Once freshman Tom Irwin grabbed a 5-4 decision win in overtime at 138 pounds, the Dickinson High wrestling team had the momentum.
The Midgets never let the it go.
Dickinson opened with five straight match wins en route to a 57-14 win over Williston during a West Region dual on Thursday at DHS gymnasium.
“We were aggressive from the get-go and to the finish,” Dickinson head coach Adam Orton said. “We had a team that when we did lose a match, the guys gathered everybody up behind the chairs and made sure the next guy was ready to make up for it. They were good as a team, aggressive the whole way through and they were pushing each other.”
Austin Hutzenbiler - a junior ranked No. 2 at 113 pounds - said the team continued to feed off each other’s energy.
“We knew coming into the dual we had a tough team and if we did our job we could get the win,” said Hutzenbiler, who took a 23-7 technical fall win over Patrick Farrell. “We won a couple matches early on that could have went either way and it just gave the guys confidence.”
The Midgets secured 11 wins including three straight pins from sophomore Jaret Lee (120), freshman Caden Haugen (126) and senior Devin Berger (132) - whose win was the final of the dual. Lee is ranked No. 2 and Berger is No. 3 in their respected weight classes.
Dickinson collected wins via pin, decision, major decision and technical fall, and also three forfeits.
Williston head coach Chuck Rossol said it’s tough giving up 18 points - let alone to a team which is 4-0 in West Region duals.
“This is a good team and you can’t give a team like this 18 points and expect to stay very close,” he said. “We got a couple guys out of the line and we have a couple third-string guys in the line. We are hurting.
“I thought the effort was there. We have a lot of young guys and as long as they get out there and fight I’m happy. That’s all I ask them to do. They did that.”
The Midgets’ string of five straight wins started with Irwin and ended with Raphael Lopez taking a 9-1 major decision over Royce Horswill.
During the five match stretch, Michael Cherwinski (145) supplied a pin, Jose Dimas (152) had a 8-5 decision and Clayton Tangen won by forfeit. Chris Sickler (220) and Dual Keck (heavyweight) also won by forfeit.
“It definitely gets the confidence up in the kids,” Orton said about the five wins to open the dual. “It gives us high hopes for the future.”
Williston’s received wins from Austin Luther (106), Coy Turnquist (182) and Bret Sandberg (195). Luther is ranked sixth and Sandberg is second in their respected weight classes.
Though the holiday break is right around the corner, the Midgets are setting their focus on the two-day Dickinson Classic beginning at 1:30 p.m. today.
“(Dickinson assistant coach Pete) Dobitz brought it up while we were in the room that we have a really good chance of winning our home tournament this year,” Orton said. “I hope this dual is a good jump start for the tournament.”
Hutzenbiler added: “It’s usually one of our best tournaments and we want to show other teams that we weren’t just a dual team. If we can change that around to show we are a tournament team too, it would be huge.”
106: Austin Luther, W, pin. Todd Irwin, 4:31. 113: Austin Hutzenbiler, D tech. fall Patrick Farrell, 23-7. 120: Jaret Lee, D, pin. Roy Isom, 1:09. 126: Caden Haugen, D, pin. Gage Vega, 1:01. 132: Devin Berger, D, pin. Hayden Rossol, :49. 138: Thomas Irwin, D, dec. Raif Horswill, 5-4 OT. 145: Michael Cherwinski, D, pin. Tyler Norpel, 1:37. 152: Jose Dimas, D, dec. Rowan Horswill, 8-5. 160: Clayton Tangen, D, by forfeit. 170: Rafael Lopez, D, maj. dec. Royce Horswill, 9-1. 182: Coy Turnquist, W, tech. fall Justin Meyer, 15-0. 195: Bret Sandberg, W, dec. Sterling Quintanilla, 5-1. 220: Chris Sickler, D, by forfeit. 285: Dual Keck, D, forfeit.
