ZACH BROWN AND LUKAS MEIER ARE HEADED TO STATE WRESTLING

State-bound Pirate Wrestlers Zach Brown and Lukas Meier

The Crookston Pirate Wrestling team’s Zach Brown won the championship at 113 pounds and Lukas Meier finished second place at 152 pounds at the Section 8A Individual Wrestling tournament and will advance to the Minnesota State High School League State Individual Wrestling Tournament at the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2.
Crookston had one third-place finish, two fourth-places, three fifth-places, and one sixth place finish.  “Overall, it was a great opportunity for our guys to wrestle at home in front of a great crowd,” said Pirate Coach Wes Hanson. “It was a great weekend and we saw some great wrestling this weekend.”

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES –
Crookston had two wrestlers in the championship match with Zach Brown winning the championship at 113 pounds and Lukas Meier finishing second place at 152 pounds and both advance to state.  “Both have experience at state and have had some success down there and the expectations were they would go back to state and they wrestled well and are advancing,” said Coach Hanson. 

#2 ranked Zach Brown (113 pounds) wrestles Christian Carlson of Frazee in the championship.  Zach took a 2-0 lead with a takedown with 50 seconds left in the first period and towards the end of the period he was close to a pin and was awarded three points for a 5-0 lead after the first period.  Zach got a takedown with 40 seconds left in the second period and later gave up an escape for a 7-1 lead.  Right after the escape, Zach scored on a takedown for a 9-1 lead after two periods.  In the third period, Zach’s opponent scored two points on a reversal and Zach held off a furious rally by Carlson and was able to hold on for a 10-5 victory to advance back to state as the two time Section 8A Champion.  “Zach did a couple things really well. There was a series on the edge of the mat where he had an opportunity to score with an arm-bar and he was able to keep his feet in and drag him back in and he put the kid in a bad spot and got a nice tilt and picked up some near fall points to expand his lead,” said Coach Hanson. “We saw a lot of good things from Zach this weekend.” Zach is now 38-1 on the year and will compete at the Minnesota State High School League State Individual Wrestling tournament on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2.

#9 ranked Lukas Meier (152 pounds) wrestles #1 ranked Chandler Mooney of Roseau in the championship match.  Neither wrestler was able to score in the first period, but Mooney started the scoring in the second period with an escape a few seconds into the period.  He added a takedown for a 3-0 lead with 1:15 left in the period.  Meier was able to score a point on an escape, but with 25 seconds left Mooney answered with another takedown and took a 5-1 lead into the third period.  Mooney scored another takedown halfway through the third period, but Meier was able to escape and trailed 7-2.  Mooney added another takedown and won the match 9-2 and both wrestlers are advancing to state.  “I thought Lukas had a great game plan in the first period and he had two or three really good scoring opportunities against a great wrestler,” said Coach Hanson. “We were right there, but Mooney showed why he is ranked #1 in the second and third period.” It will be the second straight year that Mooney beat Meier in the Championship and both wrestlers will compete at the state wrestling tournament March 1 and 2.  Meier is now 21-6 on the year, Mooney improves to 44-0.

TRUE SECOND PLACE MATCHES –

Cameron Weiland (132 pounds) won his consolation semi-final match by pin in the second period and beat Hank Tellers of United North Central by a pin in 62 seconds to win the third-place match.  Cameron lost a heart-breaking match to Brandon Pries of Badger-Greenbush-Middle River by a 13-7 score in the True Second match and finished third place.  It looked like Cameron had a pin in the match as he had his opponent on his back, but the ref didn’t slap the mat even with all the Pirate fans yelling for a pin.  “He had that kid in a bad spot and from my angle it looked like Cam had the pin but it wasn’t called,” said Coach Hanson. “I am really proud of Cam because he had a great section tournament and he should be proud of himself.”

THIRD PLACE MATCHES-
Crookston has three wrestlers in third place matches and with a win, they could have a shot at a true second match.

Damian Hodgson (182 pounds) won his consolation semi-final match by pin and lost to Teigen Hextell of Fosston-Bagley in the third-place match.  The match was scoreless after the first period.  31 seconds into the second period, Hextell had a takedown for a 2-0 lead.  Hodgson wasn’t able to escape and Hextell won by a pin at 3:42 and Damian finished fourth place to wrap up his high school wrestling career.  Hodgson ends the year with a 29-16 record and 98 career victories.  “Damian is a hard-working, a great wrestler, a great person and he has been a tremendous leader for our team,” said Coach Hanson. “I am thankful to have the priveledge to coach him and he had a great overall career.”

Blake Fee (220 pounds) won his consolation semi-final match by pin in the second period and lost to Zachary Howard of Red Lake County Central by pin at 2:29 to finish fourth place to wrap up his brief high school wrestling career.  Howard took control of the match with a takedown in the opening seconds of the match, but Fee was able to fight him off the rest of the period and trailed 2-0 after the first period.  In the second period, Howard started down and got a reversal right away and took a 4-0 lead.  A few seconds later, Howard turned Fee on his back and got the pin.  Fee wraps up his one-year wrestling career with a record of 11-21.  “He had a really good section tournament and if we would have said we would get a fourth-place finish at sections from him in his first year we would take it,” said Coach Hanson.  “He had a great career and it was a lot of fun coaching him and he brought a lot to our team as far as excitement and energy.  This section tournament he picked up some big wins and got to the third-place match so it was a good weekend for him.”

FIFTH PLACE MATCHES-
The Pirates had four wrestlers in the fifth-place matches and had three victories.

Ethan Bowman (106 pounds) lost his wrestle-back semi-final match by a pin, but bounced back to beat rival Daunte Yost of Fertile-Beltrami 6-3 to finish his eighth-grade year with a fifth-place finish.  Ethan was 28-15 on the year.  “The 106-pound weight class was deep and it was fun for Ethan to get the win over Yost in the fifth-place match,” said Coach Hanson. “He had a great year for us this year and he started a lot of matches on a good note this season.”

Nolan Dans (120 pounds) lost his wrestle-back semi-final match by a pin and bounced back to beat Wesley Ramberg of Fertile-Beltrami 11-2 to finish fifth place.  Nolan was 19-19 on the year.  “That was a nice finish for Nolan,” said Coach Hanson. “Overall it was a good year for Nolan and we are looking forward to what he can do in the future.”

Braxton Volker (126 pounds) lost his wrestle-back semi-final match by decision and finished the season with an impressive pin over Oscar Duden of Red Lake County Central to finish fifth place.  Braxton was 15-23 on the year.  “He is a tough kid and he has some good offense and is a dangerous wrestler,” said Coach Hanson. “He was able to pick up some wins in the tournament and he is fun to coach.”

Ethan Boll (160 pounds) lost his wrestle-back semi-final match by decision and in the fifth-place match he was banged up a bit and trailed big before finishing the third period strong, but came up short in a 10-5 loss and the eighth-grader finished sixth place.  Ethan was 26-17 on the year.  “160 pounds was deep and there was some great competition this year,” said Coach Hanson. “Ethan did a lot of things well, but he is young and he will earn from this year and we are looking forward to having him back for many years.”

The Pirates had two named to the Section 8A All-Academic team – Cameron Weiland and Lukas Meier.
Crookston had three seniors in the tournament with Lukas Meier, Damian Hodgson, and Blake Fee and everybody else will be coming back next year. “We are a young team for sure, but we will miss our seniors and the way they helped lead the team,” said Coach Hanson. “We have a lot of guys coming back and that is exciting, but right now we are excited to have two guys going down to state next weekend.”

Section 8A Wrestling Team Academic Champions – Fertile-Beltrami
Section 8A Head Coach of the Year – Todd Bergeron
Section 8A Sportsmanship Award – Roseau