Wrestlers Finish Dual Season 17-5

By: Kevin Fick

The 2014 West Central  Area/Ashby/Evansville Knight wrestlers have concluded their ’14 dual campaign.  As with many teams it ended in a loss which happened in the semi-finals at team sections but let’s first look at this team and their accomplishments over the year with a comparison to last season.

The WCAAE Knights found themselves in a unique situation at the start of this season as unlike most high school teams they did not lose a single senior to graduation last year.  With all returning starters and a JV that was able to insert adequate athletes when needed the Knights turned last seasons dismal record of 7-13 into a very respectable mark of 17-5!  Coach Brandon Gruchow did a marvelous job at not just keeping his athletes healthy and ready but played a very strategic game of shifting wrestlers in and out of weight classes to best put his team in the most favorable position on the mat.  His efforts were rewarded as the Park Region Conference ‘Coach of the Year’.  Coaching aside the grapplers themselves are the players that get the work done on the mat.  There are no teammates, no coaches out there to help when in a wrestling match.  It is one on one and the opponent isn’t exactly cooperative in regards to an individuals efforts to score and win.  The Knights put up an astounding number of points on opponents as the boys in red scored a section leading average of 50 points per dual!  That is a 42% increase from last season in which the team scored 29.4.  Defensively the wrestlers did their duty also allowing just 21.7 points scored on them per match.  Compared to last seasons 43.9 that is a difference of 51%.  These efforts allowed for the following…runner up in the Park Region Conference, final four finishers in Section 6A, 3^rd place in the Grant County 10 team tournament, 17^th place in the 33 team Big Bear Tournament, and 3^rd place in the eight team Morris Invitational, all improvements over last year. 

There are individuals who view wrestling as an individual sport, there are indeed individual efforts and accolades that happen within wrestling but make no mistake in thinking that the team aspect does not hold importance to the athletes and coaches.  This team has accomplished a considerable turn around and the communities of West Central Area, Ashby and Evansville can be quite proud of their wrestlers.

The wrestlers competed twice this past week with team section action against Staples-Motley and Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale.  The Knights turned in their most dominant performance of the year Tuesday the 11^th against the 7-5 Cardinals with a 51-16 home victory in the opening round of playoffs.  This pitted the Knights against the BHV Raiders for the third time this season in Pelican Rapids. The WCAAE team competed valiantly against the heavily favored Raiders but fell a couple matches short.  The six WCAAE wins simply did not match up with the eight Raider victories in a 26-39 loss.  Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale went on to win the section by beating Border West and will represent Section 6A at the state tournament.

Tuesday, Feb 11^th    Barrett, MN

WCAAE 51,  Staples-Motley 16

106 lb. Jake Nohre (WCAAE) defeated Eric Lisson per dec. 8-1

113 lb. Levin Larkin (WCAAE) defeated Blake Gerard per dec. 5-0

120 lb. Keaton Long (WCAAE) defeated Dalton Holmberg per fall 1:24

126 lb. Tyler Onstad (WCAAE) defeated Gage Brown per dec. 9-5

132 lb. Jake Swendsrud (SM) defeated Aiden Winter per fall :28

138 lb. Jake Larkin (WCAAE) defeated Alex Erpelding per fall 1:51

145 lb. Kyle Mickelsen (WCAAE) defeated Jeremy Miller per dec. 2-0

152 lb. Royal Crow (WCAAE) won per forfeit

160 lb. Braedon Long (WCAAE) defeated Braden Tyrell per fall 1:00

170 lb. Nathan Johnson (SM) defeated Koel Seifort per fall 5:23

182 lb. Drew Peterson (SM) defeated Blake Amundson per major dec. 15-4

195 lb. Sid Kamrath (WCAAE) defeated Dillon Massey per dec. 6-2

220 lb. Hunter Fick (WCAAE) defeated Mike Moxley per fall :39

285 lb. Buzz Miller (WCAAE) defeated Brian Mitts per fall 1:34

Saturday, Feb. 16^th   Pelican Rapids

WCAAE 26,   BHV 39

“We took a risk and changed things up a bit” stated Coach Brandon Gruchow…” somethings we were able to do after winning the flip.  Having wrestled BHV twice this season and losing both times, we knew we had some points to stretch. Adding Drake Swanson to the line-up and bumping up from there would help make up some of the points.  The lighter weights got it done and we were on track.  BHV pulled off a couple of big wins and started stretching the points back out on us.  They just had a little more pinning power than we did.  I thought we wrestled fairly well, we just needed to get more of the wins by pins and that didn't happen. These boys should be proud of their accomplishments.  They got to the final four which was one the goals they set back in July at camp.  They changed as a team.  They grew and transformed into a great team....which surprised a lot of people.  They got better and better as we went deeper into the season.  I am proud of their efforts and dedication they demonstrated. We will get back to the mat on Monday with a different perspective and goals in mind as we try to get our guys prepared for the individual section tournament and another chance to make it down to the State Tournament individually.  Thanks for all the support we received from the people in the WCAAE area throughout the season.”

106 lb. Drake Swanson (WCAAE) defeated Jarret Kveaton per fall :45

113 lb. Jake Nohre (WCAAE) defeated Anthony Kern per dec. 3-1 in OT

120 lb. Justin Gordon (BHV) defeated Levi Larkin per dec. 7-0

126 lb. Keaton Long (WCAAE) defeated Marshall Willis per injury default

132 lb. Zach Waln (BHV) defeated Tyler Onstad per fall 4:44

138 lb. Jake Larkin (WCAAE) defeated Holton Truax per dec. 8-2

145 lb. Ethan Kimber (BHV) defeated Kyle Mickelsen per dec. 4-0

152 lb. Royal Crow (WCAAE) defeated defeated Nick Cihlar per major dec. 14-3

160 lb. Hayden Truax (BHV) defeated Braedon Long per fall 2:47

170 lb. Nick Bennett (BHV) defeated Blake Amundson per fall 2:55

182 lb. Charlton Nienaber (BHV) defeated Sid Kamrath per dec. 5-4

195 lb. Hunter Fick (WCAAE) defeated John French per major dec. 8-0

220 lb. Dillon Card (BHV) defeated T.j.Waskosky per fall :46

285 lb. Dalton Baker (BHV) defeated Buzz Miller per fall :56

Jake Nohre was KKOK’s ‘Wrestler of the Match’ for defeating #3 state ranked Anthony Kern in their overtime bout.

The WCAAE Knights will resume action in Wadena Friday, Feb 21^st and Sat. the 22^nd competing  in the Section 6A Individual Tournament.  Wrestling action will begin at 2 pm.  All the marbles will be cast as the top two placers in each weight class advance to the state tournament.  Best of luck Knights!