by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor

Thief River Falls claimed its first-ever state tournament team trophy in wrestling with a consolation championship at this year’s state tournament.

The Prowlers made three previous state tournament appearances, going 0-2 each year in 2007, 2010 and 2011.

The 2022 Prowlers had other plans. After suffering a 42-24 loss to Becker that was much closer than it appears at first glance, the Prowlers reeled off wins over Mora, 44-26, and Fairmont/Martin County West, 40-25, to claim the consolation championship.

“It was an ecstatic feeling,” said Thief River Falls Head Coach Kenny Geiser, who had also also experienced the three winless trips to state. “We talked all week about how we didn’t get any respect and how northern Minnesota didn’t get respect. We represent northern Minnesota and none of our [TRF] teams had ever won a match at state.”

Making the team’s performance at state more impressive was that it followed a disappointing individual section tournament in which the team had just two state qualifiers.

“This team was more focused than some of our previous teams, but they were also loose. They wanted to accomplish something,” Geiser said. “I think this team supports each other as well as any team that I’ve coached. That includes the 2009 team. This team had great leadership.”

Becker dual
The Prowlers got off to a great start in the opening dual against Becker with a fall by Maverick Iverson.

The Bulldogs responded with three consecutive wins by fall from Kaden Nicolas over Damien Kazmierczak at 113, Landen Kujawa over Nick Svir at 120, and Drew May over Noah Jacobson at 126.

The Prowlers got back on the board at 132 as Keigan Hermanson handled Nolan Muellner 11-5 to make the team score 18-9.

The Bulldogs added falls at 138 and 145, as Ethan Anderson pinned Kale Geiser and Owen Angell pinned Ethan Lane to make the score 30-9.

The Prowlers clawed their way back into the dual with wins by Brady Kasprick by a score of 6-5 over eventual state champion Mason Doucette at 152; Griffin Lundeen defeated Adam Jurek 6-1 at 160; and Cody Wienen was a 9-3 winner over Ryan Nelson at 170.

Down 30-18, the Prowlers were looking to further cutinto the Bulldogs’ lead at 182 pounds. Unfortunately, Becker’s Tyson Rickler halted the TRF winning streak with a 5-4 decision that made the team score 33-18 with three matches remaining.

The Prowlers needed to win all three matches with at least two pins and they got one of the three right away when Carter Engebretson pinned Dylan Weber at 195.

The Prowlers needed a win from Jolson Sargent at 220 and they got a great effort from their senior who gave up a late takedown to fall 4-1.

Rounding out the scoring for Becker was a Bryce Kuschel win by fall over Colin Bruggeman.

“We let some matches get away from us early,” Geiser said. “A couple of mistakes put us in the hole. We went in with every intention of beating Becker. We didn’t do that, but we were able to talk about a few things to springboard into the Mora match. We had three guys get pinned against Becker. We told them we couldn’t have that.”

Mora dual
Becker was seeded third and ranked third in Class AA going into the state tournament and considered a heavy favorite over Thief River Falls. The Prowlers’ second round match against the Mora Mustangs was considered to be more of a toss-up match.

The Mustangs’ lineup was constructed similarly to the Bulldogs, with its strength in the lighter weights.

“They were very similar to Becker,” Geiser said. “Against Mora, we were down 26-6, but it could have been a lot worse. We wrestled a better team match in the first seven weights against them.”

Like the Becker dual, the Prowlers were staked to an early lead against the Mustangs when Iverson pinned Stratton Nelson at 106.

The Mustangs reeled off six straight wins to take a 26-6 lead. Anthony Nelson pinned Svir at 113; Mason Nelson won by 15-2 major decision over Noah Jacobson at 120; Carter Gmahl won by 18-6 major decision over Hermanson at 126; Nathan Nelson pinned Eli Wilebski at 132; Brock Folkema won by 10-6 decision over Kale Geiser at 138 and Avery Nelson won by 7-1 decision over Ethan Lane at 145.

The Prowlers ended the dual by winning the final seven matches. Lundeen won by 17-1 technical fall over Tucker Hass at 152 to make the score 26-11. Kasprick won by 8-2 decision over Connor Gmahl at 160 to make it 26-14. Wienen won by fall over Cael Sjodin at 170 to cut the deficit to six points. Ferguson won by fall over Brock Peterson at 182 to tie the dual 26-26. Engebretson pinned Jared Yates at 195 to give the Prowlers their first lead since 106. Sargent pinned Dyllon Adams at 220 to make it 38-26; and Colin Bruggeman pinned Josh Gardner at heavyweight to complete the comeback and give the Prowlers a 44-26 win.

“The momentum just kept building,” Geiser said. “We sealed it with Jolson’s pin against a pretty tough 220-pounder. Our crowd was behind us. Our kids who were done wrestling and our crowd started chants. They wanted that win.”

Fairmont/Martin County West dual

After a four-hour break, the Prowlers were back in action against the Fairmont/Martin County West Red Bulls, and they were staked to an early 12-0 lead with wins by fall from Iverson over Torrey Paplow and Svir over Berent Kosbab.

“I thought on paper we matched up OK, that we could knock off a couple guys in the lighter weights,” Geiser said. “Maverick and Nick getting wins set us up. It was a great team effort. Keigan Hermanson is very banged up and only gave up a major decision. Our crowd went nuts and our fans went nuts.”

The Red Bulls reeled off three straight wins with Rylan Cutler defeating Jacobson by 15-4 major decision at 120, Jesse Potts by fall over Owen Dvorak at 126, and Cooper Steuber by 14-1 major decision over Hermanson at 132 to take a 14-12 lead.

The Prowlers regained the lead with a 16-6 major decision win by Kale Geiser over Taylor Austin at 138, but the Red Bulls quickly answered with a Kain Sanders 6-1 decision win over Ethan Lane at 145 to make it 17-16.

The lead changed hands again at 152 and 160. The Prowlers went in front 20-17 after Kasprick defeated Aden Welcome 17-9 at 152; and the Red Bulls tied the dual with Carver Rohman’s 6-4 win over Lundeen at 160 to briefly tie the score 20-20. Fairmont/Martin-County West had a team point deducted due to coach misconduct during the 160-pound match.

The Prowlers stayed in front for good with wins by Wienen over Gage Cyphers by 19-3 technical fall at 170; Ferguson by fall over Riley Allen at 182; and Paul DeHate over Wyatt Williamson by 12-9 decision at 195 to go in front 34-19.

Max Olson pinned Sargent at 220 to make the score 34-25.

Rounding out the scoring for the Prowlers with an exclamation point was a win by fall from Bruggeman over Alec Thompson at 285.

“In that dual, we juggled the lineup a bit,” Geiser said. “Paul DeHate sealed the win for us. “We haven’t wrestled with our full lineup much this year. In fact, our only loss with our full lineup is to Becker.”

Iverson earns All-Tournament recognition
Maverick Iverson became the first Thief River Falls wrestler to be named to the All-Tournament team at the conclusion of this year’s tournament. Iverson went 3-0 with three wins by fall.

“Really proud of Maverick’s end of the season journey,” Geiser said. “He was up and down during the season but really finished strong. “Maverick, Brady Kasprick, Cody Wienen and Carter Engebretson went undefeated. I felt like we should have had at least two wrestlers on the All-Tournament Team. Brady Kasprick should have been included. He beat three state entrants and didn’t get to wrestle in the individual tournament.”

Becker 42, Thief River Falls 24
106 – Maverick Iverson (Thief River Falls) over Bennett Kujawa (Becker) Fall 1:49; 113 – Kaden Nicolas (Becker) over Damien Kazmierczak (Thief River Falls) Fall 0:21; 120 – Landen Kujawa (Becker) over Nick Svir (Thief River Falls) Fall 1:32; 126 – Drew May (Becker) over Noah Jacobson (Thief River Falls) Fall 5:48; 132 – Keigan Hermanson (Thief River Falls) over Nolan Muellner (Becker) Dec 11-5; 138 – Ethan Anderson (Becker) over Kale Geiser (Thief River Falls) Fall 1:12; 145 – Owen Angell (Becker) over Ethan Lane (Thief River Falls) Fall 2:56; 152 – Brady Kasprick (Thief River Falls) over Mason Doucette (Becker) Dec 6-5; 160 – Griffin Lundeen (Thief River Falls) over Adam Jurek (Becker) Dec 6-1; 170 – Cody Wienen (Thief River Falls) over Ryan Nelson (Becker) Dec 9-3; 182 – Tyson Ricker (Becker) over Damon Ferguson (Thief River Falls) Dec 5-4; 195 – Carter Engebretson (Thief River Falls) over Dylan Weber (Becker) Fall 2:55; 220 – Dylan Kolby (Becker) over Jolson Sargent (Thief River Falls) Dec 4-1; 285 – Bryce Kuschel (Becker) over Colin Bruggeman (Thief River Falls) Fall 2:29.

Thief River Falls 44, Mora 26
106 – Maverick Iverson (Thief River Falls) over Stratton Nelson (Mora) Fall 1:09; 113 – Anthony Nelson (Mora) over Nick Svir (Thief River Falls) Fall 4:34; 120 – Mason Nelson (Mora) over Noah Jacobson (Thief River Falls) Maj 15-2; 126 – Carter Gmahl (Mora) over Keigan Hermanson (Thief River Falls) Maj 18-6; 132 – Nathan Nelson (Mora) over Eli Wilebski (Thief River Falls) Fall 0:57; 138 – Brock Folkema (Mora) over Kale Geiser (Thief River Falls) Dec 10-6; 145 – Avery Nelson (Mora) over Ethan Lane (Thief River Falls) Dec 7-1; 152 – Griffin Lundeen (Thief River Falls) over Tucker Hass (Mora) TF 17-1; 160 – Brady Kasprick (Thief River Falls) over Connor Gmahl (Mora) Dec 8-2; 170 – Cody Wienen (Thief River Falls) over Cael Sjodin (Mora) Fall 0:32; 182 – Damon Ferguson (Thief River Falls) over Brock Peterson (Mora) Fall 2:00; 195 – Carter Engebretson (Thief River Falls) over Jared Yates (Mora) Fall 2:45; 220 – Jolson Sargent (Thief River Falls) over Dyllon Adams (Mora) Fall 4:46; 285 – Colin Bruggeman (Thief River Falls) over Josh Gardner (Mora) Fall 1:18.

Thief River Falls 40, Fairmont/MCW 25
106 – Maverick Iverson (Thief River Falls) over Torrey Paplow (Fairmont-Martin County West) Fall 1:41; 113 – Nick Svir (Thief River Falls) over Berent Kosbab (Fairmont-Martin County West) Fall 3:32; 120 – Rylan Cutler (Fairmont-Martin County West) over Noah Jacobson (Thief River Falls) Maj 15-4; 126 – Jesse Potts (Fairmont-Martin County West) over Owen Dvorak (Thief River Falls) Fall 1:29; 132 – Cooper Steuber (Fairmont-Martin County West) over Keigan Hermanson (Thief River Falls) Maj 14-1; 138 – Kale Geiser (Thief River Falls) over Taylor Austin (Fairmont-Martin County West) Maj 16-6; 145 – Kain Sanders (Fairmont-Martin County West) over Ethan Lane (Thief River Falls) Dec 6-1; 152 – Brady Kasprick (Thief River Falls) over Aden Welcome (Fairmont-Martin County West) Maj 17-9; 160 – Carver Rohman (Fairmont-Martin County West) over Griffin Lundeen (Thief River Falls) Dec 6-4; 170 – Cody Wienen (Thief River Falls) over Gage Cyphers (Fairmont-Martin County West) TF 19-3; 182 – Damon Ferguson (Thief River Falls) over Riley Allen (Fairmont-Martin County West) Fall 0:28; 195 – Paul DeHate (Thief River Falls) over Wyatt Williamson (Fairmont-Martin County West) Dec 12-9; 220 – Max Olson (Fairmont-Martin County West) over Jolson Sargent (Thief River Falls) Fall 0:50; 285 – Colin Bruggeman (Thief River Falls) over Alec Thompson (Fairmont-Martin County West) Fall 1:50; Fairmont-Martin County West’s team score was adjusted by -1.0 for coach unsportsmanship.