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PREP WRESTLING: Energized effort

Marshall wraps up its home season with pair of victories

Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Lucas Hodges wraps up New Ulm Area’s Jacob Bertrang during their meet on Friday. The Tigers defeated New Ulm 69-12 before beating Quad County 67-9.

MARSHALL – After the Marshall wrestling team had been off and away from practice to start the week, Marshall coach Justin Bouwman was unsure how his team would come out to start in their triangular meet against New Ulm Area and Quad County. The No. 10-ranked Tigers responded in a strong fashion, as Marshall quickly took down New Ulm 69-12 before earning the sweep with a 67-9 victory over Quad County Friday on the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University.

“It’s kind of interesting, we didn’t know what to expect exactly with having three days off in a row and not being able to practice and then getting one day of practice (on Thursday),” Bouwman said. “To get that kind of start and that kind of effort right away, it shows that the guys are ready to go and want to be competitive all of the time.”

Marshall vs.

New Ulm

The Tigers got their afternoon started with a matchup against New Ulm. Marshall jumped out to a quick start, as Dylan Louwagie won with a pin in 58 seconds before Hsa Khee Lar got another pin (4:40) and Connor Roth won by forfeit at the 120-weight class to give Marshall an 18-0 start.

Marshall would continue to quickly move around the mat, with Hsa Law Eh (126-weight class) and Lucas Hodges (132-weight class) picking up back-to-back pins (3:19 and 1:29, respectively) before Noah Jensen earning a forfeit victory at the 138-weight class to make it 36-0.

New Ulm was able to get on the board at the 145-weight class with a pin victory for Sean Howk, but Marshall answered right back by closing out the match with five pins and a decision victory. Jackson Hughes (152-weight class, 3:23), Grant Louwagie (160-weight class, 1:20), Zach Stahl (182-weight class, 0:31), Jaiden Bahr (195-weight class, 0:19) and Zack Felcyn (220-weight class, 1:10) all picked up pins while Elijah Sterner (170-weight class) won by decision to push Marshall to a 69-12 victory.

Marshall vs.

Quad County

In the nightcap of the meet, the Tigers would square off against Quad County, who had fell to New Ulm to start the day. Just like it did against the Eagles, Marshall was able to use a fast-paced start to its advantage, as the Tigers took the first seven bouts. Dylan Louwagie got things going with a technical fall victory over Quad County’s Hunter Wilke (17-1) before Hsa Khee Lar and Hsa Law Eh both picked up a couple of pin victories (1:54 and 2:30, respectively) made it 17-0 Tigers.

Marshall continued its momentum over the next few matchups, as Roth won by decision (5-3) over Gunner Stier before Hodges won by technical fall (19-3) over Abel Chaparro and Jensen and Hughes earned a pair of pin victories (0:54 and 1:51, respectively) to push Marshall’s lead to 37-0.

Quad County would be able to get on the board in the next bout when Jack Howard won by a pin in 32 seconds at the 160-weight class and a decision victory (2-1) for Ayden Friese to make it 37-7, but Marshall closed the match with three more pins and a pair of forfeit victories.

Stahl (0:28), Zack Felcyn (1:04) and Cole Felcyn (3:02) picked up the pins while Sterner and Bahr won by forfeit to cement a 67-9 victory and a triangular sweep for the Tigers.

Bouwman said their key in both meets was their ability to stay aggressive and battle for each match.

“I think just our aggressiveness,” Bouwman said. “We were out there being aggressive and going after the pin; we wanted to pin matches and really show our dominance.”

Marshall (15-0) will compete against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut Grove on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Bouwman said their biggest takeaway is working on a little conditioning as well as cleaning some fundamentals on the mat.

“We’ve got maybe a little bit of conditioning that we need to work on and then just some different positioning and some mat awareness stuff that we need to work on,” Bouwman said.

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