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Wildcat junior Teddy Pierce (138) decisioned fellow junior Isaac Haman of Kasson-Mantorville 7-6 to take third place at last weekend’s state high school wrestling tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.  Pierce won his opening round match, lost in the quarterfinals and then won four straight matches in the wrestlebacks to claim the third place trophy.  Junior Adam Klick (220), after trailing throughout most of his opening round match, surprised his opponent and the crowd with a late pin in the third round to win his opening round match.  Klick lost his next two matches and did not place.  Senior Kyle Schoenecker (195), appearing in the tourney for a record-tying sixth year in a row, lost his first round match.  Since Schoenecker’s first round opponent lost his next match, Schoenecker did not get the opportunity to participate in wrestlebacks.  Senior Aaron Sistrunk (132) was pinned in his opening round match and lost his second match by major decision and did not place.  Wildcat head coach Shawn Frederixon missed most of the tournament due to a short illness, but had now recovered.

Pierce, facing senior Charlie Wolfe of Benilde-St. Margaret’s in the opening round, got an early takedown in the first period.  He let Wolfe up with a minute left in the round and took him down with 30 seconds left in the round.  Pierce was awarded a two point near fall and let Wolfe up late in the round to lead 6-2 after one.  Teddy started down in the second period and eventually escaped to go up 7-2 after the second period.  Wolfe started down in the third period.  Teddy dominated the action and got a two point near fall to go up 9-2.  With 43 seconds left in the match, Pierce completed the job and pinned Wolfe to move on to the quarterfinals.

Pierce, ranked second in the state at 138, faced third-ranked Peter Nelson, a junior, of St, Cloud Apollo in the quarterfinals.  Nelson decisioned Pierce 8-2 to knock Pierce into the wrestlebacks.  Pierce pinned junior Josh Oberg of South St. Paul, decisioned junior Tim Bialka of Princeton and decisioned senior Sam Naddy of Ottertail Central to earn the right to face Haman in the third place match.  After a scoreless first period, Pierce started on the bottom in the second period.  Pierce escaped early.  Haman took him down twice, but Pierce escaped both times and trailed just 4-3.  Pierce took Haman down twice before the end of the period, with a Haman escape in the middle, and led 7-5 after two.  Haman started on the bottom in the third period and escaped to cut Pierce’s lead to 7-6.  Pierce was given a stall warning later in the period but hung on for the 7-6 win and a third place finish, going 5-1 after wrestling six matches over two days.  Wildcat assistant coach Chad Stenson said “Teddy worked hard all season.  He’s a grinder and is going to be in every match.  Wrestling that many matches in two days is hard physically and mentally.  He definitely earned the third place finish and we are extremely proud of him.”

Klick was the underdog to senior and tenth-ranked Quincy Spiering of St. Thomas Academy in their opening round match.  Klick got off to a good start in the match, taking down Spiering with 1:30 left in the first round.  Klick let Spiering escape right away and led 2-1.  The takedown seemed to enrage Spiering.  Spiering completed a takedown with a minute left in the first period.  He turned Klick onto his back with few seconds left and probably would have pinned Klick if he had had a little more time.  Spiering was awarded a two point near fall and led 5-2 after one.  Spiering chose bottom in the second period and Klick let Spiering escape right away.   Unfortunately, Spiering took Klick down a few seconds later and went up 8-2.   With 50 seconds left in the period, Spiering turned Klick onto his back.  Klick managed to keep a shoulder off the mat and avoid the pin.  Spiering was awarded a two point near fall and led 10-2 after two.  It looked like Klick was going to need a pin to win this one – and that outcome appeared to be unlikely.

In the third period, the wrestlers started up.  Spiering appeared to be stalling.  He started moves he did not finish several times, probably not wanting Klick to turn something around and get a pin.  It went on this way for most of the period.    But with nine seconds left in the period, Klick grabbed Spiering, threw him on his back and pinned him instantly to win the match.  As the referee raised Klick’s arm in victory, Spiering laid on the mat, attended to by a doctor, with a shoulder injury.  Stenson said “That’s Adam.  He’s an excellent wrestler who loves to throw if he gets you locked up.  It worked out well for Adam.”

In the quarterfinals, Klick faced sophomore Zachary Jakes of Mankato West.  Jakes was ranked number two in the state at 220.  Jakes pinned Klick just over a minute into the first round to send Klick into the wrestlebacks.  Klick went up against senior Mohamed Hegazi of COHE in the first round of wrestlebacks.  Hegazi pinned Klick at the beginning of the third round to knock Klick out of the tournament.

Sistrunk faced off against sophomore Tyler Wegener of Waconia in his opening round match.  Wegener grabbed Sistrunk’s legs and completed an early takedown.  Wegener worked hard to turn Sistrunk, but Sistrunk showed a lot of energy as he tried to break loose for an escape.  Wegener led 2-0 after the first period.  Sistrunk started on the bottom in the second period.  Wegener quickly flipped Sistrunk on his back and pinned him 22 seconds into the period.  Sistrunk went up against junior Trevor Oberg of South St. Paul in the wrestlebacks.  Oberg major decisioned Sistrunk 17-4 to end Sistrunk’s high school wrestling career.

 Schoenecker went up against senior Jesse Klatt of Perham in the opening round.  Schoenecker completed a takedown to go up 2-0 with under a minute left in the first round.  Late in the period, Klatt nearly escaped, but Schoenecker grabbed one ankle and pulled Klatt back down as the period ended to preserve his 2-0 lead.    Schoenecker started on the bottom in the second period.  The period began, but the clock didn’t start for 20 seconds in the second period because the clock guy was too busy gabbing. Schoenecker got a reversal 20 seconds after the clock actually started and almost immediately let Klatt up and led 4-1.  Schoenecker appeared to be in control of the match and Klatt looked tired.  But Klatt got what proved to be a critical takedown with five seconds left in the period to cut Schoenecker’s lead to 4-3 after two.

 Klatt chose bottom in the third period and escaped with 1:35 remaining to tie the match at 4-4.  With just over a minute left in the third period, Schoenecker dove for Klatt’s legs.  Klatt stepped out of the way, ran around behind Schoenecker and took him down.  With 30 seconds to go, Schoenecker worked out of the riding and nearly completed a match-tying reversal, but Klatt thwarted the attempt.  Klatt let Schoenecker up with ten seconds to go to make score 6-5 and, a few seconds later, Schoenecker’s high school wrestling career was over.

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