Eagles come home with one state medalist: Nick Becker

The Eagles arrived at the Xcel Energy Center for the state wrestling tournament after making history the previous weekend at the Section 4A Individual Wrestling Tournament, qualifying six wrestlers for state – a program first.

After two days of state tournament action, the Eagles left the Xcel Energy Center with one individual making the state medal stand. Junior 285-pound wrestler Nick Becker finished fourth following action from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul Friday-Saturday, Feb. 28, to Saturday, March 1.

Seeded fourth in the tournament, Becker opened his state tournament run with a narrow 4-3 decision over Staples-Motley’s Steven Petrich. Advancing to the quarterfinals, Becker scored the first take-down on United North Central’s Kevin Dailey, but got caught and pinned in a headlock in 44 seconds.

Dropping into consolation action, Becker earned a pin with nine seconds left in the first period over Redwood Valley’s Griffin Evans to advance to the second day of the state tournament – one win away from a state medal.

On day two, Becker scored a second-period take-down and held off Medford’s Mason Degrood’s last-second take-down attempts to win 4-2 and capture that state medal. Becker let out a yell and clapped his hands before celebrating with his coaches.

Following this medal-clinching win, Becker scored a take-down at the end of the first period and rode this start to a 7-0 win over Bertha-Hewitt-Verndale/Parkers Prairie’s Braden Shamp, advancing to the third-place match.

In that match, Becker faced a familiar opponent in Dailey, the wrestler he fell to by pin in the quarterfinals. Trailing 3-1 late in the first period, Becker got taken to his back and pinned again, this time just as time expired in the first period, to earn  fourth place and finish the season with a 37-8 record.  

As for the other Eagle state qualifiers, they came up empty in the win department. 

Three Eagle wrestlers, John Weiss (121), senior Brayden Kramer  (133), and senior Carter Scheeler (160), each got a second match after opening round losses, but also fell short in those matches. 

After falling to the eventual state champion, in Pipestone’s Miklo Hernandez, Weiss faced Badger/Greenbush-Middle River’s Keegan VonEnde. Tied 0-0 going into the third period, Weiss had a chance to take the lead with an escape or reversal. Instead, he gave up four near-fall points in the closing seconds to fall 4-0. 

In his opening match, Kramer also fell to the eventual state champion in Mille Lacs’ Zach Remer. Kramer fell by a 16-1 technical fall 1:01 into the second period. In his consolation match,  he then dropped a 10-0 major decision to Fosston-Bagley’s Ian Phrakonkham to see his state run and career come to an end.

Scheeler opened his state tournament by falling via pin with 44 seconds left in the second period to United North Central’s Zach Davidson. Getting that second match, Scheeler led 11-2 after two periods over Canby’s Blake Giese, holding this same lead with less than one minute left. He then gave up four straight take-downs before falling by pin with 16 -seconds left, bringing a close to the senior’s career. 

Two wrestlers, Cason Demarais (107) and senior Treyce Ludwig (172), dropped their only state tournament matches, not getting a second match since their opening opponents lost their second matches.  Demarais fell by pin with 18 seconds left in the first period to Pipestone’s Lane Fruechte, and Ludwig fell by pin 43 seconds into the third period versus Chatfield’s Ben Carrier to see his career come to a close.

The Section 4A team runner-up Eagles’ history-making season has officially come to a close.