SECTION 3A WRESTLING: F/MCC 49, TMB 20
In the world of sports, the old adage goes, it’s hard to beat a team three times. Fulda/ Murray County Central doesn’t subscribe to that theory.
The seasoned Warriors continued their current hold over TMB/WWG 49-20 last Thursday in the first round of the Section 3A Wrestling Tournament in Slayton, ending the Panthers’ team season.
“We made some mental mistakes, we made some physical mistakes,” TMB/WWG coach Karl Campbell said. “No matter the sport, they have to train right, practice right, in order for it to translate to here.”
Little went right for the Panthers, and it started right away when the Warriors won the flip, meaning they had the first choice of matchups.
“What it does is it changes our ability to get the matchups we want,” Campbell said. “For this particular match, that would’ve given us the ability to get David (Schuh) on (Brayen) Gilb at 139, who ended up pinning Oakley (Bornitz). Is that the difference in the dual overall? No, but it changed what we had to do on the backside.”
Eighth-grader Eathan Johnson was first to hit the mat for the Panthers, and although he was pinned in the third period, he put up a good fight.
Sophomore Owen Beier also was on the wrong side of a fall at 114 pounds, this one coming in the second period.
“Eathan followed the game plan to a “t” but made an eighth-grade mistake,” said Campbell. “He was ahead in the match against a kid that pinned him the last time were were down here, and he got overextended on the bottom position and got buried. Owen Beier went out and got a couple of takedowns … I was pleased, because that was something that we worked on for three days. They both responded.”
The Panthers got on the board at 121 pounds when junior Taylor Squires earned a 16-0 technical fall to make it 12-5, Warriors.
F/MCC went up 16-5 after a major decision at 127, before Weston Marten earned an 18-1 technical fall over Dane Hanson at 133. Senior David Schuh kept the momentum on the TMB/WWG side with a 19-1 technical fall over Teague Meyer at 145 to pull TMB/WWG to within seven at 22-15.
Nolan Verlinde then made it 22-20 with another technical fall, this one 16-0 over Lucas Kimball.
That would be the final points earned by the Panthers, however, as the Warriors controlled the final five matches, earning pins in four of them.
“We had to go for broke on the backside by putting Maverick (Snyder) in at 172 and bumping both Nevin (Marten) and Lawton (Verlinde) up, which was not what we wanted to do,” Campbell said. “In sports, it’s all about matchups, and then taking advantage of them. But the bottom line is, they outwrestled us. They bullied us in spots, they got pins when they needed to, and we didn’t get pins at all.
“I’m not disappointed in the effort,” said Campbell. “Our kids came to compete, but you’ve gotta find a way to bring it all together, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
The Warriors ended up losing to reigning Section 3A champion Jackson County Central 51-18 in the section semifinals in Wabasso on Saturday. JCC then continued their demoralization of section foes with a 48-18 thumping of Adrian/Ellsworth to advance to next week’s Minnesota State Wrestling Tournament.
The Section 3A individual tournament is Saturday in Springfield.
F/MCC 49, TMB/WWG 20
107 Luke Sweetman (14-16) FMCC over Ethan Johnson (6-27) TMBW (F 4:59) 114 Brodik Clarke (9-14) FMCC over Owen Beier (3-26) TMBW (F 3:12)
121 Taylor Squires (38-4) TMBW over Thomas Pruitt (9-9) FMCC (TF 16-0
(2:00) 127 Kaston Clarke (28-8) FMCC over Logan Petersen (27-8) TMBW (MD 13-2) 133 Weston Marten (32-7) TMBW over Dane Hanson (2-6) FMCC (TF 18-1
(3:47) 139 Brayden Gilb (19-7) FMCC over Oakley Bornitz (7-4) TMBW (F 3:28)
145 David Schuh (36-4) TMBW over Teague Meyer (7-0) FMCC (TF 19-1
(5:11) 152 Nolan Verlinde (21-17) TMBW over Lucas Kuball (23-14) FMCC (TF 16-0 (5:06) 160 Quintin Lewis (32-6) FMCC over Tyler Arnold (16-24) TMBW (F 2:00)
172 Jaxon Wendorff (11-18) FMCC over Mavrick Snyder (2-13) TMBW (F
3:49) 189 Luke Iverson (22-16) FMCC over Nevin Marten (15-14) TMBW (F
1:10) 215 Vincent Bray (26-9) FMCC over Lawton Verlinde (31-9) TMBW (Dec
8-7)
285 Colby Kesteloot (26-7) FMCC over Jack Willhite (18-16) TMBW (F 4:18)
