CROOKSTON WRESTLERS BEAT PARK RAPIDS, COME UP SHORT AGAINST BGMR

The Crookston Pirate Wrestlers won 12 of the 14 matches to beat Park Rapids 69-12 in the first dual and the Badger-Greenbush-Middle River Gators won six of the last eight matches to come from behind to beat the Pirates 42-35 in the final dual of the night in the Crookston Triangular at the Crookston High School gymnasium.

CROOKSTON vs PARK RAPIDS
Crookston wasn’t able to fill 106 pounds and had to forfeit, but they bounced back to win the 113-match by a forfeit and the score was tied at 6-6.  
Crookston won the next four matches by pin in the first period with Carter Coauette starting it off with a pin at 120 pounds.  “He had a couple of nice explosive turns,” said Coach Hanson. “He got the lift and the turn and looked good.”
At 126 pounds, Ethan Bowman won by a pin in 69 seconds. “He has been doing a lot of things well,” said Coach Hanson. “He has been getting that takedown and then he is tough in the top position.”  
Zach Brown kept the pin parade going with a pin in 1:15. “He had reinforced rebar position and that was something we just worked on in practice,” said Coach Hanson. 
Braxton Volker won his match at 138 pounds with a pin in 33 seconds. “That was a nice match for Braxton,” said Coach Hanson. “He came out strong and had a nice move for the pin.  He had a quick one.”
Park Rapids’ Henry Kritzeck won the match by a pin and Crookston responded by winning the final six of the match.  Spencer Ness won at 152 pounds by a 5-1 decision with a solid six-minute match. “Spencer did a nice job of getting some points and then he fought off his opponent the rest of the way for a nice win,” said Coach Hanson. 
Cade Coauette, Hunter Knutson, and Cade DeLeon all won by forfeits.  Ethan Boll won by a pin at 195 pounds.  Hunter Kresl won by a pin with three seconds left in the first period. “We worked some upper body stuff and Hunter used some nice techniques to get the win,” said Coach Hanson. 
Greg Gonzalez finished the match with a pin 47 seconds into the match to give the Pirates a 69-17 victory.  “He has done a very nice job in his first three matches,” said Coach Hanson. “It is nice to have a true heavyweight and we just ask him to be aggressive and he was again tonight.”

CROOKSTON vs BADGER-GREENBUSH-MIDDLE RIVER
Crookston was open at 106 pounds so BGMR took a 6-0 lead before Crookston won the next five matches.  Nolan Dans won by a pin with seven seconds left in the first period to tie the score at 6.  “Nolan was the guy that got things rolling tonight,” said Coach Hanson. “He wrestled really physical.  I could tell he was ready to go and he cranked it up a notch.”
Carter Coauette won an exciting 4-3 decision at 120 pounds. “Carter has wrestled him many times and it is always a physical hard-fought match and he scored a few points to get the win,” said Coach Hanson.
Ethan Bowman won by a pin in the second period at 126 pounds. “Ethan wrestled well,” said Coach Hanson. “He capitalized on a nice move to get the pin.”
Zach Brown won his match at 132 pounds by a Tech Fall in the third period when he led 17-1.  “He wrestled hard,” said Coach Hanson. “He had a tight maneuver locked up at the end of the first and he wasn’t able to get the six-pointer, but overall it was a great match.”
Braxton Volker wrapped up the five-match winning streak with a hard-fought 5-0 decision and Crookston led 23-6. “That was one of the better matches I have seen Braxton wrestle,” said Coach Hanson. “He wrestled smart and did what he needed to do to win.”
BGMR won the 145-pound match and it looked like Crookston was going to win the 152 pounds match as Cam Weiland led 11-1, but his opponent Brogan Beito made an outstanding move and rolled through what looked to be a Weiland takedown and ended up getting the pin and the Gators trailed 23-18. “We knew the middle of the lineup was going to be close matches,” said Coach Hanson. “When you are scoring points like Cam was we get a little greedy and want more points and I told him we wanted both up and maybe I should have told him to be on the bottom position, but it was a tough loss.”
Cade Coauette got the Pirates back on track with a big win by pin in the first period and Crookston led 29-18. “Cade put in a lot of work this week to get him in position to win,” said Coach Hanson. “He wrestled hard and looked good.  That was a nice win for us.”
BGMR won the next three matches by pin in the first period and took a 36-29 lead.  At 220 pounds, Ethan Boll won with a pin one minute into the match to bring the Pirates within a 36-35 deficit going into the final match. “Ethan had a nice move and a nice pin to give us a chance,” said Coach Hanson.
Greg Gonzalez has had a great start to the season going 3-0 with wins by pin in the first period in all three matches.  But, he wasn’t facing any normal heavyweight, as he had to face the defending state champion and current #1 ranked wrestler in the state at 220 pounds, Dominik Vacura.  The match didn’t last long as Vacura showed why he is one of the top wrestlers in the state with a pin in 25 seconds and BGMR won the match 42-35.  “It was a tough matchup at the end for Greg, but BGMR is a very good team,” said Coach Hanson. “If I am being honest, it is frustrating to be right there and lose a close one tonight.  Overall, I thought our guys wrestled well and it will be exciting to wrestle these guys again this year.”

Crookston is now 7-3 on the year and will travel to the Barnesville triangular on Thursday.

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