Eagles win Brown Co. Showdown

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- It had the makings of a playoff duo, with both teams counting on their last wrestler to pick up the win and lead their respective squad to victory.

Unfortunately, for River Valley, the Wildcats never got to see what might have been as an injury default ended the match, giving New Ulm a 37-30 win Tuesday in nonconference wrestling action.

The Eagles held a 31-30 lead going into the final match of the night at 130, in which River Valley's Casey Domeier met up with Nate Dobie. Domeier held a 3-1 lead, but was forced to default after suffering what appeared to be a concussion.

"It's real disappointing, but there's more important things than winning," River Valley's Bryan Reimers said. He pinned his opponent, Cody Thompson in 51 seconds at 215.

Domeier led 1-1 when the initial contact occurred. Domeier and Dobie shot at each other simultaneously, and the result was Dobie's head hitting the bottom of Domeier's nose.

Domeier was down, but managed to get back up after the injury timeout and take a 3-1 lead on a takedown. But he hit his head on the mat again, and it was time to put an end to the match.

"First of all, I thought he just got jabbed in the eye," Domeier's teammate Kevin Widmer said. "They collided heads, and I'm guessing it was a concussion. He gave it everything he had. It's a long season -- we need him later in the season. We don't want him to get hurt."

Dobie's win was set up by Adam Hoffmann's pin at 125. Hoffmann, who wrestled at 103 last year and advanced to the state tournament, dispensed of Andy Kish in 1:09 to give the Eagles a 31-30 lead heading into the finale.

"That was a huge pin," Dobie said. "We're all proud of him obviously, but he's a good wrestler, so we kinda expected that out of him."

The match started at 135, and New Ulm's Geoff Beranek wasted little time in pinning Jakob Deberg in 32 seconds.

"I just wanted to come out and start us on a good note and take us into Christmas," Beranek said.

Beranek said he stuck to business as usual as he opened a wrestling match for the first time.

"I guess I just kinda came out and went with the stuff that I usually practice with, and kinda get the match that I needed," Beranek said.

"The odd thing about that was, is that he came up and said 'coach, I've never got to start first, can you do something about the coin toss?' And he didn't disappoint us," New Ulm coach Dar Arndt said.

The Wildcats got their first pin of the night courtesy of Widmer, who stuck Dan Runck in 58 seconds to tie the match at 9.

Widmer said he also stuck to what has been working for him all season.

"Take him down and put pressure on him," Widmer said. "That's the philosophy [River Valley coach Jeff] Briard wants us to do."

Later in the match, New Ulm's Seth Schaefer picked up his sixth win of the season, surpassing last year's total. He won a 3-1 decision over Derek Krebs at 189 to give the Eagles a 18-12 lead.

But the Wildcats shuffled their lineup, moving Bryan Reimers to the 215 spot to wrestle Thompson. Reimers was originally slated to lock up with Brett LeBrun at 275, but the Wildcats were willing to trade a pin for a pin.

Reimers pinned Thompson in less than a minute and LeBrun did the same over Gabe Salonek, pinning Salonek in :52. The result was a 22-18 lead for the Eagles.

"I was hoping to [wrestle LeBrun], but we didn't get a major we were supposed to get, and we didn't get a win at 189 we were hoping to get," Reimers said.

At 112, Tom Hillesheim won by forfeit for the Wildcats, and Luke Amsden pinned Ashley Johnson at 119 to give the Wildcats a 30-25 lead.

But the Eagles won the final two matches to clinch the dual.

"This is a real big win for us, because it puts us over .500 for the year," Beranek said. "It's a real good thing going into Christmas like this and not have anything hanging over our heads."

"It was a good dual," Widmer said. "It could've went either way I think in our last match. Both teams wrestled hard. Unfortunately it ended the way it did."

New Ulm (5-4) is at Madelia/Truman Jan. 4 and River Valley is at the MACCRAY triangular the same day.

New Ulm 37, River Valley 30

135 -- Geoff Beranek (NU) pinned Jakob Deberg :32; 140 -- Brady Augustin (RV) dec. Neal Wenninger 6-0; 145 -- Chris Koob (NU) dec. Matt Baier 6-3; 152 -- Kevin Widmer (RV) pinned Dan Runck :58; 160 -- Andy Krueger (RV) dec. Curt Thoreson 6-4; 171 -- Tim Kral (NU) maj. dec. Ryan Nelson 14-5; 189 -- Seth Schaefer (NU) dec. Derek Krebs 3-1; 215 -- Bryan Reimers (RV) pinned Cody Thompson :51; 275 -- Brett LeBrun (NU) pinned Gabe Salonek :52; 103 -- Justin Koob (NU) dec. Derek Skovbroton 5-2; 112 -- Tom Hillesheim (RV) won by forfeit; 119 -- Luke Amsden (RV) pinned Ashley Johnson 1:47; 125 -- Adam Hoffmann (NU) pinned Andy Kish 1:09; 130 -- Nate Dobie (NU) won by inj. def. over Casey Domeier.