Elated Elkins

FARGO -- Sean Elkins got so excited, he almost tackled his coach.

That'll happen when a wrestler wins his first state championship.

The 140-pound Hettinger junior scored a third-period reversal and rode out a 2-1 title-winning decision over Hillsboro senior Tyler Anderson on Saturday night during the Class B state tournament at the Fargodome.

"I'm feeling awesome," Elkins said. "I wanted this since I was four years old."

Elkins, who goes to school in Hebron, which is part of the Black Devils' cooperative agreement, is the team's first champion since 2005. He finished the season with a 42-2 record.

"He did what he had to do in the championship match," Hettinger head coach Randy Burwick said.

Trailing 1-0 going into the third period -- Anderson went ahead on a second-period escape -- Elkins chose the down position and pulled a reversal 20 seconds into the period to go ahead 2-1.

"He rode the heck out of him after that," Burwick said.

Killdeer didn't have quite the weekend it was expecting, finishing seventh in the team race, which Oakes won by one-half of a point over South Border.

"It didn't pan out the way we were thinking," Killdeer head coach Shane Olson said.

Nevertheless, the Cowboys had one wrestler shooting for a title.

Junior Grady Houghton made it to the second period of his 189-pound title match before Lisbon senior Reed Huether pinned him in 3:27.

"I didn't wrestle to my potential. I think I could have done better, but he's a pretty good wrestler and I did what I could," said Houghton, who entered as the No. 5 seed.

Still, Olson felt Houghton wrestled well despite being an underdog.

"Hopefully we can continue on that and win it next year," Olson said.

Three area wrestlers claimed third place.

Hettinger freshman Christian Hughes, who came in as the No. 7 seed at 130 pounds, picked up a medical forfeit in his consolation quarterfinal match, then turned around and pinned South Border's Brayden Kuntz 31 seconds into their consolation semifinal match.

Hughes finished off his tournament by defeating Lisbon's Wyatt Aberle 10-9 in the third-place match.

"We knew he could do it, there's no doubt about it," Burwick said. "We knew he had the capabilities of doing it. He's awfully good."

Killdeer junior Logan Schaper picked up a pair of decisions to finish in third at 119 pound.

He beat Watford City's Isaac Laris 6-1 in the consolation semifinals and edged Des Lacs-Burlington's Justin Thomas 7-6 in the third-place match.

Killdeer junior River Voigt pinned South Border's Drew Dockter 1:19 into their consolation semifinal match and then claimed a 1-0 decision over New Salem's Taylor Heins to take third at 145 pounds. Voigt entered as the No. 2 seed.

Killdeer senior Anthony Dukart (160) and Beulah-Hazen junior Isaiah Krebs (171) each claimed fifth place.

Dukart defeated Larimore's Michael Finn with a 10-2 major decision. Krebs earned a 5-3 decision over Minot Ryan's Mark Koble.

Killdeer junior Lane Oversen (152) finished in sixth place, falling to South Border's Andrew Jochim 7-6 in the fifth-place match.

"They all wrestled pretty good," Olson said. "Most of them got at their seeds or above. I guess we got as much as we could out of them."

Hettinger sophomore Codi Tomac pinned Logan House of Central Cass 26 seconds into the second period of their 119-pound seventh-place match.

Killdeer junior Hunter Fredericks bowed out in the 125-pound consolation semifinals after failing to make weight.