FERTILE-BELTRAMI EDGES CROOKSTON PIRATE WRESTLING 39-31

The Fertile-Beltrami Falcons won the first four matches to take a 24-0 lead and held on the rest of the way as they beat the Crookston Pirate Wrestling team 39-31 in a Section 8A dual at the Crookston High School Gymnasium.

CROOKSTON VS FERTILE-BELTRAMI –
The match started with four Fertile-Beltrami wins. Gregory Ramberg got the Falcons on the board with a pin in the first period for a 6-0 lead. Max Ramberg followed suit at 114 pounds with a win by pin in the first period. At 121 pounds, Bristen Desrosier won by pin in the second period. To cap the four-match win streak, Drew Rasch won the 127 pound match by forfeit, and Fertile-Beltrami had a commanding 24-0 lead.
Crookston finally got on the board when Jaron Knutson had an exciting 8-4 win at 133 pounds. Jaron had a 2-1 lead after the first period. Jaron gave up one point on an escape with 49 seconds left in the second period. 19 seconds later he was taken down and trailed 4-2. A few seconds later, Jaron countered with a reversal to tie the match at 4-4 going into the third period. In the third period, Jaron scored two points on a reversal and added two near-fall points for an 8-4 lead and held on to win by the same score.
Gavin Hlucny added six more points with a pin in 1:14. Gavin came out strong and built a quick 4-0 lead and won by a pin to bring the Pirates within a 24-9 deficit.
The match at 145 pounds proved to be the most exciting as Fertile-Beltrami’s Gage Vold-Vedbradten beat Lucas Perala 10-8 in overtime.  Perala took a 5-1 lead into the second period, but gave up a reversal at the start of the third period. Perala led 6-3 before he was called for stalling a second time. Within a few seconds, Vold-Vedbradten countered with a takedown and two more near-fall points for an 8-7 lead. With 25 seconds left in the period, Perala scored on an escape to tie the match at 8-8, forcing overtime. In overtime, Vold-Vedbradten got a takedown 16 seconds in and won the match 10-8.
At 152 pounds, Crookston eighth grader Lukas Helgeson won by a forfeit to garner the first varsity win of his career and Crookston trailed 27-15. Fertile-Beltrami’s Jack Erickson beat Jose Arriaga by pin at 160 pounds for a 33-15 lead.
Crookston won the next two matches by forfeit with two milestone victories. At 172 pounds, Miles Corniellie picked up the first win of his varsity career and at 189 pounds, Carter Coauette won the 150th match of his career and Crookston trailed 33-27 with two matches left.
Crookston was open at 215 pounds and Fertile-Beltrami’s Bergan Howard won by forfeit to solidify the team win.
The final match of the evening was heavyweight. Crookston’s Riley Helgeson picked up a big 11-3 major decision victory over #8 ranked Jack Leiser 11-3.
The first point of the match was awarded to Helgeson on a locked-hands call with 1:29 left in the period. Helgeson was awarded another point when Leiser was called for stalling a second time. A few seconds later, Helgeson had a takedown for a 4-0 lead. Helgeson added another takedown, followed by two near-fall points for an 8-0 lead. Helgeson took a 9-2 lead into the third period. Leiser scored a point on an escape to get within a 9-3 deficit with 53 seconds left in the match, but Helgeson responded with a takedown with 20 seconds remaining for an 11-3 lead and held on for the win by the same score.
Fertile-Beltrami won the match 39-31.  

Crookston drops to 2-6 on the year in duals and will travel to Mayville on Thursday for a triangular.  Fertile-Beltrami improves to 7-1 on the year.

CLICK HERE to listen to Crookston Coach Dan Rooney’s comments.

For Fertile-Beltrami Coach Willard Meine’s comments, CLICK HERE.

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