BARRETT — Inches, seconds and any other unit of measurement used in wrestling is how close the Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale/Parkers Prairie Raiders were to seeing their season come to an end on Saturday.
The fifth-ranked Raiders outlasted three of the top-ranked teams in Class A in the Section 5A and 6A state preliminary tournament at West Central Area High School. After taking down 6A rival West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville in the section final, B-H/V/PP upset second-ranked Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa to punch its ticket to the Xcel Energy Center.
“I guess the word to describe the feeling is amazing. It was just an amazing day,” Raiders’ head coach Bill Wagner said. “Before we went out there we talked about how hard it is to beat somebody that never quits. That’s been a little bit of our motto this year, and they took that to heart. That was impressive what they did.”
The Jaguars took a commanding 30-6 lead after ninth-ranked Maximus Hanson scored a technical fall win over Brock Peterson in the 152-pound matchup, but the Raiders staged a comeback. Mason Schroeder (160), Hunter Dean (170), Tyler Eggert (182) and Gideon Ervasti (195) pulled out wins for the Raiders to cut the deficit to 30-24.
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With two matches left to decide a state preliminary winner, B-H/V/PP seniors James Grant and Hayden Captain put on a show.
The Raiders couldn’t afford another loss when it came down to Grant’s 220-pound matchup against Mark Jenniges. In a tightly contested bout, Grant picked up Jenniges and awkwardly took him down to the mat. Jenniges laid motionless on, which led to an injury timeout.
After the trainer cleared Jenniges to compete, he tied the match with a takedown late in the third period. Grant scored a point by escaping Jenniges’ grasp to take a 6-5 lead. As time expired, Jenniges made his move and brought Grant to the mat. However, it was a split-second too late as the officials awarded the win to Grant.
“When the accident happened I didn’t know if he was going to get up,” Captain said. “I was concerned for him. Nobody wants the match to end like that. He got to finish the match, which was great. Then it was my turn to go out there and wrestle.”
Trailing 30-27, Captain knew what he needed to do to send the Raiders to the state semifinal round. From the get-go, he dominated BBE’s Ethan Spanier on his way to a fall victory.
“For me, it means the world to get that win,” Captain said. “This team is like my second family. I knew we’d have some tough matches, but for us to persevere like we did is really cool. I don’t know how to put it into words. It’s just a sense of relief.”
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Class A quarterfinal
B-H/V/PP 33,
BBE 30
106: Brett DeRoo, BBE, dec Bennet Arceneau, 10-6
113: David Revering, BHVPP, dec Tanner Viessman, 5-4
120: Deagen Captain, BHVPP, dec Wyatt Engen, 8-4
126: Ryan Jensen, BBE, tech fall Aiden Larson, 22-7
132: Walker Bents, BBE, pinned Reese Thompson, 5:44
138: Tyler Jensen, BBE, tech fall Blake Sumstad, 17-0
145: Blaine Fischer, BBE, pinned Justin Koehn, 1:51
152: Maximus Hanson, BBE, tech fall Brock Peterson, 19-4
160: Mason Schroeder, BHVPP, dec Dylan T. Kampsen, 10-5
170: Hunter Dean, BHVPP, pinned Talen Kampsen, 1:55
182: Tyler Eggert, BHVPP, dec Cooper Wold, 5-3 (OT)
195: Gideon Ervasti, BHVPP, pinned Carson Gilbert, 1:53
220: James Grant, BHVPP, dec Mark Jenniges, 5-4
285: Hayden Captain, BHVPP, pinned Ethan Spanier, 4:43
Section 5A championship
BBE 33,
LPGE/B 23
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa won its first section championship Saturday, beating two-time defending Class A state champion Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville in Barrett.
The Wolves were both the No. 1 seed and the No. 1-ranked team in Class A. Likewise, the Jaguars were the No. 2 seed and the No. 2-ranked team in Class A.
BBE was able to avenge a regular-season loss against LPGE/Browerville, 27-26, on Jan. 22.
After trading wins at 106 and 113 pounds, the Jaguars rattled off five straight wins, with back-to-back falls from Wyatt Engen (120) and Walker Bents (126) and capped off by a fall from Blaine Fischer (145) to make it 27-3.
BBE did not give up a fall in the match.
106: Brett DeRoo, BBE, dec Connor Flan, 7-5
113: Gavin Albers, LPGEB, dec Tanner Viessman, 10-7
120: Wyatt Engen, BBE, pinned Mason Bruder, 3:37
126: Walker Bents, BBE, pinned Rudy Determan, 4:28
132: Ryan Jensen, BBE, dec Braden Thom, 9-2
138: Tyler Jensen, BBE, dec Cael Lorentz, 6-2
145: Blaine Fischer, BBE, pinned Paul Stacey, 3:05
152: Landon Gode, LPGEB, maj dec Maximus Hanson, 19-5
160: Carter Meiners, LPGEB, tech fall, Talen Kampsen, 16-1
170: Mason Gode, LPGEB, tech fall, Dylan T. Kampsen, 15-0
182: Cooper Wold, BBE, dec Tate Twardowski, 10-4
195: Bergen Pesta, LPGEB, dec Carson Gilbert, 4-1
220: Mark Jenniges, BBE, dec Joseph Middendorf, 3-2
285: Trey Lancaster, LPGEB, dec Ethan Spanier, 7-4
West Central Tribune sports reporter Joe Brown contributed to this report
