Photo by Samantha Davis. Marshall's Josh Kraft wrestles against Scott West's Carson Hartmann in the 172 weight class in a Friday night dual at Southwest Minnesota State University. The Tigers defeated the Panthers 30-24.

MARSHALL — In a competitive and down to the wire match, the No. 5 Marshall boys wrestling team wrapped up the regular season with a 30-24 victory in a dual over No. 12 Scott West Friday night at Southwest Minnesota State University. Landon Marthaler and Dawson DeCamp each recorded pins, while Braedyn VanMeveren sealed the win in the final round. 

“We knew we would get some points down below at certain weights, and we knew that they [Scott West] were going to get some points where they got points,” Marshall head coach Ethan Hoppe said. “We knew that it was going to come down to bonus points, and come down to grinding out some of those close wins.”  

After a close start, Marshall began to break away with back-to-back pins from Marthaler and DeCamp. Scott West however, fought back to come within 3 points heading into the final round. 

Marshall had a slight 27-24 lead going into the final match of the night with VanMeveren taking on David Trujillo in the heavyweight round. 

The first period went scoreless between the two, but VanMeveren earned a point in the second after avoiding a possible takedown. 

The final period was closely contested with fans filling the SMSU gym with cheers of support. 

VanMeveren secured the win withholding his opponent from making any major moves, and took the round 1-0 to give Marshall the 30-24 victory. 

“I’m proud of him. He actually had an injury earlier this year, so he did not practice for, I’m going to say a month and a half. He’s been back, and he’s been working his tail off,” Hoppe said. “He wants to be the guy that these duals come down to, and be that anchor up on top. It’s nice to have him.” 

Andrew Yang took the mat first in the 107 against SW’s Jacob Lehman. The freshman put up a fight and was able to avoid a pin in the final seconds of the first period, but ultimately suffered a string of takedowns. Lehman won the round 13-5 after a major decision in the third period. 

With Marshall facing an early 4-0 deficit, Lincoln Christenson put the Tigers ahead by a point after defeating Domenek Williams in the 114-pound round. 

Christenson started with a 4-point takedown in the first period, and built up a 15-0 lead heading into the third. He won the round 16-0 by a technical fall to bring the Tigers up 5-4. 

“Lincoln’s obviously been up just a force all year, and he’s a kid on a mission. He’s a kid who knows that his job is to not only get wins, but to try to go for bonus points any chance he can get,” Hoppe said. “He’s done a fantastic job with that. When you got guys like that down the road, that momentum gets going and it’s a fun ride to be on.”  

Levi Kraft continued the strong momentum, and went on to take the 121 weight with a 5-1 decision to extend the Tigers’ lead to 8-4. 

The control started in Gavin Williams’ favor in the 127, who began the period with a string of takedowns. He built up a 7-0 advantage after the first two periods. But, Shully Schultz was able to turn it around and pin Williams toward the end of third period at 5:33, which put the Panthers ahead 10-8. 

Marthaler quickly took matters into his own hands and limited SW from getting a larger lead with a pin over Allen Krenick at 3:17 in the 133, earning six unanswered points. The win gave the Tigers back a 14-10 edge.

DeCamp kept the good stride rolling with a pin in the 139-pound round over the Panthers’ Cam Tousignant at 5:04, and gave Marshall a double-digit 20-10 lead. 

“We just told those guys [Marthaler and DeCamp], ‘Go out there and wrestle your match. Don’t worry about getting bonus points, just solidify the win,’ Hoppe said regarding the two consecutive pins. “They did exactly that, and it was a nice little jewel to have there in towards the front half.” 

The 145 was a competitive round between Tyson Louwagie and SW’s Mason Breeggemann. After a tough three periods, Louwagie fell in a 4-0 decision in the final seconds after a takedown. 

Drew Chandler won the 152 in a 15-2 major decision to put Marshall up 24-13 with five rounds to go. 

Josh Kraft withheld a close, aggressive round in the 172 against SW’s Carson Hartmann for a 14-10 decision to put the Tigers ahead 27-16. 

Aidan Mattison fell in the 189 in a technical fall, and Gavin Schaefer also fell in the 215 in a close match against Tristan Holbrook. Holbrook had a 3-point edge going into the third period, and held on to shut out Schaefer. 

Friday was Marshall’s second of three meets in the span of three straight days. The Tigers swept the Tracy triangular Thursday night, defeating Dawson-Boyd/Lac qui Parle Valley/Montevideo United along with Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove. 

Marshall moves to 24-4 overall on the season, and now looks ahead to today to host No. 10 New Ulm for the Big South Conference Championship dual at 6 p.m. at the high school. It will be the last home match before section playoffs begin. 

“Tomorrow, we turn around and wrestle New Ulm, who is also in our section for the conference championship, and they are also a top-10 team in the state,” Hoppe said. “We just tell our guys, ‘One match at a time. Don’t worry about tomorrow, let’s just get through today … Just enjoy this process.” 

RESULTS 

107: Jacob Lehman (SCWE) over Andrew Yang (MARS) (MD 13-5) 114: Lincoln Christenson (MARS) over Domenek Williams (SCWE) (TF 16-0 4:51) 121: Levi Kraft (MARS) over Maverick Borreson (SCWE) (Dec 5-1) 127: Sully Schultz (SCWE) over Gavin Williams (MARS) (Fall 5:33) 133: Landon Marthaler (MARS) over Allen Krenik (SCWE) (Fall 3:17) 139: Dawson DeCamp (MARS) over Cam Tousignant (SCWE) (Fall 5:04) 145: Mason Breeggemann (SCWE) over Tyson Louwagie (MARS) (Dec 4-0) 152: Drew Chandler (MARS) over Parker Judge (SCWE) (MD 15-2) 160: Isaac Williams (SCWE) over Brayden Chandler (MARS) (Dec 11-4) 172: Joshua Kraft (MARS) over Carson Hartmann (SCWE) (Dec 14-10) 189: Dylan Thomas (SCWE) over Aidan Mattison (MARS) (TF 19-4 5:27) 215: Tristan Holbrook (SCWE) over Gavin Schaefer (MARS) (Dec 3-0) 285: Braedyn VanMeveren (MARS) over David Trujillo (SCWE) (Dec 1-0)