Six Wildcats punch ticket to state tournament at Xcel

Just one year removed from a state consolation championship and having seven individuals make it to the state tournament, the Wildcats will send six individual wrestlers to state this year. Three of them are section champions: Dylan Connell (120), Kyle Schoenecker (132) and Joe Virga (170). Three other Wildcats finished second and will also be heading to the Xcel Energy Center tomorrow: Teddy Pierce (113), Aaron Sistrunk (126) and Mark Sontag. Connell, Schoenecker, Virga and Sontag all made it to state last year, while Sistrunk and Pierce are making their first appearances.

The opening matches for Class AA individuals start at 11 a.m. tomorrow. Connell opened up with a pin over Dayton Mielke of Rush City/Braham at 1:50. He continued his domination by pinning Beau Hunter of Pine City/Hinckley-Finlayson at 1:22. In the championship match against Joe Palik of Grand Rapids, Connell scored a takedown at 32 seconds for a 2-0 lead. Palik escaped 10 seconds later. Connell made a takedown move late in the period and was awarded two points at the end of the period for a 4-1 lead. Connell scored two points on a reversal 20 seconds into the second period and rode out Palik for the rest of the second period and for the entire third period for a 6-1 win and a section championship. Schoenecker pinned Tyler Dralaca of Hibbing at 1:21 in his opening round match. He completely dominated Conner Denman of Cloquet for a 14-1 major decision in the semifinals. Schoenecker was now set to face Reid Johnson of North Branch in the section final. That match is described in a separate article. Virga was still undefeated at the start of the section tournament. He continued his winning streak by pinning Ryan Pierson of Hibbing at 48 seconds of their opening round match.

He took just 1:17 to pin Casey Kulas of Cloquet in the next round. In the semifinals, Virga faced Nick Kastenbauer of Mora. He had two takedowns in the first period and led 4-1 at the end of one. He led 6-1 after two and used a takedown and an escape in the third period to win 9-2. In the championship match, Virga faced Billy McClay of Princeton for the fourth time this season. Virga had beaten McClay in their previous three matchups, including two four-overtime wins. And this match would end up being just as tough. With the two wrestlers knowing each other so well, neither one managed a takedown in regulation. Virga scored on an escape in the second period and McClay tied it up with an escape in the third period. There were no takedowns in the first overtime, either. Virga had four blood stoppages to that point in the match. Virga escaped nine seconds into the second overtime for a 2-1 lead. He rode out McClay for the entire 30 seconds of the third overtime for a 2-1 win.

Virga’s fourth victory over McClay this season kept Virga undefeated at 30-0 and gave him the section championship. Pierce squared off against Greg Petrie of Pine City/Hinckley-Finlayson is his opening round match and pinned Petrie at 1:22. In his semifinal match against Thomas Hischer of Mora, Pierce scored an escape and a takedown in the second period for a 3-0 lead. He gave up a reversal late in the third period, but held on for a 3-2 win. Against Morgan Fuenffinger of Hibbing in the championship match, Pierce trailed 2-1 after the first period. He escaped to tie it 2-2 early in the second period, but Fuenffinger got a takedown at 3:33 to go up 4-2. Fuenffinger scored a reversal at 4:30 to stretch his lead to 6-2. Pierce escaped a 4:50 to cut the lead to 6-3. And that’s how the match ended. Fuenffinger was the section champ. Since Pierce had already beaten Hischer, who won the third place match, Pierce did not have to wrestle a true second place match. He was in the state tournament. Sistrunk opened up with a pin over Carson Link of Hibbing that took just 23 seconds. In his semifinal match against David Tyler Sitz of Rush City/Braham, Sistrunk built a 9-2 lead after two periods. He led 11-2 in the third period before Sitz caught fire. Starting at 5:17, Sitz scored a reversal, then let Sistrunk up and took him down to cut the lead to 12-6. Sitz was working on a pin as time ran down, but Sistrunk held him off.

Sitz was awarded a three-point near fall at the end, so Sistrunk escaped with a 12-9 win. In Sistrunk’s championship match against David Brenden of Grand Rapids, Brenden drew first blood with an escape at the beginning of the second period. At 2:25, Sistrunk dove to grab Brenden’s right leg and completed a quick takedown to go up 2-1. Midway through the third period, Sistrunk worked hard to escape and, as the wrestlers neared the edge of the circle, the referee awarded Sistrunk a point. But the second referee talked him out of it, so the point was taken away and the scored remained 2-1. Brenden tried a pin move late in the match. At the end of the match, Brenden was awarded a two point near fall and won 3-2. Brenden was the section champ. Sistrunk need to wrestle Drew Van Vleet of Mora for true second a spot at state. Van Vleet had beaten Sistrunk 9-4 earlier this year, but Sistrunk beat Van Vleet at team sections. After no scoring in the first period, Sistrunk escaped early in the second period for a 1-0 lead. Van Vleet was shaken up when Sistrunk slammed him down in an attempted takedown, but after a minute or so Van Vleet returned no worse for the wear.

Van Vleet was awarded a point when Sistrunk was called for clasping early in the third period to tie the score at 1-1. But Sistrunk was awarded a two-point near fall not too long after that and went up 3-1. He held on for the win and a trip to the state tournament. Sontag quickly pinned (27 seconds) Jason Nowling of Pine City/Hinckley in their opening round match. He dominated Austin Nelson of Grand Rapids in their semifinal match and came away with a 10-2 major decision. In the finals, Sontag was set to face Jake Pramann of Princeton. Pramann had beaten Sontag in very tight matches all three times the two wrestlers had met this season. It’s no surprise that the only scoring in regulation were one escape by each wrestler, so they were tied 1-1 going into overtime. Pramann escaped in the second overtime and Sontag escaped in the third overtime to tie the score at 2-2. In the fourth overtime, since Sontag scored first, he got to choose up or down. He chose down.

An escape would win the match for him. Sontag nearly escaped seven seconds into overtime, but the wrestlers ended up out of bounds. It looked like Sontag escaped right at the end of the match, but the referee did not agree. Pramann got the win for riding out Sontag for the entire 30 seconds of the fourth overtime and was the section champ. Sontag had to wrestle Tyler Tober of Mora for true second and a chance to go to state. At 40 seconds, Sontag grabbed both of Tober’s legs and dumped him backwards for a takedown and a 2-0 lead. Sontag escaped at 2:19 to build his lead to 3-0. At 2:44, Tober accidentally poked Sontag in the eye, but after 30 seconds or so Sontag was able to continue. At 4:22, Tober escaped to cut Sontag’s lead to 3-1. Sontag received a stall warning at 5:20. Five seconds before the end of the match, Tober was awarded a point because Sontag was again called for stalling. But that was it, and Sontag had a 3-2 win and another trip to state.

Pierce (27-10) got a tough draw in the first round, getting matched up against top-ranked Paul Fitterer (38-0) of Cannon Falls. Connell (33-5) will take on Trevor Oberg (28-13) of South St. Paul. Sistrunk (23-9) is another Wildcat who will have a tough first round match, squaring off against Anthony Luft (38-2) of Worthington. Schoenecker (29-5) meets up with Noah Bernier (30-6) of Thief River Falls. Sontag (31-9) faces off against Charlie Schmid (28-3) of Orono. And Virga (30-0) will open up against Bobby Lee (28-4) of Becker.