Photo by Jake Przytarski A Minneota wrestler tries to pin his Worthington opponent during their match on Saturday.

CANBY – The Minneota Vikings and the Canby Lancers each took to the mat on Saturday in Canby for a dual matchup against the Worthington Trojans. In the end, both the Vikings and Lancers came out victorious by scores of 39-25 and 42-22, respectively.

First onto the mat were the Minneota Vikings looking to continue their impressive run to begin the season with a win over the Trojans. Kicking off the action was Troy VanKuelan of the Vikings taking on Oscar Galvez at the 106-weight class which ended in favor of Galvez via major decision (11-2).

The Vikings would even things up and then take an 8-4 lead after Zack Fier and Eric Carrasco picked up back to back major decision victories at the 113 and 120-weight classes, but the Trojans would answer right back with the matches first fall thanks to Erik Artiga at the 126-weight class, pinning Truman Wambeke.

Trailing 13-8 after Worthington’s Doman Schultz picked up a decision (5-4 ) victory over Minneota’s Bronson Lozinkski, the Vikings rattled off three consecutive victories – including two by pin-fall by Blake Reiss and Jonah Gruenes – to retake the lead at 24-13.

After the Trojans responded with a pin of their own, the Vikings picked up a decision (9-3) victory from Cole VanOverbeke before putting the match away with two more pins coming from Josh Laleman and Shawn Buysse. Minneota would lose via decision in their final two weight classes, but held on to win 39-25.

After watching the Vikings battle the Trojans in the opener, the home-team Lancers got their match started with Worthington on the right foot with Lane Fink in the 106-weight class picking up a major decision (16-4) victory over Oscar Galvez to open things up for Canby.

The two teams would go on to split in the 113 and 120-weight classes as the Trojans earned three points via a 9-3 decision before the Lancers answered with a major decision (9-1) victory thanks to Jake Wagner to take an 8-3 lead.

Battling back, Worthington picked up the next three victories for the Trojans that included a forfeit in the 126-weight class, a decision (12-7) in the 132-weight class and a major decision victory in the 138-weight class to pull ahead 16-8.

Representing the 145-weight class, Parker Viessman got things back on track with a victory via pin and Kalib Greenman in the 152-weight class added another pin to give the Lancers a 20-16 lead. The two teams would split in the 160 and 170-weight classes as Alex Full picked up a major decision (12-2) victory before the Trojans answered with a decision (5-2) win of their own.

Closing the match out in impressive fashion, the next three Lancer wrestlers in Evan Stoks, Jaden Kindopp and Josh Steffen each picked up a victory via pin that helped seal the 42-22 win for Canby.

The Lancers will return to the mat on Friday when they participate in the Redwood River Riot tournament.

The Vikings of Minneota will have to wait until Dec. 28th to return to action when they travel to North Dakota for the Rumble on the Red tournament.