Night Hawks fall short in dual, keep working
FARGO — Hettinger-Scranton-Richardton-Taylor-Hebron and Linton-HMB were battling back and forth.By: Royal McGregor, The Dickinson Press
- Denby Lueck
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FARGO — Hettinger-Scranton-Richardton-Taylor-Hebron and Linton-HMB were battling back and forth.
Neither team gave up an inch until a knee injury to Braxon Yates in the 132-pound set the Night Hawks back Thursday during the Class B state dual tournament.
However, it was the previous match at 126 pounds featuring Hettinger-Scranton’s senior Codi Tomac and Linton-HMB’s Jacob Chase, where a huge gasp overtook the north side of the Fargodome.
“We took a big hit when Braxon hurt his knee,” Hettinger-Scranton head coach Randy Burwick said. “That’s always tough on the boys. I thought that was a difference in the match. Rodney (Vanhoff) and Codi both had their guys on their back. We just couldn’t quite put them away.”
Linton-HMB held on to win the dual 39-31, but not without some drama from Hettinger-Scranton-RTH.
Chase had the match in hand holding a 14-4 lead before Tomac was able to score a reversal and put Chase on his back. After a huge gasp from the crowd, a potential pin could have swung the momentum in the Night Hawks’ favor.
“We just thought, after our dual in the morning, we just needed to keep plowing away,” Tomac said. “We took a couple tough breaks. It was a swing either way.”
Tomac (126) and Vanhoff (152) didn’t want their dual losses to be the defining moment of the tournament for them. So, both made sure they only lost once on Thursday.
Neither flinched in the individual state tournament as Tomac controlled his quarterfinal match from beginning to end to beat Carrington’s Chaz Bauer by a 7-2 decision. Tomac pinned Kenmare-Bowbells’ Tanner Egeberg in 5:04 in the first round.
“It feels great going to the semifinals,” said Tomac, who has been to the quarterfinals four times. “It feels like all the hard work I’ve done has paid off right now.”
Vanhoff needed an extra period to knock off Oakes’ Trent Ptacek in a 6-4 overtime win. At one point in the match Vanhoff trailed 4-1, but scored an escape and a take down.
Vanhoff scored a 16-0 technical fall against Matt Larson of Des Lacs-Burlington in the opening round.
“He had a tough overtime match,” Burwick said. “He just gutted it through. It probably wasn’t his best match, but he fought through it.”
Colby Steeke, who won his opening 182-pound match on the individual side with an 11-2 major decision over Minot Ryan’s Aiden Schafer before falling to South Border’s James Thielges by a 16-0 technical fall, said the Night Hawks competed extremely well.
The Night Hawks had three other wrestlers win their opening match: Lucas Ormiston (113), Tomac and Vanhoff. Ormiston pinned Westen Ellingson of Ellendale-Edgeley-Kulm in 2 minutes but lost to Erik Loepp of Oakes in a 66-second pin in the quarterfinals.
Hettinger-Scranton faces Stanley-Powers Lake-Tioga-Ray in the consolation dual tournament today.
“We battled with Linton to the end,” Steeke said. “I think so far we’ve just battled. We are a really tough team and I think this will motivate us.”
Derek Tabor (126) and David Dukart (195) won the lone two opening-round matches for Killdeer. They claimed pins against their respected opponents, but fell during the quarterfinals.
Tabor pinned Linton’s Chase in 5:12 before falling by a 2-1 decision to Lisbon’s Grant Johnson. Dukart pinned New Town’s Ben Hall in 1:28 and lost to Velva’s Taylor Barstad in 5:29.
Bowman County’s Troy Steele (145) and Jacob Hildebrant (220) reached the quarterfinals — Hildebrant with a 1:25 pin over Hillsboro-Central Valley’s Brady Siebels and Steele by forfeit — though both took losses and are now in wrestle backs.
Top-seeded Andrew Beine of Napoleon scored a 19-4 technical fall over Hildebrant while Steele was pinned by Linton-HMB’s Brock Nagel in 4:42.
Tags: hettinger-scranton night hawks, richardton-taylor raiders, sports, wrestling, preps
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