Panthers send seven to state

Jeff Engle celebrates after defeating Sibley-Ocheyedan's Bryant Bradbury to qualify for the state wrestling tournament. (Photo by Roy Tucker) [Click to enlarge]

Kingsley-Pierson's ascent to the top of the Class 1A wrestling world continued at the district meet Saturday in Rock Rapids as the Panthers captured seven of 28 state tournament spots up for grabs on the way to a district team title.

The no. 2-ranked Panthers earned 117 team points at the meet with Pocahontas Area a distant second scoring 86.

K-P pushed all but one of its district qualifiers through to state and crowned six individual district champions, beginning with no. 1-ranked Brandon Bohlke at 130 pounds. Bohlke faced the top seed from the Okoboji sectional in Michael Matthews of Graettinger-Terill after placing second himself at the Rock Rapids district with a loss in the finals to Akron-Westfield's no. 2-ranked Chris Utesch. Bohlke made short work of Matthews, winning by fall in :59 to set up a third meeting of the season with Utesch after the Westerner won by 15-0 technical fall over Schaller-Crestland's Mark McDonough in his semifinal match.

As in both previous meetings between the top two wrestlers in Class 1A at 130, the match was an all-out struggle from start to finish with Bohlke coming out on top by 6-5 decision. Both wrestlers qualified for state following the match-Utesch returning to defend his '04 title and Bohlke making his first trip back since winning a title as a freshman in '03-and K-P head coach Tom Stauch anticipates a fourth meeting down the tournament trail.

"We hope that happens," said Stauch. "We hope they wrestle again, because that would probably mean it would be in the finals."

The road for both wrestlers to reach the finals will be a difficult one, however, as Bohlke (35-2) opens with Coon Rapids-Bayard's Grant Cadwallader (36-9) and Utesch takes on no. 3-ranked Logan Queck (33-1) of Nodaway Valley.

Sensational freshman Brody Verschoor (42-3) qualified for the Panthers at 135 in the toughest field at the district meet, defeating no. 10-ranked Mike Finch of Hartely-Melvin-Sanborn for the second time this season by fall in 5:02 before toppling Laurens-Marathon's no. 5-ranked J.R. Johnson by 3-0 decision.

Ninth-ranked Verschoor's state tournament debut begins with a familiar face in Westwood's Jesse Worrell (34-7).

K-P senior Richie Steffen punched his first state tournament ticket winning the 145-pound title, taking out Nate Eakin of Okoboji by 7-2 decision in the semifinals and Joe Julius of Sibley-Ocheyedan by 8-6 decision in the championship. Steffen (24-1) will start with no. 2-ranked Todd Becker (34-4) of Don Bosco.

Senior Joey Verschoor was the 152-pound champion, pinning Pocahontas Area's Jeremy Arnold in 2:19 and scoring a 6-3 decision win over no. 5-ranked Nicholas Kolegraff of Okoboji. The win over Arnold was Verschoor's 171st of his career, setting a new school record. Verschoor tied the mark earlier in the week with a win over Arnold in the Panthers' regional tournament dual with Pocahontas Area. No. 2-ranked Verschoor (43-0) will be making his fourth trip to the state tournament-looking to improve on a seventh-place finish last year-and will face no. 3-ranked Tyler Burkle (39-2) of North Linn in the first round.

Senior Nathan Koskovich will be making his third appearance in Des Moines, following a 3-1 decision win over Ben Winkler of Pocahontas and a 7-2 decision win over no. 3-ranked Kurtis Hoefling of Hinton for the title at heavyweight. Fourth-ranked Koskovich (41-1) will face Justin Pierce (29-10) of Belle Plaine in round one.

Two Panthers finished as district runners-up and qualified for state after wins in wrestlebacks, including no. 6-ranked Tim Culler at 119. Culler lost by 4-3 decision to no. 8-ranked Morgan Terveer of Sioux Central in the first round, then won by fall over Scott Robbins of Alta in 1:59 and topped no. 9-ranked Nate DeBoer of Central Lyon by 6-0 decision, avenging a loss to DeBoer in the finals of the sectional meet.

Culler (36-6) will be making his third trip to state and will face no. 2-ranked Jordan Hasenkamp (43-0) of Twin River Valley in the first round.

Jeff Engle also placed second at 140 to become the second Panther freshman to earn a state berth. Engle opened with a 10-2 decision win over Brandon Kay of Laurens-Marathon, then lost to no. 3-ranked Tim Poyzer of Pocahontas Area by 7-0 decision. Engle was forced to wrestle a third match for true second and defeated Bryant Bradbury of Sibley-Ocheyedan by 10-2 decision.

Engle (37-12) will make his state tournament debut against Justin Chambers (33-9) of Pekin.

Freshman Isaiah Corbin was the only one of eight K-P district qualifiers not to advance to the state tournament. Corbin lost his opening match at 160 by 4-2 decision to Alta's Cory Diischer, won his consolation match by fall in 2:58 over Jeremy Robley of Schaller-Crestland and did not get an opportunity to wrestle back.

While Corbin's misfortune was a disappointment for Stauch, the Class 1A Northwest Iowa Coach of the Year was overall elated by the performance of his team at the district meet.

"I don't think I've ever seen a group do so well at the district tournament in my 19 years here," said Stauch. "To have seven qualifiers, that's awfully good."

With a mixed bag making the trip to state for K-P, including a four-time qualifier, a first-time senior qualifier and two freshman, Stauch's advice for his wrestlers is to never look ahead.

"Focus on those first matches on that first day," said Stauch. "The goal is to keep as many people wrestling in the tournament as possible through each session. If we can do that, we can have a lot of fun down there."

While the mood for K-P was largely celebratory, A-W's day was one of ups and downs. Utesch did qualify for his fourth state tournament with an opportunity to defend his '04 state championship, but Trent Ruhland failed to earn his second trip to Des Moines as a senior.

Ruhland won a 2-1 decision over Dylan Titterington of Okoboji in the semifinals, then lost by 13-4 major decision to no. 4-ranked Jared Enderton of Graettinger-Terril in the finals at 171. Ruhland was forced to face no. 8-ranked Dan Bunt of Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn, who he defeated in the sectional championship match, in a wrestleback for true second and lost by 6-4 decision to bring his Westerner wrestling career to an end.

"It was frustrating as a coach to watch because Trent has put in a lot of time in the offseason trying to learn some new things and we did a lot of scouting and strategizing for Bunt, just in case we wrestled him again," said A-W coach Derek Briggs. "It came down to wrestling him and we lost by two. It's hard to see that happen, especially when Trent's a senior. That's a hard one to take."

As with the two Westerner senior district qualifiers, A-W's pair of freshman also split. No. 2-ranked Marshall Koethe earned his first state berth with a 16-1 technical fall of Laurens-Marathon's Louis Wendell and a 1:00 pin of Central Lyon's no. 8-ranked Nate Herda to win the 125-pound title, while John Sievert was shut out after an 11-2 major decision loss to Finch of H-M-S and a loss by fall in 2:08 to Laurens-Marathon's Johnson at 135.

Briggs said that Koethe has been dialed in all season long, but found another level once the postseason began.

"He is very focused right now. Coming into Saturday, you think a freshman would be nervous but he was not," said Briggs. "He was as loose as I have ever seen him when he was off the mat and as focused as I have ever seen him when he was on the mat."

As for Sievert, Briggs said that the freshman has some good years ahead of him after a promising start to his A-W career.

"John Sievert might have had the toughest weight class from top to bottom because the other three guys were all rated," said Briggs. "He wrestled very well, but just didn't get a win. I think John's going to be very good over the next three years."

Koethe (37-2) will open his first state tournament run against Ceeton Pfantz (26-3) of West Marshall.

Hinton's day at the district meet was one of mostly downs. Of the Blackhawks' three district qualifiers, only no. 9-ranked freshman Marcus Edgington survived the final round of eliminations to earn a trip to state at 112.

Edgington defeated Spenser Taylor of Okoboji by 10-0 major decision in the semifinals before losing to no. 8-ranked Mitch Erdmann by 4-1 decision in the finals. He then won a wrestleback by 7-0 decision over Jacob Rehnstrom of Alta to clinch the state slot.

Hinton coach Kyle Lewis was disappointed with Edgington's match against Erdmann, but said that the wrestleback with Rehnstrom was a much better effort.

"I thought Marcus wrestled Erdmann better last time at sectionals. He didn't look like the Marcus that I know (at districts)," said Lewis. "He didn't really fire off any shots or anything. He seemed to be defensive the whole time. He did wrestle well when state was on the line and he handed it to that Alta kid though."

Edgington's twin brother Michael did not survive his first district experience. No. 10-ranked Michael Edgington lost by fall in 5:18 to Zach Beekman of Pocahontas Area in the semifinals at 103, then won in the consolation round over Jared Van Ginkel of West Lyon by 15-0 technical fall but did not have a chance to wrestle back.

Hinton's lone senior district qualifier Hoefling had a day on par with Ruhland of A-W. Hoefling was seeking his first trip to state, coming into the district meet ranked no. 3 at heavyweight. He won his semifinal match by fall in 5:19 over Michael Weber of Schaller-Crestland before a rematch with K-P's Koskovich in the finals. Koskovich won the match by 7-2 decision and Hoefling was forced to wrestle back against Ben Winkler of Pocahontas Area. Hoefling lost 4-2 in overtime to Winkler, ending his Blackhawk wrestling career.

For those 10 Plymouth County wrestlers that made in through the district meet, the first session of the Class 1A state tournament begins Thursday at 9 a.m at Veterans Auditorium in Des Moines.

District Team Results:

1. K-P (117); 2. Pocahontas Area (86); 3. M-M-C (59); 4. A-W (48); 5. Graettinger-Terril (43); 6. Central Lyon (38); 7. Okoboji (33); 8. Hinton (30); 9. Alta (23); T-10. Sibley-Ocheyedan (22); T-10. Sioux Central (22); 12. Schaller-Crestland (21); T-13. Laurens-Marathon (18); T-13. West Lyon (18); 15. H-M-S (13); 16. West Sioux (7).