Crookston High School’s Carter Coauette is wrestling in his fourth state Wrestling Tournament at the Excel Energy Center today. Carter didn’t have a win at the previous three state tournaments, and he won his first three matches this year and finished Runner-Up at 172 pounds!!
FIRST ROUND
In the first-round match, Coauette took on Nicholas Leibold of Royalton-Upsala. In the first period, Carter scored two points on a takedown 18 seconds into the match. Three seconds later, he allowed Leibold to escape before getting another takedown for a 4-1 lead. 20 seconds later, Carter gave up an escape before getting another takedown and took a 6-2 lead into the second period.
In the second period, Carter chose to start on the bottom. He scored one point on an escape six seconds into the period. He followed with a takedown for a 9-2 lead. Carter cut his opponent loose before getting another takedown. After Carter let his opponent loose again, he followed with another takedown. You probably can guess what happened next. Carter gave up an escape and followed with a takedown for a 15-5 lead going into the third period.
In the third period, Leibold started on the bottom and scored an escape with 1:16 left in the two-minute period. Carter followed with a takedown 30 seconds later before giving up an escape and finished the match with a takedown to win 19-7.
The win was Coauette’s first win at the state tournament, and he improved to 43-2 on the year.
QUARTER-FINALS –
In the quarter-finals, Carter wrestled George Roesler of New Richland-H-E-G.
Carter was taken down 38 seconds into the match and trailed 2-0, but it was all Coauette the rest of the period. Five seconds after the takedown, Carter scored on an escape and followed with a takedown. 20 seconds later, he was awarded three nearfall points and took a 6-2 lead into the second period.
Carter started the second period with a takedown, and that would be the scoring and took an 8-2 lead.
Carter chose bottom to start the third period, scored two points on a reversal 25 seconds, and turned that into a pin at 4:33.
SEMI-FINALS –
Carter wrestled Landon Lehnertz of Dover-Eyota, who is 33-3 on the year and the #2 seed in the semi-finals on Saturday morning.
Lehnertz scored the first points of the match with a takedown with 57 seconds left in the two-minute period. Coauette responded with a reversal with 15 seconds left in the period to tie the match at 2-2.
Lehnertz started the second period on the bottom and scored the only point with an escape with 46 seconds left for a 3-2 lead.
In the third period, Carter started on the bottom and scored an escape 22 seconds into the period to tie the match at 3-3. Neither wrestler was able to score a point the rest of the period to force overtime.
In overtime, There wasn’t any scoring until there were five seconds left. Coauette scored two points on a takedown to win the match 5-3 and advance to the state championship.
Coauette, who hadn’t won a state wrestling match in his first three trips, will now wrestle in the state championship and is 47-2 on the year.
CHAMPIONSHIP-
Carter took on the #1 seed Maximus Hanson of Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, defending state champion at 170 pounds, in the state championship. Carter wrestled Hanson in the championship of the Minnewaska Area tournament in the regular season and lost 5-0.
In the State Championship, the two wrestlers were feeling each other out early in the match with no scoring in the first period. Hanson chose the bottom to start the second period and scored an escape 21 seconds into the period. There wasn’t a lot of action for a minute when Hanson was able to get a takedown and had Carter on his back for two nearfall points for a 5-0 lead going into the final period.
In the final period, Carter selected to start both up, and he scored a takedown to get within a 5-2 deficit with 1:20 remaining. Hanson answered with an escape, and 20 seconds later, he scored two more points with a takedown and was awarded two nearfall points with 31 seconds left for a 10-2 lead. Carter had one final push as he got an escape with 13 seconds left and followed with a takedown to get within a 10-5 deficit, but time ran out, and Hanson won the match 10-5.
Hanson finishes the season as state champion and a perfect 51-0 on the year. He will wrestle at Augsburg next year.
Coauette finishes his Pirate Wrestling career as a state runner-up with a 48-2 record. Carter has committed to play football next year at NCAA Division II Minot State.
To listen to Carter Coauette’s comments CLICK HERE.
CLICK HERE to listen to Coach Dan Rooney’s comments.
Carter wins his first-round match
