On Saturday December 14, the PEM wrestling team played host to teams from New Prague, Rochester Mayo, and Zumbrota-Mazeppa as all 4 competed in dual meet competition.
The first round of the morning pitted the Bulldogs against the Trojans of New Prague. The Bulldogs would have their work cut out for them with the Trojans currently ranked #5 in the state in AAA, and touting 5 ranked individual wrestlers. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the Trojans were as tough as advertised in the lower weights winning 6 of the first 7 matches including 4 by fall.
At 132 Garrett Olson was the first Bulldog to put points on the scoreboard with a hard-fought overtime victory. Tied 4-4 in the extra period, Olson used and aggressive single leg attack and drug his feet to stay in bounds and get the winning takedown. The next highlight for the Bulldogs was at 152 where Cael Marx (ranked #8 AA) scored a 7-4 victory over New Prague’s Max Scheffler (ranked #7 AAA). At 160, sophomore Carson Reeve got his first career varsity win by forfeit. Then at 170, senior middle-weight Joe Stucky (ranked #9 AA), bumped up to 170 and put on a takedown clinic to gain a 13-3 major decision. The final highlight of the dual for the Bulldogs was at 285 where top ranked HWT Logan Wingert remained unbeaten with a 2nd period pin over New Prague’s Evan Anderson.
New Prague 44 PEM 22
106: Koy Buesgens (NP) over Isaac Walch (PEM) (Fall 3:53)
113: Colton Bornholdt (NP) over Riley Boland (PEM) (Fall 1:14)
120: Colby Dunkel (NP) over Alex Hinrichs (PEM) (Fall 1:43)
126: Joey Novak (NP) over Austin Michel (PEM) (Fall 2:54)
132: Garrett Olson (PEM) over Ryan Wagner (NP) (SV-1 6-4)
138: Nick Novak (NP) over Cooper Hofschulte (PEM) (MD 11-2)
145: Carter Bornholdt (NP) over Kael Lamb (PEM) (Dec 3-0)
152: Cael Marx (PEM) over Max Scheffler (NP) (Dec 7-4)
160: Carson Reeve (PEM) over (NP) (For.)
170: Joe Stucky (PEM) over Jay Skogerboe (NP) (MD 13-3)
182: Jake Trachte (NP) over Dereck Boyum (PEM) (MD 11-3)
195: William Busch (NP) over Alex Rahman (PEM) (Fall 3:41)
220: Jarek Tikalsky (NP) over Anthony Roberton (PEM) (Dec 6-0)
285: Logan Wingert (PEM) over Evan Anderson (NP) (Fall 2:54)
In the 2nd Dual of the day, the Bulldogs squared off against another Class AAA opponent Rochester Mayo. This time PEM would get out to the first lead at 106 with sophomore Isaac Walch. After a scoreless 1st period, Walch would get an escape and takedown in the 2nd period, and then hang on for a 3-1 victory and a 3-0 team lead. Mayo would come storming back with pins at 113 and 120 to flip the scoreboard and jump out to a 12-3 lead. At 126, sophomore Austen Michel would use a spladle in the 1st period to jump out to a 5-0 lead and hang on for an 8-6 victory closing Mayo’s lead to 12-6. In the next bout at 132, junior Garrett Olson gave Mayo’s best wrestler, Marshall Peters (ranked #4 AAA), all he could handle but dropped a close decision, and Mayo stretched their lead to 15-6.
The Bulldogs got going again at 138 with Cooper Hofschulte using 2 takedowns and a reversal to score a 7-1 victory and close the team gap down to 15-9. At 145, Kael Lamb kept the momentum rolling scoring in each period and earning an 8-0 major decision, to make the team score Mayo 15 PEM 13. In the next bout at 152, the Bulldogs would reclaim the lead for the 1st time since 106 when Cael Marx scored a 2nd period pin to put the Bulldogs ahead 19-15. At 160, Joe Stucky would mark the 4th consecutive PEM victory with a first period pin and stretch the lead to 25-15. Not to be outdone, junior Dereck Boyum would get a 1st period pin of his own to give the Bulldogs a commanding 31-15 lead.
But the Spartans were not done yet as they came roaring back with 3 more pins at 182, 195, and 220 to retake the team lead 33-31 heading into the heavyweight match. Fortunately for PEM,,Logan Wingert left no doubt about why he is the top-ranked heavyweight in the state, needing just 1:04 to get the pin that would seal the dual meet 37-33 in favor of the Bulldogs.
PEM 37 Rochester Mayo 33
106: Isaac Walch (PEM) over Kai Kobayashi (RM) (Dec 3-1)
113: Calder Sheehan (RM) over Riley Boland (PEM) (Fall 1:22)
120: Ben Timmerman (RM) over Alex Hinrichs (PEM) (Fall 0:22)
126: Austin Michel (PEM) over Riku Kobayashi (RM) (Dec 8-6)
132: Marshall Peters (RM) over Garrett Olson (PEM) (Dec 7-3)
138: Cooper Hofschulte (PEM) over Ian Funk (RM) (Dec 7-1)
145: Kael Lamb (PEM) over Ayden Messmer (RM) (MD 8-0)
152: Cael Marx (PEM) over Dylan Peper (RM) (Fall 2:46)
160: Joe Stucky (PEM) over Bryant Badger (RM) (Fall 1:46)
170: Dereck Boyum (PEM) over Ethan Vanderwaerdt (RM) (Fall 1:55)
182: Sam Allen (RM) over Alex Rahman (PEM) (Fall 2:24)
195: Bennett Ellsworth (RM) over Anthony Roberton (PEM) (Fall 3:45)
220: Dedric Burger (RM) over Cody Schneider (PEM) (Fall 0:42)
285: Logan Wingert (PEM) over Keegan Ernste (RM) (Fall 1:04)
In the final dual of the day, PEM faced the Cougars of Zumbrota-Mazeppa. The Cougars got off to a quick start winning the first 4 weight classes and putting the Bulldogs in a 19-0 hole. At 132, Garrett Olson got the Bulldogs started with a hard fought 10-6 victory, giving PEM their first 3 points of the dual. At 138, Cooper Hofschulte needed just 1:14 to record a 1st period pin, and give the Bulldogs 6 more points. Z-M answered right back with a pin at 145 and a 3-1 decision at 152 extending the lead to 28-9.
Cael Marx and Joe Stucky each used less than a minute to pick up pins at 160 and 170 to pull the Bulldogs back within 7 trailing 28-21. But yet again, the Cougars with a win at 182, followed by pins at 195 and 220 closing the door on any hopes for a PEM comeback. At 285, Logan Wingert concluded the dual picking up a forfeit for his 6th win of the season.
Pictures of the Event are available here!
Zumbrota Mazeppa 43 PEM 27
106: Kaleb Lochner (ZM) over Isaac Walch (PEM) (Dec 6-0)
113: Lucas Schiell (ZM) over Riley Boland (PEM) (Fall 1:38)
120: Ben Murray (ZM) over Alex Hinrichs (PEM) (MD 13-3)
126: John Poulin (ZM) over Austin Michel (PEM) (Fall 3:15)
132: Garrett Olson (PEM) over Luke Krier (ZM) (Dec 10-6)
138: Cooper Hofschulte (PEM) over Evan Groby (ZM) (Fall 1:14)
145: Beau Jurrens (ZM) over Dominic Michel (PEM) (Fall 1:47)
152: Cole Poncelet (ZM) over Kael Lamb (PEM) (Dec 3-1)
160: Cael Marx (PEM) over Tanner Mancilman (ZM) (Fall 0:54)
170: Joe Stucky (PEM) over Kyle Cloutier (ZM) (Fall 0:36)
182: Gabe Tupper (ZM) over Dereck Boyum (PEM) (Dec 9-4)
195: Ethan Kovars (ZM) over Alex Rahman (PEM) (Fall 1:07)
220: Jack Haglund (ZM) over Anthony Roberton (PEM) (Fall 0:49)
285: Logan Wingert (PEM) over (ZM) (For.)
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