area Cubs. It was a close match, but a strong finish by the Cubs resulted in Kimball Area being victorious 39-23.

Wyatt Walters’ pin over Nikolai Salo in 54 seconds at 106 pounds gave MR/USC a 6-0 lead.

The Cubs tied the score at 6-6 with a pin in the 113-pound match.

Braxton Simon’s 6-3 decision over William Serbus of Kimball Area at 120 pounds put MR/USC on top 9-6.

Ethan Elvebak made it 12-6 with a 4-2 decision over Jack Bollman in the 126-pound match.

Boden Simon’s 3-0 decision over Kimball Area’s Blake Brutger at 132 pounds increased the MR/USC lead to 15-6.

The Cubs picked up the next two wins with a decision at 138 pounds and a major decision at 145 pounds to cut MR/USC’s lead to 15-13.

Konnor Harpestad won a 3-1 decision over Logan Kuseske in the 152-pound match to give MR/USC an 18-13 advantage.

Cooper Ochsendorf made it 23-13 in favor of MR/USC when he scored a 17-1 technical fall over Caden Guggisberg at 160 pounds.

However, Kimball Area closed out the contest with five straight victories including a technical fall at 170 pounds, a decision at 182 pounds and falls at 195, 220, and 285 pounds to triumph by a final score of 39-23.