Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall's Aidan Mattison reacts after securing a pin during a match against New London-Spicer in the Section 3A North semifinals at Marshall High School on Thursday night. Marshall defeated NLS 33-21 to set Marshall up in the section semifinals against New Ulm on Saturday.

MARSHALL — Hosting its final match of the season, the second-seeded Marshall wrestling team picked up a 33-21 win over the No. 3 New London-Spicer Wildcats in the 3AA North subsection finals on Thursday night. The win sets Marshall up for a dual against the South subsection’s No. 1 seed, New Ulm, in the 3AA semifinals.

“I think we’re a totally different team than the team that wrestled a couple of months ago, so I think if we just keep doing our stuff, we’ll be great,” Marshall senior and Class AA 133 No. 1 Dylan Louwagie said after the win. “We’ve kind of bounced off each other’s energy at practice, we keep ramping things up and we’re excited for the moment.”

Aidan Mattison slammed the door shut on NLS in the 189-pound match. He forced a takedown early on in the first match and remained in control throughout. It didn’t take long for him to finish the job from there as he secured a first-period pin of Carson McCain to give Marshall a 29-15 win to clinch the dual.

“I didn’t know it was the match-sealing pin right away, but after everyone was saying good job to me and the coaches said, ‘You won us the match,’ I felt really good about myself,” Mattison said.

Class AA No. 5 Tate Condezo dominated the first period of his 160-pound match, jumping out to a quick 6-2 lead against Adam Sandau. He never let his opponent reverse momentum as he captured the pin to give Marshall a 23-12 lead.

In 172, NLS got some new life. Tucker Fiene and Brody Duke were held scoreless in the first period but a pair of Fiene escapes, broken up by a Duke takedown, tied the match up at 2-2. Unfortunately for the Tigers, NLS controlled the remainder of the match to capture a 7-3 decision. The Wildcat win cut Marshall’s lead in the dual to 23-15, keeping the door open for a comeback heading into Mattison’s match.

Lincoln Christenson started out the night’s opening match with a nearly instant takedown of Andrew Sandau. While he wasn’t able to get the pin in the first period, a pair of near-falls gave him a 6-0 lead through the first two minutes. After starting the second period back in the neutral position, Christenson got another takedown before Andrew finally got on the board with an escape.

Entering the third period with a 12-1 lead, Christenson elected to start in the bottom position and nearly instantly got a reversal. Andrew was able to pull out a pair of escapes but Christenson still settled for a 16-3 major decision for 4 Marshall points.

In 114, Levi Kraft and NLS went scoreless through the first period. It wasn’t until the second period when, after starting on the bottom, he was able to perform an escape to gain a slight advantage. Yet, NLS’ Elden Halvorson responded with a takedown to take a 2-1 lead. With about 30 seconds remaining in the second period, Kraft pulled off another escape to go into the third period tied.

Kraft started the final period on top but Halvorson quickly got an escape. From there, Halvorson staved off Kraft’s attack for a 3-2 decision to bring NLS back within a point.

Landon Marthaler, ranked No. 8 in Class AA, was able to gain some leverage for a takedown 45 seconds into his 121-pound match against Carson Nelson. He ended the match quickly after getting Nelson on the ground, getting the first pin of the night at the one-minute mark for a 10-3 Tiger advantage.

Dawson DeCamp put Jeremiah Nelson on the ground early to start the 127-pound dual and earned a quick 2 points. He was on the brink of getting the pin with 11 seconds left in the first period but Nelson held out for just long enough for the buzzer to sound, forcing DeCamp to settle for a 5-0 advantage off the near pin to start the second period.

An escape and a reversal gave DeCamp an 8-0 lead a minute into the second period. Nelson responded with an escape but yet another takedown gave DeCamp a 10-1 lead.

The two started the second period in the neutral position and it took DeCamp 12 seconds to get a takedown, though Nelson came back with an escape. DeCamp was eventually able to pick up another 4 points before the end of the period but wasn’t able to secure the pin, walking away with a 16-4 major decision to give Marshall a 14-3 advantage.

In the 133-pound weight class, top-ranked Dylan Louwagie took on No. 7 Isaiah Nelson of NLS. A takedown and a near-fall gave Louwagie a 4-1 lead after the first period but the top-10 showdown reached a stalemate from there. The only other point awarded in the remainder of the match came on a Louwagie escape in the third period, but that was all the Marshall senior needed and then some as he captured a 5-1 decision to give Marshall a 17-3 lead in the dual.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall’s Dylan Louwagie (top) wrestles with New London-Spicer’s Isaiah Nelson during the Section 3A North semifinals at Marshall High School on Thursday night.

NLS’ Holton Hanson started the 139-pound match with a takedown but Tyson Louwagie responded with an escape to go into the second frame trailing by just a point. The match remained scoreless for the first minute of the second period until Hanson was able to pull off a reverse to take a 4-1 lead into the second period. Louwagie came up with a reversal to come within a point in the final 20 seconds of the match but Hanson responded with an escape to hold on for a 5-3 decision to cut Marshall’s advantage to 11 points.

The 145-pound match went scoreless for nearly two full periods before Everett Halvorson was able to perform an escape against Collin Klenken with 11 seconds remaining in the second period. He was able to maintain the neutral position for the majority of the third period to hold on for a 2-0 decision. It was the first of two consecutive 2-0 wins for the Wildcats as Brayden Chandler fell by the same margin in 152, giving NLS its third consecutive decision to cut Marshall’s lead to 17-12.

With Marshall’s place in the section semifinals secured, Marshall kept its foot on the gas. Gavin Schaefer picked up a takedown in the opening seconds of his 215 match and rode that momentum to a 14-5 decision against Garret Leenstra to put some extra icing on the cake.

No. 10 Marshel Johnson gave NLS one last victory after pinning Joshua Kraft in the third period to bring the match to its final score of 33-21.

Marshall will next compete in the section semifinals on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., facing off against No. 1S New Ulm Area. The Eagles are coming off a 53-7 win over Windom in the section quarterfinals.

The winner of that semifinal match will take on either No. 1N Dawson-Boyd/Lac qui Parle/Montevideo United and No. 3S Luverne with a trip to the state tournament on the line. The Blackjacks, coming off a 50-18 win over No. 4 Hutchinson/Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart, put an end to Marshall’s state tournament hopes last year when they defeated the Tigers in the section championship, 37-22. Marshall is currently ranked No. 8 in Class AA while United is ranked No. 7. The section championship will be held on the same day at 2:30 p.m.