The No. 8 Marshall Tigers wrestling team fell to No. 7 Dawson Boyd/Lac Qui Parle/Montevideo United 28-27 in a Section 3AA team championship thriller. The back-and-forth dual featured six lead changes, the last of which came in the final match to give the top-seeded Blackjacks the win over the North subsection’s second-seeded Tigers.

Trailing 27-16 going into the last three weights, United needed to win out to capture the dual. At 189 pounds, Aidan Mattison and No. 10-ranked Parker Bothun took the mat. Bothun jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead with a takedown and ride out. In the second period, the two wrestlers exchanged reversals to make the score 4-2 at the end of the period. In the third period, the action reached a crescendo as both wrestlers showed tremendous will and effort.

Mattison, trailing 6-2 after a reversal by Bothun, reversed his United opponent to his back for a 2-point reversal and 3-point near fall. With Bothun on his back and the referee looking for the pin, Bothun was able to pull off a reversal of his own and collect his own 3-point near fall. Mattison fought off his back and continued to battle, but fell in the match 11-7.

At 215 pounds, the Tigers’ Gavin Schaefer and United’s Zach DeBeer squared off. After a scoreless first period, Schaefer got on the board first with an escape in the second. A DeBeer escape in the third tied the match at 1-1. With the period winding down, DeBeer got a 2-point takedown and a 2-point near fall to win the match with a 5-1 decision.

With the team score 27-22 in favor of Marshall going into heavyweight, United leaned on their No. 2-ranked senior, Brady Rhode, to win the dual. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Rhode showed why he is one of the top heavyweights in the state as he pinned Andrew Cowden in the first period to win the dual for United.

Lincoln Christenson started off the action with a decision over United’s Eli Olson in 107. After a scoreless first period, Christenson got an escape and takedown to take the lead 3-0 lead. In the third period, Christenson added another takedown to win the match 5-1 and give the Tigers the 3-0 lead in the dual.

United took their first lead at 114 pounds. Eighth grader Levi Kraft battled hard for Marshall but Gavin Mortenson still captured a 15-7 major decision to give United the 4-3 lead.

At 121 pounds, No. 8 Landon Marthaler got the Tigers back in the win column. After building a lead, Marthaler cradled Tygan Long for the second-period fall, which put the Tigers back in front 9-4.

United took back the lead at 127 pounds as No. 7 Ben Gunlogson got a pin of his own over Dawson DeCamp to make the score 10-9 in favor of United.

At 133 pounds, No. 1 Dylan Louwagie put the Tigers back in front 14-10 with a technical fall over Grayson Olson. Tyson Louwagie would then extend the lead with a big 7-0 decision for Marshall over Holland Schacherer in a match that both coaching staffs knew would be a nail-biter.

In the first period, the two wrestlers got into a scramble in which Louwagie came out on top and collected the two-point takedown and two-point near-fall. Louwagie rode out his United opponent for the entire second period and collected a 2-point reversal and stalling point for the win and extended Marshall’s lead to 17-10.

At 145 pounds, United got back in the win column with No. 3 Dan Gunlogson defeating Collin Klenken by a 10-3 decision. In a match where United was looking for bonus points, Klenken battled as hard as he could and held his highly-ranked opponent to the decision. Gunlogson’s teammate, No. 9 Kameron Sather, then picked up a 4-2 win of his own over Tiger freshman Brayden Chandler. The pair of wins for United cut lead Marshall’s lead to 17-16.

Back-to-back wins by Marshall’s Tate Condezo and Tucker Fiene gave the Tigers some breathing room. Condezo made quick work of Mason Pederson at 160 pounds, getting a takedown and then burying his opponent’s shoulders into the mat for the fall.

At 172 pounds, Fiene methodically extended his lead throughout the match. With just 10 seconds left in the match and leading by 6, the Tiger senior secured a 2-point takedown to get the major decision and earn an extra team point for the Tigers.

In its semifinal dual against New Ulm, the top seed out of the South subsection, the Tigers started the day strong with wins in 10 of the 13 weights for a 48-15 victory over the Eagles.

Lincoln Christenson started the dual off with a fall over Regan Johnson to put the Tigers up 6-0 after 107 pounds. At 114 pounds, the Eagles’ Braydon Miller picked up a pin of his own to tie the dual at 6 apiece. Landon Marthaler got the Tigers back in the win column at 121 pounds with a 7-1 decision over Kain Johnson.

At 127 pounds, the Tigers’ Dawson DeCamp avenged two losses from earlier in the season with a thrilling 7-5 overtime win over Elijah Rieser. In the third period with the score 4-3 in favor of DeCamp, Rieser scored a late takedown to take the 5-4 lead. DeCamp didn’t stay down long. With time running out, DeCamp willed himself to his feet and earned the escape to tie the match and send it into overtime. In overtime, DeCamp attacked Rieser and drove him to the mat for the takedown.

At 133 pounds Dylan Louwagie continued the winning streak for the Tigers with a quick first-period pin over Candon Briggs. Tyson Louwagie then followed up his brother’s victory of one of his own as he picked up the decision against Braxton Kiecker for the Tigers.

At 145 pounds, No. 8 Winston Neinhaus got New Ulm its second win of the dual with a decision over Collin Klenken. The Tigers would get things back on track right away with freshman Brayden Chandler using a big move against Lane Ruch for the first-period pin. The pins continued for the Tigers with Tate Condezo doing the same to Noah Engel at 160 pounds.

At 172 pounds, another Tiger avenged an earlier season loss as Tucker Fiene defeated Wyatt Pollard. Fiene accumulated a pair of takedowns to earn the 6-3 victory over his Eagles opponent.

Aidan Mattison made quick of Jamison Fredrickson with a one-minute pin at 189 pounds. At 215 pounds, Gavin Schaefer shook off an early takedown by the Eagles’ Ethan Lieb and got a pin of his own in 3:07.

At Heavyweight No. 3 Evan Thompson earned New Ulm’s third and final win with a pin over Andrew Cowden to make the final score 48-15.

Marshall will next compete in the individual section tournament at Windom on Saturday starting at 10 a.m.

United 28, Marshall 27

107: Lincoln Christenson (MARS) over Regan Johnson (NUA) (Fall 3:27) 114: Braydon Miller (NUA) over Levi Kraft (MARS) (Fall 3:12) 121: Landon Marthaler (MARS) over Kane Johnson (NUA) (Dec 7-1) 127: Dawson DeCamp (MARS) over Elijah Rieser (NUA) (SV-1 7-5) 133: Dylan Louwagie (MARS) over Candon Briggs (NUA) (Fall 3:25) 139: Tyson Louwagie (MARS) over Braxton Kiecker (NUA) (Dec 5-0) 145: Winsten Nienhaus (NUA) over Collin Klenken (MARS) (Dec 7-1) 152: Brayden Chandler (MARS) over Lane Ruch (NUA) (Fall 0:52) 160: Tate Condezo (MARS) over Noah Engel (NUA) (Fall 2:29) 172: Tucker Fiene (MARS) over Wyatt Pollard (NUA) (Dec 6-3) 189: Aidan Mattison (MARS) over Jamisen Frederickson (NUA) (Fall 1:00) 215: Gavin Schaefer (MARS) over Ethan Lieb (NUA) (Fall 3:07) 285: Evan Thompson (NUA) over Andrew Cowden (MARS) (Fall 0:40)