Packers edge Spuds in cross-river dual
The West Fargo wrestling team's winning ways continued last week, but it wasn't easy by any means.
The Packers barely managed to squeak by the Moorhead Spuds by a score of 37-32 on Tuesday, Dec. 18.
The story going into the dual was the possibility of defending North Dakota state champion Preston Lehmann facing off against defending Minnesota state champion Chase Morlock at the 195-pound level.
However, Lehmann went down a weight class and wrestled Moorhead's Skyler Berry at 182 pounds, pinning him in 45 seconds. Morlock managed to pin Packer senior Nathan Mugavero in the 195-pound match.
Other victorious wrestlers for the Packers included:
Keegan Cronin won by forfeit at 106-pounds.
Reed Cronin moved up a weight class and topped Moorhead's Landon Dickhaus 12-7 in the 120-pound match.
126-pounder Jordan Shearer pinned Tyalor Laidlaw in 1 minute 21 seconds.
Weston Dobler pinned his 145-pound opponent R.J. Olson in just 22 seconds.
Kyle Kragnes pummeled Joseph Grove 14-2 at the 152-pound weight class.
The Spuds were ahead by one point with just one match remaining, the 285-pound matchup between Moorhead's Brody Jerome and the Packers' Zach Eider.
After a back-and-forth first period between the two, eider managed to pin Jerome 34 seconds into the second to secure a Packer victory.
Head coach Kayle Dangerud, while disappointed to not have all of his startes in the lineup, was happy with the performance of those who stepped up.
"The fact is that we are going to struggle when we have varsity starters out of our lineup," Dangerud said. "It puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the team. I appreciate the work from guys like Jacob Franek and Nik Austermiller as they stepped into a tough situation wrestling on short notice."
The Packers will participate in the "Rumble on the Red" tournament this weekend.
