NEVER LET GO — NRHEG’s Geoff Ramaker, left, goes for a single-leg takedown on USC’s Colten Carlson during last Thursday’s Gopher Conference dual meet at Wells. The Rebels won the meet, 50-24. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)
By JIM LUTGENS
Editor/Publisher
NRHEG wrestling coach Paul Cyr does not really believe his team is as bad as last Thursday’s 50-24 loss at United South Central might indicate.
But one thing is clear.
“At this point,” said Cyr. “It looks like USC is better than we are.”
The Rebels were on this night, scoring six falls to pull off an upset in what has become one of the area’s best wrestling rivalries. It was the first dual-meet loss of the season for the Panthers, who dropped to 7-1 overall and 2-1 in the Gopher Conference.
“We were really disappointed in the outcome of our dual with USC,” said Cyr. “There were not many bright spots, even from an individual standpoint.”
Having starters Brandon LeBlanc and Matt Dahle out of the lineup did not help NRHEG.
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