Amidst another week of school cancellations, and event rescheduling, the PEM wrestlers were finally able to conclude their regular season and conference schedule. Last Friday night’s quadrangular hosted by Wabasha-Kellogg marked the 3rd attempt at wrestling W-K, and the 4th attempt at wrestling Caledonia/Houston this season. Finally, the weather cooperated for one evening.
The Bulldogs started off with a hot Caledonia/Houston team that was fresh off defeating the defending state champions and currently #6 ranked Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars. Caledonia started off the dual with a forfeit victory at 106 and a decision victory at 113 to take a 9-0 early lead. Garrett Olson got the Bulldogs on the board at 120 with a first period pin to capture his 30th win of the season and pull PEM within three points. The closest and longest match of the evening ensued next at 126, with Kael Lamb using all 4 overtime periods to earn a 7-6 victory and avenge a loss from earlier this season. At 132 sophomore Dereck Boyum stepped into the line-up and needed only 2:25 to notch a 16-0 technical fall, giving the Bulldogs their first lead of the evening at 14-9.
Cael Marx kept the ball rolling at 138 with another first period pin extending the Bulldog lead to 20-9. Going into 145, the Warriors needed a pin from their state champion Kyle Cavanaugh to get back in the dual, but sophomore Cooper Hofschulte saved the Bulldogs some points not going to his back and keeping the Bulldogs up by 7 heading into 152. Caledonia picked up a narrow 3-2 victory at 152, closing the gap again to 20-16, but Carter Marx tacked on 6 more points at 160 to stretch PEM’s lead back to 10 making the team score 26-16 heading into the last 5 weight classes. At 170 and 182, the Warriors battled back with two pins to take a temporary 2 point lead. But the Bulldog’s upper 3 weights sealed the dual with an exclamation point as Dustin Dittrich (195), Riley Wingert (220), and Logan Wingert (285) all earned pins to give PEM a 16 point victory.
The final dual of the evening featured a showdown with the cross-county rival Wabasha-Kellogg Falcons. W-K started of with a decision victory at 106 to take a 3-0 lead, but forfeit victories from Jason Feils (113) and Garrett Olson (120) and a 1st period pin from Kael Lamb put the Bulldogs up 18-3 heading into W-K’s two best wrestlers at 132 and 138. The Falcons would grab a decision and a pin from their two state-ranked wrestlers, then followed with a pin at 145 to close the dual to a 3 point margin at 18-15. But it would be all PEM from 152 up. Joe Stucky (152), Carter Marx (160), Connor Jones (170), and Alex Rahman (182), all put 4 straight pins on the board for PEM. Martin Prieto, Dustin Dittrich, and Riley Wingert followed up with forfeit victories making the final score a 45 point victory for the Bulldogs.
The two wins gave the Bulldogs an 18-6 regular season record and a perfect 9-0 record in the Three Rivers conference. The Bulldogs will advance into the postseason, beginning on Thursday with a Section 1AA quarterfinal event vs. Cannon Falls. PEM is seeded #3 in the Section and the Bombers are seeded #6. The Valentine’s Day event will be wrestled at PEM High School and will begin at 7:00pm.
Pictures of the event will be available on the media page soon!
Box Scores:
PEM 44 Caledonia/Houston 28
106: Brandon Ross (CAHO) over (PEM) (For.)
113: Tucker Ginther (CAHO) over Jason Feils (PEM) (Dec 12-6)
120: Garrett Olson (PEM) over Jacob Cripps (CAHO) (Fall 0:56)
126: Kael Lamb (PEM) over Eric Mauss (CAHO) (UTB 7-6)
132: Dereck Boyum (PEM) over Kameron Morgan (CAHO) (TF 16-0 2:25)
138: Cael Marx (PEM) over Aaron Francis (CAHO) (Fall 1:12)
145: Kyle Cavanaugh (CAHO) over Cooper Hofschulte (PEM) (MD 15-5)
152: Isaac Denstad (CAHO) over Joe Stucky (PEM) (Dec 3-2)
160: Carter Marx (PEM) over Jack Strub (CAHO) (Fall 1:18)
170: Payton Schott (CAHO) over Alex Rahman (PEM) (Fall 0:42)
182: Ryan Wagner (CAHO) over Martin Prieto (PEM) (Fall 4:34)
195: Dustin Dittrich (PEM) over Owen Blocker (CAHO) (Fall 2:59)
220: Riley Wingert (PEM) over Nick McCabe (CAHO) (Fall 1:58)
285: Logan Wingert (PEM) over Alec Francis (CAHO) (Fall 1:36)
PEM 60 Wabasha-Kellogg 15
106: Chris Cushman (WK) over Isaac Walch (PEM) (Dec 6-0)
113: Jason Feils (PEM) over (WK) (For.)
120: Garrett Olson (PEM) over (WK) (For.)
126: Kael Lamb (PEM) over Nate Irish (WK) (Fall 0:48)
132: Nolan Rommel (WK) over Cael Marx (PEM) (Dec 4-3)
138: Tagen Miller (WK) over Cooper Hofschulte (PEM) (Fall 3:39)
145: Devin Beier (WK) over Lafe Aarsvold (PEM) (Dec 11-4)
152: Joe Stucky (PEM) over Tanner Sanderson (WK) (Fall 2:27)
160: Carter Marx (PEM) over Jon Frazier (WK) (Fall 1:25)
170: Connor Jones (PEM) over Dallas Burris (WK) (Fall 0:15)
182: Alex Rahman (PEM) over Jack Rodeghier (WK) (Fall 1:46)
195: Martin Prieto (PEM) over (WK) (For.)
220: Dustin Dittrich (PEM) over (WK) (For.)
285: Riley Wingert (PEM) over (WK) (For.)