JCC started strong with a pin from their state champion at 106.  Their 3rd place finisher added a decision against David Revering at 113 before Deagen Captain put the Raiders on the board with a decision of his own.  Holden Truax entered the line-up against their 3rd place finisher and battle before giving up the fall.  132 and 138 were going to be key matches in the outcome of the dual and Aiden Larson did his job bumping up and not getting pinned.  The technical fall would play huge later in the dual.  Reese Thompson went up to 138 and took the swing match with a third period takedown and dominant ride out for the 3-2 decision.  The Huskies put up six against Justin Koehn at 145 and it was 26-6 half-way through the dual.  JCC had their defending state champion waiting at 152, but like they have done all season he wrestled up to strengthen their team, so Brock Peterson got the other guy.  Brock took advantage of his .500 opponent and glued him to the mat sparking the Raider hope.  The champ went to 160 and took care of business.  However, the pin they were hoping for never happened as Mason Schroeder left it all on the mat and barely gave him the major decision.  Another important match as it was less than a pin.  Hunter Dean had a battle on his hands at 170 and like he has done so many times before, he turned a close match into a pin as he flurried into a headlock to seal his opponent’s fate late in the third period to bring the dual to 30-18 and keep the dream alive.  The glimmer of hope faded at 182 when Tyler Eggert lost a tight match by a pin.  However, three weights to go and down 36-18, the path to victory was simple.  Pin out and Win.  It was highly unlikely as the Huskies still had one horse left and were able to get the match-up they wanted to give them the best route to victory.  They slid their 6th place finisher up giving Gideon Ervasti at 195 an alternate that he pinned in twenty seconds.  That meant James Grant at 220 was going to have to find a way to pin one of their best wrestlers.  The Huskie took James down and turned him for a five count.  Just as the shoulders were getting close, he managed to rolled through and come out for the reversal.  Down 7-2 heading to the second period, James escaped midway through and with twenty seconds remaining he finally got to his double under-hooks and bear hugged him to his back.  A flop here, a flop there, and down he went as James had put him away drawing the Raiders deficit to 36-30.  That put the pressure on the shoulders of Hayden Captain who was favored at 285.  However, a win wasn’t good enough.  It had to be a pin.  The JCC heavyweight did his job of nothing and found a way to get to the third period.  However, with the fuel tanks running low Hayden had one final burst.  He snapped him and bull rushed him straight to his back for the fall as the team and fans lost their minds tying the dual at 36-36.  However, someone has to win and BHVPP took their first lead of the dual when a point was added for the criteria of falls.  We had five, they had four making the final 37-36 and moving BHVPP into the State Championship dual. WOW……”The St. Michael Miracle” had just occurred and Raider fans in attendance and watching from afar will always remember where they were at that point in time.

106-Nolan Ambrose (JCC) Fall Bennet Arceneau 3:51

113-Kie Anderson (JCC) Dec. David Revering 5-0

120-Deagen Captain Dec. Seth Stai (JCC) 6-2

126-Logan Butzon (JCC) Fall Holden Truax 1:20

132-Thomas Freking (JCC) Tech Fall Aiden Larson 5:42; 21-6

138-Reese Thompson Dec. Dylan Withers (JCC) 3-2

145-Coltan Bents (JCC) Fall Justin Koehn 1:25

152-Brock Peterson Fall Isaiah Rodriguez (JCC) 1:24

160-Payton Handevidt (JCC) Maj. Dec. Mason Schroeder 10-2

170-Hunter Dean Fall Matthe Haley (JCC) 5:43

182-William Freking (JCC) Fall Tyler Eggert 3:36

195-Gideon Ervasti Fall Micheal Hansen (JCC) :20

220-James Grant Fall Caleb Vancura (JCC) 3:57

285-Hayden Captain Fall Trace Michelson (JCC) 4:42

BHVPP 37 *Criteria Falls 5-4
Jackson Count Central 36

106-Bennet Arceneau Fall Mark Schiefelbein (KIM) :18

113-David Revering Dec. Jack Bollman (KIM) 7-2

120-Deagen Captain Fall Chase Anderson (KIM) 1:19

126-Gavin Winter (KIM) Fall Aiden Larson 5:24

132-Lucas Jurek (KIM) Dec. Reese Thompson 7-3

138-Alex Nelson (KIM) Fall Blake Sumstad 1:48

145-Brett Schiefelbein (KIM) Fall Justin Koehn 3:18

152-Logan Kuseske (KIM) Fall Brock Peterson 5:05

160-Zack Holtz (KIM) Fall Mason Schroeder 1:40

170-Ashton Hanan (KIM) Dec. Hunter Dean 9-8

182-Haden Rosenow (KIM) Fall Tyler Eggert 4:25

195-Carter Holtz (KIM) Dec. Gideon Ervasti 11-5

220-Brandon Guggisberg (KIM) Maj. Dec. James Grant 15-7

285-Hayden Captain Fall Ace Meyer (KIM) 4:00

Kimball 49, BHVPP 21

Top seeded Kimball took care of Royalton in the other semifinal.  They were built similar to us.  We knew that we had to get the swing matches in order to keep the glass slipper on.  Bennet headlocked his opponent when the whistle blew for the quick pin.  David added a decision at 113 and Deagen put up another six at 120 giving BHVPP the early 15-0 lead.  That quickly dissolved as the Cubs 5th place finisher pinned Aiden.  Reese gave up a decision at 132 and Blake Sumstad was pinned at 138.  145 and 152 were swing matches that both went in favor of Kimball.  Unfortunately for us, they ended in falls over Justin and Brock.  The Cubs had the state runner-up at 160 and 3rd place finisher at 170 and where we usually stat our comeback.  They were able to withstand the blow getting a fall at 160 and escaping with a one-point decision at 170.  Tyler had the lead at 182 in another swing match, but somehow was pinned sealing the fate of the dual as the Cubs had rattled off their eight win in a row.  Their 3rd place finisher added at decision at 195 over Gideon Ervasti and their ranked 220 pounder major decisioned James for a ten-match win streak.  Hayden finally ended that with his fourth straight dual meet fall finalizing the dual 49-21 in favor of the Cubs.

It may not have ended up the way we had hoped, but if you’d told us that we would finish 2nd at State at the beginning of the season.  We would all say heck yeah.  A season that will be remembered by everyone because of the strange Covid regulations will be remembered a little differently in Raider country.  The incredible journey that almost never was.  I’m sure many have forgot that we were ahead of WCAABE by five and Hayden was on his back early in the Section Championship dual.  Somehow, he persevered catapulting BHVPP on the run down the stretch.  Every pin we earned and every match that we saved points proved to be the difference as the glass slipper fit just long enough for this great group of wrestlers to bring home hardware as the Class A State Runner-Ups.  I’m sure I speak for all your family, friends, and fans when I say “Thanks you for the Memories” #BHVPP #allforoneoneforall #marchmatness  The individual match results were as followed: