Wrestlers are State-bound

Cubs upset Falcons, advance to State Tournament March 3

By Mike Schindler

The second seed Kimball wrestling team reached the section finals Friday, Feb. 18, where they faced off against the first seed ACGC. This was a rematch of a dual that happened Jan. 27, when the Cubs lost their only dual of the year to the Falcons 22-37. This time around the Cubs were healthy and ready to go.

In the semi-finals the Cubs faced Holdingford, the number three seed in the tournament. The Cubs started out fast on the Huskers, winning the first five weight classes. Mitchell McKee (103) won by a fall in 4:47, Quinten Berres (112) received a forfeit, Tanner Mills (119) won an 8-3 decision, Jacob Linn (125) won by a fall in 1:14, Marcus Hamer won by a 9-1 major decision, Tyler Kuechle (140) won a 6-0 decision, Jordan Joseph (145) won a 5-3 decision, Quentin Bryce (160) won a 6-3 decision, Travis Schiefelbein (171) received a forfeit, David Joseph (189) won by a tech fall in 4:00, Alex Thurber (215) received a forfeit, Austin Schiefelbein (hwt) won by a 2-0 decision. The Cubs won the dual 54-8 over the Huskers.

With the win over Holdingford, it set up a great section 5A finals between ACGC who is ranked second in state by the Guillotine, and Kimball who is ranked sixth in state. This was a highly anticipated match and the gym in ACGC was packed full of fans from each town in the section. It was a great atmosphere to wrestle in. The Kimball fans made themselves known as soon as the Cubs won the flip. This meant that we would be able to get the match-ups we wanted.

The dual started at 103 with Mitchell

McKee losing a 2-11 major decision to Tyler Berghuis ranked number three in the state and outweighing Mitchell by 15 pounds. Quinten Berres, at 112, pounded Robert Rasmussen to get a pin in 1:05. This put the Cubs on the board and a 6-4 lead. Tanner Mills at 119 kept things going for the Cubs with a controlled 5-2 win over Logan Peterson. Jake Linn at 125 showed a lot of heart taking on Hayden Rouser currently ranked second in state. Jake lost the match by a tech fall and saved the Cubs one team point. The team scores at this point were tied up at 9-9. Marcus Hamer at 130 started the Cubs on a roll with a 12-4 major decision over Jacob Peterson, Mitch Pramann at 135 upset Matt Lee who is currently ranked third in state with a 3-2 decision, Tyler Kuechle at 140 kept the upsets going as he won a 4-1 decision over eighth-ranked Matt Meyer, and Jordan Joseph at 145 won by a dominating 12-6 decision over Maverick Whitcomb. After this run, the Cubs lead was 22-9. Caramon Hansen, at 152, wrestled a tough match, only giving up a decision to the second-ranked Larry Bomstad. Travis Schiefelbein made one little mistake that cost him the match at 160, losing to seventh-ranked Michael Kramer. Quentin Bryce at 171 went out and saved a couple of points for the Cubs, losing to fourth-ranked Ryan Larson 20-7. With the run that ACGC had, they were able to tie the match score up at 22-22, but the big guys were not going to let this match slip away. Alex Thurber wrestled at 189 and wrestled a very controlled match to get a 7-2 decision win. David Joseph went up to 215 to wrestle eighth-ranked Dylan Nelson who is known for his throwing abilities. David went in and got a quick takedown on him and threw him right off of his game plan. In the second period, David was able to capitalize and get Dylan to his back (the crowd went nuts, everyone knew that if David would win, the Cubs would win the dual) and pinned Dylan in 2:47. This put the Cubs up for good on the night with a 31-22 score. With all of the excitement and the Cubs making the State Tournament, we still had Austin Schiefelbein left to wrestle. Austin had wrestled Lucas Damm in the past, losing only by one point. The excitement and the crowd got Austin’s blood flowing and Lucas was able to take advantage of a little mistake. The Cubs finished the dual with a final score of 31-28.

The Cubs have made the State Tournament as a team now, and the next goal is to qualify as many individuals as we can Friday, Feb. 25, and Saturday, Feb. 26, the Cubs will be wrestling in Minnewaska for the chance to compete individually in the State Tournament.

Thursday, March 3, the Cubs will face Lake Crystal Welcome Memorial at

9 a.m. down at the Xcel Center in St. Paul. The Individual Tournament will be held

Friday, March 4, and Saturday, March 5, at the Xcel Center.