PIRATE WRESTLERS BEAT HILLSBORO-CENTRAL VALLEY IN A DUAL

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team won their first four matches and held on the rest of the way for a 51-21 victory over the Hillsboro/Central Valley Burros in a dual at the Crookston High School gymnasium.
The tone of the varsity match might have been sparked by an impressive performance by Evan Trudeau in the first J.V. match when he came out and won by pin. “Evan is just a seventh grader and is a little small right now but he will be a future role player in an early weight class in the future,” said Pirate Coach Wes Hanson. “He wrestled really well and set the tone for the varsity match.”
Ethan Bowman followed suit and started the match with a pin at 106 pounds.  Ethan had a takedown early in his match and was able to get a pin 1:19 into the match to give the Pirates 1 6-0 lead. “He had a really slick duck under on the edge of the mat,” said coach Hanson. “It was nice to see him execute when it matters and keep the pressure on.”   Carter Coauette and Nolan Dans won their matches at 113 and 120 pounds respectively by forfeit for an 18-0 lead.
At 126 pounds, Zach Brown started the varsity match with a takedown and after he let his opponent escape he recorded another takedown and repeated the escape to a takedown two more times for an 8-3 lead one minute into the match.  He led 11-3 after the first period and had another takedown early in the second period before he won by a pin at the 3:06 mark of the match to give the Pirates a commanding 24-0 lead. “It is important to get bonus points in the match so he was trying to get some extra points in case he wasn’t able to get the pin,” said Coach Hanson. “He was able to get the pin in front of our bench and that was kind of fun.”
The Burros had their first win of the match at 132 pounds with a major decision, but Crookston bounced back in the next match when Cameron Weiland had a takedown a few seconds into his match at 138 pounds and picked up a pin 39 seconds into the match for a 30-4 Pirate lead.  “Cameron is physical and he likes to come out right away to let his opponent that he is here to win the match and it is working for him,” said Coach Hanson.
Hunter Knutson was up next at 145 pounds and like all of his teammates, he came out strong and had a takedown early in his match for a 2-0 lead.  Hunter added three near fall points halfway through the first period.  The two went back and forth and the match was tied at 5-5 and Hunter received three more near fall points for an 8-5 lead before he finished the match with a pin at the 3:06 mark to give Crookston a 36-4 lead.  “Hunter wrestled the same kid in our tournament and it didn’t go our way,” said Coach Hanson. “Hunter wrestled a good match and we were tied 5-5 and started over from there and he was able to get his opponent to his back and he was able to pick up the pin and we are looking for the big wins in the middleweights.”
At 152 pounds, Cade Coauette won the match by a forfeit for a 42-4 Crookston lead.
At 160 pounds, Lukas Meier came out strong and dominated his match, taking a 7-2 lead before there was a stoppage because of an injury timeout for Lukas’ opponent.  The match was even, scoring-wise in the second period and Lukas led 8-4 with one minute left in the match and he held on the rest of the way for an 8-4 decision to give Crookston a 45-4 lead.   “It was great for Lukas to go a full six minutes,” said Coach Hanson. “It was a matchup we were hoping to get against a quality opponent.  Lukas did what he needed to do to win the match.”
At 170 pounds, Ethan Boll came out with a quick takedown and 61 seconds into the match he picked up a pin to give the Pirates a 51-4 lead. “The first takedown was pretty slick,” said Coach Hanson. “It was a nice win for Ethan.”
Both teams were open at 182 pounds.
At 195 pounds, Hillsboro/Central Valley won their second match by Tech Fall in the third period and Crookston led 51-9.  The Burros ended the match with two more wins, the first coming at 220 pounds when Blake Fee had a takedown and tried to make a move to get a pin and went too far and the Burros picked up the pin at 1:40 and at Heavyweight the Burros won by a forfeit and Crookston won the dual 51-21.  “I was proud of the way the guys wrestled tonight,” said Coach Hanson. “Hillsboro has a nice team and it was nice to see all of our guys working hard and getting after it for a good team win.”
Crookston improves to 5-2 in duals and will travel to Mahnomen for the Mahnomen Dual tournament with four duals.