CROOKSTON PIRATE WRESTLERS BEAT ROSEAU, FALL TO HILLSBORO-CV

The Crookston Pirates Wrestling team opened the season with split after beating the Roseau Rams 60-12, and losing to the Hillsboro-Central Valley Burros 39-36 in a triangular at the Crookston High School gymnasium. 

CROOKSTON VS ROSEAU
The Crookston Pirates took advantage of a short-handed Roseau Ram team as they won seven matches by forfeit for 42 free points on their way to a 60-12 victory. “It was sure nice to get back out and wrestle,” said Pirate Coach Wes Hanson. “We saw some good things and some things we have to work on.  Getting out on the mat was huge.  It was great to be able to compete.”

Evin Trudeau won the first match of the evening with a second period pin over Roseau’s Thatcher Olson.  Trudeau wrestled a strong match and had a nice move to set up the pin for the victory to get the Pirates off to a 6-0 lead.  “Evin looked sharp and got us off to an early lead,” said Pirate Coach Wes Hanson. “We will look for him to get us off to a good start all season long.”
After a double-forfeit at 113 pounds, Nolan Dans and Ethan Bowman won by forfeit for an 18-0 lead.  Carter Coauette won his match at 132 pounds with a pin in 35 seconds.  “Carter got the takedown right away and locked up the cradle and picked up the fall,” said Coach Hanson.   Zach Brown and Braxton Volker won by forfeits and Crookston had a 36-0 lead to start the season.  Roseau won the 152-pound match before a double-forfeit at 160 pounds.
Crookston’s bounced back with another win at 170 pounds when Hunter Knutson had a solid first match of the year as he beat a talented Connor Eidsmoe by pin in the third period.  “That was huge for us and Hunter has worked hard,” said Coach Hanson. “To get a come from behind victory and break down his opponent late was great to see.”
Crookston lost by pin at 182 pounds before winning the final three matches by forfeit for a 60-12 victory. “It was a good match for us to get started,” said Coach Hanson.  “Just to be out on the mat and wrestling again was great.”

CROOKSTON VS HILLSBORO-CENTRAL VALLEY

The Hillsboro-Central Valley Burros won five of six matches in the middle of the line up to beat the Crookston Pirates 39-36.  

HCV started the match with a win by pin at 106 pounds and won the next match by forfeit for a 12-0 lead. Crookston responded with two forfeit victories to tie the match at 12-12.  Crookston’s Zach Brown won his match at 132 pounds with a pin in the second period to give the Pirates an 18-12 lead. “Zach wrestled great tonight,” said Coach Hanson. “He looked good on his feet and he was dominant in the top position and that was great to see.”
HCV won the next three matches to take a 27-18 lead.  The loss at 152 pounds was a heart-breaker as Spencer Ness looked like he was going to win by decision and led 5-4.  As time expired in the third period, Ness was called for stalling for the second time and a point was awarded to his opponent to force overtime.  Ness was taken down early in the overtime session and lost 7-5. 
Crookston stopped the run at 170 pounds when Hunter Knutson won his match by pin in 29 seconds. “That was a huge boost for us and it put us in a decent position to win the match,” said Coach Hanson. “Hunter was dominant in both matches tonight.”
HCV won the next two matches by pin to put the match out of reach, even with two Pirate forfeit victories in the final matches of the night and the Burros won 39-36.
“I’m not pleased with the outcome, but we learned how to learn from adversity and we definitely got outwrestled tonight,” said Coach Hanson. “It is early in the season and we have to take this as an opportunity to grow as a team.  North Dakota has been going for a while and it would be nice to wrestle them again, but we won’t get that chance this year.”

Crookston is 1-1 on the year and will travel to the Fertile-Beltrami triangular on Saturday.  

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