Fertile-Beltrami Wrestling dominant in win over Crookston

The Fertile-Beltrami Falcon Wrestling team won the first seven matches and 10 of the 13 on their way to a 55-18 victory over the Crookston Pirates in a Section 8A matchup at the Fertile-Beltrami High School old gym in Fertile.

CROOKSTON VS FERTILE-BELTRAMI –
Fertile-Beltrami started the match strong as they won the first seven matches. The Falcons’ Jaxson Grunwald set the tone in the 107-pound match as he had a couple of takedowns and led 6-0 after the first period. He continued to score points, even though Crookston’s Priscilla Gonzalez continued to put up a great fight. Grunwald led 15-1 after the second period and won the match by tech fall 20 seconds into the third period to give the Falcons a 5-0 lead.
At 114 pounds, Crookston was open, and Fertile-Beltrami took an 11-0 lead.
At 121 pounds, Fertile-Beltrami’s Max Ramberg started the match with a takedown, and it didn’t take long before he won by a pin in 69 seconds for a 17-0 lead.
Crookston was open at 127 and 133 pounds, and Fertile-Beltrami took a 29-0 lead. Fertile-Beltrami kept it going as Julien Ystenes won the 139-pound match by a pin in 22 seconds for a 35-0 lead. The Falcons made it seven wins in a row to start the match when Gavin Broden started the 145-pound match with a takedown for a 3-0 lead. There was no more scoring the rest of the first period or the second period. In the third, Broden added two more points on a reversal and held on to win the match 5-0, and Fertile-Beltrami had a 38-0 lead.
Crookston finally picked up their first win of the match after an outstanding performance by Lukas Helgeson. Fertile-Beltrami’s Alex Molina started the 152-pound match with a takedown before Helgeson countered with an escape and takedown for a 4-3 lead. Molina countered with a reversal for a 5-4 lead with 37 seconds left in the first period. Helgeson scored a point on an escape to tie the match at 5-5 at the end of the first period. In the second period, Helgeson made a great move to get a takedown that led to a pin at 2:59 and Crookston was on the board, trailing 38-6.
Crookston slid Gavyn Hlucny down to 160 pounds, and Fertile-Beltrami decided to forfeit, and Crookston trailed 38-12.
Fertile-Beltrami’s Jack Erickson (172 pounds) and James Goodwin (189 pounds) won their matches by pin for a 50-12 lead.
At 215 pounds, Fertile-Beltrami’s JT Flynn is ranked #10 in the state in Class A and showed the Pirates why as he dominated the match with a win by a tech fall in 69 seconds.
The final match of the evening was the most exciting as Crookston’s Riley Helgeson took on Fertile-Beltrami’s Jack Leiser. The two have wrestled many times over the years and have a friendly rivalry. One thing is certain: when Helgeson and Leiser meet on the mat……it will be an exciting match. The two didn’t disappoint the crowd as Helgeson took a quick 7-0 lead in the first period. Leiser countered in the second period with three points to get within a 7-3 deficit. The two battled back and forth with several scoring opportunities late in the second period, but Helgeson took a 7-3 lead into the third period. Each wrestler had a chance to win by pin in the first 30 seconds of the third period before Helgeson caught Leiser and won by a pin to get six more points for the Pirates, but Fertile-Beltrami won the match 55-18.

Crookston drops to 2-8 on the year and will travel to the Minnewaska Invitational individual tournament on Friday. Fertile-Beltrami improves to 1-1 in duals on the year.

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