The biggest match of the night was at 182 pounds, between the Panthers’ No. 3 rated Seth Petranek and No. 5 ranked Brady Thisius, who avenged a loss by fall to Petranek last year with an 8-7 decision that all but sealed the meet for USC.
“We did not wrestle well from any position,” said Cyr. “We weren’t aggressive from our feet and did not do enough at the bottom to create any flurries.”
Winning for NRHEG were Dustin Esplan, 126; David Lassahn, 145; Jacob Staloch, 152; and Nathan Krohn, 160. Esplan, Lassahn and Krohn won by fall.
The Panthers were sixth out of seven teams at Hutchinson Saturday. Jackson County Central won with 233 points, followed by Atwater-Cosmos-Grove Cit with 202.5, Hutchinson/Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart 1765, Watertown-Mayer 118, Willmar 113, NRHEG 106.5 and Totino-Grace 66.
“To some degree, our effort in Hutchinson was more of the same thing as we did not compete very well in some of our weight classes,” said the coach.
The Panthers had three finalists and one champion, Esplan at 120. He won by fall in the finals, improving his season record to 20-3.
The other finalists, Dillon Parpart at 160 and Petranek at 185, faced the No. 1 ranked wrestlers in the state in the finals.
Other NRHEG placewinners: Dillon Kubiatowicz, fifth, 106; Jade Waltz, fifth, 113, Tyler Logan, fifth, 126; Dustin Burshem, sixth, 132; Staloch, sixth, 138; Lassahn, fifth, 145; Cody Ripka, fourth, 152; Krohn, sixth, 152; Geoff Ramaker, sixth, 195.
“We are fighting ourselves as much as our opponents at times as we seem to have lost the confidence we once had,” said Cyr. “Our performance the past week certainly reflects what I have come to term as ‘the dog days of January’ as a wrestling reference to the heat of August. I am confident that we can rebound from where we are and have more success as we move through the season.”
The Panthers host Waseca in a nonconference dual meet Friday and travel to the Kasson-Mantorville Invitational Saturday.
United South Central 50, NRHEG 24
106 — Dom Alger (USC) fall Dillon Kubiatowicz, 3:46; 113 — Adam Knutson (USC) dec. Ben Whiteaker, 9-2; 120 — Jacob Gonsalez (USC) maj. dec. Jade Waltz, 14-; 126 — Dustin Esplan (NRHEG) fall Keegan Sunde, 1:10; 132 — Dylan Herman (USC) maj. dec. Tyler Logan, 11-2; 138 — Derek Herman (USC) fall Dustin Burshem, 3:45; 145 — David Lassahn (NRHEG) fall Skylar Peterson, 1:19; 152 — Jacob Staloch (NRHEG) forfeit; 160 — Nathan Krohn (NRHEG) fall Travis Brown, 2:47; 170 — Logan Sonnek (USC) fall Dillon Parpart, 3:09; 182 — Brady Thisius (USC) dec. Seth Petranek, 8-7; 195 — Colten Carlson (USC) fall Geoff Ramaker, 3:56; 220 — David Mertens (USC) fall Zeke Erickson, 3:45; 285 — Nathan Mulenbeck (USC) fall Wyatt Fitterer 5:39