Dickinson beats Fargo Davies for first state dual tourney win since 2003
FARGO — When Jesus LeBaron slapped a pin at 132 pounds to send the Dickinson High wrestling team to the semifinals of the Class A state dual tournament, it caused a wave of good vibrations.By: Royal McGregor, The Dickinson Press
- Michael Cherwinski
- Austin Hutzenbiler
- Caden Haugen
- Devin Berger
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FARGO — When Jesus LeBaron slapped a pin at 132 pounds to send the Dickinson High wrestling team to the semifinals of the Class A state dual tournament, it caused a wave of good vibrations.
LeBaron helped the Midgets win its first opening state duals since 2003 when Dickinson’s Matt Michaelson, now one of the team’s assistant coaches, and Marc Mellmer shared the state’s Mr. Wrestler honor.
The Midgets churned out five straight wins, including four pins that culminated with LeBron’s 1-minute, 46-second stick of Fargo Davies’ Bryce Burnside to clinch a 43-33 victory.
The win did more than just set Dickinson up against West Region rival Bismarck High in the state dual semifinals today. It gave the rest of the wrestlers an added boost of confidence on Thursday at the Fargodome.
“It was a good springboard,” Dickinson co-head coach Pete Dobitz said.
As evidence, the Midgets won six opening-round individual tournament matches.
Jaret Lee (106), top-seeded Austin Hutzenbiler (113), Devin Berger (126) Dillon Clark (145) and Clayton Tangen (145) all collected pins, while Michael Cherwinski (152) took a 9-6 decision over Bismarck High’s Josh Brilz.
The momentum continued through the quarterfinals for Lee and Hutzenbiler as the duo collected wins to the semifinals.
Lee, the No. 5 seed, pinned West Fargo’s Keegan Cronin in 4:43 to reach the semifinals. He will face top-seeded Marlo Bell of Fargo South today.
“I’m pretty jacked, because I’m a freshman and I actually get to go to the semifinals,” Lee said. “Going into that match, I really expected to lose.”
Hutzenbiler took a 9-1 major decision over Bismarck’s Alex Hoffman after an opening-round pin of Valley City’s Logan Erlandson in 1:19.
He takes on Grand Forks Red River’s Rodell Johnson today in the semifinals.
Berger, who was the No. 3 seed, fell one point short, dropping a 5-4 decision to Bismarck’s Logan Boese. Dobitz expects Berger to bounce back.
“I’m sure he’s going to come back and wrestle with some vengeance,” Dobitz said. “He’s going to looking real hard for that third place.”
On the dual side, LeBaron was the first to say it — he didn’t expect to get the match-winning pin.
“When I looked back, I saw him and I tried to squeeze as hard as I could,” LeBaron said. “I was making sure he didn’t come back. I wasn’t thinking I would get the pin at that point.”
Dobitz knew it was going to be a rough starting the dual at 138 pounds.
However, his message to the team was to weather the storm, because the Midgets’ strong weights were from 106 to 152 pounds. The only wrestler to win between 160 and 285 was junior Chris Sickler, who took an 11-1 major decision over David Kjera.
The Midgets trailed 33-16 after the nine matches. Then their bread and butter came out.
Caden Haugen, an eighth-grader at 106 pounds, supplied the lone non-pin win. He defeated Keenan Morris in a 7-2 decision.
Lee, Hutzenbiler, Berger and LeBaron followed Haugen with four consecutive pins to keep the Midgets’ dual hopes alive and secure the team’s best finish in nearly a decade.
“They were tough on the top and we are tough on the bottom,” Dobitz said. “We’re going to have to rely on our bottom guys to come through for us and that’s exactly what they did.”
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