PIRATE WRESTLING WINS AN EXCITING MATCH AT FERTILE

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team lost their first three matches before winning eight of the next 10 matches for a 46-29 victory over the Fertile-Beltrami Falcons in a Section 8A dual in Fertile.  “The dual format in wrestling is the most exciting and it was showcased here tonight,” said Pirate Wrestling coach Wes Hanson. “Against a section opponent, it was a great night of wrestling and a lot of fun.”

Fertile-Beltrami won the first match of the evening when a very good Daunte Yost won by a tech fall at 106 pounds.  The Falcons’ Seth Lavalier won an exciting 9-8 decision at 113 pounds and Wesley Ramberg won by a pin in the second period to give Fertile-Beltrami a 14-0 lead through three matches.  “We were in a tough spot tonight trailing early,” said Coach Hanson. “We aren’t used to trailing early on and needed to find a way to get some wins the rest of the way.”  Crookston answered with a Zach Brown pin in the first period at 126 pounds.  The match that seemed to get the Pirates fired up was the 132-pound match when Cameron Weiland trailed Fertile-Beltrami’s Hunter Hitchen 4-0 but made a nice move and was able to get a pin 48 seconds into the match and the Pirate bench erupted and Crookston trailed 14-12.  “Cameron is a dangerous wrestler,” said Coach Hanson. “He was able to hook up and head and arm and squeezed and got the pin.  That really gave us a lot of momentum and really helped us win the dual.”  Hunter Knutson dominated his match and led 6-0 before he won by a pin with two seconds left in the second period and Crookston took an 18-14 lead.  “Hunter is good on his feet and scored some takedowns and was able to get the pin,” said Coach Hanson.  Cade Coauette wrestled a great match at 145 pounds and led 6-0 before winning by pin in the third period. “He was able to stay in good position and that was key and nice for him to have some success in a big match,” said Coach Hanson.  The match at 152 pounds was the match of the night with Fertile-Beltrami’s Brandon Van Den Einde beating Crookston’s Damian Narvaez 11-10 in the fourth overtime session or ultimate tie-break.  Narvaez led 6-3 and 7-5 with 1:10 left in the second period.  At the end of the second period, he led 9-6.  At the start of the third period, Van Den Einde got an escape and followed with a takedown with 30 seconds left to tie the match at 9-9.  Narvaez got an escape to take a 10-9 lead, but Van Den Einde was awarded a point when Narvaez was called for stalling right before the buzzer sounded and the match was tied 10-10, forcing overtime.  There was no scoring in the first one-minute overtime, the second 30-second overtime, the third 30-second overtime, and the match was decided in the fourth overtime session (ultimate tie-break) when Van Den Einde got an escape for the win and both wrestlers were completely out of gas.  “I have coached a lot of matches in my seven years and that one stands out as one of the most exciting ones,” said Coach Hanson. “For him to go out and wrestle the best he has ever wrestled was great and he did a lot of things well and he kept after it.  It was as close of a match you could ever have.”  Lukas Meier got the Pirates back on the winning track when he won his match by a pin in the first period and Ethan Boll won by a 9-1 decision at 170 pounds. “Lukas had a couple different scrambles and eventually got the pin for us and that was huge,” said Coach Hanson. “Ethan wrestled well and picked up a big win for us.”  Crookston lost the next match before Damian Hodgson wrestled at 195 pounds.  Damian trailed 2-0 early on but dominated the rest of the way and took a 6-2 lead before getting the pin in the second period to solidify the team win for Crookston with a 40-23 lead with two matches remaining. “I liked our matchup with Damian at 195 and he got down right away and didn’t get rattled and stuck with his game plan and eventually got the pin,” said Coach Hanson. “Damian works extremely hard and is wrestling up two weights and continues to wrestle well.”  At 220 pounds, Blake Fee came out strong and had a takedown and overpowered his opponent and got a pin in 39 seconds. “That was great for Blake. He was able to slip a headlock and did a good job riding,” said Coach Hanson. “It is a basic technique, but executing a half-nelson is still something that needs to be done and he did that.  He was able to feel the move was going to work, but really it was his lower body, staying active and persistent and he was able to get the pin.” Crookston was open at heavyweight and lost by forfeit but won the exciting match 46-29.  “I was really happy with how the guys responded after we were down early,” said Coach Hanson. “We really picked up our level of intensity and wrestled well tonight in a big match in a fun atmosphere.”
Crookston improves to 10-2 in duals on the year and will travel to Roseau on Thursday for a dual.