By Dru Kastler (@KastlerDA)

Round 1

#1 Valentine over #8 Ord 54-15
Valentine wrestled a very solid dual against Ord and won four out of the five bouts that were within five points. Every weight except for 182 had at least one state qualifier competing in this dual.

Key matches:
106: SQ Colton Rowse (Ord) over 3rd place Chase Olson (Valentine) 6-5
152: 1st place Caleb Long (Valentine) over SQ Tanner Knight (Ord) 6-4
160: Lane McGinley (Valentine) over SQ Kaden Dawe (Ord) 6-1
170: 1st place Donald Stephen (Valentine) over 4th place Gavin Trompke (Ord) 5-1

#5 Broken Bow over #4 David City 34-32
A very evenly matched first dual was officially decided with one match to go. These two teams had several hard fought matches, with seven matches going the distance. One of the key bouts at this weight was at 132 where Ulmer from Broken Bow edged out SQ Betzen from David City 11-8. Broken Bow was also aided in the return of Caleb Smith at 106 who did not wrestle at districts, but would have been in contention for a state qualifying spot if he had.

Key matches:
220: SQ Matthew Eilers (David City) over SQ Treyvon Brooks (Broken Bow) 17-3
113: 2nd place Seth Styskal (David City) over 4th place Spencer Gaffney (BB) SV 7-5
120: 1st place Clayton Glendy (Broken Bow) over 5th place Noah Styskal (David City) 3-2
132: Cole Ulmer (Broken Bow) over SQ Lee Betzen (David City) 11-8

#3 Syracuse over #6 Aquinas 39-34
Syracuse was able to avenge a 1-point dual loss earlier in the season with a win in the first round over Aquinas. A fall at 182 locked the dual up with one match to go for Syracuse as the 182lb state champ from Aquinas, Joseph Reimers, was wrestling up at 220 in a spot that was previously occupied by state qualifier Jackson Witter.

Key matches:
126: SQ Cody Pester (Syracuse) over SQ Connor Emswiler (Aquinas) 2-1
145: Nicholas Shonka (Aquinas) over 2nd place Keegan Pope (Syracuse) 7-5
160: 1st place Kyle Petree (Aqunias) over SQ Mitchell McWilliams (Syracuse) 4-0

#2 Battle Creek over #7 Kearney Catholic 45-27
Battle Creek emerged victorious over Kearney Catholic winning three out of the four bouts that were decided by six or less points. The first round duals started at 220 and through 152 the Braves had a 30-6 lead. Kearney Catholic fought back to within six with two matches to go, but ultimately fell short.

Key matches:
126: 5th place Damien Kersten (BC) over SQ Zach Rogers (Kearney Catholic) 11-5
132: 4th place Ty Heimes (BC) over 5th place Carter Fleshman (Kearney Cath) 7-3
145: SQ Ty Connely (Kearney Catholic) over 6th place Blake Heller (BC) 7-6

Semifinals
#1 Valentine over #5 Broken Bow 37-36
Seven of Valentine’s starters either shifted weights or didn’t wrestle in this dual, as they managed to get away with a 1-point win over Broken Bow in a final score that was drastically different than their first meeting won by Valentine, 57-9.

Key matches:
113: 1st place Gage Krolikowski (Val) WBF over 4th place Spencer Gaffney (BB)
120: 1st place Clayton Glendy (BB) over 4th place Brody Benson (Val) by fall
152: SQ Joel Myers (BB) over 4th place @ 145 Hudson Pearman (Valentine) SV 3-1

#2 Battle Creek over #3 Syracuse 41-30
Down one with two matches to go, Battle Creek won the last two matches by fall to win the dual and advance to the finals. Each time had two wins by decision. Battle Creek took advantage of two open weights in the Rockets’ lineup as well.

Key matches:
120: 3rd place Owen Lade (Battle Creek) over SQ Lane Bridgmon (Syracuse) 10-9
126: 5th place Damien Kersten (Battle Creek) over SQ Cody Pester (Syracuse) 4-0
132: 1st place Max Hughes (Syracuse) over 4th place Ty Heimes (Battle Creek) 7-0
145: 2nd place Keegan Pope (Syracuse) over 6th place Blake Heller (BC) by fall
195: SQ Austin Marx (Battle Creek) over SQ Austin Jensen (Syracuse) by fall

3rd place dual
#5 Broken Bow over #3 Syracuse 50-28
Broken Bow wrestled an excellent dual in which they took advantage of their depth at several weights and moved their lineup around in some spots en route to a convincing win. Only 1 match went the distance in this dual.

Key matches:
120: 1st place Clayton Glendy (Broken Bow) over SQ Lane Bridgmon (Sryacuse) 21-3
126: SQ Patrick Powers (Broken Bow) over SQ Cody Pester (Syracuse) 4-1
152: SQ Joel Myers (Broken Bow) over SQ Jeff Burr (Syracuse) by fall

1st place dual
#1 Valentine over #2 Battle Creek 37-30
The Badgers pulled through in a dual that came down to the last match at 285 which saw Fulton from Valentine get a last second takedown to win the match 2-0. Six matches went the distance at this weight and Valentine was able to win four of those. A huge swing match a 120 went in Valentine’s favor where the two wrestlers had split matches during the season and Benson from Valentine was able to secure the fall in the rubber match.

Key matches:
106: 1st place Caydon McCracken (BC) over 3rd place Chase Olson (Valentine) 1-0
120: 4th place Brody Benson (Valentine) over 3rd place Owen Lade (BC) by fall
126: 1st place Jordan Kelber (Valentine) over 5th place Damien Kersten (BC) 5-1
145: 4th place Hudson Pearman (Valentine) over 6th place Blake Heller (BC) 13-5
160: Weston Johnson (Battle Creek) over SQ Kieron Wenig (Valentine)
220: 4th place Jan-louw de Jager (BC) over SQ Steven Shields (Valentine) by fall
285: 5th place Jared Fulton (Valentine) over SQ Thai Thompson (BC) 2-0