CROOKSTON WRESTLERS FALL TO #3 ACGC AND #7 BERTHA-HEWITT, BOLL WINS HIS 100TH

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team ran into two very good teams and came up short in a 49-21 loss to #7 ranked Bertha-Hewitt 49-21 and in the final match of the day, they lost to #3 ranked Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 63-11 at the Bertha-Hewitt triangular.

CROOKSTON vs BERTHA-HEWITT
Bertha-Hewitt won the 106-pound match by forfeit and won at 113 by a 9-1 decision to take a 10-0 lead to start the match. Crookston bounced back nicely with Carter Coauette wrestling a great match for a 7-5 victory to get the Pirates on the board. “Carter wrestled a great match,” said Pirate Coach Wes Hanson. “He trailed early and pushed the match into overtime and had a great move for the win in overtime. It was a huge win.”
Ethan Bowman won his match at 126 pounds with a 9-6 decision. “Ethan built a big lead early and started to go for some bonus points,” said Coach Hanson. “He ended up giving up a few points and it was a little closer because of it, but he held on for the win.”
Zach Brown won his match at 132 pounds by a 6-3 decision. “Zach had a nice takedown right away,” said Coach Hanson. “Most of the match was a lot of mat time, but he was able to get a good win for us.”
Crookston won the next two matches by pin with Braxton Volker and Cam Weiland making quick work and getting pins in the first period. “Braxton looked solid and attacked well and had a nice pin,” said Coach Hanson. “Cam came out strong and had a nice pin.” Crookston led the match 21-10 and things were looking good for the Pirates. But, Bertha-Hewitt won the next six matches, five by pin and they pulled away for a 49-21 victory. “I was happy with the guys and how they wrestled,” said Coach Hanson. “We wrestled a very good and solid team and we competed hard in every match and we saw some great wrestling.”

CROOKSTON vs COSMOS-ATWATER-GROVE CITY
The Pirates knew it was going to be a tough match when they lost the first three individual matches for the first time this season. ACGC won the 106-match by forfeit before winning at 113 by a pin. At 120 pounds, ACGC won by a 7-2 decision and took a 15-0 lead.
Crookston got the first win of the match at 120 pounds when Ethan Bowman won by a 15-0 Tech Fall. “Ethan wrestled well,” said Coach Hanson. “He wasn’t able to get the pin, but wrestled a solid match and was impressive.”
Crookston trailed 15-5 and ACGC showed the Pirates why they are ranked #3 in the state because they won the next seven matches, five by pin.
Crookston’s Ethan Boll stopped the ACGC winning streak with a win by pin in the second period. The win was Boll’s 100th career victory. “Ethan wrestled a nice match and had a beautiful takedown before getting the pin,” said Coach Hanson. “Ethan started wrestling at 138 pounds and to get 100 wins as a sophomore is a pretty impressive feat.”
ACGC won the last two matches and won 63-11. “They are a very good team. They applied constant pressure and used a lot of cradling. Every guy on their team was strong and had solid technique and we were a little outmatched,” said Coach Hanson. “It was a good day and we saw a lot of very good wrestlers and know we have some work to do.”
Crookston drops to 11-5 in duals and will travel to the West Central Area triangular on Tuesday.