Last weeks deep freeze may have shutdown most of Minnesota but ironically it heated up for the West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville grapplers. Old man winter put a damper on Tuesdays dual with the Frazee Hornets and it kept the Royalton-Upsala Royals home on Thursday night but the #5 ranked Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Jaguars braved the elements marching into Barrett no doubt looking to feast on a Knight. 

Through the early matches BBE looked as tough as their billed ranking. In fact following the 126 lb bout the Jaguars had a commanding 22-0 lead. WCAABE's Reubens Swanson was the first Knight to post a score as he grabbed a decision at 132 lbs. Sophomore Captain Jordan Lohse helped gain a bit more traction at 138 lbs when he knocked off his #6 ranked opponent which closed the gap by three more points to the tune of 22-6. BBE went back to pouring on the pressure as they earned a major and a decision at 145 and 152. Following those matches it looked a bit bleak for WCAABE who found themselves trailing a powerhouse team by a score of 29-6. It would take serious bonus points and victorys in all the following matches to give the Knights a win. Incredibly, that is exactly what happened. Hunter Mickelsen gained a fall, Brett Duncan a major, Colton Lindquist outscored his opponent 8-0 gathering another major, #3 ranked Wyatt Olson made short work of his match pinning his foe and Devin Stone tied up the score by taking out a #9 ranked Jaguar. The heavy weights moved onto the mat and Sophomore Austin Mattson sent the Jaguars back to BBE with tails tucked and a 35-29 loss following his victory by fall.

Head wrestling coach Brandon Gruchow summed up the evening like this:”We had a tough time getting the momentum going at the beginning of the match tonight. The wins from Swanson and Lohse put us in a situation to make a comeback. The coaching staff was very happy with the top end of our line-up, each of them dug deep and found a way to make-up for the 23 point deficit. Stone's big win over a solid opponent gave "Mad Dog Mattson" just enough of a boost to seal the deal with a pin! We are headed in the right direction but still have some fine tuning do do before the post season arrives. I would personally like to thank the fans tonight. They gave us the extra boost with their fantastic cheering....keep it up fans!!!!!”

Wadena, MN

Saturday the Knights traveled to Wadena to participate in the Park Region Conference Tournament. The conference is made up of nine teams, competition is stiff as five of those squads are sporting Class A state rankings. The Knights showed up ready for battle as they fought hard all day. Although #1 ranked Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville won the tournament the Knights wrestled their way into the runner-up status. A very solid showing for the young WCAABE boys. It takes scoring from all members of the team to place high in a tournament setting. On Saturday all members contributed to the score by placing on the podium or winning a match. In total 13 out of the 14 weight classes earned medals. The breakdown was two champions, a runner up, a trio of 3rd place winners, three 4th place finishers, three earned 5th place and one 6th place. As Coach Gruchow states below...”It was a fun day to be a Knight!”

8th grade 126 lber Anthony Sykora earned a wrestling milestone on Saturday reaching his 50th career victory. Sr Wyatt Olson earned one of the two conference awards at the tournament as he pinned his way to the championship earning the 'Pin Award'. Wyatt wasted no time on the mat dispatching all three opponents in a total of 8:41. Congratulations Anthony and Wyatt.

Coach Gruchow commented:”Overall we wrestled well. Things are starting to shape up for us and the guys are starting to believe in themselves. You could see it in their faces, the way the composed themselves before, during, and after their matches...they wanted it! The guys are focused and having fun. Our captains helped lead by example today as both of them won their brackets. I am excited for more practice on Monday as we still have a few things to tweak to help us out in our upcoming matches. It was a fun day to be a Knight!”

WCAABE will enter its final week of the regular season as on Tuesday they travel to Fergus Falls for a triangular with the hometown AA Otters and the Staples-Motley Cardinals. Thursday the team has a makeup dual in Barrett with the #7 ranked Frazee Hornets and Saturday the Knights head to Morris for the Doctor Busian Invite Tournament.

All numbers following hash-tags represent state rankings via the 'Guillotine'.

1/30/19

#19 WCAABE 35, #5 Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa (BBE) 29.
106: Ryan Jensen (BBE) over Shad Swanson per fall 2:50.

113: #5 Walker Bents (BBE) over Ashton Danner per fall 5:27. 

120: #6 Blaine Fischer (BBE) over Hunter Hanson per major decision 10-2.

126: #1 Canon Swanson (BBE) over #10 Anthony Sykora per fall 1:54.

132: Reubens Swanson (WCAABE) over Maximus Hanson per decision 7-4.

138: #8 Jordan Lohse (WCAABE) over #6 Tyler Jensen per ultimate tie breaker decision 5-4.

145: #5 Tyler Bents (BBE) over Kaleb Getz per major decision 9-1.

152: Dylan T. Kampsen (BBE) over Bryce Lien per decision 9-5.

160: Hunter Mickelsen (WCAABE) over Cooper Wold per fall 3:15.

170: Bret Duncan (WCAABE) over Ethan Spanier per major decision 13-0.

182: Colton Lindquist (WCAABE) over Isaac Kampsen per major decision 8-0.

195: #3 Wyatt Olson (WCAABE) over Jebadia Jones per fall 0:43. 

220: Devin Stone (WCAABE) over #9 Michael Doubek per decision 7-6.

285: Austin Mattson (WCAABE) over Thaniel Cebulla per fall 3:20.

2/2/19 Park Region Conference Tournament

Team Scores

1.#1 Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville 227 points

2.#19 West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville 170 

3.#12 Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie 164.5

4.#15 Ottertail Central 152

5.#21 Royalton-Upsala 131

6.United North Central 112.5

7.New York Mills 54

8.Wadena-Deer Creek 50

9.Osakis 38

 Individual Scores
106: Shad Swanson 2-2, 5th Place
Shad Swanson over Logan Grove (Osak) per fall 4:35.
#10 Sam Costanzo (RU) over Shad Swanson per technical fall 16-0, 2:51.
Simon Snyder (WDC) over Shad Swanson per decision 11-5.
5th Place Match-Shad Swanson over Logan Grove (Osak) per fall 1:01.

113: Ashton Danner 0-3, 6th Place
Will Gorecki (RU) over Ashton Danner per major decision 13-2.
#4 Carter Meiners (LPGEB) over Ashton Danner per technical fall 15-0, 2:57.
5th Place Match-Reese Thompson (BHVPP) over Ashton Danner per decision 8-7.

120: Hunter Hanson 2-2, 5th Place
#5 Quinn Kern (BHVPP) over Hunter Hanson per technical fall 17-2, 5:34.
Hunter Hanson over Brien Poser (OTC) per fall 1:58.
Dane Niemi (NYM) over Hunter Hanson per decision 4-2.
5th Place Match-Hunter Hanson over Hunter Novitzki (RU) per fall 4:28.

126: #10 Anthony Sykora 3-1, 3rd Place 
Hayden Hart (OTC) over Anthony Sykora per decision 13-8.
Anthony Sykora over Jason Koehn (BHVPP) per decision 7-1.
Anthony Sykora over Nathan Kulzer (Osak) per decision 4-2.
3rd Place Match -Anthony Sykora over Hayden Hart (OTC) per Sudden Victory decision 3-1.

132: Reubens Swanson 2-2, 4th Place
Reubens Swanson over Logan Schleske (OTC) per Sudden Victory decision 4-2.
#2 Mason Gode (LPGEB) over Reubens Swanson per fall 4:00.
Reubens Swanson over Hank Tellers (UNC) per decision 5-0.
3rd Place Match-Trever Arceneau (BHVPP) over Reubens Swanson per major decsion 16-6.

138: #8 Jordan Lohse 2-0, Champion
Jordan Lohse over Brock Peterson (BHVPP) per fall 0:54.
1st Place Match-Jordan Lohse over Nye Becker (LPGEB) per major decision 9-1.

145: Bryce Lien 3-1, 3rd Place
Bryce Lien over Eion Ness (UNC) per Sudden Victory decision 6-4.
#10 Ted Stacey (LPGEB) over Bryce Lien per decision 10-7.
Bryce Lien over Bren Salo (NYM) per fall 4:17.
3rd Place Match-Bryce Lien over Eion Ness (UNC) per decision 7-0.

152: Kaleb Getz 2-2, 4th Place
Kaleb Getz over Hunter Harlow (Osak) per major decision 13-4.
#10 Riley Thom (LPGEB) over Kaleb Getz per decision 9-2.
Kaleb Getz over Logan Small (NYM) per decision 5-3.
3rd Place Match-Damion Theisen (RU) over Kaleb Getz per decision 6-0.

160: Hunter Mickelsen 2-2, 4th Place
Hunter Mickelsen over Dakota Meech (UNC) per decision 7-5.
#3 Jackson Held (RU) over Hunter Mickelsen per technical fall 25-10, 5:48.
Hunter Mickelsen over Carter Rokes (BHVPP) per fall 3:36.
3rd Place Match -Austin Carr (LPGEB) over Hunter Mickelsen per decision 3-1.

170: Deklin Goeden 1-2, DNP
Deklin Goeden over Isaac Kasella (RU) per fall 2:40.
#7 Dylan Fischer (NYM) over Deklin Goeden per fall 2:21.
Gideon Ervasti (BHVPP) over Deklin Goeden per technical fall 20-2, 2:51.

182: Colton Lindquist 2-1, 3rd Place
Caleb Pesta (LPGEB) over Colton Lindquist per fall 3:03.
Colton Lindquist over Nathan Bjerk (Osak) per fall 1:48.
3rd Place Match-Colton Lindquist over Chase Janu (OTC) per decision 5-0.

195: #3 Wyatt Olson 3-0, Champion
Wyatt Olson over Jaden Finck (BHVPP) per fall 1:54.
Wyatt Olson over Matthew Kasella (RU) per fall 5:38.
1st Place Match-Wyatt Olson over Dominic Strom (Osak) per fall 1:49.

220: Devin Stone 1-1, 2nd Place
Devin Stone over Logan Wegschied (WDC) per fall 0:55.
1st Place Match-#4 Wyatt Thorson (OTC) over Devin Stone per decision 5-1.

285: Austin Mattson 1-2, 5th Place
Mason Novitzki (RU) over Austin Mattson per fall 0:23.
#8 Jared Seibert (UNC) over Austin Mattson per fall 0:34.
5th Place Match -Austin Mattson over Trey Lancaster (LPGEB) per forfeit.