BROWN, KNUTSON, BOWMAN, BOLL, AND COAUETTE ALL ADVANCE TO STATE WRESTLING

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team is sending five to the Minnesota State High School League State Wrestling tournament at the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul next week.  Zach Brown (120 pounds) and Hunter Knutson (145 pounds) won the championship, Carter Coauette (106 pounds) won a true second match to finish second, Ethan Bowman (113 pounds) and Ethan Boll (182 pounds) finished runner-up.  The five state-bound wrestlers are the second-most in program history, one behind the record of six that went to state in 2011 (Blake Bergeron, Anthony Caputo, Brody Davidson, Josh Edlund, Wyatt Hanson, and Nate Merten).  “I am proud of all our wrestlers,” said Pirate Coach Wes Hanson. “They guys have worked extremely hard and all their hard work paid off.  To have five going to state and eight place is outstanding.  It was a great weekend.”

Braxton Volker finished third place, Nolan Dans finished fourth place, and Cameron Weiland won his fifth-place while tying a Pirate wrestling pins in a season record at the Section 8A Individual Wrestling tournament at the Crookston High School gymnasium.

For Pirate Coach Wes Hanson’s comments on the wrestlers – click below. 

The story, all the results, a bunch of pictures and more are below.

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES –
Carter Coauette (106 pounds) lost to #10 ranked Dante Yost of Fertile-Beltrami by an 11-4 decision.  It was a scoreless first period and Yost chose down to start the second period and got a reversal to take a 2-0 lead.  Carter got an escape and trailed 2-1, but Yost finished the period strong and took a 6-2 lead into the third period.  Carter started the third period with an escape to get within a 6-3 deficit, but Yost dominated the rest of the period and won the match 11-4.

Carter wrestles Jaxon Janousek of BGMR in a true-second match.  The first period started slow, but it ended in a wild 30 seconds.  The match was tied 2-2, but Cater took a 4-2 lead into the second period.  Carter got a takedown and three near fall points 20 seconds into the period for a commanding 9-2 lead, which he took into the third period.  Carter built an 11-2 lead early in the third period and held on for a 12-2 victory to finish second place and advance to the state wrestling tournament.  “I was able to keep my cool in the second period when he got angry and was able to come up with a big move,” said Coauette. “It is amazing coming off the mat to know what I have accomplished.”

Ethan Bowman (113 pounds) lost to #4 ranked Ethan Hendrickson of United North Central 17-6.  Ethan trailed 4-1 after the first period.  In the second, Ethan gave up an escape and was taken down and trailed 7-1 and trailed 11-3 going into the third period.  Bowman scored on an escape and takedown early in the third period, but lost the match 17-6.  Ethan advances to the state wrestling tournament with a second-place finish with no true-second match. “I don’t think it has sunk in yet,” said Bowman. “The semi-final match was a big confidence booster going into the championship and don’t think I wrestled my best, but I am excited to be going to state.”

Zach Brown -#6 ranked (120 pounds) beat Christian Carlson of Frazee 7-4 to advance to the State Wrestling tournament.  Zach took a 2-1 lead into the second period and after an escape, he countered with a takedown for a 5-1 lead over halfway through the second period.  Zach gave up an escape before he countered with a takedown for a 7-2 lead.  Zach held on for a 7-4 victory and advances to the state tournament. “He was pushing the pace so I had to push the pace back.  He is a good opponent so I knew it would be tough,” said Brown. “It is awesome winning a section title, especially at home.”  It will be the third trip to the state tournament for Brown. “It is nerve-wracking wrestling in front of that many people at state,” added Brown. “It’s awesome to have four teammates coming down this year, it will be fun.”

Hunter Knutson (145 pounds) – beat Hank Tellers of United North Central in a thrilling 6-5 decision for the championship.  It wasn’t a good start to the match for Hunter as he trailed 4-1 after one period.  Hunter gave up an escape to start the second period and trailed 5-1 halfway through the second period.  It was this point in the match that Knutson took over.  Hunter had a nice takedown with 46 seconds left in the period and trailed 5-3 going into the third period.  At the start of the third period, he had an escape and with 1:22 left in the match, he had another great move for a takedown to take a 6-5 lead.  Hunter held on (literally) the rest of the way and won the championship 6-5 and earned his first trip to state.  “It feels great,” said Knutson.  “I knew I needed a takedown and ended up getting a takedown.  The final minute went by really quick and I had a lot of adrenaline.”  Knutson didn’t place at sections last year and said the hard work in the offseason paid off. “I got bigger and stronger and I worked hard and it is a good feeling,” said Knutson.

Ethan Boll (182 pounds) – wrestles #3 ranked Brett Graham of Frazee.  Ethan trailed 2-1 going into the second period where he started on the bottom.  Ethan had an escape to tie the match 2-2 before he was taken down and trailed 4-2.  Ethan finished the second period strong with a takedown and three near fall points to take a 7-4 lead.  Boll took a 7-5 lead into the third period and gave up an escape and held on to a 7-6 lead with 1:14 left in the match. With 51 seconds left in the match, Graham scored a takedown to take an 8-7 lead and Boll had some work to do in the final minute.  Ethan tied the match with an escape with 33 seconds left in regulation and neither wrestler scored the rest of the way to force overtime.  In overtime, Graham got a takedown with 14 seconds left to win the match 10-8 in overtime.  Boll finished second place and will advance to the state wrestling tournament.

3RD PLACE MATCHES (Winners could have a true-second match) –
Nolan Dans (126 pounds) – lost to Hunter Skaro of United North Central by pin at 3:04 and finished fourth place.  The match was back-and-forth with ties at 2 and 4 before Skaro took a 7-5 lead in the second period and about 20 seconds later he had a great move to beat Dans by a pin and Nolan finished fourth place.

Braxton Volker (138 pounds) beat Will Olson of Fertile-Beltrami by pin at 2:40.  Braxton came out strong and got an early takedown for a 2-0 lead.  After he gave up an escape, Braxton countered with another takedown towards the end of the first period and led 4-1.  Braxton scored two more points on a takedown early in the second period and tightened his hold and got a pin 40 seconds into the period to win the third-place match by pin at 2:40.  There was no true-second match at 138 pounds and Braxton finished third place.

5TH PLACE MATCH-
Cameron Weiland (132 pounds) beat Tyler Hendersen of Fertile-Beltrami by pin in the second period.  Cameron took a 4-0 lead at the end of the first period after controlling the period.  In the second period, Cameron had a takedown and got the pin to finish fifth place.  The pin was his 28th pin of the season, which ties the Pirate Wrestling pins in a season record that was set by Anthony Caputo and Blake Bergeron.

SECTION 8A AWARDS –
Section 8A Team Academic Champion – United North Central
Section 8A Coach of the Year – Cameron Lundeen (Red Lake County Central)
Section 8A Assistant Coach of the Year – Brenton Newling
Section 8A Sportsmanship Award – United North Central
Section 8A All-Academic team awards – Joe Stachowski (Park Rapids), Brett Graham (Frazee), Eian Ness (UNC), Dave Schoenborn (Fosston-Bagley), Ethan Hendrickson (UNC), Greg Gonzalez (Crookston), Andy Dostal (BGMR), Tyler Stuhaug (Fertile-Beltrami), Garret Eiynck (Mahnomen-Waubun), Caden Hiemenz (Frazee), Henry Burrack (Foston-Bagley), Hunter Skaro (UNC), Christian Carlson (Frazee), Brock Barlund (Frazee), Torrey Carlson (UNC).

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