Spoilers wrap up home schedule
The Grafton Spoilers wrestling team wrapped up its home schedule Tuesday with a 57-18 win over MayPort-CG in dual action.
Grafton coach Brad Larson said it was a bittersweet night because it was the last home dual for his four seniors including Travis Dolan, Kody Kringstad, Art DeLaCruz and Santos Reyes.
“This is really tough because these guys have been with us since the start,” Larson said.
In the opening match of the dual at 106 pounds, MP-CG’s Konner Elliot pinned Grafton’s Dalton Hannesson 24 seconds into the second period.
After that, the Spoilers won five consecutive matches. At 113, Hector Reyes held on for a 6-4 decision over Kade Elliot. At 126, Noah Flores pinned MP-CG’s Sam Kleven at the 19 second mark of the first period. At 132, Travis Dolan pinned Brandon Desautel at the 1:06 mark of the first period.
At 138, in his first match in nearly three weeks after sitting out with an injury, Jaron Lunday scored a pin against Keegan Elliott with 25 seconds remaining in the first period. Kody Kringstad finished the string at 152, pinning MP-CG’s Jack Nerby 24 seconds into the third period.
At 182, the Patriots got an upset win when Alex Kleven pinned Grafton’s Santos Reyes with 23 seconds to go in the second period.
At 220, Grafton’s Jacob Stauss was pinned by Josh Gapp with 35 seconds remaining in the first period.
Grafton’s final win came at 285 when Michael Moran made quick work of MP-CG’s Nathan Erickson with a pin 28 seconds into the match.
Grafton was also the beneficiary of five forfeits for an added 30 points.
“Tonight went pretty much as expected,” Larson said. “The only surprise was the loss by Santos. He got away from what he normally does and got caught.”
Busy new year
The Spoilers wrestlers have been busy so far in the new year. On Jan. 8, Grafton split at a triangular, losing to Pembina County North 61-18 and defeating Larimore 40-33.
Against PCN, Grafton got got wins by Travis Dolan, Santos Reyes and Michael Moran, all by pins.
“That was a tough one because we don’t match up with them very well,” Larson said.
In matches wrestled against Larimore, Grafton got wins from Noah Flores at 126 who scored a 16-4 major decision over Bryce Moen; at 152, Kody Kringstad pinned Brandon Steffen at 1:37; at 160, Art DeLaCruz pinned Walter Lawson at the 36 second mark of the first period; at 220 Jacob Stauss pinned Aaron Reistad at 1:43 and at 285, Michael Moran pinned Adam Reistad 23 seconds into the match.
Larson said Noah Flores’ win at 126 was big.
“We weren’t quite sure how that one was going to go, so that was a key win for us,” he said. “Jacob’s win at 220 was another big one. He’s a first year wrestler and were weren’t sure what to expect.”
Eight wrestlers took part in the Central Cass Letterman’s Tournament held Jan. 4.
Senior Travis Dolan was Grafton’s top finisher placing third with a record of 4-1. Dolan’s victories included a 10-0 major decision over Blake Kaercher of Pembina County North; A pin against Camron Flick of Central Cass at 2:13; and 1-0 decision over Caden Coleman of Oakes. Dolan’s lone loss was a 6-3 decision to Joel Weber of South Border.
“Travis had a good tournament,” Larson said. “He beat a former state champion 1-0 in the third place match.”
Mike Moran placed fourth at 285, going 3-2 on the day. Santo’s Reyes took sixth place at 182, going 3-3.
“We placed ninth out of 18 teams without Jaron (Lunday) there. So I was pretty happy with that,” Larson said.
The Spoilers will face a tough test this weekend when they travel to Lisbon for a tournament that will be held on Friday and Saturday.