By: Ryan Bergeron
After narrowly missing the state tournament several times, the Gators claimed
their first Section 8A title since 2005, qualifying for the team portion of the
state wrestling tournament. The Gators looked focused throughout the day,
reaching the finals in dominating fashion with victories of 70-6 over
Fertile-Beltrami and 63-12 over Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton. These victories moved
the Gators (ranked #7) on to the finals against a familiar opponent and
defending section champions, Frazee Hornets (ranked #6). The Gators avenged an
earlier loss to the Hornets, getting out to a fast start, recording close
victories and getting some huge pins along the way to hang on and win by a
37-30 score to claim the Section 8A title.
Coach Bergeron commented on his team’s emotional section championship, “It was
a long time coming. I’m really happy for the kids, as they put in a lot of hard
work, blood, sweat, and tears into it, and they deserve it.”
The Gator, the number two seed, started their title track in the quarterfinals
against the Fertile-Beltrami Falcons, the number seven seed. Wyatt Becker (106)
got the Gators on the board first, recording a 9-4 victory over Willie Meine.
The Gators’ Devin Dostal (113) followed with an exciting victory, recording a
late takedown to beat Hunter Olson 2-1; giving the Gators a 6-0 lead. Following
these two victories, the Gators’ Isaac Novacek (120), Brandon Waage (126), and
Corey Hasbrouck (132), and Jake Jenson (145) recorded first period pins, and
Gunner Gust (138) recorded a dominating 9-0 major decision over
Fertile-Beltrami’s Tyler Ellegard; the Gators led 34-0. The Gators’ Logan Stein
(152) would take the mat for the Gators, and would unfortunately get caught and
pinned in the first period by Hunter Lindberg, giving Fertile their first
points of the match. The Gators wouldn’t give up any more points, continuing to
dominate the rest of the way with first period pins from Tomm Ingle (160),
Tejay Wojchowski (170), John Westman (182), and Timm Ingle (220), along with
accepted forfeits by Beau Blumer (195) and Alex Yeager (HWT). This victory
moved the Gators into the semifinals against the DGF Rebels, the number six
seed.
In the semifinals, the Gators looked like they were focused and on a mission,
continuing to dominate in route to finals. Wyatt Becker and Devin Dostal got
the action started quickly for the Gators, each recording first period pins,
followed by Isaac Novacek and Brandon Waage each accepting forfeits for the
Gators. Corey Hasbrouck step to the mat for the Gators, and recorded an
emotional third period pin over a good Alex Johnson to keep the Gators rolling.
Gunner Gust kept the Gators on track, recording an impressive victory of his
own by defeating once ranked Ryan Hamernick in an exciting, back and forth 10-6
victory. The Gators’ Jake Jenson followed with an exciting victory, hanging on
to a late 4-2 lead and defeating DGF’s Cole Sogge 6-2; the Gators led 36-0. At
152, Brendon Dostal took the mat against a good Chad Johnson of DGF. Brendon
wrestled hard and showed a lot of fight, but unfortunately was pinned with 11
seconds remaining in the final period. Tomm Ingle and Tejay Wojchowski
got the Gators back on the board with pins of their own. Beau Blumer step to
mat next for the Gators, and wrestled hard, but got caught and pinned midway
through the third period. That would be all the points the Gators would
give up, as John Westman recorded an exciting 2-1 triple overtime victory over
DGF’s Mason Remund, Timm Ingle recorded an exciting pin over a good Jake Hanson
of DGF in overtime, and Alex Yeager accepted the forfeit to beat DGF and move
on to the finals against top-seeded Frazee with a 63-12 victory.
Wyatt Becker got the Gators started in the right direction, avenging an earlier
loss to Frazee’s Byron Beyer and beating him in a dominating 13-4 major
decision. Devin Dostal came to mat for the Gators at 113 against Frazee’s
Austin Skillings. After Devin gave up a third period escape, the match was tied
at two, but Devin would use all the energy he had to score an huge takedown,
hanging on to win by narrow 4-2 decision. Isaac Novacek kept the action rolling
for the Gators, recording an emotional pin at the 5:32 mark over Frazee’s Grant
Jepson. Trailing 2-0 late in the third period against Frazee’s Jordan Ketter at
126, the Gators’ Brandon Waage would somehow reverse Ketter and get him in a
cradle, hanging on tight to that cradle to win in exciting fashion by a 5-2
score; the Gators led early 16-0.
The Gators held on to a nice lead, but Frazee would make a run of their own,
even taking a brief lead. Corey Hasbrouck took the mat next for the Gators
against a good Hunter Sorenson of Frazee at 132. Corey wrestled hard throughout
the match and did his job, getting a late takedown to cut the lead to just a
decision, but Sorenson would get the late escape to make a 12-4 major decision.
At 138, the Gators sent out Gunner Gust against ranked Frazee standout Bruce
Lemon. Gunner would wrestle hard early, but Lemon would catch and pin Gunner at
the 2:53 mark to Gator lead to just six. The Gators’ Zach Berg took the mat
next for the Gators, getting accidentally stunned and falling to Frazee’s Tyler
Wacker by a pin early in the first period to tie the match at 16. Jake Jenson
next came to the mat for the Gators against another ranked Frazee standout, Rij
Koehnen. Jake wrestled extremely hard throughout the match, knowing his job and
fighting off many pinning combinations to give up just an 11-1 major decision;
the Gators would trail 20-16.
Tomm Ingle would look to turn the match around for the Gators against a very
good Tyler Ziegler of Frazee, and boy did he. After falling behind early 2-0,
Tomm would amazingly reverse Ziegler and get him in a tight pinning
combination, catching and pinning him in emotional fashion with three seconds
left in the first period; the Gators led 22-20. Tejay Wojchowski would
extend the Gators’ lead to eight at 170, looking determined and pinning
Frazee’s Evan Wendt at the 2:55 mark. The Gators’ John Westman took the
mat next at 182, looking to wrestle smart and help the Gators hang on to their
lead as he took on Frazee’s Cody Piper, a last year state entrant. The match
would feature many crazy things with Piper getting a couple chances for the
pin, but Westman fought off all attempts and gave up just the 15-2 major
decision; the Gators led 28-24. In a much surprised move, the Gators sent out
Timm Ingle at 195 against Frazee senior Jake Galbrecht. Leading 3-1 late, Timm
gave up a point for stalling, making the score 3-2 late in the third period,
but Timm wouldn’t let Galbrecht up, hanging on to huge win by the 3-2
score; the Gators led 31-24. After the Gators forfeited to Frazee’s Rick Brandt
at 220, to cut the score to 31-30, Alex Yeager sealed the match and a state
berth for the Gators, making quick work of Frazee’s Brandon Degroat and pinning
him early in the first period; the Gators won 37-30.
With this victory and section championship, the Gators will move on to the
state wrestling tournament as a team on Thursday, March
1st, at the Excel Energy Center in St.Paul. The Gators will get back to
the practice room, not only getting ready for state team action, but also
focusing on individual sections, which are at DGF High School next Friday and
Saturday, February 24-25. The Gators would like to thank all of Gator Nation
that came to support them in TRF, your presence was certainly felt, as many
wrestlers fed off of your energy. The Gators look forward to seeing that continued
support at individual sections and as they travel down to state not only with
individual qualifiers, but as a “team”. Congrats to the Gators, Section 8A
Champions! GO
GATORS!
Note:
Those that are attending the team portion of the state tournament can buy your
tickets in the Greenbush office starting at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, February 22,
with Gator state wrestling tournament t-shirts available on that same date. Mat
Rat t-shirts will also be for sale starting Monday, February 27 also in the
Greenbush office and in Coach Bergeron’s classroom.
Championship
Badger/Greenbush-Middle River 37 Frazee 30
106:
Wyatt Becker (BGMR) major decision Byron Beyer (FRZ) 13-4
113:
Devin Dostal (BGMR) decision Austin Skillngs (FRZ) 4-2
120:
Issac Novacek(BGMR) fall Grant Jepson (FRZ) 5:32
126:
Brandon Waage (BGMR) decision Jordan Ketter (FRZ) 5-2
132:
Hunter Sorenson (PL) major decision Cory Hasbrouck (BGMR) 12-4
138:
Bruce Lemon (FRZ) fall Gunner Gust (BGMR) 2:53
145:
Tyler Wacker (FRZ) fall Zach Berg (BGMR) :26
152:
Rij Koehnen (FRZ) major decision Jacob Jenson (BGMR) 11-1
160:
Tomm Ingle (BGMR) fall Tyler Ziegler (FRZ) 1:57
170:
Tejay Wojchowski (BGMR) fall Evan Wendt (FRZ) 2:55
182:
Cody Piper (FRZ) major decision John Westman (BGMR) 15-2
195:
Tim Ingle (BGMR) decision Jacob Galbrecht (FRZ) 3-2
220:
Rick Brandt (FRZ) Open (BGMR)
Hwt:
Alex Yeager (BGMR) fall Brandon Degroat (FRZ) n/a
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