Jason Casey, above, was in control of his opponents during his first round match at the Takedown on 22.

Blue Earth Area only had eight wrestlers compete in the Takedown on 22 Wrestling Tournament held at the Maple River High School on Jan. 31, and four of those wrestlers placed.

Watertown Mayer-Mayer Lutheran won the tournament with 201.5 points. The Bucs placed ninth in the 15-team tournament with a total of 73 points.

The four BEA wrestlers who placed were Timmy Nagel who finished third at 133 pounds, Colton Tolzmann who placed fifth at 160 pounds, Will Weerts who was fourth at 172 pounds and Chase Gambell who was the runner-up at 285 pounds.

The 133-pound weight bracket may have been the most competitive at the tournament.

Nagel was seeded fifth in the bracket and had a first-round bye. He then lost a 7-3 decision to Julio Alejandro of Sibley East.

Nagel got back on track with a pin in 34 seconds over Dakota Schlaak of New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva. He then won his next match by pinning Cooper Raab of Powers, Michigan, in 1:54. Raab had entered the tournament with a 32-7 record.

In the match for third place, Nagel was victorious over Nick Rosevold of Mankato East by a fall at the 5:27 mark. Rosevold also had a 32-7 record at the start of the day.

Tolzmann lost his opening round match in the 160-pound bracket to Talan Osborne of Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial by a fall in 1:55. In the wrestlebacks, Tolzmann won by a fall in 2:33 over Cowen Bruzek of Tri-City United.

Karson Tufte of Watertown Mayer-Mayer Lutheran then defeated Tolzmann by a pin in 43 seconds to send the BEA wrestler to the match for fifth place.

Tolzmann won a narrow 11-9 decision over Isaiah Mortensen of Mankato East to place fifth at the tourney.

Will Weerts needed an extra period to win his first-round match against Gianny Lopez of Sibley East. Tied 6-6 at the end of regulation, Weerts earned the sudden victory with a takedown of Lopez in the first overtime period.

In the second round, Weerts was pinned in 3:15 by Austin Stein of Watertown Mayer-Mayer Lutheran.

In the wrestlebacks, Weerts won by an 11-6 decision over William Fantesi of Owatonna before pinning Maxxis Ross of TCU in 2:26.

Weerts continued his winning ways by pinning Colton Stehr of Mankato East in 3:19 to reach the match for third place.

Unfortunately for Weerts, Kolt Bullerman of Maple River/United South Central defeated the BEA wrestler in 2:29 to give Weerts fourth place.

Gambell received a bye in the opening round of the 285-pound weight bracket and then pinned Logan Kleist of Mankato East in 1:28 in the second round.

After falling behind to DJ Miller of Martin County in the semifinal round, Gambell was able to put Miller on his back and win by pin at the four minute mark to put him in the championship against Mason Adams of LCWM.

Adams, sporting a 37-1 record coming into the tournament, defeated Gambell by a fall in 24 seconds.

The Bucs had five junior varsity wrestlers win championships at the meet. They were Nolan Sturtz, Lane Casey, Cody Tolzmann, Nolbert Garcia and Ryder Stauffer.

Adrian Triangular

The Blue Earth Area Buccaneers traveled to Adrian on Thursday, Jan. 29 for a triangular meet with Adrian and Springfield.

Adrian 55, BEA 15

The Bucs were already trailing 18-0 when their 127-pounder, Drake Engelby, defeated Rayden Boyenga by a 12-2 major decision to put four points on the scoreboard for the Maroon and Gold.

Timmy Nagel’s 16-1 technical fall over Jackson Penning at 133 pounds cut Adrian’s lead to 18-9.

Unfortunately, that would be that last victory for BEA until the 285-pound match. With Adrian leading 55-9, Chase Gambell scored six team points for the Bucs when he pinned Coy Graff in 39 seconds to make the final score 55-15 in favor of the host team.

BEA 48, Springfield 18

The Bucs got off to a good start against the Tigers when Jase Casey pinned Korbin Imker in 1:06 in the 107-pound match to stake BEA to a 6-0 lead.

The Maroon and Gold tallied six more points when Jake Ryan Engelby won by a forfeit at 114 pounds.

BEA moved ahead 18-0 when Drake Engelby won the 121-pound match by pinning Brett Jensen in 51 seconds.

Springfield won by a pin at 127 pounds before BEA won the matches at 133 and 139 pounds by forfeit to take a 30-6 lead. Nolbert Garcia received the forfeit at 133 pounds while Timmy Nagel won by forfeit at 139.

The 145-pound match went to the Tigers by a decision which made the score 30-9 with the Bucs in the lead.

BEA’s Danny Nagel received a forfeit at 152 pounds before Springfield won by a decision at 160 pounds to make the score 36-12 in favor of the Bucs.

BEA’s Aiden Anderson won by forfeit at 172 pounds to extend the Bucs’ lead to 42-12.

Neither team had a wrestler in the 189-pound weight bracket.

The Tigers claimed their final win of the night with a pin at 215 pounds before the Bucs’ Chase Gambell won by a forfeit at 285 pounds to make the final score 48-18 with BEA getting the victory.

BEA participated in the Springfield Invitational Tournament on Friday, Feb. 6.

The Section 2A Team competition begins on Feb. 12 and will conclude on Feb. 14 with the semifinal and championship matches.

The Section 2A Individual Tournament will be held on Saturday, Feb. 21, at Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton High School.

The Minnesota State Tournament will be held Feb. 26-28 in St. Paul.