A pair of victories on Thursday, Feb. 15 at home provided the Northfield High School wrestling team with a trip to the championship match of the MSHSL Section 1AAA team tournament in Rochester on Saturday, Feb. 17.
In that Section 1AAA championship match against top seeded Albert Lea Area, the No. 2 seeded Raiders were knocked out of the state team tournament with a 49-7 loss.
In the showdown against Albert Lea, which is currently ranked #9 in the state, Northfield’s Caley Graber opened the match with a 6-3 win over Albert Lea’s Devon Groess at 107-pounds. From there, Albert Lea gained 10 consecutive wins before Ryan Kuyper broke the run with a 15-5 major decision win for the Raiders at 215-pounds. Albert Lea finished with another win at 285-pounds to finalize the score at 49-7.
At 121-pounds, Northfield’s #9 Caden Staab matched up against Albert Lea’s #8 ranked Ryan Collins and lost a competitive 8-3 decision.
Northfield gained its ticket to the title bout thanks to a 61-9 victory over Rochester John Marshall in the quarterfinals on Feb. 15 and a 35-29 win over #3 seed Owatonna in the semifinal match.
Northfield took advantage of five forfeits in its opening match against John Marshall to gain a quick 30-0 lead. At 107-pounds, Graber posted a fall at :43 against John Marshall’s Ali Alnajarani. The Raiders also gained pins at 133-pounds by Keith Harner and at 145-pounds by Sam Harner.
Owen Murphy charted a major decision at 172-pounds before Ryan Kuyper added a pin at 189-pounds. To finish the match, Noah Ackerman won by a 3-2 decision for Northfield at 285-pounds.
To open the match between the Huskies and Raiders, Lindquist (ranked #9 in the state) scored a fall over Northfield’s Dylan Sirek. Northfield swung the tempo to the other way as Graber pinned Owatonna Jacob Wilson at 3:47.
The falls continued for the Raiders as #9 ranked Caden Staab pinned Owatonna Donovan Sorenson at 3:13 and then Charlie Johnson earned a big 5:40 fall against Owatonna’s Justin Gronli to give the Raiders an 18-6 lead.
In a spotlight match, Northfield’s Keith Harner battled to a 6-4 win over #9 ranked Lane Karsten of Owatonna. Zane Engels then posted a tech fall win for the Raiders at 139-pounds. The Huskies then rallied at 145-pounds with a fall by Trey Hiatt over NHS’ Austin Benjamin. A fall by Owatonna’s Riley Krueger at 152-pounds moved the score to 28-18.
At 160-pounds, Colin Staab scored a 4-1 win over Owatonna’s Carter Flatland and Ryan Kuyper clinched the win for Northfield with a 10-3 decision at 189-pounds. In the final bouts of the evening, Fitcher and Lower both gained pins for the Huskies at 215-pounds and 285-pounds respectively to make the final tally 35-29.
“Charlie Johnson had a big pin, Caden Staab had a big pin and Caley Graber had a big pin for us,” Northfield coach Geoff Staab said. “We weren’t expecting all of those but that is what we talked about in the room all week — you got to get bonus points when we can get them and they came through for us.”
Geoff Staab talked about the Raiders’ status as they enter the upcoming Section 1AAA individual tournament that will take place on Feb. 24 in Rochester at the Mayo Civic Center. This tournament will serve as a qualifier for the upcoming 2024 MSHSL Class AAA individual state tournament that takes place at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Feb. 29-March 2.
“We are getting healthy, we are getting everybody back and we are hitting on all cylinders. The kids are wrestling great right now and they are wrestling like a family…it’s a great team to coach with great kids,” Staab said.
Northfield def. Rochester John Marshall 61-9
107 — Caley Graber (Northfield) over Ali Alnajarani (Rochester John Marshall) Fall 0:43
114 — Dylan Sirek (Northfield) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
121 — Caden Staab (Northfield) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
127 — Charlie Johnson (Northfield) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
133 — Keith Harner (Northfield) over Jaxon Sebring (Rochester John Marshall) Fall 1:45
139 — Zane Engels (Northfield) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
145 — Sam Harner (Northfield) over Owen Karsten (Rochester John Marshall) Fall 1:30
152 — Jamison Baker (Northfield) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf
160 — Darius Jordan (Rochester John Marshall) over Colin Staab (Northfield) Dec 12-5
172 — Owen Murphy (Northfield) over Ethyn Bertschinger (Rochester John Marshall) Maj 12-1
189 — Ryan Kuyper (Northfield) over Aresene Lukong (Rochester John Marshall) Fall 0:18
215 — Wyette Stanton (Rochester John Marshall) over Braxton Wood (Northfield) Fall 1:02
285 — Noah Ackerman (Northfield) over Evan Hernandez (Rochester John Marshall) Dec 3-2
Northfield def. Owatonna 35-29
107 — Kaden Lindquist (Owatonna) over Dylan Sirek (Northfield) Fall 1:31
114 — Caley Graber (Northfield) over Jacob Wilson (Owatonna) Fall 3:47
121 — Caden Staab (Northfield) over Donoven Sorenson (Owatonna) Fall 3:13
127 — Charlie Johnson (Northfield) over Justin Gronli (Owatonna) Fall 5:40
133 — Keith Harner (Northfield) over Lane Karsten (Owatonna) Dec 6-4
139 — Zane Engels (Northfield) over Colton Glende (Owatonna) TF 23-8
145 — Trey Hiatt (Owatonna) over Austin Benjamin (Northfield) Fall 0:47
152 — Riley Kreeger (Owatonna) over Sam Harner (Northfield) Fall 4:27
160 — Colin Staab (Northfield) over Carter Flatland (Owatonna) Dec 4-1
172 — Owen Murphy (Northfield) over RJ Reinardy (Owatonna) Dec 7-4
189 — Ryan Kuyper (Northfield) over Max Flemke (Owatonna) Dec 10-3
215 — Blake Fitcher (Owatonna) over Braxton Wood (Northfield) Fall 0:50
285 — Grant Lower (Owatonna) over Noah Ackerman (Northfield) Fall 5:36
Albert Lea 49 def. Northfield 7
107: Caley Graber (NORT) over Devon Groess (ALA) (Dec 6-3)
114: Dylan Groess (ALA) over Drew Pribyl (NORT) (MD 20-6)
121: Ryan Collins (ALA) over Caden Staab (NORT) (Dec 8-3)
127: Logan Davis (ALA) over Charlie Johnson (NORT) (Fall 0:41)
133: Michael Olson (ALA) over Keith Harner (NORT) (TF 22-7 6:00)
139: Brody Ignaszewski (ALA) over Zane Engels (NORT) (MD 12-4)
145: Nick Korman (ALA) over Austin Benjamin (NORT) (Fall 0:36)
152: Mason Attig (ALA) over Sam Harner (NORT) (Dec 3-0)
160: Brecken Wacholz (ALA) over Colin Staab (NORT) (Dec 8-7)
172: Triton Cox (ALA) over Iah Schweich (NORT) (Fall 0:42)
189: Teaghan Tolbers (ALA) over Braxton Wood (NORT) (Dec 4-2)
215: Ryan Kuyper (NORT) over Evan Schroeder (ALA) (MD 15-5)
285: William Velasquez (ALA) over Noah Ackerman (NORT) (Fall 2:42)
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