Panthers drop tough one to Waseca, win big one over LARP
TWO FOR A TAKEDOWN — NRHEG’s Jacob Staloch takes down Waseca’s Tanner Pehrson during last Thursday’s nonconference dual meet at New Richland. The Panthers lost 34-32. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)
LOCKDOWN — The Panthers’ Matt Dahle attempts a move on Waseca’s Jon Trevino at New Richland last Thursday. (Star Eagle photo by Chris Schlaak)
By JIM LUTGENS
Editor/Publisher
The NRHEG wrestling team ran its dual-meet record to 8-3 when it went 1-2 last week.
The Panthers lost 34-32 to Waseca at home Thursday. On Saturday at Kasson, they defeated Lewiston-Altura/Rushford-Peterson 35-33 while falling 60-10 to Simley, rated No. 1 in the state in Class AAA.
Coach Paul Cyr was not happy with what happened against Waseca.
“We were very disappointed in the outcome of the dual meet,” said Cyr. “We had to hold some of our guys out due to match count issues and it came back to haunt us. Frankly, it was a poor job of matching up and coaching on my part. I feel badly for our guys in that respect. Give Waseca credit. They wrestled well when they had to and didn’t give falls which ultimately made the difference.”
For those unfamiliar with the term “match count,” the Minnesota State High School League allows each wrestler to compete in 36 matches before the section tournament.
“When scheduling for a given season, you anticipate your number of matches, etc., but that gets out of whack a bit when wrestlers are in the consolation bracket of a tournament and wrestle four or five matches in a given day,” said Cyr. “In our case we had one individual wrestle eight times at the Redwood Riot. That is the issue with some of our guys.”The problem was alleviated somewhat on Saturday. For a variety of reasons, according to Cyr, the Panthers only wrestled two duals.
Cyr called the LARP meet one of their best wins of the season.
“We put together a great effort,” said the coach.
Included was a big 14-3 win at 120 pounds by Dustin Esplan over Justin Doerr, who had beaten him in the first round of the state tournament last year. At 145, NRHEG’s David Lassahn took on No. 4 rated Jordan Theede and the results were much the same as Lassahn came away with a 19-7 victory. Geoff Ramaker sealed the win with a fall at 220.
Also winning for NRHEG were Jade Waltz, 113; Tyler Logan, 132; Jake Staloch, 138; Matt Dahle, 170; and Seth Petranek, 182.
Posting victories against Simley were Dillon Kubiatowicz, 106; and Esplan, 120.
“Simley has a very good lineup from top to bottom and were in over our heads a little bit, but the guys battled and gave a good account of themselves.”
The Panthers have a busy schedule this week when they wrestle eight duals in a span of three days, at Kenyon-Wanamingo Thursday, at Lakeville South Friday and at Wabasha-Kellogg Saturday.