Arrows take down Cobras, finish week 1-3


Pipestone Area 160-pounder Rogen Smidt pins Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunberg’s Luke Froelich Saturday afternoon in Pipestone. K. Kyle

Although team victories remain rather elusive to a young Arrow wrestling squad this season, especially in the upper weights, Pipestone Area keeps learning and picking up wins as it can.

The Arrows (6-16) claimed 1-of-3 during the week, splitting at Thursday’s triangular in Windom before dropping a pair to the Blue Earth Buccaneers and Kerkohoven-Murdock-Sunburg Fighting Saints Saturday morning.

“You hope so; we still need to be more consistent,” Pipestone Area head coach Brian Bos said of his Arrows learning curve. “We have to keep our consistency up and we don’t do that sometimes. That’s part of being a young team too, and part of it is getting beat on a bit, too. It’s tough and we have to battle through that.”

With three grapplers in the mix that weren’t in the lineup last time the Arrows squared off against Windom/Mountain Lake, Pipestone Area avenged its 48-25 loss to the Cobras Thursday night – winning the dual match 41-36. And though Bos believes his Arrows are the better side, when wrestling at full strength, PAS had to pick up a late fall to claim the victory.

“We put those three guys back in there and it makes a lot of difference,” he said. “Yeah, we kind of gave one away up top, but I was pretty sure we could beat Windom.  Nonetheless, we got that one done there.”

The final bout pitted Arrow Jayden Hoss against W/ML heavyweight Alex Altmann. Hoss took early control of the match and before the first period was complete, the PAS sophomore had the pinfall that gave the visitors the dual – 41-36.

Freshmen Brayden Burmeister and Hunter Burnett put the Arrows on the front foot in opening the tilt with a pair of pinfalls at 106 and 113 pounds, respectively. The former stuck Jared Hunter late in the first period, while the latter pinned Thavien Xayachak midway through the second – giving PAS a quick 12-0 lead. Pipestone Area junior JJ Martens upped the ante by five more points, scoring a technical fall (17-1) of Noah Holmberg at 120 pounds, before the Cobras could get on the scoreboard.

Tucker Renquist (126 pounds) scratched out the first markers for the hosts via a 12-7 decision over Davis Budden and teammate Caden Swoboda edged PAS junior Nate Bobendrier 2-1 at 132 pounds to whittle the Arrows lead to 11 points (17-6). The Cobras claimed five in a row, in total, with Kade Sammons pinning Karter Wixon at 138 pounds before earning back-to-back forfeits at 145 and 152 pounds. 

Trailing 24-17 at that point, the Arrows responded through Rogen Smidt and Jackson Melcher. Both grapplers earned the maximum six points, as Smidt stuck W/ML 160-pounder Trenton Renquist squarely on his back 2:31 into the match and Melcher mimicked the effort (2:35) against 170-pound opponent Matthew Ekstrom. 

Pipestone Area freshman Hudson Burnett tries to position himself for a far-side cradle against Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunberg’s Ely Johnson in the 113-pound match Saturday afternoon in Pipestone. K. Kyle

From there, the dual meet was a back-and-forth battle that twice traded six points. Micah Holmberg earned a pinfall ‘six’ for the Cobras against PAS senior Allen Tubbs at 182 pounds, but the Arrows were gifted those points right back– as Aiden Voss earned a forfeit victory at 195 pounds. And Cyrus Bjorklund reclaimed the markers for the hosts with a first-period fall of Darius Backer before Hoss could cap the Arrows’ revenge with his fall of Altmann.

Prior to their victory, the Arrows went toe-to-toe with northern rival Minneota – earning four solid victories in a 47-16 loss.

“I thought we wrestled Minnesota really tough,” Bos said. “We only won four matches, but they were all major decisions. The rest of them… we wrestled pretty tough against them.”

As Bos noted Burnett, Bobendrier, Budden and Wixon each came away with four points from their matches. Burnett proved a 12-3 winner against Peyton Gillund, Bobendrier shut out Troy Van Keulemn 10-0, Budden claimed an 11-2 major over Brock Fier and Wixon knocked off Eli Gruenes 15-5.

Burmeister was just off the pace against Destin Fier at 106 pounds, bowing out 9-6, while Melcher also dropped a tight (4-2) decision against Alex Depestel at 170 pounds. Tubbs, too, hung tough in a 10-6 loss to Connor Sik, giving the Arrows hope they’ll prove a tough opponent as the section tournament draws nearer.

Pipestone Triangular

BEA 50, PAS 20

K-M-S 63, PAS 10

The Arrows were simply outgunned by a pair of talented and experienced teams Saturday in Pipestone. The Arrows again did what they could, but outside of the lower weights, and one victory by Smidt at 160, Pipestone Area struggled to score points most of the morning.

“The youngest one really took it to us at 106, but he’s a stud,” said Bos of the K-M-S dual. “If we don’t score points down low it’s going to be tough to stay in it; and we didn’t get ours down low in that one. Credit to them, they’re a tough team. “

The Arrows only saw Burnett and Smidt emerge victorious against the Fighting Saints in their second dual match of the day. The former picked up a 15-5 major decision over Ely Johnson at 113 pounds, while the latter claimed a pinfall win over Luke Froehlich at 160.

Tubbs also gave a good account of himself in a 9-2 loss to the Saints’ Masyn Olson at 170 pounds.

“Absolutely he did there; just has to keep going on from there, I guess – keep battling,” Bos said.

The Arrows were better down low against the Bucs in the first tilt of the day, as the hosts won five straight out of the gate. Burmeister scored a 13-7 decision against Bea’s Cooper Peterson to open the match, and Burnett followed with a 14-3 major decision over Caleb Langager at 113. Martens got the better of Carson Sturtz at 120 pounds, earning a 6-2 decision, before Bobendrier and Budden backed him up with respective victories (12-3 maj. dec. and fall) over Blair Lunz and Brody Anderson at 126 and 132 pounds.

The Arrows will continue to push themselves this week in facing Marshall and Worthington (Tues., Feb. 23) in Pipestone and New Century Academy and Jackson County Central Thursday night in Jackson.