Bulldogs to compete in individual tournament on Friday

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Otter Tail Central came up just short in its effort to knock off eighth seeded New York Mills in the opening round of the Section 6A wrestling tournament on Tuesday night. 

The ninth seeded Bulldogs, who came into the match with just one victory under their belt this season, led 24-18 with just three matches remaining in the contest. Unfortunately, the Eagles were able to secure pins at 189 lbs. and 215 lbs. to take a 30-24 lead heading into the heavyweight match between Kale Rich for OTC and Grady Roberts for NY Mills.

Rich needed to secure a pin to tie the match and send the bout to tiebreak criteria, but was only able to secure a 6-3 decision to end the match on the wrong side of a 30-27 score. 

OTC opened the match with a pair of major decisions by Charlie Bertrand and Julian Umlauf, before the Eagles secured a pin at 121 lbs. and decision at 127 lbs. to make the score 9-8 in favor of NY Mills. 

Cayden Dittberner put the Bulldogs back on top by a score of 12-8 when he secured a 6-0 decision over Finn Wallgren at 133 lbs. Royce Lorentz of NY Mills won one of the most exciting matches of the night at 139 lbs. when he secured a 7-5 overtime decision over Brock Resch, before Mason Christianson put the Bulldogs back on top with a pin at 145 lbs. to make the score 17-12 in favor of OTC.

After Austin Geiser of NY Mills put the Eagles back in front with a pin at 152 lbs., the Bulldogs won back-to-back matches when Gaiden Hoeper secured a 5-2 decision over Weston Simpson at 160 lbs. and Levi Evavold secured a 13-2 major decision at 172 lbs. setting up the thrilling finish in the final three matches of the day. 

The loss ends OTC’s season with a record of 1-14 overall, but with a very young line up in the wrestling room, a bulk of the Bulldogs team will return to the wrestling room next year.

The Section 6A individual tournament is set for Friday night at Wadena-Deer Creek High School. The wrestling will get underway at 2 p.m.

New York Mills 30 Otter Tail Central 27

107: Charlie Bertrand (OTC) over Wyatt Helmbrecht (NYM) (MD 8-0)

114: Julien Umlauf (OTC) over Carlyle Tumberg (NYM) (MD 12-0)

121: Creed Mursu (NYM) over Dylan Geihsler (OTC) (Fall 1:08)

127: Elijah O’Dea (NYM) over Peter Newark (OTC) (Dec 6-3)

133: Cayden Dittberner (OTC) over Finn Wallgren (NYM) (Dec 6-0)

139: Royce Lorentz (NYM) over Brock Resch (OTC) (SV-1 7-5)

145: Mason Christianson (OTC) over Elijah Geiser (NYM) (Fall 1:58)

152: Austin Geiser (NYM) over Tayden Soma (OTC) (Fall 2:31)

160: Gaiden Hoeper (OTC) over Weston Simpson (NYM) (Dec 5-2)

172: Levi Evavold (OTC) over Joe Mann (NYM) (MD 13-2)

189: Blake Unger (NYM) over Xavier Lewis (OTC) (Fall 3)3)

215: Bode Roberts (NYM) over Will Schwartz (OTC) (Fall :25)

285: Kale Rich (OTC) over Grady Roberts (NYM) (Dec 6-0)