Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall's Aidan Mattison, right, has his hand raised by the official after earning a 189-pound victory against Tri-City United during Marshall's Senior Night at Marshall High School on Thursday. Mattison was one of two Tigers to earn his 100th career victory in the dual, along with Gavin Schaefer

MARSHALL — Aidan Mattison and Gavin Schaefer each earned their 100th career wins on Thursday as the No. 10 Marshall wrestling team hosted Tri-City United and Windom/Mountain Lake for senior night. The duo closed out the day’s first dual against TCU with pins in 189 and 215 to earn Marshall a 65-6 win, and then added another pair in the team’s second dual against W/ML to secure another 57-7 victory.

“It means a lot to me, I didn’t think I’d ever get here,” Mattison said after the triangular. “Putting in the work really pays off.”

Mattison didn’t have to wait long to earn his milestone in his first match of the night against Tri-City United in 189. The senior entered the day with 99 career wins and didn’t wait long to get his 100th, pinning Ethan Woldsnes in 29 seconds. Victory No. 101 came shortly thereafter as he also pinned Sam Hernandez in 43 seconds in his match in the W/ML dual. 

Schaefer also won his first match with ease, pinning Lucas Filter in 16 seconds to pick up his 99th win. After having some time to rest and recover before his second match, Schaefer held his own in a contentious first period before earning the pin in 2:43 in the second to reach the century mark.

“It’s a good feeling. That’s something you work for your whole life, it’s good to get here,” Schaefer said. “It feels good [to get the win on senior night]. Everyone came out and supported us, so it’s good to end the night well.”

Landon Marthaler had a little extra motivation when he took on Tucker Skluzacek in the 133-pound match against TCU. The duo pinned two of the top wrestlers in the state against each other, with Marthaler ranked No. 3 in 127 and Skluzacek ranked No. 7 in 133. 

The two had met in the 133-pound semifinals at the Redwood River Riot on Dec. 22. Skluzacek defeated Marthaler 8-4 in the matchup, advancing to the finals while Marthaler settled for a fourth-place finish. 

On Thursday, however, Marthaler landed a 3-point takedown to open the match with momentum. With all the time in the world, he slowly inched his opponent’s shoulder blades closer and closer to the match before earning the pin.

“He beat me at the Riot, and I really wanted to get that match back, so it felt pretty good when I won,” Marthaler said. “I had confidence from the beginning because I knew I could do it, but once I got that cradle locked up, I knew I could do it.”

Marthaler also took control from the jump in his 133-pound match against W/ML’s Elliot Xayavong. The Tiger senior jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first minute and, with the clock winding down, claimed a win by fall with 8.3 seconds remaining for his second pin of the day. 

The Tigers started out the day’s competition with a bang. Andrew Yang won by forfeit while Keynan Coequyt and No. 1 Lincoln Christenson each picked up first-period pins to give the Tigers an 18-0 lead through three matches. Coequyt controlled his 114 match against Owen Delander before earning the pin in 1:25, while Christenson’s 121 win over Griffin Lemieux came in just 28 seconds. 

Christenson also made quick work of his second opponent of the day, earning a pin and a near-fall in the first 30 seconds of his match against W/ML’s Jacob Lopez before earning the win by fall at 57 seconds. 

Yang also won by decision against Windom/Mountain Lake’s Evan Kish to earn a total of 9 points for the Tigers on the day. When taking on Kish, Yang opened the match with a 3-point takedown before an escape gave Kish a point. Still, a near-fall in the second period gave Yang a lead that he eventually carried to a 7-2 decision.

No. 10 Tyson Louwagie dominated his match in the 145-pound weight class against TCU’s Blake Herman from front to back. A takedown and near-fall gave him a 7-0 lead after the first period, and another series of near-falls extended his lead to 17-0 in the second to earn 5 points for his team with the technical fall at 3:58.

In his second and more competitive match of the day, Louwagie fell into an early 3-0 hole against W/ML’s Kameron Koerner before getting a reversal and an escape to tie it up at 3-3. Koerner again surged ahead but a near-fall kept the match tied at 5-5 through the rest of the first and the entirety of the second period.

Koerner nearly had a go-ahead takedown in the third period, but Louwagie nearly backflipped out of it to stay on his feet and instead earned a 1-point escape. Louwagie earned a takedown from there before securing the pin with 31 seconds left in the match. 

Drew Chandler, ranked ninth in Class AA 152, opened his match against TCU’s Nathan Blaschko with a takedown, but a reversal in the final seconds of the first period trimmed his lead to 3-2. Still, he rebuilt his momentum quickly in the second period with a near-fall, eventually leading 9-3 before securing the win by fall at 3:30. 

Chandler finished the day with  10 points for his team after he took control early against WML’s Damien Davison with a 6-1 first-period advantage. That lead held through the end of the second before he eventually claimed a 12-3 decision.

W/ML’s Matthew Voehl picked up a 13-3 major decision over Coequyt in 121 to trim Marshall’s lead to 9-4 in the second dual.

In 127, Hyatt Hansen picked up a win by decision over Colton Chandler to cut Marshall’s lead over W/ML to 9-7, 

Hansen took down Chandler to open the match but Chandler got a reversal before the end of the first period to get back within striking distance of his W/ML opponent. 

The match remained scoreless from there until a reversal gave Chandler a 4-3 lead 30 seconds into the third period. Hansen, however, got another escape to tie the match at 4-4 in the final minute and earned a pair of points for a near-fall with 20 seconds left to claim the 7-4 decision. 

Josh Kraft also earned a pair of pins on the day in 172, taking down TCU’s Toren Kelly in 1:10 and W/ML’s Damian Aguirre in 1:03.

Brooks Hess and Brayden Chandler each earned wins by forfeit in heavyweight and 160 respectively, with Hess’ forfeit victory coming against TCU and Chandler winning by forfeit in both duals.

Hess followed up his win by forfeit with a 4-0 decision over Graycen Hansen in the W/ML dual.

In 127, TCU’s Gage Factor ended Marshall’s undefeated start to the daul with a 4-0 decision over Colton Chandler. Keegan O’Meara also picked up a 12-7 decision over Dawson DeCamp in 139, but Marshall responded with 41 unanswered points to close the match. 

DeCamp bounced back from his early loss with an early takedown in his match against W/ML’s Dagen Hansen in 139. Hansen got an escape to get on the board at the end of the first period, but DeCamp quickly regained momentum to increase his lead to 9-2. 

Another series of near-falls early in the third period increased DeCamp’s lead to 18-4 before he eventually claimed a win by technical fall at 5:11, holding a 21-5 advantage.

Marshall will next compete in the Big South Conference Meet at Jackson County Central on Saturday at 10 a.m.

“We’re doing good. We’re putting in all the work that we need to, but we can do more,” Mattison said. “We haven’t met our goals yet.”