Eagle wrestlers make history, qualify six for state

After making a run to the Section 4A Championship team dual but finishing second the previous week, the Eden Valley-Watkins Eagles Wrestling team left the Section 4A Individual Tournament at Kimball Area High School on Saturday, Feb. 22, having made history. For the first time ever, according to head coach Dan Berg, the Eagles’ program qualified six wrestlers for the state tournament.

Cason Demarais (107), Carter Scheeler (160), Treyce Ludwig (172), and Nick Becker (285) won individual section titles; and Jon Weiss (121) and Brayden Kramer (133) earned section runner-up finishes to capture their individual state tournament berths.

Top-seeded Demarais had a dominant run to his section title. After securing a second-period semifinal pin, he captured his state tourney berth with a 17-1 technical fall just 54 seconds into the second period of his title match over St. Agnes’ Daniel Hunt.

Scheeler, seeded second at this weight class, also made  a dominant run to his section title. After earning a third-period semifinal pin, he pinned Sibley East’s Atley Strack with 27 seconds remaining in the first period of the championship match.

Top-seeded Ludwig earned a third-period pin en route to his appearance in the 172-pound section title match versus Minneapolis North Community’s Cameron Wise. Ludwig found himself on the winning side of a high-scoring affair, capturing his section title by a 23-16 final.

Ninth-ranked and top-seeded Nick Becker earned a first-period pin to set up a match-up of two ranked wrestlers in the finals – between Becker and sixth-ranked Carter Storms of Central Public Schools. Becker came out the winner and section champion with a pin 56 seconds into the second period.

Third-seeded John Weiss picked up a first-period pin before earning a 17-3 major decision semifinal victory over second-seeded Judd Pauly of Central Public Schools to advance to the title match. In that match, Weiss fell by pin in 36 seconds to Trinity School at River Ridge’s top-seeded Micah Gregory. Pauly would earn third place, ensuring Weiss with his -second-place finish and state tourney berth.

Kramer’s path to his state tourney berth was similar to that of his teammate Weiss. After earning a pin, third-seeded Kramer secured a 4-1 win over second-seeded Parker Honl of Central Public Schools. Kramer narrowly fell by a 4-2 decision to top-seeded Waylon Thieke in the finals. Thanks to Honl’s third-place finish, Kramer was ensured with a second-place finish and state tourney berth.

After falling by second-period pin in the semifinals, fifth-seeded  Ryder Schmidt (152) secured two wins – one by pin and another by major decision – to earn a true-second match versus second-seeded Tyler Neubarth of Central Public Schools. Schmidt fell by pin with 52 seconds left in the first period to finish third and fall one win shy of that state tourney berth. 

Mitchell Lipinski (215) also finished third, but did not earn a true-second match after falling by a 17-9 major decision to the eventual runner-up, St. Agnes’ Charlie Witzel in the semifinals.

Brody Sieben (114) finished fourth, Ricky Vaquera Valencia (139) fifth, and Thomas Thompson (189) sixth to round out the Eagles place winners. Torii Berg (127) also competed for the Eagles, but fell short of placing.

Now, the six Eagle wrestlers will gear up for the Class A Individual State Wrestling Tournament, set to begin at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Friday, Feb. 28. Below are the Eagle wrestlers’ first-round match-ups.

107: Cason Demarais (26-11) vs. Pipestone’s Lane Fruechte (32-5)

121: John Weiss (17-13) vs. Pipestone’s Miklo Hernandez (38-0)

133: Brayden Kramer (30-17) vs. Mille Lacs Raiders’ Zach Remer (46-0)

160: Carter Scheeler (27-17) vs. United North Central Warriors’ Zach Davidson (16-1)

172: Treyce Ludwig (32-13) vs. Chatfield’s Ben Carrier (31-4)

285: Nick Becker (33-6) vs. Staples-Motley’s Steven Petrich (24-15)