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CITY (NewsDakota.com)–Close wrestling duals come down to the little things.
The Jamestown Blue Jays won a key bout at 132, stayed off their backs, and even won the coin flip that starts a dual, and took a 36-33 decision over the Valley City Hi-Liners in Valley City Thursday.
Jamestown needed all those factors, as Valley City’s ranked heavyweight, Steven Horner, put Blue Jay 220-pounder Nate Purcell on his back twice in the heavyweight match with the Blue Jays leading 36-30.
Even had Horner finished the match with a fall, the Blue Jays had the edge in criteria, as no Blue Jay wrestler had been pinned all night.
Jamestown started hot, with Paxton Mewes winning by ball at 106, Jason Johnson earning a forfeit at 113, and Jaden Horstad earning a fall at 120, giving the Blue Jays an 18-0 edge.
Hi-Liner Mark Miller won at technical fall win at 126, but Keith Shahin avoided the fall, keeping the lead at 18-5.
The key bout of the night was at 132, as Hi-Liner freshman Jackson Lemnus faced Blue Jay junior Mitch Ova. Lemnus took a 2-1 lead after a period, and locked up a cradle on Ova, but tried to roll it through, and Ova ducked out of it, earning a five-point move, taking a 6-2 lead, and giving Jamestown a 9-5 win at the class and a 21-5 lead in the dual.
Shane Undem got Valley City back on track at 138 with a 16-3 major decision, but again, Jamestown escaped further injury, as Brandyn Harr was turned as the buzzer sounded. Two more seconds, and Valley City would have earned an extra point. Instead, the lead was cut to 21-9.
The coin flip came into play at 145. Valley City had to enter their wrestler first at the class, and Reed Beckman took to the mat. Jamestown took advantage by forfeiting to Beckman, allowing their wrestlers to shuffle the upper weights with a 21-15 lead.
Ryan Hillerud moved to 152 and scored a win, and Zane Braun earned a fall at 160, also moving up a class, pushing the lead to 30-15. Valley City countered by moving Stephen Radermacher up to 170 for a 9-2 win, and yet again, the Blue Jay defense came into play. Radermacher had worked a turn at the end of the bout, keeping the Hi-Liners away from an extra point.
Jamestown’s Reece Waldie then sealed the win at 182 with a fall, moving the lead to 36-18. The fall gave the Blue Jays their fifth six-point win of the night, which sealed the win. Even if Valley City pinned out, the eventual tie would have favored Jamestown, as Valley City would have finished with only four six-point wins.
It nearly happened that way. Jamestown chose to forfeit at 195, and Noah Kaber entered the lineup for Valley City to take the forfeit, allowing top-ranked Brandon Larson to move up. Jamestown then forfeited to Larson at 220, and Horner faced Purcell, who moved up from 220 to heavyweight.
Larson scored two big turns to take a big lead, but could not work the fall that the crowd knew would tie the dual, but did not know would still leave Valley City short. Horner aggravated a long-standing rib injury as the result of a scissors by Purcell at the end of the second, and he coasted through the third period for a 10-4 win. Jamestown took the dual 36-33.
Jamestown wrestles at Dickinson Friday night. Valley City will attend the Fertile-Beltrami tournament this weekend.