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Buccaneer wrestlers lose 5 matches

BEA competed at Eden Prairie Duals Tournament last week

By Kevin Mertens - Staff Writer | Jan 15, 2024

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers had a tough week last week. They lost four matches at a tournament in Eden Prairie on Saturday, and had fallen to a tough New Ulm Eagle squad the day before, Friday, Jan. 5.

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers wrestling team participated in the Eden Prairie Duals Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 6.

BEA’s opponents during the day were Waconia, Blaine, Willmar and Anoka.

Waconia 53, BEA 16

The Bucs were down 24-0 before 139-pounder Cooper Peterson won by an 11-2 major decision over Waconia’s River Aamold to make the score 24-4 in favor of the Wildcats. Peterson recorded a total of three 3-point near falls in the second period before adding a reversal in the third period to gain the victory.

The Bucs’ remaining points came in the 172 and 189 pound weight classes.

Kade Gaydon needed 1:32 to pin Mathias Pierce at 172 pounds and Cory Kitchel pinned Jackson Green in 1:48 in the 189-pound match.

Waconia recorded four falls, three forfeits, two decisions and a technical fall to earn their 66 points.

Blaine 45, BEA 22

The Bucs had their best showing of the day against the Blaine Bengals when they scored 22 points. However, Blaine put 45 points on the board for a 45-22 victory.

Blaine received a forfeit at 107 pounds for six team points. Next, Blaine’s Pierce Wegleitner won by an 8-5 decision over BEA’s Timmy Nagel at 114 pounds to extend the Bengals’ lead to 9-0.

The Bucs’ Drake Engelby scored a 15-10 decision at 121 pounds over Cayden Beauchamp to make the score 9-3 in favor of the Bengals.

Blaine recorded falls at the next three weights to extend their advantage to 27-3.

The Bengals’ Maxwell Braddy won by a fall over Logan Shelstad at 127 pounds, Landen Lorch pinned Layden Bassett at 133 pounds and Zachary Johnson pinned Cooper Peterson at 139 pounds.

BEA’s Emmanuel Granillo received a forfeit at 145 pounds and teammate Ethan Oppedal won a narrow 8-7 decision at 152 pounds to cut Blaine’s lead to 27-12.

The Bengals’ Aaron Sharp pinned Cole Beyer in the 160-pound match to up Blaine’s lead to 33-12.

Kade Gaydon tallied six points for the Bucs when he pinned Ethan Carr in 47 seconds in the 172-pound match. BEA’s Cory Kitchel needed just 46 seconds to gain a fall over Sullivan Barott. The victories by Gaydon and Kitchel made the score 33-24 in favor of Blaine.

The Bengals’ Luca Godfrey put the match out of reach when he pinned the Bucs’ Noah Smith to put Blaine up by 15 points with one match remaining.

The Bucs forfeited the 285-pound match to the Bengals to make the score 45-24. However, BEA received two one-point reductions for unsportsmanlike conduct which made the final outcome Blaine 45, BEA 22.

Willmar 57, BEA 12

The Willmar Cardinals got the best of the Buccaneers and won by a margin of 57-12.

The Bucs’ points came on a 4-2 decision by Timmy Nagel at 114 pounds, a 4-0 decision by Cooper Peterson at 139 pounds and a fall by Tristan Tungland at 189 pounds.

Anoka 66, BEA 6

The Anoka Tornadoes blew by the Bucs with a 66-6 victory.

The Tornadoes owned a 17-4 record coming into the day and are the No. 8-ranked team in the state in Class AAA.

BEA’s only points during the meet came at 172 pounds when Kade Gaydon received a forfeit.

New Ulm 56, BEA 6

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers hosted the New Ulm Eagles in a dual meet on Friday, Jan. 5.

New Ulm’s record was 6-2 in dual meets before topping BEA to improve to 7-2.

Timmy Nagel of the Bucs and Brayden Miller squared off in the 114-pound match after neither team had a wrestler to fill the 107-pound slot.

Miller scored a first-period takedown to take a 2-0 lead. Nagel started in the up position in the second period and was able to ride his opponent for the whole two minutes.

Nagel chose to start in the down position for the start of the third period and scored a reversal to tie the score at 2-2. Miller was called for stalling twice in the final period with Nagel being awarded two points for a 4-2 victory.

The Bucs’ other three points came via a 9-3 decision by Cooper Peterson at 139 pounds.

A takedown and three-point near fall by Peterson in the opening period gave the BEA senior a 5-0 lead heading into the second period. The wrestlers began the middle period in the neutral position. Peterson scored a takedown to go on top 7-0 before Miller’s escape near the end of the period cut Peterson’s advantage to 7-1.

Starting in the down position in the third period, Peterson tallied a reversal to extend his lead over Miller to 9-1. However, Miller was able to score his own reversal to avoid a major decision loss with Peterson claiming a 9-3 victory.

New Ulm had six pins, a technical fall and a decision while also receiving two forfeits.