February 2, 2011

Wrestlers down Hettinger

By Frank Fish
Assistant Coach

The Watford City wrestling Wolves had a great three days on the mats last week. On Thursday, the Wolves hosted long time rivals, the Hettinger Black Devils, in dual action with the winner of that dual being virtually guaranteed a spot in the State Dual Tournament in Fargo later in February.
This Friday, the Wolves will wrestle their final dual of the season when they travel to New Salem for a 7 p.m. match.
Watford City 45, Hettinger 29
The dual was a strategy meet as far as the Wolves’ coaches were concerned. The coaches were not necessarily looking to have great match-ups with Hettinger, but rather being 100 percent concerned with winning the dual.
Hettinger started off winning the flip of the coin and elected to have Watford City put a wrestler on the mat first at 160 pounds. Watford went with Clay Billing who did a great job against Jeff Abrahamson. Abrahamson won the match by tech fall late in the third period giving Hettinger an early five-point lead. Watford City got on the board with Nolan Kalberer getting a forfeit at 171 pounds and Branden Meuth getting a pin in 1:02 at 189 pounds. Kalin Mogen moved up to 215 pounds to get a pin in 59 seconds to give the Wolves an 18-5 lead.
Hettinger came back with a pin at 285 pounds with a win over Kye Bolken and a 19-14 decision over Coleton Jore at 103 to cut Watford City’s lead to 18-14.
The next four matches went back and forth. The Wolves won by pin at 112 pounds as Jake Scott pinned Collin Blade in 2:42. Watford City then put Karson Hartwig in at 119 pounds where he was pinned in 5:13. Isaac Laris moved up to 125 pounds and got a very important 13-7 decision over Trevor Abrahamson.
The match of the night saw Trevor Kalberer and Christian Hughes square off at 130 pounds. Hughes came out in that match with a five- point move at the end to win 13-8.
Brady Lund then won by fall in 38 seconds over Ryan Engal to give the Wolves an insurmountable team score of 33-23.
Austin Garmann was then pinned in 1:49 by Sean Elkins at 140 pounds. The Wolves ended with a 29 second pin by Jake Thomas over Colby Steake at 145 pounds and a forfeit win by Karson Knudtson at 152 pounds to give Watford City a 45-29 win.
The Wolves will wrestle the No. 2 team out of Region 3 in the opening round of the State Dual Tournament. 
 Wolves take 6th at East/West Tournament
On Friday and Saturday the Wolves scored 129 points to place in sixth place in the tough East/West Tournament in New Salem with the team competing in only 12 of 14 weight classes.
South Border won the tournament with 190½ points followed by Oakes, 171; Killdeer, 153½; Carrington, 142; and Lisbon, 136.
Watford City results:
Jake Scott, 112 pounds, held his own in a tough weight class finishing in eighth place. In his first match, he was pinned by Jerad Lee-Gay, Killdeer, in 3:20. Lee-Gay is the No. 1 wrestler in that weight class this year. In wrestle-back action, Scott pinned Mason Brudevold, Velva, in 2:53 and then lost 8-2 to Caden Coleman, Oakes, before losing 8-3 to Nathan Grunefelder, Napoleon.
Isaac Laris, 119 pounds, was seeded eighth in the tournament and finished in eighth place. In his first match, he won by tech fall 15-0 over Kyle Schmidt, Minot Ryan. In the quarterfinals, he was pinned in 4:57 by South Border’s Black Bosch, the No. 1 wrestler in the weight class. In wrestle-back action, Laris decisioned Joe Bakke, Carrington, 8-2, before losing to Jason Roth, Oakes, 2-1, and to Cody Tomac, Hettinger.
Trevor Kalberer, 130 pounds, was seeded sixth and finished in sixth place after defaulting out of the tournament on Saturday due to an injury he sustained by an illegal slam from Christian Hughes in the quarterfinals. Kalberer won his first match by fall in 1:29 over Jacob Reisenauer, Bowman, before being slammed by Hughes. Kalberer wrestled Brady Coleman, the No. 2 wrestler in the state on Saturday morning, but lost 14-8.
Brady Lund, 135 pounds, opened the tournament with a 19-second pin over Garett Tabor, Killdeer, and a tech fall in four minutes over Velva’s Adam Dean. In a very tough, exciting championship match, Lund won by a 10-2 major decision over Cody Voegeli, Oakes, who was undefeated.
Jake Thomas, 140 pounds, lost two really tough matches and placed fourth in the tournament. After winning his first two matches by quick pins, Thomas lost a 7-5 overtime match to Tyler Anderson, Hillsboro. In the wrestle-backs, Thomas won 6-4 over Garett Thompson, Rugby, before being decisioned 5-3 by Hunter Mairs, Lisbon.
Karson Knudtson, 152 pounds, defeated three seeded wrestlers to win his weight class. In the quarterfinals, he decisioned the No. 8 seed, Lane Anderson, Carrington, 7-0, and then decisioned the No. 4 seed Andrew Jochim, South Border, 8-4. In the finals, Knudtson decisioned Lane Overson, Killdeer, the No. 3 seeded wrestler 13-6.
Nolan Kalberer, 160 pounds, entered the tournament rated as No. 7 and placed sixth. He won his first round match pinning Jeremy Dorich, Lamoure, in 1:31. In the quarterfinals, he was decisioned 7-2 by state champion Billy Hall, New Town. In the wrestle-backs, Kalberer beat Mike Ostrem, Rugby, 5-3, and Anthony Dukart, Killdeer, 15-7, before losing 17-6 to Steven Weigel, Napoleon, and Velva’s Jimi Bridges.
Kalin Mogen, 171 pounds, opened with a 2:57 pin over Matthew Gerving, Beach, before being decisioned 15-7 by Mark Koble, Minot Ryan, in the quarterfinals. In the wrestle- backs, he pinned Dillon Morin, Rugby, in 29 seconds, decisioned Zach Staskywicz, Des Lacs-Burlington, 11-3, and decisioned Isaiah Krebs, Beulah, 11-6 in overtime. In the third place match, Mogen decisioned Koble of Minot Ryan 15-5.
Branden Meuth, 189 pounds, finished off the scoring for the Wolves with seventh place after winning his first match pinning Wyatt Johnson, Oakes, in 1:30 before losing to Alex McLean, Hillsboro, in the quarterfinals. In the wrestle-backs, Meuth pinned Michael Preston, Des Lacs-Burlington, in 1:41 and then lost to Damon Schwarz, Lamoure, before winning an 8-3 decision over Steven Schild, Harvey.
Other members of the team that failed to score points were Coleton Jore, 103; Joe Nelson, 125; and Austin Garmann, 145.

WATFORD CITY WEATHER