It's hard for me to believe the season is winding down but here we are already talking about the Regions and the upcoming state tournament. Aberdeen is in Region 3A which was held in Huron this year. Coach Bowden had the team ready to go as they looked good and wrestled well. In fact, I thought it was the best we've looked all year. The past couple years the team has peaked at the end of the season and it looks like that is the case again this year. The excitement in the air and the nerves of the parents were apparent Saturday in Huron. Fans were vocal early as some first round matchups had big time implications on individuals qualifying for the state tournament.
As a team Aberdeen finished in 2nd place behind Pierre. We qualified 10 wrestlers for the state tournament. We had 3 individual champions (Salfrank, Moore, Baker) and 4 Runner Up finishers. We lost a couple heartbreakers but also won some matches I think other schools didn't think we would win. Below is a synopsis of each individual wrestler.
106: Brenden Salfrank. Brenden continued his undefeated season winning the Region title. He had a bye in the opening round followed by a 1st period pin over Trey Neilan from Chamberlain before he beat Brock Sparks from Mitchell 10-3 in the finals. Brenden goes into the state tournament as the top seed. He will wrestle Josh Hoffman from Spearfish in the opening round.
113: Brock Martin. Brock was the 3 seed in the tourney and came out firing on all cylinders. He pinned Cheyenne Eagle Butte Isaac Halfred in the first period before facing the 2 seed, Barrett Schneck in the semi finals. The Milbank kid was not ready for the type of aggressiveness Brock displayed. Brock won by a major decision 13-4 to send himself to the region finals. He lost to Chamberlain's Max Donovan to earn a Runner Up finish. Brock will face Jacob Vogel from Dell Rapids in the state opening round
120: Ethan Allen. Ethan was also the 3 seed but took a different route to qualify for the state tourney. He lost his opening round match so had to come through the wrestlebacks. He beat Chamberlain's Dominic Santiago 10-3 in the blood round to qualify. He then pinned Bryce Palmer from Mitchell for a 3rd place finish. It was nice to see him wrestle well after that first round loss. Ethan has been out most of the year so it's good to see him get back to the state tourney. Ethan will see the top seed Jacob Wood from Sturgis in the opening round of state.
126: Jacob Moore. "Crash" is our other #1 ranked wrestler in the state and received an opening round bye. In the semi's he pinned Kaden Krause from Milbank in just over a minute. Jacob has the ability to throw kids and that's what he did here to send himself to the finals. His foe was the #2 ranked kid in the state, Collin Powell from Chamberlain. The match was tied 1-1 late in the third period when a scramble ensued and Jacob ended up putting Powell on his back for a 6-1 decision. Crash is the top seed in the state tournament. He faces Rapid City Central's Zack Soderlin in the opening round.
132: Calvin Beadle. If Calvin could have won his opening round he would have been guaranteed a spot in the state tournament. It wasn't meant to be, however, and his season is over. I saw a lot of improvement in Calvin this year, you can tell he works hard and never gives up during a match. Wrestling varsity this entire year will help him in the future.
138: Logan Beadle. Logan also has improved throughout the year, he lost a close opening round match where he would have had a couple takedowns if the mat was just a little bit bigger. He bounced back to earn a pin over Ben Harstad from Milbank before falling to Cody Skustad of Chamberlain. Just like his younger brother, Calvin, the experience Logan has gained this year should help him next year.
145: Garrett Mitzel. Coming off his tournament title last week in Huron Garrett opened the tournament with a pin in just 56 seconds over Chamberlain's Garret Ristau. a lost in the semi finals sent him to the blood round where he earned another pin. This time over Gabe Halfred of Cheyenne Eagle Butte. Garrett would end up in 4th place after losing to Daynon Huber from Huron. Garrett will face the 3 seed, Tyson Stoebner from Lennox in the opening round of the state tourney.
152: Samuel Calvert. Sam came out aggressive against the top seed, Tyson Lien, from Huron and scored some points but couldn't pull off the upset. Samuel bounced back to pin the 4 seed Dillon Schneck from Milbank in just under 4 minutes. This left him one win away from qualifying for the state tourney. He was wrestling a great match taking Lee Snyder from Pierre down and controlling him, however a late headlock proved to be too much to overcome. I never saw Samuel quit in a match, the kid is a hard worker and you could see the improvement as the season went on. Look for him to make big strides next year.
160: Will Jarrott. Will came into the tourney as the top seed and the #2 ranked kid in his weight class. he opened up with a first period pin over Jaret Clarke from Pierre and followed that with a major decision over Alec Bien from Milbank. In the finals was a familiar foe in Huron's Jenkins-Harris. This time Jenkins-Harris got the better of Will taking him down in over time. Jarrott is the 3 seed at the state tourney. He faces Wyatt Knudson from Beresford and if he wins that he will more than likely face Jenkins-Harris in the quarters. I'm confident the senior can work his way to the finals.
170: Dillon Stoebner. Dillon has also been out most of the year due to injury, he recently made his way back to the lineup and has been getting back into wrestling shape. This was the best I have seen Dillon wrestle as he was aggressive and smart on his feet. Dillon faced the 3 seed, Toby Schneck from Milbank in the opening round. A late takedown earned him the 4-3 decision. in the semi finals he would face Huron's Matthew Katz, who is ranked 7th in the state. some more late scoring from Dillon got him a 7-4 decision and a trip to the finals. There he would lose to Raske from Pierre to earn a runner up finish. Dillon opens up the state tournament facing Katz again and if he wins that he sees Raske again. An odd thing you wouldn't have seen years ago before the state tournament was seeded. By the way, they seed the top 10 this year and Dillon is the 10 while Katz is the 7 seed.
182: Brock Baker. An opening round bye for the 3 seed saw Brock face Max Schoenfelder from Mitchel in the semi's. A hard fought 5-4 win got him to the finals where he would square off against Pierre's Garrett Leesman. Brock dominated Leesman, shutting him out 6-0 to earn Aberdeen's 3rd Region title. Brock Goes into the state tournament as the 4 seed. He will face Caleb Dumke from Sioux Falls Lincoln in the opening round.
195: Alex Hopfinger. Alex was the 2 seed. His opening round foe was Will Mahnke from Chamberlain. Alex pinned him in the 3rd period sending himself to the semi finals. There he would face the 3 seed Brodie Holtquist from Milbank. Alex was in control of the match before Holtquist put him to his back for the pin. Hopfinger bounced back to earn a 7-1 win over Devyn Balster from Huron to punch his ticket to the state tournament. I, for one, was nervous about this match. Alex had to get a late takedown to beat Balster two weeks earlier in the dual against Huron so I thought this would be a close match. However, Alex handled him easily. In the 3rd place match Alex beat Blake Fredericks out of Mitchel 10-3. His first round foe is Andrew Jensen from Beresford.
220: Richard Steuck. Richard spent most of the season on the JV but a late season call up will prove beneficial to him later on in his high school career. The sophomore battled hard but with 4 ranked wrestlers in the state out of this region it was going to be tough to qualify. I'm looking forward to watching him the next two years and seeing his improvements along the way.
285: Kaden Johnson. An opening round bye for the 2 seed sent him to the semi finals where he would face Beau Foote from Mitchell. Kaden would earn a hard fought 3-2 decision and a trip to the finals where he would face Nash Hutmacher. Kaden would fall to the top ranked kid in the state to earn a Runner Up finish. Kaden's first round match is against Michael Streeter from Belle Fourche. Kaden is the two seed at the state tournament.
For those of you who can't make it to the state tournament it will be streaming on line. Below is the link. Good luck to the 10 wrestlers who qualified, hopefully we bring back a lot of hardware!
http://www.sdpb.org/wrestling/2018-2019/
Monday, February 18, 2019
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Huron, a Dual and a Tournament
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)