Panthers 12th in Jackson tourney
There was a large crowd for the NRHEG wrestling team’s Gopher Conference opener against United South Central at Wells Thursday, Dec. 7.
It was too much for the young Panthers to overcome.
NRHEG fell to 0-2 overall in dual meets, falling 47-27.
“We are a young inexperienced team and it showed tonight,” said NRHEG coach Shawn Larson. “USC did a great job of promoting this match and had great fan support. It was a fun atmosphere and unfortunately we were unable to rise to the occasion.”
Clay Stenzel got the Panthers’ first win with a 7-2 decision at 113 pounds, but it was sandwiched by falls. USC won by forfeit at 126, by fall at 132, 145 and 152 and by tech fall at 138 while taking a 41-3 advantage.
NRHEG’s Brendon Strand won by forfeit at 160.
Cole Staloch won by fall in 29 seconds at 170, Tyler Jacobson scored a 6-1 decision at 182, Chad Erickson won 8-3 at 195 and Quinten Arndt won by fall at 285.
The bottom line, according to Larson, was falls.
“It simply comes down to the fact that we were pinned too many times,” said the coach. “We are working on mindset in every practice because we are young, but if we are going to be competitive we have to stop using inexperience as our excuse. We are what we are and we just have to be tougher mentally. I take this very personally and I am going to put my efforts into this aspect. There were many situations in which we wrestled well, and primarily that came from our juniors and seniors.
“Cole Staloch, Tyler Jacobson, Chad Erickson, and Quinten Arndt all went out and wrestled like we are expecting, showing that experience does matter in a match like this,” added Larson. “Clay Stenzel also did well for us going out and getting a hard-fought win.”
The biggest turning point, according to Larson, was at 120, where Andrew Reich was leading in the first period and had his opponent in position for a pin, but wound up getting pinned himself.
“That could be a 12-point swing in a dual meet,” said Larson. “In the end, we need to stay off of our backs and battle in those very tough situations. The sun will come up tomorrow and we will be back at it making our push to bring NRHEG wrestling back.”
Rounding out the NRHEG lineup were Nikolas Petsinger, Nick Staloch, Ralph Roesler, Thor Routh, Agro Gushwa and Makota Misgen.
The Panthers wrestled Saturday in the Pizza Ranch Invitational in Jackson, where they were 12th among 16 teams with three placewinners.
Cole Staloch was second at 160, Arndt fourth at 285 and Jacobson fifth at 170.
“This was about all I could ask from our athletes,” said Larson. “Cole had another solid as he avenged a loss from last week, and beat a state entrant to make it to the finals where he lost a hard-fought match. Tyler also wrestled very well. Tyler was drawn into the runner-up in the first match and lost, and wrestled back to the consolation championship, getting falls in each of his wins. Quinten also was wrestling well, winning into the semifinals. In the semifinals he suffered an injury that took him out for the rest of the tournament.”
Larson hopes Arndt will be able to return before the season is over, but he will not return for the remainder of 2017.