VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewDakota.com) – The Valley City Hi-Liners host a triangular Saturday to wrap up the regular season and recognize the wrestlers and their parents. The Hi-Liners came away with two wins on the day.
The defeated West Fargo 42-30 and Carrington 41-25 in a matchup of the #2 ranked team in Class A, Valley City, and the #2 ranked team in Class B, Carrington.
Carrington started the day with a nail biter over West Fargo, A dual that was not decided until the second to last match at 220.
Trace Hoggarth got things started at 106 with a fall at 1:43 over Tanner Thoreson. West Fargo’s Lyndsey Anderson won by forfeit at 113 before Carrington would rattle off four wins in a row, all pins.
Treston Lura at 120, Matthew Duchscherer at 126, Corbin Clifton at 132 and Trevor Hoggarth at 138 to give the Cardinals a 30-6 lead.
But West Fargo would storm back and win the next four themselves. A major decision by Tyler Porter at 145, Nick Anderson with a fall at 152, Aaron Magnell with a 3-2 decision at 160 and a forfeit at 170. That made the score 30-25 Carrington.
Michael Clifton pinned Connor Lamb at 182 to make it 36-25 Cardinals. Then Logan Moore pinned Kaulder Kvamme at 195 to make it 36-31 Carrington. Beau Reztzlaff, the top ranked Class B wrestler at 220 pinned Houston Visto, the #5 ranked wrestler in Class A at 220 to clinch the match for the Cardinals, 42-31. KC Ortiz pinned Austin Trelstad in 50 seconds at 285 to wrap up the scoring and give the Cardinals the 42-37 win. It was the second time Carrington had beaten West Fargo this season.
The second match of the day had host Valley City taking on West Fargo for the second time this season. The Hi-Liners came away with a 42-30 win.
Valley City started out fast with pins by Koltyn Grebel, Koye Grebel, Logan Novara, Ethan Miller and Tucker Johnson to make it 30-0 after five weights.
West Fargo would get the next three matches with Amir Murad defeating Isaiah Schuldheisz 8-4 at 138. Tyler Porter pinned Owen Plagens at 145 and Nick Anderson pinned Evan Mielke at 152 to make the score 30-15 Valley City.
Ezra Hanse picked up hard fought 2-1 win over Aaron Magnell at 160 to make it 33-15 Valley City. Kaleb Porter pinned Kael Grebel at 170 to cut the lead to 33-21. But Broden Muske got that pin back with one of his own at 182 to make it 39-21 Hi-Liners.
Jonathan Redfearn clinched the dual for Valley City with a 7-3 win over Logan Moore at 195. Houston Visto defeated Jonah Schuldheisz 7-3 at 220 and KC Ortiz pinned Carson McGough at 285 for the final margin, 42-30.
The final match of the day was the marquee matchup. The #2 ranked teams in Class A and B facing off.
Valley City would get he first four wins. A tech fall by Koye Grebel at 106, a forfeit at 113, Logan Novara’s 12-6 decision at 120 and Ethan Miller’s 4-2 win at 126. The three matches that were wrestled had ranked wrestlers facing one another. At 106, Koye Grebel is #1 in the state in Class A and Trace Hoggarth IS #6 in Class B. Logan Novara is #2 at 120 in Class A while Treston Lura is #2 in Class B at 120. At 126, Matthew Duchscherer is #2 in Class B and Ethan Miller is #4 in Class A.
Carrington would storm back with wins in the next four matches. At 132 #7 Corbin Clifton got a major decision over Tucker Johnson, 10-0. Trevor Hoggarth, #6 at 138, defeated Isaiah Schuldheisz 5-0. Kael Kovar won 2-0 over Espen Kunze at 145. Then Brecken Lura who is #1 at 145 pinned Evan Mielke at 152 in 1:18. That put the score at 17-16 Hi-Liners.
Ezra Hanse and Broden Muske came up with two big pins back-to-back at 160 and 170 respectively to give the Hi-Liners a 29-16 lead.
Michael Clifton, ranked #2 at 182, beat #5 Jonathan Redfearn 5-0 to make it 29-19. Then Jonah Schuldheisz clinched the dual for Valley City with a pin of Kaulder Kva,mme 48 seconds into their match at 195. Schuldheisz is #2 at 195 and Kvamme is #7. Score: Valley City 35, Carrington 19.
Beau Retzlaff, #1 at 220, pinned Jaylen McConnaughey in 14 seconds. It was the senior McConnaughey’s first varsity match of the season. Carson McGough got a forfeit at 285 to finish out the scoring.
With the win, Valley City improves to 21-2 on the season and will head into the state dual tournament in two weeks as the #1 seed put of the East Region. West Fargo, not heading to state, falls to 10-8 while Carrington, the Region 2 champ is 12-4.
The State Individual tournament begins Thursday February 18th with the Class B in the morning and Class A in the afternoon at the Fargodomea and continue on Friday the 19th. The State dual tournament will be held Saturday February 20th at the Fargodome.