Photo by Samantha Davis. Minneota’s Eli Gruenes (left) wrestles BOLD’s Hayden Edwards in the 189-round Thursday evening in the Section 5A semifinals at Minneota High School. Gruenes pinned Edwards in the first round at 0:46 in the Vikings’ 65-9 win.

MINNEOTA — Right from the first whistle, the top-seeded Minneota boys wrestling team came out with high energy to make a statement early on as it picked up a dominating 65-9 dual win over No. 8 BOLD Thursday night at home in the Section 5A quarterfinals. The Vikings finished with nine pins on the night, and now advance to the section semifinals this weekend.

Pins and takedowns came urgently and frequently for Minneota to set the tone and take control from the jump in the dual. The Vikings jumped to a 23-0 lead after the first four matches with a trio of pins and a technical fall, and never allowed the Warriors to come within reach.

“These guys deserve it, they put a lot of time in,” Minneota coach Matt Myrvik said. “Obviously, things have come together, they work together as a team. Taking that next step is part of the process. It was a good night to be at home, and now move on to the Final Four and play more.”

Hunter Danielson, Landon Pohlen, Blake Mead, Adam DeVlaeminck, Destin Fier, Brock Fier, Eli Gruenes, Ryan Meagher and Kyler Lozinski all recorded pins in the dual.

“I think it’s just being aggressive from the start. I thought they did a good job of handling themselves on their feet, pushing the pace and looking for bonus points,” Myrvik said. “That’s what you want to do in a section team tournament.”

Minneota was awarded the first seed in the section tournament after finishing its regular season undefeated, 21-0. The first seed gave the Vikings a first-round bye and home mat advantage.

BOLD defeated No. 9 Quad County 41-31 in the first round to advance to the quarters, which took place an hour prior to facing the Vikings on Thursday.

In last year’s section tournament, Minneota, who had the third-seed at the time, was eliminated in the quarterfinals after suffering a 31-27 loss to No. 6 Paynesville Area.

Paynesville was awarded the second-seed this year, and also advanced to the semifinals and will take on No. 3 Canby on Saturday at 12:30 in Paynesville.

Danielson got the night started in the 107-match, and secured Minneota’s first pin to get the momentum started.

Danielson entered the mat and went right at his opponent, Brett Henslin, for a pin 24 seconds in to put the Vikings up 6-0, not even a minute into the dual.

Pohlen took the mat next in the 114, and built up an 11-0 lead after the first round, then recorded his pin in the second at 3:03.

Quinton Anderson got a string of takedowns in the 121 and won by technical fall in the second period, while Mead next pinned BOLD’s Travor Plass a minute into the first round in the 127-match to put the Vikings up 23-0 early on.

“They’ve been doing it all year long,” Myrvik said regarding building up an early advantage. “Just staying with the same mentality, keep pressing forward and keep doing what we do best. It’s us setting our tone, and not worrying about what our opponents do unnecessarily.”

Adam DeVlaeminck, who currently ranks ninth in Class A’s 133-weight class, kept the energy rolling with another first-round pin over Bryce Henslin.

BOLD didn’t get on the board until Minneota’s Brycen Myhre fell in an 8-2 decision after an aggressive, back-and-forth 139 match. The win brought the Warriors to a 29-3 deficit.

The dual continued to cruise by as Minneota never let up off the gas, and the crowd began to fill the semifinal energy as Destin and Brock recorded another two pins for the Vikings in the 145 and 160.

Brock also currently ranks sixth in Class A in the 160-class.

Cael Fier won his 172 round by a BOLD forfeit to bring Minneota to a 47-9 lead, while Gruenes, Meagher and Lozinski sealed the win and finished the night with three consecutive first rounds pins in the 189, 215 and 285 rounds.

“You know, we’ve wrestled 26 kids all year long, which says a lot about our program. We had kids that were in and out of the lineup, kids that have gotten injured, and we had a late start from the football [season],” Myrvik said. “The fact that they just stuck with what we’ve been doing and kept grinding throughout the year just shows their resiliency, and all the effort good teammates they are.”

Gruenes ranks fourth in Class in the 189-class as well.

Minneota (22-0) continues its season and next takes a trip to the semifinals to face No. 4 Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, who took down No. 5 Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 34-13 in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The dual is slated for Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Paynesville High School.

“As coaches, we’re proud of what they’re doing,” Myrvik said. “Obviously, we got work to do yet. We’re not satisfied by any means. Our section is loaded, so we know the top four teams are going to be tough on Saturday.”

If the Vikings win the section, it will be the program’s first appearance at the state tournament since 2016, a year after they were named the 2015 Class A champions.

The state tournament will take place on Feb. 27 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

RESULTS

Minneota (MINN) 65.0 BOLD (BOLD) 9.0

107: Hunter Danielson (MINN) over Brett Henslin (BOLD) (Fall 0:24) 114: Landon Pohlen (MINN) over Keaton Marwede (BOLD) (Fall 3:03) 121: Quinton Anderson (MINN) over Colton Marwede (BOLD) (TF 17-0 3:47) 127: Blake Mead (MINN) over Trevor Plass (BOLD) (Fall 1:01) 133: Adam Devlaeminck (MINN) over Bryce Henslin (BOLD) (Fall 1:02) 139: Colton Baumgartner (BOLD) over Brycen Myhre (MINN) (Dec 8-2) 145: Destin Fier (MINN) over Trey Zamarron (BOLD) (Fall 1:30) 152: Brady Kiecker (BOLD) over Mason Javers (MINN) (Fall 4:56) 160: Brock Fier (MINN) over Gabriel Bergstrom (BOLD) (Fall 0:56) 172: Cael Fier (MINN) over (BOLD) (For.) 189: Eli Gruenes (MINN) over Hayden Edwards (BOLD) (Fall 0:46) 215: Ryan Meagher (MINN) over Simon Enriquez (BOLD) (Fall 0:36) 285: Kyler Lozinski (MINN) over Hudson Edwards (BOLD) (Fall 0:46)