No surprises as high seeds advance in 3A

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

ST. JAMES -- It should be no surprise that St. James dominated the Section 3A individual wrestling tournament, because its team won the section meet last week.

The Saints will have eight wrestlers begin in the winners bracket in their respective weight class.

There were no real surprises on the first day as most high seeds advanced.

Nicollet's Jeff Allerson had revenge on his mind as he battled Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial's Lance Goettl at 125. Allerson earned a 12-1 major decision, nearly pinning Goettl several times. Allerson faces No.1 seed Chris Werth of St. James, who earned a 15-1 major decision over Madelia-Truman's T.J. Forstner.

"Last week at team sections, he beat me 7-2, and earlier in the season I beat him 10-0," Allerson said. "I just wanted to come out and take it to him this time. I wanted to save my energy up for the next couple of rounds and get a pin early. I just hope I can pull off a big upset, but if I don't I can come through for true-second.

Sibley East's Alex Trout defeated Loyola's Matt Koch 10-8 and will face Martin County West's Grant Madison in the winner bracket at 125.

Buffalo Lake-Hector's Jon Kramer defeated Grant Goettl 9-2 at 103. He faces Madelia-Truman's Brandon Greiner today.

At 112, Madelia-Truman's Andy Forstner earned a pin in 1:28. He faces Nicollet's Andrew Olsen, who pinned United South Central's Sam Stevermer in 3:44.

Nicollet's Ryan Grommersch also advanced with a win over Al Klein of Martin County West at 119. Grommersch earned a 5-4 decision.

At 275, Sibley East's Tyler Matz improved his record to 24-8 with a pin against Nicollet's Jeff Naumann. Naumann earned a pin in the wrestle-backs over MT's Josh Gray and faces Loyola's Mat Michels today.

"Coach told me before the match to be ready for him because he's a tough kid," Matz said. "He just started [wrestling this year], so you gotta give him credit for coming out. I've been wrestling since I was a pre-schooler, so I'd say the experience definitely helped. My goal is to get out of here and go to state."

Nicollet's Tony Ness had the fastest pin of the first day as he pinned BL-H's Josh Dovenmehle in :15 at 130. He faces Dusty Forstner, a 5-1 winner over Sibley East's Ben Tollefson.

135 had the most lopsided wins as three wrestlers earned pins and another a tech fall.

St. James' Dayn Besel earned a pin in 3:58 and LCWM's Jeremy Hutchens won 19-4. USC's Chance Carlson pinned Nicollets Josh Olsen in :51 and M-T's Jason Forstner pinned his man in :20.

"I went in there wanting to get the win and the pin record," Forstner said.

140 also proved to be lopsided with three pins and a major decision. Nicollet's Dan Compart earned a pin in 2:30 and LCWM's Dylan Tate pinned Sibley East's Sean Drexler in 3:58. St. James Phil McMullen remained undefeated (33-0) and tied the school record of 153 wins with his pin over MCW's Chris Hansen in 3:17.

McMullen will be gunning for the record today against Tate.

Nicollet's Tony Bratsch also avenged an early season loss as he won 7-3 over Buffalo Lake-Hector's Jake Duehn. Duehn defeated Bratsch earlier by two points.

"He knew I was gonna go out there and try shooting at him right away," Bratsch said. "He was able to stop some of my take-downs, so I got a couple of reversals. I knew what he wanted to do. All he wanted to do was throw me, so I knew if I watched that I could win."

Bratsch faces No.1 seed Erik Wallace, who earned a 24-9 win over MCW's Mike Schultz. M-T's Jared Stevenson pinned LCWM's Josh Walker in 3:22 and faces St. James' Kit Miller.

171 also promises to be an exciting class as the top two seeds earned pins. LCWM's Cory Harnitz, ranked No. 1 in the state, pinned MCW's David Anderson in 3:15. Nicollet's Jamie Wagner pinned Sibley East's Zac Pauley in 3:02.

Wagner was aggressive from the beginning with a take-down in less than 10 seconds. Wagner's strength was too much for Pauley as he led 11-0 after the first period.

"I wanted to take care of business," Wagner said. "I wanted to get through this one quick and focus on the semi's."

"Good positioning is one of my great attributes," Wagner said. "I use my hips pretty well and it allows me to ride really well. I'd definitely say that's a big part of the way I wrestle."

Harnitz has defeated Wagner both times the two have faced each other, so the two should meet again in another interesting affair today. Wagner faces M-T's Geoff Gronewold, who earned a pin in 1:22.. Harnitz faces St. James John Husby in the semifinals.

At 160, Sibley East's Will Weber moves on to face MCW's Sam Kuehl, while M-T's Jesse Lang faces LCWM's Zeb Roth.

USC's John Niebuhr (35-1,145) and M-T's Eric Cooling (14-4) meet in the semi's, while Sibley East's Damon Traxler wrestles Mitch Denn in the other semifinal match today.

In one of the better matches of the day, Sibley East's Jesse Skelley and St. James' Jordan Resick were locked at 8-8 before Skelley earned two points with under 10 seconds left for the 10-8 win.

"I was just trying to keep him down and make sure he didn't score anything," Skelley said. "I'm ready to go for the next round. I have [USC's] Steve Wood, and he's ranked fifth in state, so I'm going to be gunning for him."

M-T's Matt Moses pinned Nicollet's Jake Anderson in :52 at 215 and wrestles USC's Matt Linder today. Sibley East's Matt Schwope wrestles LCWM's Matt Schroepfer.

Semifinal and wrestle-back action resumes today at 11 a.m.