FERTILE – A dramatic finish sent the United North Central wrestling team back to the state Class A tournament.
The Warriors trailed top-seeded Frazee 21-16 before winning three of the final four matches to rally for a 31-24 victory in the Section 8A championship match on Friday, Feb. 17. That win enabled UNC to repeat as section champions and qualify for the state Class A tournament for the second time in school history.
“We had plenty of people tell us we wouldn’t be able to make it again without last year’s seniors, but it’s not who you lose, it’s who do you replace them with. We have a group that works really hard, so we knew we could do it again,” said UNC head coach Jacob Oyster. “I think most of our wrestlers believed we could at the beginning of the season and all of them knew we could by the end. To go back to back with a new team is another step in the right direction. It feels really good.”
Rhett Anderson’s 9-4 decision at 113 pounds, Conrad Koll’s 13-0 major decision at 120 and Zach Hendrickson’s 7-1 decision at 126 gave the Warriors a 10-3 lead. Hank Tellers’ pin in 3:39 at 145 provided a 16-9 advantage before Frazee responded by winning the next three matches to take the lead. Toby Isola’s forfeit win at 182, Cooper Hasbargen’s 12-8 decision at 220 and Marcus Peterson’s pin in 1:30 at 285 rallied the Warriors to the win and another state berth as Frazee ended the season with a 23-6 mark.
During the regular season, Frazee defeated the Warriors twice by scores of 38-22 and 48-23. However, UNC ended the regular season by winning the Park Region Conference title and going 8-1 in the final nine dual meets. That gave the Warriors plenty of confidence entering the section tournament.
“We wrestled them (Frazee) well in those two losses. We just gave up a couple of big moves at the end of a couple matches that cost us a lot of team points and we were dealing with some injuries in our upper weights,” said Oyster, whose team was rated No. 20 while Frazee was rated No. 10 in the state Class A poll. “Losing those matches wasn’t the plan, but our program knew we were very capable of winning. We started getting healthy and everyone started wrestling very well. We won our conference tournament for the first time in our program’s history. The kids were building confidence and gaining momentum going into sections. That was a big difference in the last match.”
The Warriors opened the section tournament with a dominating 66-10 win over No. 7 Mahnomen/Waubun at Menahga on Feb. 14.
Carter Ahrendt (at 106), Aaron Lake (at 126) and Zach Hendrickson (at 132) all recorded pins in the first 1:04 of their matches while Isola (at 170), Eli Roiko (at 182) and Kevin Dailey (at 285) needed less than 40 seconds to record pins in their matches. Wyatt Olson (at 138), Zach Davidson (at 145), Tellers (at 152), Hasbargen (at 195) and Shawn Hendrickson (at 220) received forfeits.
UNC ended the regular season by defeating M/W 77-5. The Thunderbirds ended the season with a 5-18 record.
In the semifinals at Fertile, the Warriors used six pins in rolling to a 55-10 victory.
Koll’s pin in 3:12 at 120, Zach Hendrickson’s pin in 1:16 at 126, Davidson’s pin in 3:51 at 145, Shawn Hendrickson’s pin in 41 seconds at 195, Hasbargen’s pin in 2:23 at 220 and Peterson’s pin in 25 seconds at 285 led the Warriors into the finals. Anderson’s 10-2 major decision at 113, Olson’s 8-4 decision at 138, Roiko’s 4-0 decision at 170 and Isola’s 7-4 decision at 182 along with a forfeit win by Tellers at 152 also contributed to the win. Fosston/Bagley, which lost to UNC 41-31 during the regular season, ended the season with a 10-11 record.
In the other quarterfinal matches, Frazee shut out No. 8 Fertile-Beltrami 74-0, No. 3 Fosston/Bagley defeated No. 6 Badger-Greenbush-Middle River 51-26 and No. 5 Crookston edged No. 4 Barnesville 45-34. Frazee advanced to the finals with a 51-21 victory over Crookston.
The Warriors will join No. 1 Jackson County Central, No. 2, Caledonia-Houston, No. 5 Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, No. 7 Royalton/Upsala, No. 11 Howard Lake-Waverly, No. 13 West Central Area and No. 18 Medford at the state Class A tournament, which will be held March 2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
“Just like last year, we are glad we qualified for state, but the expectation is always to do some damage down there and come back with some hardware,” said Oyster, whose team will enter the state tournament with an 18-11 record. “Every team will be tough. That’s how it will always be down there. We expect our kids to stay gritty and pull off some big wins. Hopefully they can do that.”
United North Central 66, Mahnomen/Waubun 10
106: Carter Ahrendt, UNC, pinned Brandon Miller :55. 113: Dominick Neisen, MW, major decision over Levi Olson 9-1. 120: Wakiza Fairbanks, MW, minor decision over Cooper Rife 9-5. 126: Aaron Lake, UNC, pinned Cleighton Hoban 1:04. 132: Zach Hendrickson, UNC, pinned Henry Geray :54. 138: Wyatt Olson, UNC, won by forfeit. 145: Zach Davidson, UNC, won by forfeit. 152: Hank Tellers, UNC, won by forfeit. 160: Blake McMullen, MW, minor decision over Riley Livingston 4-2 (ot). 170: Toby Isola, UNC, pinned November Nelson :08. 182: Eli Roiko, UNC, pinned Jackson Jirava :18. 195: Cooper Hasbargen, UNC, won by forfeit. 220: Shawn Hendrickson, UNC, won by forfeit. 285: Kevin Dailey, UNC, pinned Tayshawn Bray :36.
United North Central 55, Fosston/Bagley 10
106: Ian Phrakonkham, FB, major decision over Levi Olson 9-0. 113: Rhett Anderson, UNC, major decision over Shane Thompson 10-2. 120: Conrad Koll, UNC, pinned Kadin Harwood 3:12. 126: Zach Hendrickson, UNC, pinned Domanick Thompson 1:16. 132: Aiden Wolfe, FB, minor decision over Aaron Lake 4-1. 138: Wyatt Olson, UNC, minor decision over Zach Thompson 8-4. 145: Zach Davidson, UNC, pinned Jaekub Larson 3:51. 152: Hank Tellers, UNC, won by forfeit. 160: Jakob Rudie, FB, minor decision over Riley Livingston 3-0. 170: Eli Roiko, UNC, minor decision over Kaden Sanford 4-0. 182: Toby Isola, UNC, minor decision over Luke Sannes 7-4. 195: Shawn Hendrickson, UNC, pinned Jonathan Rose :41. 220: Cooper Hasbargen, UNC, pinned Jessie Beckman 2:23. 285: Marcus Peterson, UNC, pinned Alex Hagen :25.
United North Central 31, Frazee 24
106: Cash Osterman, F, minor decision over Levi Olson 7-1. 113: Rhett Anderson, UNC, minor decision over Liam Hamm 9-4. 120: Conrad Koll, UNC, major decision over Blake Sonnenberg 13-0. 126: Zach Hendrickson, UNC, minor decision over Brady Borah 7-1. 132: Cade Nagel, F, minor decision over Aaron Lake 10-7. 138: Bailey Peichel, F, minor decision over Wyatt Olson 5-2. 145: Hank Tellers, UNC, pinned Josh Mellema 3:39. 152: Tyler Moe, F, technical fall over Zach Davidson 16-1. 160: Jake Nagel, F, major decision over Riley Livingston 14-2. 170: Preston Mayfield, F, minor decision over Eli Roiko 7-2. 182: Toby Isola, UNC, won by forfeit. 195: Jack Graham, F, minor decision over Shawn Hendrickson 8-7. 220: Cooper Hasbargen, UNC, minor decision over Derek Zitzow 12-8. 285: Marcus Peterson, UNC, pinned Xander Kohler 1:30.
ROYALTON – No. 1-seeded Long Prairie-Grey Eagle/Browerville eliminated Walker-Hackensack-Akeley/Nevis from the Section 7A tournament on Saturday, Feb. 18.
The No. 8-seeded Wolves opened the section meet with a 60-15 win over No. 9 Crosby-Ironton before being ousted with a 60-18 loss to LPGEB, which was rated No. 9 in the latest state Class A poll.
WHAN, which defeated C-I 61-6 during the regular season, ended the season with a 10-10 record. C-I finished at 2-18.
Nevis’ Dawson McGee, who was rated No. 4 at 126 in the latest state Class A poll, won both his matches, pinning C-I’s Jason Anderson in 2:42 and LPGEB’s Justin Houdek in 20 seconds.
