Gators Fall to Hornets in Section Finals

Gators fall to Hornets in section finals

By: Ryan Bergeron

Team was the Gator wrestlers’ focus heading down to the Section 8A Team Tourney at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls on February 13. The second-seeded Gators downed the Mahnomen-Waubun Cougars (#7 seed) 63-15 in the quarterfinals, before securing a 52-18 win over the Park Rapids Area Panthers (#3 seed) to advance to the finals versus a familiar opponent in the Frazee Hornets. Falling behind early, the Gators made a comeback in the middle weights, but lost the final five matches against the Hornets to fall 48-15, finishing as Section 8A runners-up.

The Gators began the day with four straight pins over the Cougars to race out to a 24-0 quarterfinal lead, courtesy of Avery Augustson (106), Bryce Bergeron (113), Owen Novacek (120), and IsaakIsane (126).

At 132, Nash Sovde continued to keep the Cougars off the scoreboard, leading 3-1 in the third period before securing the match with a takedown to win 5-1 over the Cougars’ Shawn Neisen. The Gators than experienced a scary moment at 138.

Taking a quick first period lead, the Gators’ Trevor Undeberg (138) wrestled into a flurry with Izaiah Asher before Undeberg dropped towards the edge of the mat, experiencing pain in his neck. Undeberg left the mat on a stretcher and in a neck brace. As emergency personnel took him off the mat, many fans at the Ralph Engelstad Arena, not just Gator fans, stood up and clapped. Undeberg later returned to the arena without a neck brace on, but couldn’t wrestle the rest of the day. It’s reported that he will be able to wrestle at individual sections.

After this moment, the Gators’ Nick Kaml (145) secured a first period pin and Devin Dostal (152) won by forfeit. The Gators surrendered their only pin of the match after Cody Olson (160) lost by fall midway through the second period to the Cougars’ Kody Lefebvre.

The Gators won four of the final five matches by forfeit, including victories by DominikVacura (170), Seth Dostal (182), Ethan Novacek (220) and Ely Novacek (285). In between those forfeit victories, Devin Pries (195) faced off against the Cougars’ Jake Worms in a match impactful on individual section tournament seeding. Having defeated Worms on one of two occasions, Pries trailed 2-0 heading into the final period and would get ridden out to fall by the same score.

“We came out and wrestled pretty aggressively against Mahnomen (-Waubun),” Head Coach Todd Bergeron said. “Trevor Undeberg had an unfortunate injury, which kind of set the tone for the day, but the kids bounced back and really battled and wrestled really good dual against Park Rapids.”

This quarterfinal team victory over the Cougars advanced the Gators into a semifinal matchup with those Park Rapids Area Panthers, a team with four returning state entrants. Augustson wrestled one of those state entrants out of the shoot in Ashton Clark, ranked third at 106 pounds according to the latest Guillotine Wrestling individual Class A state rankings.

Augustson battled the former state entrant, staying in good position according to Coach Bergeron, and falling by a 9-2 decision. The Gators would take over for a while, securing pins again from Bergeron, Owen Novacek, and Isane to open up an 18-3 lead, but the Panthers responded.

Having Undeberg out with an injury, Andy Dostal stepped in to wrestle at 132 and Sovde bumped up to 138. Andy surrendered the first bonus points to the Panthers, after Nolan Booge pinned him at the 1:13 mark. Sovde would then fall behind 2-0 early in the first period to 2015 state entrant Jared Sunram and wouldn’t get anything going in an 8-3 loss; the Gators led 18-12.

Kaml continued to secure bonus points for his team, controlling the Panthers’ Logan Johnson at 145 from the start en route to a 12-2 major decision. At 152, Devin Dostal faced the Panthers’ Cody Dravis, a last year state entrant and opponent Dostal had lost to on numerous occasions, in a down-to-the-wire affair. Trailing 3-0 with less than a minute remaining in the final period, Dostal took Dravis to his back and held him there the rest of the way to pull out a 5-3 victory; the Gators led 25-12.

After Cody Olson fell by pin to Justin Dravis, a last year state fourth-place finisher, the Gators led 25-18, but went on a run to put the dual away. Vacura, Seth Dostal, and Pries all picked up first period pins, Dostal’s coming with one-second left in the period and mathematically clinching the dual.

Ethan Novacek kept the Gator run going, leading 3-0 late in the third period before surrendering an escape and stall point, but coming away with the 3-2 win. His brother Ely finished the Gator victory, pinning the Panthers’ Chris Baxter late in the second period.

“I just thought we wrestled a full dual against Park Rapids,” Coach Bergeron said.

This victory pitted the twelfth-ranked Gators against the third-ranked Hornets with a section championship and trip to the state team tournament on the line.

Augustson opened the championship dual for the Gators versus the Hornets’ Michael Miller. Augustson kept the match close early, but gradually allowed Miller to pull away and surrendered a takedown at the edge of the mat with less than ten seconds remaining in the third to give Miller the 14-5 major decision.

At 113, Bergeron faced Frazee’s Tanner Schermerhorn, a last year state entrant opponent Bergeron lost to 8-0 earlier in the season. Bergeron appeared to be headed to another major decision loss, but surrendered the pin to Schermerhorn with 36 seconds remaining in the final period, giving Frazee a 10-0 lead.

Owen Novacek dominated from start to finish, defeating Frazee’s KadenHiemenz by a 14-1 major decision to get his team on the board. Following this victory, the Gators allowed the Hornets to respond with three straight bonus point victories.

At 126, IsaakIsane fell by a 14-0 major decision to a familiar opponent in Frazee’s Tanner Reetz, a 2015 state champion. Then at 132, Andy Dostal lost by pin with 14 seconds remaining in the second period to Frazee’s Ethan Beyer at 132. If Andy had held out for those 14 seconds, he would have lost by a technical fall, saving a team point. Again moving up a weight class due to the Undeberg injury, Sovde faced off against Frazee’s Grant Jepson, a 2015 sixth-place state finisher. Facing his second state qualifier of the day, Sovde fell by technical fall, giving Frazee a 25-4 lead.

The Gators responded with their own run. Kaml secured his third bonus point victory of the day, defeating the Hornets’ Tanner Eischens by a 15-2 major decision at 145. Gator Devin Dostal then controlled his 152-pound match, securing a 16-2 major decision over Hudson Hiemenz.

Coming off two losses, Olson tied his 160-pound match versus Frazee’s Zak Watchorn at two with a third-period escape, setting up a tight finish. Olson ankle picked Watchorn to score a late third-period takedown and win 4-2; the Gators trailed 25-15.

At 170, Vacura stepped to the mat versus 2015 state entrant Tanner Bachmann. Trailing 11-2 in the third period, Vacura threw Bachmann to his back to bring the Gator fans to cheers. Vacura wouldn’t pin Bachmann, allowing him to get off his back and reverse him, and eventually losing 11-7.

Now trailing 28-15, the Gators sent Seth Dostal out at 182 versus Frazee’s Austin Beaty. Dostal had a chance to take Beaty to his back toward the edge of the mat, but it didn’t happen. Dostal wouldn’t generate anything offensively after that on his way to a 9-0 major decision loss.

Pries then stepped to the mat with his team’s mathematical fate hanging in the balance at 195. He would face a test in undefeated and 2015 sixth-place state finisher Jonah Lange. Pries didn’t score any offensive points en route to an 18-7 loss, officially closing the door on the Gator’s fate, trailing 32-15.

The Gators gave up the third and fourth Hornet pins in the last two matches. Ethan Novacek would fall by pin in 34 seconds to the Hornets’ Rory Drewes. Brother Ely then faced off with Frazee’s Tanner Tappe, an opponent Ely defeated in overtime earlier in the season, in a matchup of two state-ranked wrestlers. Ely would get caught and pinned early in the second period this time around, allowing Frazee to cap their section championship on a 23-0 run.

“It was a tough dual, but they (Frazee) are definitely ranked in state for a reason,” Coach Bergeron said. “I thought a lot of our kids battled for the most part and I guess we did the best we could.”

With this loss, the Gators finish their dual season with a 15-9 mark and as Section 8A runners-up for a third consecutive year. Shifting focus, the Gators will now look to stamp their trips to the state tournament at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul as individuals. That aspiration begins at the Section 8A Individual Tournament on Friday, February 19 and Saturday, February 20. First day action begins from Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton High School in Glyndon at 2:30 pm.