by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor
Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus defeated Thief River Falls 35-30 in the Section 8AA team semifinals at the Lincoln High School Brickhouse Friday night.
The match pitted the Prowlers, who were seeded first in the west half of Section 8AA against the Road Crew, who were seeded second in the east half of the section despite being ranked seventh in Class AA.
The teams previously met in early January, with the Roadcrew winning eight of 14 matches for a 46-33 final score. In that first dual, the Roadcrew raced to an 18-0 lead with pins in the first three matches.
The Prowlers got off to a better start Friday night after saving four bonus points in the first two matches. At 106 pounds, Trevor Holmberg of PLPRB defeated Damian Kazmierczak by 11-1 major decision, and at 113, Parker Zutter of PLPRB won by 16-5 major decison over Nick Svir. Easton Miller pinned Landen Larson at 120 to give the Roadcrew a 14-0 lead through the first three weights.
The Prowlers looked like they would get on the board at 126 when Maverick Iverson used a spladle to secure a takedown and two nearfall points against Owen Dabill. The lead was still 4-0 in favor of Iverson going into the third period. Dabill bullrushed Iverson and defended a throw attempt by Iverson before securing a win by fall to make the score 20-0.
The Prowlers clawed their way back into the dual with a win by fall from Noah Jacobson over Sean Kilpatrick at 132, a Keigan Hermanson win over Grant Thompson by 12-9 decision at 138 and a 5-2 win from Kale Geiser over Brady Ruhl at 145.
The Roadcrew led 20-12 heading into the 152-pound match and they added to their lead with a 5-0 win by Chance Abraham over Ethan Lane at 152.
The Prowlers took their first lead of the night with back-to-back wins by fall. Griffin Lundeen pinned Earl Stockman at 160 and Damon Ferguson pinned Paxton Goddard to put the Prowlers in front 24-23 with four matches to go.
The Roadcrew regained the lead with a 9-6 win by Trey Tuchtenhagen over Riley Poissant at 182 and they made it a 32-24 advantage with a win by fall from Corbin Knapp over Josh Herrera at 195.
The Prowlers got a big win from Carter Engebretson at 220 to make the team score 32-30 with one match remaining.
Thief River Falls heavwyeight Jackson Ingram was 0-2 in his career against PLPRB heavyweight Riley Peters. Ingram scored the first takedown on a bad shot by Peters and led 2-1 at the end of the first period.
Ingram deferred the choice at the start of the second period and Peters chose to start in the top position. Peters had pinned Ingram in their previous meeting. This time, Ingram got the escape and led 3-1 midway through the second period.
Peters pummeled for double underhooks, locked up a throw and put Ingram on his back late in the second period. Ingram managed to get out of bounds, but the damage was done with Peters taking a 6-3 lead into the third period.
Ingram chose to start in the neutral position in the third period and he scored on a go-behind midway through the period that briefly made the score 6-5. The score was 7-5 late when Ingram forced a headlock attempt that Peters defended for the 9-5 win.
“I felt like as a whole we wrestled well,” said Thief River Falls Head Coach Kenny Geiser. “Just needed to get one more win. The boys fought hard. At 182 and heavyweight we almost got the one we needed.
“In the 14 matchups, I felt like we out wrestled expectations in six, which was impressive, especially Kazmierzcak, Lane, and Svir. They gave us the chance by not giving up more bonus points.
“It’s a tough loss, such an entertaining back and forth dual. The older guys took it hard. They really wanted the return trip to state. That part is hard to watch as a coach, the kids who work so hard and really want it. But they will realize the work they put in was still worth it.”
The other semifinal pitted East number one seed Perham, who jumped to the number one spot after upsetting PLPRB late in the regular season, against West number three seed Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton.
DGF defeated Perham 34-21 to advance to the championship.
The Roadcrew defeated the Rebels 36-23 to win their second section championship in the last three seasons.
Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus 35, Thief River Falls 30
106 – Trevor Holmberg (PLPRB) over Damian Kazmierczak (Thief River Falls) Maj 11-1; 113 – Parker Zutter (PLPRB) over Nick Svir (Thief River Falls) Maj 16-5; 120 – Easton Miller (PLPRB) over Landen Larson (Thief River Falls) Fall 3:20; 126 – Owen Dabill (PLPRB) over Maverick Iverson (Thief River Falls) Fall 4:44; 132 – Noah Jacobson (Thief River Falls) over Sean Kilpatrick (PLPRB) Fall 3:49; 138 – Keigan Hermanson (Thief River Falls) over Grant Thompson (PLPRB) Dec 12-9; 145 – Kale Geiser (Thief River Falls) over Brady Ruhl (PLPRB) Dec 5-2; 152 – Chance Abraham (PLPRB) over Ethan Lane (Thief River Falls) Dec 5-0; 160 – Griffin Lundeen (Thief River Falls) over Earl Stockman (PLPRB) Fall 1:55; 170 – Damon Ferguson (Thief River Falls) over Paxton Goddard (PLPRB) Fall 0:18; 182 – Trey Tuchtenhagen (PLPRB) over Riley Poissant (Thief River Falls) Dec 9-6; 195 – Corbin Knapp (PLPRB) over Josh Herrera (Thief River Falls) Fall 0:48; 220 – Carter Engebretson (Thief River Falls) over Payton Scott (PLPRB) Fall 0:56; 285 – Riley Peters (PLPRB) over Jackson Ingram (Thief River Falls) Dec 9-5.