Wrestlers dominate Blue Jays in dual meet
By Frank Fish,
Assistant Wrestling Coach
Watford City had a great week of wrestling as the Wolves defeated Stanley in dual action on Jan. 6, and then placed second at the Hettinger Classic Tournament.
The next action for the Wolves will be at the Beulah Miner Invite on Jan. 15. Action starts at 10 a.m. (CT) and will run continuously until completion. Teams that are expected to participate along with the Wolves and Beulah are Bismarck St. Mary’s, Bowman, Killdeer, Standing Rock, Dickinson JV, Mandan JV and the Bismark Demons, the No. 1 rated team in Class A. The Demons won last week’s prestigious Rotary Tournament in Bismarck.
Watford City 64, Stanley 11
The Watford City wrestlers extended their winning ways on Thursday as the Wolves dominated the Stanley Blue Jays, 64-11. Winning for the Wolves by forfeit was Trevor Kalberer (130), Clay Billing (52), Kalin Mogen (189), and Kye Bolken (285).
Winning by pin was Coleton Jore (103) over Kaden Evenson in 1:03, Clay Jorgenson (112) over Tibbs Moore in 2:58, Joe Nelson (125) over Mitch Fitzgerald in 1:18 and Nolan Kalberer (171) over Braeden Farhart in 1:32.
Winning by tech fall were Brady Lund (140) over JD Woodbury 18-1, and Jake Thomas (145) over Dyllon Meiers 19-4.
Stanley’s only wins came at 112 pounds where Logan Gumke was defeated by tech fall, 18-3, by Derrick Erie, and at 135 pounds where Gus Nelson was pinned by Chandler Meiers in 1:18.
The best match of the night was the last match which put Karson Knudtson against Abe Roehrich. After a scoreless first period, Knudtson scored a reversal and a three-point near fall in the second period to lead the match 5-0. That was all the scoring as neither wrestler could get a takedown in the third period. Both wrestlers are highly ranked in the latest state poll.
The wrestlers are now 4-0 in dual competition.
Hettinger Tournament
The wrestlers finished in second place in last week’s Hettinger Classic scoring 216½ points.
The Wolves only had 12 wrestlers entered in the varsity division of the tournament being open at 215 and 285 pounds. Killdeer won the tournament with 290½ points, Linton was third with 153½ points, New Salem was fourth with 152½ points and Lemmon was fifth with 135½ points. The rest of the teams were Moorcroft, Wyo., 124; Harding County, S.D., 122; Hettinger/Richardton/Taylor/Hebron/Scranton, 103; Dickinson JV, 94; Beulah/Hazen, 87; Eagle Butte, S.D., 78; Standing Rock, 63; and Bowman, 24.
At 103, eighth-grader Coleton Jore won one match and lost four. He did not qualify for the medal rounds that took place Saturday afternoon and evening.
Jake Scott moved down from his early season weight of 119 pounds to 112 pounds, and the move paid off as Jake placed fourth with a record of two wins and three losses.
The same was true of Isaac Laris who moved down to 119 pounds. He placed third with a record of three wins and two losses. His two losses came at the hands of the No. 1- and No. 2-rated 119-pounders in the state. Although the scores did not favor Isaac, he definitely is going to be a contender at the end of the year.
Joe Nelson had a tough day against tough opponents and wrestled very competitively. He failed to win a match, and did not place.
Trevor Kalberer (130) had a great tournament winning all four of his matches and claimed the 130-pound championship. A tournament win at 130 pounds as a freshman is hard to come by.
Also at 130 pounds, the Wolves entered Gus Nelson, who won three of his five matches and placed third. His semifinal match was with teammate Trevor Kalberer.
Brady Lund also had a great tournament winning all six of his matches, and claimed the 135-pound championship. Brady had five pins and one major decision in his six matches.
Jake Thomas won his first four matches but was defeated, 12-0, in the championship match at 140 pounds by Sean Elkins from Hettinger. Elkins was last year’s state runner-up at 130 pounds. Jake was third last year at 145 pounds in the state meet. These two should have a few more good bouts before the season is over.
Clay Billing represented the Wolves at 145 pounds where he won one match and lost three and did not place.
Karson Knudtson had an outstanding tournament as he went undefeated at 152 pounds. Karson had five pins and one decision in the tournament. One of the pins was in the finals over Matt Even from Lemmon, S.D. Matt is currently ranked 6th in South Dakota at 160 pounds.
Nolan Kalberer made a run at the finals only to be stopped in the semis by Anthony Dukart from Killdeer. Nolan won three of his four matches to finish third at 160 pounds.
Kalin Mogen also won three matches to finish third at 171 pounds.
Branden Meuth finished in third place at 189 pounds with a record of four wins and three losses. Two of his losses were to Grady Houghton from Killdeer, one of the best in North Dakota.
Junior High
The junior high also competed in a round robin tournament in Hettinger over the weekend. Some of the wrestlers wrestled only on Friday, while others had the opportunity to wrestle on Saturday as well. Taking part was Jake Rogness, Omar Laris, Jade Hepper, Kye Bolken, Logan Gumke, Clay Jorgenson, Keegan Thompson, Dakota Garmann and Lane Wold.
The competition was very keen with junior high kids coming from North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.