Craig Orlando pinned all three of his opponents in under 40 seconds for the Bertha-Hewitt-Verndale-Parkers Prairie Raiders as they walked away with a fifth-place finish in the Class 1A State Team Wrestling Tournament Thursday, Feb. 27, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
In the opening round, BHVPP faced the No. 2 seeded Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons.
Before the match, Raiders’ head coach Bill Wagner said how important the first two duals would be for his team. They fell behind 36-0 before Mason Schroeder got the Raiders on the board with a pin at 160 pounds.
BHVPP lost to ACGC 51-18 moving them to the consolation bracket.
In the first round of consolation, the Raiders faced the Royalton/Upsala Royals who fell to No. 3 Tracey-Milroy-Balaton/Westbrook-Walnut-Grove 59-18.
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The Raiders defeated the Royals 54-24 Dec. 17. In Thursday’s match, BHVPP jumped on Royalton/Upsala for six falls to earn a 50-21 win.
Orlando, Schroeder, Deagan Captain, Justin Koehn, Hunter Dean and Justin Koehn all recorded pins for the Raiders.
In the fifth-place match, BHVPP lined up with the Badger/Greenbush-Middle River Gators.
Gideon Ervasti and Jaden Finck recorded back-to-back falls at 182 and 195 to help the Raiders get a 47-27 win over the Gators.
The fifth-place finish is one place higher than BHVPP earned last year at the state team tournament.
Schroeder and Orlando pinned all three of their opponents Thursday.
Ervasti pinned two of his opponents at 182 and earned a 6-3 decision against Royalton/Upsala at 195.
Finck recorded a 15-5 major decision at 220 against Royalton/Upsala followed by a pin in 3:18 at 195 against his B/GB-MR matchup.
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Resse Thompson pinned his Royalton/Upsala opponent at 126 and earned a 16-0 technical fall at 132 against B/GB-MR.
Captain followed his 43-second pin at 113 against Royalton/Upsala with a 30-second pin at 120 against B/GB-MR.
The Raiders finish their season with a 20-5 record in duals.
State competition is not over for six BHVPP wrestlers as they will compete in the individual tournament Friday and Saturday.
ACGC 51, BHVPP 18
106: Jason Williams (ACGC) dec. David Revering 11-5
113: Cole Holien (ACGC) dec. Deagan Captain 4-0
120: Kelvin Andrade-Ponce (ACGC) pinned Aiden Larson 1:06
126: Brady Holien (ACGC) pinned Reese Thompson 1:07
132: Mason Studemann (ACGC) pinned Justin Koehn 1:13
138: Ramzee Molinaro (ACGC) pinned Abby Ervasti 0:36
145: Hayden Straumann (ACGC) dec. Jason Koehn 6-4
152: Jake Mortensen (ACGC) dec. Brock Peterson 5-4
160: Mason Schroeder (BHVPP) pinned Jaxon Behm 1:18
170: Taylor Fester (ACGC) pinned Carter Rokes 1:44
182: Gideon Ervasti (BHVPP) pinned Jesus Cardenas 2:48
195: Logan Sherwood (ACGC) dec. Tyler Eggert 1-0
220: Terrell Renne (ACGC) pinned Koal Ploutz 3:31
285: Craig Orlando (BHVPP) pinned Jose Posada 0:22
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BHVPP 50, Royalton/Upsala 21
106: Bennet Arceneau (BHVPP) dec. Michael Zimmermann 8-2
113: Deagan Captain (BHVPP) pinned Johnathon Bzdok 0:43
120: Will Gorecki (R/U) pinned Eli Eggert 1:55
126: Reese Thompson (BHVPP) pinned Bryce Binek 1:08
132: Justin Koehn (BHVPP) pinned Logan Nundahl 0:18
138: Jacob Leibold (R/U) pinned Matt Mensinger 1:36
145: Jason Koehn (BHVPP) maj. dec. Hunter Novitzki 17-4
152: Brayden Conrad (R/U) pinned Brock Peterson 3:13
160: Mason Schroeder (BHVPP) pinned Christopher Borash 0:51
170: Hunter Dean (BHVPP) pinned Aidan Olson 3:09
182: Austin Wensmann (R/U) dec. Carter Rokes 6-4
195: Gideon Ervasti (BHVPP) dec. Matthew Kasella 6-3
220: Jaden Finck (BHVPP) maj. dec. Gage Louden 15-5
285: Craig Orlando (BHVPP) pinned Jeremy Rugg 0:36
