CROOKSTON WRESTLERS BEAT BORDER WEST AND NEW YORK MILLS

The Crookston Pirate Wrestlers won seven of the first eight matches on their way to a 63-9 victory over Border West (a cooperative of Clinton-Graceville-BeardsleyWheaton/Herman-Norcross) and they won the first six matches in a 48-36 win over New York Mills at the New York Mills triangular. 

CROOKSTON vs BORDER WEST
The match started with an exciting match as Evin Trudeau was trailing 2-0 to start the second period and made a nice move to pick up a pin to give Crookston a 6-0 lead.
The 120 match was even more exciting as Nolan Dans trailed late in the third period and got a reversal and back points with three seconds left in the match for a 9-7 victory to give the Pirates a 9-0 lead in the team score.  “Nolan did a great job of fighting until the end and pretty cool to get the move at the end,” said Coach Hanson. “It would be nice to be leading and not need that last second move, but Nolan has pulled off the move a few times and it was a nice win.”
The 126 match was more of the same, with another exciting match as Carter Coauette led 3-2 and got a big takedown with about 10 seconds left and added three near fall points to win 8-2.  “Carter stayed physical and wore down his opponent,” said Coach Hanson. “It was good fo him to go the full six minutes.”
At 132 pounds, Zach Brown trailed 3-1 and finished strong to tie the match at 4-4 in the third period, but Eli Larson had a takedown to take a 6-4 lead. Brown scored a point on an escape and trailed 6-5, but he wasn’t able to get a takedown and Larson won 6-5.  “Larson is ranked and is a good opponent,” said Coach Hanson.
Spencer Ness dominated the match and took a 10-0 lead halfway through the second period. A few seconds later, Ness got a pin for the win.
The Pirates didn’t have anybody at 160 and lost by forfeit and Cade Coauette won by forfeit at 170 pounds.
At 182, Hunter Knutson led 5-4 after two periods. Hunter had an escape and followed it with a takedown for an 8-4 lead. Hunter controlled the match the rest of the way for a win by decision.
Layten Fuentes won by forfeit at 195 pounds and the last two matches were quick ones as Ethan Boll and Hunter Kresl won by pins in the first period and the Pirates won the match 63-9.  “It was a good atmosphere to wrestle in and the guys wrestled well,” said Coach Hanson.  “We had a lot of good matches and some nice wins.”

CROOKSTON vs NEW YORK MILLS
Crookston, as they have in every match this year, had a great start by winning the first five matches against New York Mills. Evin Trudeau made quick work of his opponent for a pin in 24 seconds to give the Pirates a 6-0 lead.
Nolan Dans followed with a pin in 33 seconds at 113 pounds. Carter Coauette kept the pin train going with a fall in 1:21 and Ethan Bowman added the fourth straight win by pin in the second period. The fifth Pirates victory to start the match came at 132 pounds when Zach Brown had a win by forfeit and Braxton Volker won by a pin to give the Pirates a 36-0 lead. “That was awesome and the guys were on a roll and they were trying to get those bonus points,” said Coach Hanson. “I knew we were going to need to build a big lead so that was nice. Braxton Volker competed hard and wrestled well.”
New York Mills won the next four matches with three pins and a forfeit to get within a 36-18 deficit.
Crookston’s Cade Couette earned a win by forfeit at 170 pounds, but New York Mills responded with a win by pin at 182 pounds and Crookston led 42-24 with three matches remaining.
At 195 pounds, Ethan Boll picked up a big win by pin in the second period to give the Pirates a 48-24 lead. New York Mills won the last two matches and Crookston won the match 48-36. “It was a good performance by the guys today and they keep getting better each match and that is great to see,” said Coach Hanson. “They have been working hard it is showed with they way they wrestled tonight. They were two good wins tonight.”

Crookston improves to 6-2 on the season and will host a triangular on Tuesday.