By Brenda Erdahl
Sports Editor
The Annandale-Maple Lake Lightning wrestling team collected two more wins at a contest, Friday, Feb. 9 in St. Francis to finish the regular season 26-4 and snag the No. 2 seed going into Thursday’s (Feb. 15) Section 6AA team tournament that Maple Lake will host.
Vs Little Falls Area
The Lightning met Little Falls in the first competition of the day and everybody knew this match was important because Little Falls had beaten other section opponents and so how ANML did Friday would come into play in the seeding of the section team tournament.
The Flyers were two spots higher in the rankings than the Lightning going into Friday’s contest (No. 10 vs No. 12), and although the Lightning only won six of 13 matches, all but one win was by pin as compared to Little Falls’ two pins, so bonus points were the difference, Lightning Coach Ben Youngs said.
Brayden Fobbe, Cassen Brumm, Ayden Fitzgerald, Nick Olson, and Nathan Klatt earned falls, along with Jack Nilson’s decision.
“Nathan Klatt’s match was interesting because the meet was on the line and Klatt, ranked No. 2 at 215, was taking on No. 4 Ivan Petrich. It was a close battle until Klatt wore down Petrich in the third period and capitalized on his strength and conditioning to earn the pin,” Youngs said.
“The Lighting had several very close matches vs. quality opponents, so it was yet another true team effort,” he said.
Vs St. Francis
After the dual with Little Falls, it was time to battle host school, St. Francis. It was St. Francis that ended the Lightning’s season last year.
The match was a back and forth until the Lightning closed with 36 points in the last six matches, including four forfeits and pins by Alex Sundberg and Carter Courtright. The match of the dual was Shay McClory’s hard-fought win over Kenny Ferrario at 139 points, Youngs said.