Friday night was the ESD dual against Huron, the dual had been rescheduled to this date due to the weather a few weeks ago. It was Senior Night, the team recognized 4 seniors, Jacob Moore, Will Jarrott, Brock Baker and Kaden Johnson. All 4 are having a really good year and have had great careers for Aberdeen. Also, Aberdeen recognized the long time head coach of Huron, Dan McCarty. He is retiring at the end of the season so this was his last ESD dual.
The dual was expected to be a close one so some juggling of the lineup was going to occur and it started at 106, Huron had an 8th grader in the lineup so Aberdeen bumped up top ranked Brenden Salfrank to 113 and brought in Logan Opitz. Opitz got the pin then Salfrank followed suit at 113. Brock Martin went up to 120 and earned a major decision. Right away Aberdeen was up 16-0. Next up was Senior Captain Jacob Moore returning to action after 5 weeks. Huron forfeited to Jacob. It was disappointing to him because he didn't get to wrestle a match on his home mat his senior season. Another forfeit at 132 and Aberdeen was up 28-0. Huron's Chipper Shilingstad would end the streak and start one for Huron. Huron rattled off 6 straight wins and what looked like a blowout for Aberdeen turned into a tight dual. Alex Hopfinger ended the streak by getting a late takedown to beat Devyn Balster 5-3. Kaden Johnson solidified the dual with a second period fall to give the Eagles the win 37-28.
The following day was a trip down to Huron for their 11 team tournament. Aberdeen only had 10 wrestlers competing due to various conflicts. however, 7 of those 10 placed and 3 earned titles.
106 Brenden Salfrank: Another strong performance for the top 106 pounder in the state. He had no problems winning this tournament earning a major decision in the finals over Webster's Cael Larson 16-7.
113 Brock Martin: Brock had a good day, he lost a close one in the semi finals but battled back to pin Sammons from Huron to get 3rd place.
126 Jacob Moore: If folks thought the 5 weeks off were going to affect Jacob we didn't see it Saturday. A pin at the 1:01 mark in the finals over Minneota's Kade Lozinski earned him the title. It was a good return to action for him.
145 Garrett Mitzel: Garrett had a great tournament and appears to be peaking at the end of the season. A pin in the opening round followed by a 7-0 decision in the quarters put him against Rausch from Webster in the semi's. a hard fought 3-2 win over the #6 ranked wrestler put him in the finals where he would face another ranked kid, Gilchrist form Winner. It was a tight match before Mitzel reversed Gilchrist and put him on his back and stuck him midway through the second period. This was Garrett's first ever tournament title including AAU, middle school and high school. Congrats Garrett!
160 Will Jarrott: In the semi finals Will had to face Jenkins-Harris from Huron. Will lost to him the night before but this time around Will dominated him getting a 6-1 decision. This put the #2 wrestler at 160 into the finals where he would face another tough foe in Winner's Sam Krueger. Krueger beat Jarrott in the finals at the Lee Wolf and although this match was a lot closer Krueger still came out on top. Will earned 2nd place in this tournament, Will has been in the finals of every tournament the team has been in this year. A real nice accomplishment.
Brock Baker 182: Brock lost a tough one in the semi's to top ranked in the B's Caleb Oris from Clark. Baker bounced back to earn 3rd place by beating Buysse from Minneota.
Alex Hopfinger 220: Alex lost a close on in the semi finals to Webster's Tristan Bent. Hopfinger would also go on to get 3rd place beating Minneota's Jackson Epsing. I don't know why Alex was at 220 instead of 195 but he has improved throughout the year and it was evident this weekend.
Aberdeen goes into the Region tournament with 5 kids ranked in the top 3 in the state. From what I can tell we will have 13 kids participating in it and Coach Bowden believes all 13 can qualify for the state tournament. Region 3 action begins at 10:00 Saturday in Huron.
Go Eagles!
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