Longhorns upset by Panthers 38-33
NRHEG will now face No. 2-seeded LCWM in Section Semifinals
The No. 6-seeded New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale Geneva Panthers upset the No. 3-seeded Maple River/United South Central Longhorns 38-33 in the Section 2A wrestling tournament on Thursday, Feb. 16.
When the two teams met during the regular season on Jan. 20, the Longhorns won by a huge margin, 54-18.
But in the rematch, which was held in Wells, the Panthers built their lead to 20 points at 32-12 before the Longhorns came storming back with four consecutive victories to go on top 33-32 with one match to go.
In the final match, the Longhorns had to forfeit to NRHEG’s Makota Misgen, who came into the contest with a 33-3 record. The forfeit gave the Panthers the 38-33 victory.
NRHEG advanced to the semifinals where they faced Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial on Saturday, Feb. 18.
The Panthers jumped out to a 3-0 lead over the Longhorns when Jacob Karl won a 4-2 decision over Noah Gonzalez at 106 pounds in a match which took three overtime periods to determine the victor.
MR/USC’s 113-pounder Bebo Getchell pinned Mason Reeder in 4:59 to put the Longhorns on top 6-3.
An 8-0 major decision by the Panthers’ Annabelle Petsinger over Wyatt Walters at 120 pounds put NRHEG back in front 7-6.
Isaiah Gonzalez needed only 1:35 to put the Longhorns back in the lead 12-7 when he pinned Brodie Flatland in the 126-pound match.
The Panthers scored another major decision at 132 pounds when Deven Parpart won by the score of 12-4 over Kolt Bullerman. Parpart’s win cut the Longhorns’ lead to 12-11.
NRHEG went back on top 14-12 when Aidan Schlaak won by a 6-0 decision over Garrett Bollmann at 138 pounds.
A pin by the Panthers’ Ryan Schlaak over Braxton Simon in 1:46 at 145 pounds extended NRHEG’s lead to 20-12.
The Panthers made it 26-12 when 152-pounder Reese Routh put Gavin Bird’s shoulders to the mat with four seconds remaining in the second period.
NRHEG picked up their fifth consecutive victory with Harbor Cromwell’s pin of Chad Schull at the 5:06 mark in the 160-pound match.
Now trailing 32-12, the Longhorns won the next four matches, three of them by pins.
At 172 pounds, Byron Getchell pinned Wyatt Larson in 1:07 to cut the Panthers’ lead to 32-18.
Max Fuller’s pin in 1:19 against Zander Flatness at 182 pounds gave MR/USC six more points to narrow NRHEG’s advantage to 32-24.
It only took 39 seconds for the Longhorns’ Cooper Ochsendorf to pin Cole Hutchens at 195 pounds and pull MR/USC within two points of NRHEG at 32-30.
The Longhorns momentarily regained the lead when Dizel Butler won the 220-pound match with a 6-0 decision over Aden Berg.
However, Misgen’s win by a forfeit in the final match of the evening gave the Panthers the 38-33 win and ended the team portion of the Longhorns’ season.