Photo by Travis Rosenau: Minneota's Blake Mead (right) wrestles LeSueur-Henderson's Nick Larson during a 139-pound match in the Class A state team wrestling quarterfinals, Wednesday at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.

ST. PAUL — The second-seeded Minneota wrestling team opened its team state tournament run with a win on Wednesday, defeating LeSueur-Henderson 45-18 in the Class A quarterfinals at Grand Casino Arena before falling to No. 3 Chatfield 34-27 in the semifinals. The Vikings will take on No. 5 Jackson County Central in the third-place match tonight at 4 p.m.

After sustaining an injury in the team section championship against Paynesville two weeks ago, Eli Faris came out firing in his return to action with the Vikings, giving Minneota its first points of the state tournament with a pin of Wesley Thieke in 22 seconds in the 133-pound match of the quarterfinals.

Minneota lost each of the first four matches of the quarterfinals against LeSueur-Henderson but rolled to victory from there, winning seven straight matches and eight of the final nine.

In addition to Faris, the Vikings also got pins from Brock and Cael Fier in the dual, and Adam DeVlaeminck pulled out a close battle for a 1-0 decision in 145.

The Vikings trailed Chatfield 24-0 through the first six matches and 30-3 through the first eight of the semifinals. Still the Vikings battled back to make things interesting down the stretch.

Mason Javers, Brock Fier and Sam Myhre rattled off consecutive pins in 160, 172 and 189 to give Minneota a chance heading into the final two matches. Still, wrestling up a weight class, Randy Sorensen wasn’t able to take down Will Boelter as Chatfield clinched the win in 215.

Minneota 45, Lesueur-Henderson 18

107: Elias Nielsen (LH) def. Derek Fier (MIN) Fall 5:23. 121: Heydan Danielson (MIN) def. LeRoy Haaland (LH) Fall 4:48. 121: Domenek Williams (LH) def. Nolan VanKeuelen (MIN) Dec. 7-4. 127: William Osborne (LH) def. Quinton Anderson (MIN) Dec. 3-1. 133: Eli Faris (MIN) def. Wesley Thieke (LH) Fall 0:22. 139: Blake Mead (MIN) def. Nick Larson (LH) Dec. 12-9. 145: Adam DeVlaeminck (MIN) def. Waylon Thieke (LH) Dec. 1-0. 152: Colton Bitker (MIN) def. Dalton Wilson (LH) ID 0:37. 160: Mason Javers (MIN0 def. Luke Miller (LH) TF 17-2 2:34. 172: Brock Fier (MIN) def. Mason Johnson (LH) Fall 1:14. 189: Randy Sorensen (MIN) def. Peyton Tellijohn (LH) MD 11-1. 215: George Doherty (LH) def. Brody Anderson (MIN) Fall 1:29. 285: Cael Fier (MIN) def. Carter Nelson (LH) Fall 1:39.

Chatfield 34, Minneota 27

107: Joey Cady (CHAT) def. Derek Fier (MIN) Fall 0:37. 114: Gunner Polikowsky (CHAT) def. Heydan Danielson (MIN) Dec. 8-5. 121: Wes Goetzinger (CHAT) def. Nolan VanKeulen (MIN) Dec. 4-3. 127: Jameson Priebe (CHAT) def. Quinton Anderson (MIN) TF 18-2 4:25. 133: Logan Pearson (CHAT) def. Eli Faris (MIN) MD 15-3. 139: Kaizen Johnson (CHAT) def. Blake Mead (MIN) Dec. 16-10. 145: Adam DeVlaeminck (MIN) def. Layne Root (CHAT) Dec. 7-3. 152: Hunter Polikowsky (ChAT) def. Colton Bitker (MIN) Fall 0:25. 160: Mason Javers (MIN) def. Thomas Conlon (CHAT) Fall 1:30. 172: Brock Fier (MIN) def. Brenden Kobs (CHAT) Fall 4:15. 189: Sam Myhre (MIN) def. Andrew Boelter (CHAT) Fall 3:10. 215: Will Boelter (CHAT) def. Randy Sorensen (MIN) MD 14-5. 285: Cael Fier (MIN) def. Jackson Bernard (CHAT) Fall 1:18.