Cooper Peterson controls his opponent while wrestling at the Maher Invitational in early December.

The Maple River/United South Central Longhorns and the Blue Earth Area Buccaneers each traveled to Redwood Falls to compete in the 36-team Red River Riot wrestling tournament held Dec. 15-16.

The Longhorns had a good showing with 94.5 points and a seventh-place finish while the Bucs, who took a limited varsity squad, finished in 29th place with 26 points.

MR/USC had five wrestlers place in the top eight in their individual weight brackets including one champion.

The Longhorns’ Noah Gonzalez was crowned the champion in the 107-pound weight class when he defeated Eli Olson of Dawson-Boyd-Lac Qui Parle- Montevideo United 9-3 in the title match.

Gonzalez received a bye in the first round before scoring an 8-0 major decision over Brody VanHeuvein of Kerkhoven- Murdock-Sunburg in the second round.

In the quarterfinals, Gonzalez won by a 13-1 major decision over Casey Knettel of Holdingford. Gonzalez reached the finals when he received a forfeit in his semifinal match.

MR/USC’s Byron Getchell finished in second place at 172 pounds.

Getchell opened the tourney with a 16-1 technical fall over Jamen Hennen of Redwood Valley and then defeated Ryan Schlaak of New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva 8-3 to advance to the semifinals.

Getchell won a narrow 2-1 decision over Tucker Fiene of Marshall to earn a spot in the championship match against Drew Lange of Holdingford.

Langford defeated Get-chell 1-0 in a hard-fought match to put the USC wrestler in second place.

Taking third place for the Longhorns was Braxton Simon at 139 pounds.

Simon received a bye in the first round before losing 7-2 to eventual champion Dylan Louwagie of Marshall in the second round.

Wrestling in the consolation bracket, Simon reeled off four straight wins to earn a spot in the match for third place.

Simon decisioned Jackson Jenniges of Adrian Area 4-0 and pinned Mason Javers of Minneota before receiving a medical forfeit in his next match. Simon then defeated Kollin Anderson of St. James Area by a 9-0 major decision to move on to the third-place match.

Simon produced a fall with 11 seconds left in his match against Edwyn Gonzalez to finish in third place.

Wyatt Walters of the Longhorns took sixth place at 145 pounds.

He received a first-round bye and then was pinned by Chase Johnson of Minneota in the second round.

Wrestling in the consolation bracket, Walters won a 5-4 decision over Joseph Sherwood of Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City before pinning Talyn Tande of St. James Area.

Next, Walters produced a fall over Max Dillon of Redwood Valley.

In the consolation semifinals, Winsten Nienhaus of New Ulm Area scored a 9-0 major decision over Walters to send the Longhorn wrestler to the match for fifth place against Maddex Faber of Fairmont-Martin County West.

Faber triumphed over Walters by an 11-2 major decision to give Walters sixth place.

Isaiah Gonzalez was the other wrestler to place for MR/USC with a seventh-place finish at 133 pounds.

After receiving a first-round bye, Gonzalez defeated Teague Meyer of Fulda-Murray County Central by a 13-0 major decision.

In the quarterfinals, Gonzalez was pinned by Trey Gunderson of Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sundberg.

Now wrestling in the consolation rounds, Gonzalez won a 9-2 decision over Kameron Koerner of Windom-Mountain Lake but then lost by a fall to Torrey Paplow of Fairmont-Martin County West.

In his final match, Gonzalez produced an 8-3 decision over Grayson Olson of Dawson-Boyd-Lac Qui Parle-Montevideo United to finish in seventh place.

Blue Earth Area had a limited number of wrestlers competing at the varsity level while others competed in the junior varsity meet.

“We wrestled very well the first day of the tournament,” BEA coach Dan Eckhardt said. “Then, three of our guys got hurt the second day.”

Timmy Nagel competed at 114 pounds and received a first-round bye. Next he received a medical forfeit from Gavin Mortenson of Dawson-Boyd-Lac Qui Parle-Montevideo United.

Nagel lost by a pin to Preston Xayachak of Windom-Mountain Lake in the quarterfinals and then was defeated 8-6 by Tanner Johnson of Sibley East in the consolation round.

Wrestling at 145 pounds, Cooper Peterson opened the tournament with a 15-4 major decision over Carlos Flores-Lemus of Madelia/ Truman.

In the second round, Peterson won by a 6-2 decision over Nathan Blaschko of Tri-City United.

The quarterfinal round saw Peterson lose by a 6-2 decision to Brady Kiecker of BOLD.

Now wrestling in the consolation bracket, Peterson produced an 8-3 decision over Deontre Torres of St. Peter.

In his next match, Peterson lost 4-3 to Tyson Louwagie of Marshall.

Because of an injury, Peterson had to forfeit his match for seventh place to Max Dillon of Redwood Valley.

Kade Gaydon, wrestling at 172 pounds, scored a 17-7 major decision over Micah Bullerman of Adrian Area in his first-round match. Gaydon defeated Ashton Squires of Tracy-Milroy-Balaton-Westbrook-Walnut Grove by a fall in 3:08.

Gaydon lost his quarterfinal match to Jett Olson of Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sundberg by a 6-2 decision.

Gaydon pinned Mason Pederson of Dawson-Boyd-Lac Qui Parle-Montevideo United in the consolation bracket before dropping a 9-6 decision of Shafer Ehmke of Mankato West.

Like Peterson, an injury prevented Gaydon from wrestling in his match for seventh place so Gaydon finished eighth.

Corey Kitchel received a first-round bye in the 189-pound weight category. Kitchel won his next match by a 6-1 decision over Noah Meyer of Dawson-Boyd-Lac Qui Parle-Montevideo United.

In his next match, Kitchel lost to Joseph Connor of St. Peter and suffered an injury which prevented him from wrestling anymore in the tournament.