Gators Finish Fourth at Prowler Invite

Gators finish fourth at Prowler Invite

By: Ryan Bergeron

Coming off a dominating 52-16 road win over the Fosston-Bagley Brawlers, the Gators, including varsity, junior varsity, and middle school wrestlers, travelled just down the road to Thief River Falls for the Army National Guard Prowler Invite at the Ralph Engelstad Arena on Saturday, January 16. The Gator varsity wrestlers ran into some stiff competition, but finished fourth at the 18-team tournament, securing 11 place winners, including a champion, in Nick Kaml, at 145. Bemidji won the team title.

“At times we wrestled really well and at times we need to wrestle with a little bit more heard-nosed wrestling and get after it and scrap a little bit more.” Coach Bergeron said. “But, overall, not too bad... We just need to keep improving and working hard.”

Entering as the second seed in the tournament behind TRF’s Josh Bernier, Kaml dominated his way to the finals, pinning his quarterfinal opponent in 44 seconds and securing a technical fall over his semifinal opponent, to set up a rematch with Bernier, featuring two ranked wrestlers (Kaml #9 in Class A-145 pounds; Bernier #9 in Class AA-145 pounds). The last time these two wrestlers met, Kaml allowed Bernier to dominate him from his feet in a 6-3 loss for third place at the Big Bear tournament. This time Kaml would dominate from the feet, at least in the first period.

Kaml scored three takedowns to take a 6-2 lead after one period. These early points proved critical, as Kaml allowed Bernier to battle back and score three takedowns the rest of the way to close the deficit to one, at 9-8, in the final period. Kaml fought off Bernier’s takedown attempts to pull out the 9-8 win.

Two other Gator wrestlers advanced to their respective weight class finals, but each came up just a little short of a title, in Isaak Isane (126) and Devin Dostal (152).

The weight’s top seed, Isane advanced to the finals after a 4-0 semifinal win over Blackduck/Cass Lake-Bena’s Logan Dobmeier. This win pitted Isane against a formidable opponent in Bemidji’s Indi Farris. These two last met in a home dual last year, where Isane pulled out the win with a late third period takedown.

Isane fell behind big this time around, trailing 11-2 late in the third period, but took Farris to his back, coming inches away from the pin. In the end, Isane picked up just the five points and fell by an 11-7 decision.

Coming off a pin for career victory number 100 in the dual versus Fosston-Bagley a few days prior, Devin Dostal continued his strong late season push, now just at a different weight, wrestling at 152 pounds for the first time this season.

As the weight bracket’s number two seed, Dostal pinned his first two opponents, setting up a semifinal match up with Detroit Lakes’ Austin Baker. Dostal pulled out the 5-1 victory to advance to the finals versus Ottertail Central’s Coy Thorson, the number sixth ranked wrestler at 145 pounds in Class AA with just one loss on the season.

Dostal wrestled tough, falling behind early and battling back, but falling on the short end of a 6-4 loss.

Several other Gators rebounded from semifinal losses to finish third, including Owen Novacek (120) and Ely Novacek (285).

Owen Novacek lost a tight match to Jon Solum in the semifinals, giving up an early takedown and trying desperately to take a late third period lead, but falling by a 3-2 score. He responded with a dominating 12-4 third-place win over a familiar opponent in Roseau’s Riley Eidsmoe.

Ely Novacek also rebounded from a semifinal loss versus a Bemidji opponent--Brody Wilander. Experiencing his only loss at the Big Bear tournament at the hands of Wilander, Novacek took a second period 3-2 lead, but soon after he allowed Wilander to reverse and pin him at the 3:14 mark.

Novacek came right back in his third place match, defeating fellow section opponent, Chris Baxter of Park Rapids for the second time this season, pinning him at the 1:57 mark.

Trever Undeberg also had a solid tournament for the Gators at 138 pounds, finishing fourth. He gutted out a crucial 5-3 quarterfinals victory over section opponent and last year state entrant Jared Sunram of Park Rapids. He then fell to eventual tournament champion Wallace Michels of Norwood Young America (#6 in Class A-138 pounds) 6-4 before losing to Sam Naddy (# 6 in Class AA-138 pounds) by a 10-5 score in the third place match.

Also placing for the Gators, Collin Berard (195) finished fifth, Seth Dostal (182), sixth, and Bryce Bergeron (113), seventh. Avery Augustson (106) and Ethan Novacek also competed for the Gators, but fell short of placing.

JV/Middle School Results

The Gator JV and middle school wrestlers also competed at the Prowler Invite. Leading the way, Joe Dezelar finished second at 126 pounds. Dade Melby (138), Elias Jacobson (182), and Zach Evans (195) brought home third place showings. Rounding out the placings, Garrett Undeberg (95), Brandon Pries (132), and Tim Peppel (160) each finished fourth, Tyler Allen (220) and Derrick Corneliusen (285) each sixth, and Colby Wooten (170) eighth. Tony Olson (106) and Kobe Dostal (152) also competed in the JV division, but didn’t place.

Several middle school wrestlers also made their way to TRF for some matches. Caleb Vacura finished first, Jacob Bergsnev and Nathan Waage second, and Dawson Beito fourth.

The Gators would head to the practice room to gear up for a tough road dual versus the Bemidji Lumberjacks on Thursday, January 21. They will then host their third home event on the season-- triangular dual action versus East Grand Forks/Sacred Heart and Red Lake County Central on Tuesday, January 26. Go Gators!