On February 8, the PEM wrestlers traveled to Mazeppa for a late season triangular with the Pine Island Panthers and the #1 ranked Zumbrota Mazeppa Cougars. The Bulldogs’ first dual of the night was Section 1AA opponent Pine Island.
The Panther line-up was quite battered with injuries, which lead to an undramatic beginning to the dual meet with the Bulldogs picking up forfeits at the first 3 weight classes with Garrett Olson (106), Kael Lamb (113) and Dereck Boyum (120). In the first actual match of the evening at 126, the Bulldogs’ Cael Marx earned a 12-0 major decision. Pine Island was able to get on the board at 132 with a major decision from their returning state place-winner Dawson Fallon, followed by a pin at 138. But after those 10 points, the Bulldogs would win the last 8 matches. Starting with Joe Stucky earning the pin at 145.
At 152, the Panthers offered a forfeit, and the Bulldogs had Carter Marx at 152, but instead opted to double forfeit and bump Marx up to 160. In the 160 lb. match, Marx was able to put up a major decision, adding 4 more points to the Bulldogs’ column. Alex Rahman followed at 170 with a win by forfeit. At 182, senior Austin Rother slid up a weight class and picked up another major decision for the Bulldogs. At 195, PEM’s Dustin Dittrich extended the Bulldog lead even further with a first period fall. Then in the final two weight classes, Riley and Logan Wingert each accepted forfeits to end the dual meet.
After a brief program to honor Z-M’s amazing class of 13 seniors in the final regular season dual meet of their career, it was time for the Bulldogs to face the defending state champion Cougars. While the final score on the scoreboard would finish lopsided in Z-M’s favor, it was no an indication of the high quality performance by many of the young Bulldogs. While Z-M’s line-up was dominated by talented seniors, the PEM lineup had two openings due to injuries and also featured 6 freshman, including the first 5 weight classes.
Among the PEM highlights, at 106, PEM freshman Garrett Olson took #2 ranked Z-M junior Michael Majerus down to the wire losing a tight 6-5 decision. At 113, another PEM freshman, Kael Lamb pushed his Z-M opponent to the brink as well dropping a slim 1-0 decision. At 126 Cooper Hofschulte gave up some big points early to Z-M senior Mike Vath, but rebounded to bring the match back within 7 points and hold it to a decision. At 132, yet another PEM freshman, Cael Marx bumped up from 126 to defeat Z-M senior Connor Heitman by a 6-2 decision. Joe Stucky, followed it up at 138 with a first period fall for the Bulldog’s 2nd win of the dual.
At 152, in the undercard feature event of the evening PEM junior Carter Marx (currently ranked #5 in AA) would square off against defending state entrant and Z-M senior Sam Nordquist (currently ranked #8 in A). After dueling to a 1st period draw at 0-0, Marx would score a quick escape to take the lead in the 2nd period 1-0. Then in the final minute of the 2nd period Marx would get in on a single leg takedown and finish it to take a 3-0 lead in the match. In the 3rd period, Nordquist would score an escape to get on the board, but no more, as the match would end 3-1 in favor of the Bulldogs.
Then at 182 in the “Main Event” feature of the evening Bulldog junior and returning state entrant Dustin Dittrich would take the mat vs. Z-M’s returning state champion and future University of Minnesota Golden Gopher, #1 ranked senior Caden Steffen. In the first period, both wrestlers battled for position for the first minute with no scoring. Then at the 1 minute mark, Steffen connected on a sweeping single leg takedown to his right. After working to improve his position on bottom, Dittrich was finally able to get back to his feet, and upon getting his feet under him, fired back in on the lower portion of both of Steffen’s legs to record the reversal right at the edge of the mat. The match restarted with only seconds left in the opening period and Dittrich was able to keep down Steffen and take a 2-2 tie score into the 2nd period. Dittrich chose to start the 2nd period in the down position, and Steffen conceded the escape giving Dittrich a 3-2 lead. Midway through the 2nd period, Steffen was able to finish another single leg to take the lead back at 4-3, but Dittrich quickly followed up with an escaped to again tie the match at 4-4. Again Steffen got in deep on another single leg takedown, but this time Dittrich was able to counter and get his leg free. In the final 10 seconds of the period, Dittrich nearly connected on an ankle pick, but Steffen was able to defend the shot and hit a quick re-shot of his own, which was successfully defended by Dittrich as the 2nd period ended in a 4-4 deadlock. Steffen chose the down position to begin the 3rd period, and scored an escape in the first 15 seconds to again take the lead at 5-4. With time winding down, still trailing by a point, Dittrich was forced to become even more aggressive and got a little extended on a leg shot, enabling Steffen to score a go-behind for the takedown. Dittrich quickly scrambled back to his feet for an escape and continued to chase Steffen, but time would expire with Dittrich still behind by a score of 7-5. Although the final result did not go the Bulldogs’ way, all the fans were the real winners as they were treated to an exceptionally high level high school match between two outstanding competitors.
Coach’s Comments: “It was valuable tonight to face Section 1 AA opponent Pine Island and get a look at their contending individuals before the Section Tournament. It was also a great opportunity to get the chance to compete against a top-tier program like Zumbrota-Mazeppa. Both in the matches we won, and in many that we lost, I was pleased with the way our wrestlers did not back down from high level competition.”
Pictures of the Event can be located here!
PEM 66 Pine Island 10
106: Garrett Olson (PEM) over (PIIS) (For.)
113: Kael Lamb (PEM) over (PIIS) (For.)
120: Dereck Boyum (PEM) over (PIIS) (For.)
126: Cael Marx (PEM) over Dan Krier (PIIS) (MD 12-0)
132: #9 Dawson Fallon (PIIS) over Cooper Hofschulte (PEM) (MD 12-1)
138: Evan Goplen (PIIS) over Lafe Aarsvold (PEM) (Fall 0:38)
145: Joe Stucky (PEM) over Mason Pike (PIIS) (Fall 1:45)
152: Double Forfeit
160: #5 Carter Marx (PEM) over Broghan Kunz (PIIS) (MD 14-5)
170: Alex Rahman (PEM) over (PIIS) (For.)
182: Austin Rother (PEM) over Brayden Burkhalter (PIIS) (MD 11-0)
195: Dustin Dittrich (PEM) over Tanner Simon (PIIS) (Fall 1:09)
220: # 10 Riley Wingert (PEM) over (PIIS) (For.)
285: Logan Wingert (PEM) over (PIIS) (For.)
#1 Zumbrota Mazeppa 50 PEM 10
106: #2 Michael Majerus (ZUMA) over Garrett Olson (PEM) (Dec 6-5)
113: Beau Jurrens (ZUMA) over Kael Lamb (PEM) (Dec 1-0)
120: John Poulin (ZUMA) over Dereck Boyum (PEM) (Fall 1:54)
126: Mike Vath (ZUMA) over Cooper Hofschulte (PEM) (Dec 10-3)
132: Cael Marx (PEM) over Conner Heitman (ZUMA) (Dec 6-2)
138: Joe Stucky (PEM) over Luke Krier (ZUMA) (Fall 1:14)
145: Luke Tupper (ZUMA) over Lafe Aarsvold (PEM) (TF 19-3 3:42)
160: Hayden Stensland (ZUMA) over Alex Rahman (PEM) (Fall 4:31)
170: #2 Hayden Voxland (ZUMA) over Austin Rother (PEM) (Dec 5-0)
182: #1 Caden Steffen (ZUMA) over Dustin Dittrich (PEM) (Dec 7-5)
195: Fletcher Bengtson (ZUMA) over (PEM) (For.)
220: #1 Jacob Bennett (ZUMA) over (PEM) (For.)
285: #1 Jarret Haglund (ZUMA) over Logan Wingert (PEM) (Fall 5:17)
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