3A wrestling: Late surge powers Albert Lea into semis

Mike Honeycutt was as surprised as anyone when his pin in the penultimate match lifted Albert Lea to a 29-23, rough-and-tumble victory over Hastings in Thursday's Class 3A team quarterfinals in the wrestling state tournament. But the dual between the Tigers, who are ranked second in Class 3A by The Guillotine wrestling magazine, and No. 5 Hastings at Xcel Energy Center was packed with surprises.

Honeycutt, a senior ranked eighth at 215, was hoping only to hold his own against sophomore Andy Trembath. Hastings was ahead 23-19 when their match began.

Was Honeycutt anticipating a pin?

"No," he said without hesitation. "The kid was ranked ahead of me at one point in the year, and I was expecting a tough match."

But he got the pin at 3 minutes, 21 seconds, and Albert Lea finished off the victory when fourth-ranked heavyweight Ben Berhow defeated Jade Helsper 11-2. Earlier in the day, Berhow had pinned Helsper in the individual portion of the tournament.

"It was a lot closer than I would have liked," said Albert Lea coach Larry Goodnature, whose team will meet unranked Centennial in today's semifinals. "We knew Hastings had a good team; they're well-coached and they've always had a good program. I knew it was going to be a good match."

The biggest surprise in Hastings' favor came at 135 pounds, where unranked sophomore Adam Petersen pinned third-ranked junior Zach McGinnis in 3:41.

Hastings won the first two matches, including a technical fall by Matt Laine (112), before three decisions by Albert Lea put the Tigers ahead 9-8. At 125, Albert Lea's Isaac Johnson rallied for a late reversal and three-point near-fall to beat Nick Zeien 7-4. And at 145, Matt Morris scored a takedown with two seconds left in the match to defeat Brendan Eichmann 3-1 and cut Hastings' lead to 17-12.

Albert Lea won four of the last five matches, including Honeycutt's pin.

Hastings coach Paul Vaith had nothing but good things to say about the match and both teams.

"It was just a great dual," he said. "They have a great program with a lot of tough kids. Our kids left everything on the mat, and what more can you ask?"

Anoka 52, Totino-Grace 12: The top-ranked Tornadoes got three pins and two technical falls in rolling past the Eagles. Jake Deitchler (140), Josh Treseler (152) and Derek Smith (215) won by fall, and Jake Begin (112) and Dusty Iverson (189) recorded technical falls. Tony Sadder and (145) and Ben Condon won by fall for Totino-Grace.

Apple Valley 39, Sauk Rapids-Rice 13: The fourth-ranked Eagles got started with a pin by Destin McCauley at 103 and won 10 other matches. They will meet Anoka today. Matt Mincey won by technical fall at 125.

Centennial 38, Prior Lake 24: Ryan Krause (125) and Kyle Richardson (275) pinned their opponents as the Cougars beat the Lakers. Jake Kahnke (189) won by fall for Prior Lake.

JOHN MILLEA

Class 2A: Flyers are pinners

Third-ranked Little Falls won eight matches in defeating No. 8 Buffalo Lake-Hector/BOLD 40-24 in the Class 2A quarterfinals, and five of those victories came by fall. That's nothing new for the Flyers, who have a school-record 206 pins this season.

Josh Groshung won by fall for the Flyers at 112 pounds, but Buffalo Lake-Hector/BOLD won three of the first four matches with narrow decisions to take a 9-6 lead. Little Falls' Ted Wilczek at 130 and Troy Biermaier at 135 pinned their opponents to put the Flyers back in front. The score was 24-24 after Tom Elfering won by fall at 171 for Buffalo Lake-Hector/BOLD, but a pin by the Flyers' Andy Hegna at 189 was followed by two forfeits in favor of the Flyers.

Little Falls will meet No. 2 Milaca in today' semifinals, and No. 1 St. Michael-Albertville will face No. 7 Adrian. Two-time defending champion St. Michael-Albertville rolled past No. 4 Scott West 46-8, Milaca beat No. 12 Hibbing 43-18, and Adrian beat Plainview/Elgin-Millville 33-26.

JOHN MILLEA

Class 1A: Pierz dethroned

There will be no three-peat for Pierz in Class 1A. Blame a couple of bad breaks -- and a masterful top-to-bottom performance from the Frazee Hornets.

The third-ranked Hornets, helped by a forfeit by the top-ranked Pioneers, won eight of 14 matches and dethroned Pierz with a surprisingly easy 30-19 victory.

"We had a few things that did kind of break in our direction," said Frazee coach John Barlund, whose team will meet No. 4 Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City in the semifinals today.

"But I'll tell you what -- any time we can pick up eight wins against Pierz, we're pretty happy."

Pierz went into the match down six points. Two weeks earlier, in the first round of sectionals, the team's top 112-pounder couldn't compete because of injury, and rules dictate that a forfeit in the sectionals means a forfeit all the way through state.

Pierz also had to make do without top-ranked 130-pounder Kyle Bednar, who couldn't wrestle because of a rash on his arm. Bednar's replacement dropped his match, the first of four consecutive losses for Pierz.

"Winning that position would have put us right on schedule to do what we had to do," Pierz coach Mark Jensen said. "We kind of lost momentum at that point."

Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City got past New York Mills 33-24. In the other bracket, Canby rode six pins to a 53-14 rout of United South Central, and No. 6 Wabasso topped No. 12 Wabasha-Kellogg 38-23.

PAM SCHMID