VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – It was broken down into three different matches. Valley City won the lower weights (19-0), Jamestown won the middle weights (20-0), and the Hi-Liners took the upper weights (21-9). The final results: Valley City 40-29 over Jamestown in high school wrestling Saturday afternoon at the Hi-Liner Activity Center.
In a much anticipated rematch of last year’s quarterfinal match in the state wrestling tournament. Jamestown came to the HAC for a non-conference match up which saw the Hi-Liners avenge that loss last February.
In this match there were 19 wrestlers ranked in the top four of their respective region and 12 that placed in last year’s state tournament.
The Hi-Liners would get the first four matches. Koltyn Grebel defeated Lucas Schlepuetz 6-0 at 106. Logan Novara of Valley City pinned Ray Vasquez in 48 seconds at 113, Koye Grebel defeated Grady Anderson 14-4 at 120. Grebel pinned Grady Anderson in last year’s state dual tournament matchup. Ethan Miller moved down to 126 and pinned Pete Rasmussen with 10 seconds left in the match to give the Hi-Liners a 19-0 lead.
Jamestown would take the next four weights starting at 132 where Sam Schlepuetz defeated Tucker Johnson 14-4. Aden Braun, a two time state runner up, got Isaiah Schuldheisz 11-3 at 138. Joel Bowman pinned Espen Kunze at 5:08 of the match at 145. Then in a rematch of the 138 pound 1st round match at last year’s state individual meet and the dual tourney meeting, Colton Mewes pinned Evan Mielke with four seconds to go in the first period to give the Blue Jays a 20-19 lead.
But the turning point in the match came at 160 where Ezra Hanse picked up a big pin of Josiah Reimers at 1:48 of the first period to give Valley City the lead back at 25-20. Broden Muske followed suit with a pin of Preston Gall at 170 to make it 31-20 Hi-Liners. Muske pinned Gall in last year’s state dual tournament.
Ben Matzke slipped by Jonathan Redfearn 6-4 at 182 to cut the Hi-Liners lead to 31-23. Jonah Schuldheisz would clinch the dual for Valley City with a pin of Dareeyn Davis 1:13 into the first period at 195 for a 37-23 lead for the Hi-Liners. In the final rematch from last year’s state dual tournament, Carson McGough, who was pinned by Austin Kessler in the first match of that dual, avenged that loss with a 3-1 win over Kessler Saturday to make it 40-23 Valley City.
Damien Krebs pinned Devyn Thornton in 28 seconds at 285 to make the final score 40-29 Valley City.
The Hi-Liners improve to 4-0 on the year with the win while Jamestown falls to 0-2. The two teams meet again in February as part of a triangular at Bismarck Legacy.
Next up for Valley City, they travel to Grand Forks Red River for an Eastern Dakota Conference Triangular with the Rough Riders and West Fargo Sheyenne on Tuesday.
The Blue Jays will host defending state champ Bismarck High Friday night in their next action.
Watch the match again!