Sports from the week of March 7, 2007
Campbell gets fifth, all-state mat honors
By Dick Donaldson
The Panther wrestling team had three participants in the state wrestling tournament held at the Xcel Center in St. Paul last week.
In his opening match, 103-pounder Zach Campbell lost by a 6-2 decision to Greg Naschansky of Plainview-Elgin-Millville. In the first round of the wrestlebacks Campbell won 11-10 over Eli Stangret of Waconia and then won 6-1 over Jacob Werner of Perham before losing by a fall to Matt Nelson of Big Lake. On Saturday he wrestled Greg Naschansky again in a battle for fifth place in Class AA. Campbell won the match fifth-place and all-state honors. The eighth-grader finished the season with a 38-5 record.
“Zach has a great work ethic and focus,” said Panther wrestling Coach Brian Michelson. “To have gained all-state honors and register 65 career wins as an eighth grader is quite an accomplishment.”
Luke Prairie won his first match in the 130-pound competition by a major decision (16-5) over Nelson of Perham. He lost his next match to Joe Selly of Montgomery-Lonsdale-Le Centerby a 14-10 decision and then lost 8-3 to Mike Land of Cloquet.
“Luke has an incredible attitude,” said Michelson. “He is very focused and has set a single season record of 40 wins. Luke (25) plus James Prairie (24) and Nathan Jacob (25) also broke the school record for the number of pins in one season.”
In the 145-pound Class AA competition, Derek Evans lost his first match to Lewandowski of Foley by a 5-1 decision.
“Derek did a great job of getting to the state tournament,” said Michelson. “He has been suffering from bronchitis. He did not match-up very well in style against Lewandowski.”
| No. 1 Cardinals eliminate TMB By Dick Donaldson The Panther boy’s basketball team lost to Redwood Valley 46-73 in the first round of the Section 3AA South Tournament at Redwood Falls Monday night. Tracy/Milroy/Balaton finished the season with a 12-15 record while the Cardinals improved to 22-3. The game had been postponed from Saturday night because of the weather. “We started off strong, up-tempo with a solid defensive game, but we didn’t cut off the baseline and let some uncontested three’s go,” said Panther Coach Nat Boyer. “ With any team, if you give them open shots, they’re going to knock them down and with a team as solid as Redwood, you really can not afford to have any breakdowns defensively or offensively.” The Panthers had some early success and got off to an 8-5 lead after about 3 minutes of play. However in the remaining time before the intermission the Cardinals outscored TMB 34-10 to storm to a 39-18 halftime lead. The first few minutes of the second half hurt the Panthers as the Cardinals put up 20 points to 7 for the Panthers to put the game away. Bonebright, the Cardinals post player, caused the Panthers trouble by scoring 28 points inside and helping Redwood Valley gain a 41-24 edge in rebounds. Drew Nelson led the Panther scoring with 12 points. “We are proud of the boys for working so hard, they never fail for lack of effort, it just wasn’t our game tonight and sadly it ended our season,” said Boyer. T/M/B 18 28 46 RV 39 34 73 T/M/B- Schmidt, 1, 1/2, 3; A. Dolan, 2, 0/0,6; Paradis, 1,1/2,3; Rignell, 1, 0/0,3; Prairie, 2,0/0,4; I.Dolan, 2,1/2,6; Kaup, 1,0/0,2; Soupir, 1,0/0,2; Nelson,5, 0/0,12; Gervais, 2,1/2,5. Totals, 18,4/8,46. |