Kenyon-Wanamingo is Class A State Wrestling Champion

The smile on Kenyon-Wanamingo head coach Matt Ryan's face said it all after his Knights won a grueling final 26-24 against the Frazee Hornets.

The Knights captured their quarterfinal match 39-26 over Caledonia, then defeated Pierz in the semifinals 34-21 to advance to the title match.

Frazee beat Sibley East 48-11 before defeating defending state champion and No. 1-rated Minneota in the semifinals 32-21.

The two teams did wrestle in January in Bemidji, with Kenyon-Wanamingo winning 45-12. Ryan emphasized everything went his team's way that day.

Frazee made a number of moves to get the matchups they wanted at the Xcel Energy Center, and it almost worked. In fact, Frazee had eight wins in the match and Kenyon-Wanamingo six.

The difference was Kenyon-Wanamingo's ability to get bonus points in three of their six wins and Frazee got no bonus points in the entire match.

Freshman Jeron Matson started the Knights off with a fall in :54 to finish his day 3-0 with three pins. Senior Ethan Cota had a pin in :19 and the Knights were off to the races. Cota and Matson are both rated tops in the state at their weight classes and showed why. Cota had two pins and a major decision on the day.

After a loss at 120 pounds, senior Jared Clawiter was defeated by a top-ranked kid in four overtimes at 126. The Knights would have only three more wins the rest of the way.

Matthew Houglum at 145 scored a 3-2 victory, Ted Androli defeated a state-ranked wrestler 5-2. Androli is rated tops in the state at 170. Luke Rechtzigel won 6-3 at 182 and the Hornets would close out the match with three straight wins.

Going into the 285-pound match, Frazee had to get a pin to win the match and senior Austin Jackson did not allow that to happen.

Ryan told me after the match that Jackson deserves a lot of credit because he pinned his opponent in that dual in Bemidji and was asked not to put himself in any position that could put himself on his back so the team would win the match. That is team wrestling at its best.

The Knights finish their team dual season 34-3 and Frazee 22-3.

Pierz bested Minneota 39-16 in the third-place match and Caledonia won the consolation championship 36-21 over West Central Area/Ashby/Brandon-Evansville.

It's the first team state wrestling championship in Kenyon-Wanamingo's history.

The Knights also qualified 11 wrestlers to participate in the individual tournament, which begins Friday and concludes Saturday.

Tom Weeks will update us about all the area individuals results on KDHL.