Paynesville had to wrestle four matches during the course of the day, so the wrestlers prepared for the long day.
Paynesville 38
Henry Sibley 22
Paynesville started off the day against Henry Sibley.
Against Henry Sibley, Paynesville won seven of the 13 matches, with six of their wins being pins. The final score of the match was 38-22.
Recording the pins for Paynesville were Nathan Glenz, Justin Mueller, Chris Welle, Chris Sogge, Zac Spates, and Shaun Fleischhacker. David Kerzman also won a 6-2 decision.
Paynesville 31
Bloomington Kennedy 29
In the second round of the tournament, Paynesville wrestled Bloomington Kennedy. Bloomington Kennedy is currently rated 11 in AAA in the latest Guillotine.
Paynesville started this match off at 103 and 112 with a decision and a pin, recorded by Nathan Glenz and Jeremy Sogge. At 119, 125, and 130, Bloomington Kennedy bounced back and defeated three Paynesville wrestlers, including David Kerzman, one of Paynesville’s toughest wrestlers. Kerzman wrestled a very tough opponent and lost by five points.
Paynesville won four of the next eight matches bringing their total wins in the match to six and Bloomingtons to seven.
Despite the fact that Paynesville lost more matches, they made up by recording four pins with Jeremy Sogge, Chris Welle, Chris Sogge, and Karl Sanborn.
Paynesville finished that match, winning 31-29, one of the closer matches for Paynesville this year.
Jackson County Central 35
Paynesville 21
After winning their first two matches of the day, Paynesville advanced to the semifinals against the number two rated team in Class AA, Jackson County Central.
In this match, Paynesville faced a very tough opponent and with six of Jackson’s wrestlers being rated in the state, Paynesville was definitely the underdogs.
Jackson started off in the lead after 103, winning a decision against Nathan Glenz. Nathan wrestled a great match, and lost only 9-7 against a state rated kid.
Jeremy Sogge put Paynesville on the board at 112, pinning his opponent.
Paynesville struggled to lead the match up to 145, when finally Paynesville led the match by seven points. Justin Mueller, Chris Welle, and Joe Hiltner all won their matches to pull ahead.
At 152, Jackson was just getting started. During the next five matches, Jackson recorded three decisions and two pins to put the score in Jackson’s favor.
Jackson finished that match victorious, leading the Bulldogs 35-21 at the finish. Paynesville recorded two pins in the match with Jeremy Sogge and Chris Welle.
Paynesville 27
Faribault 24
With the loss against Jackson, the Bulldogs went into the third and fourth place match against Faribault.
Paynesville started off the match ahead, winning the match at 103 with Nate Glenz. At 112 and 119, Jeremy Sogge and Max Meagher both lost against two good Faribault wrestlers.
David Kerzman won at 125 by a decision, bringing the score of the match to 6-7.
Josh Schreifels and Justin Mueller wrestled at 130 and 135 respectively and both lost by a decision. Justin lost a very close match, losing in overtime 8-6.
Chris Welle, Joe Hiltner, and Chris Sogge wrestled the next three matches, all recording pins.
At the end of 152, Paynesville was ahead of Faribault 24-13, and at 160 and 171 Faribault had two state rated kids. Karl Sanborn and Shaun Fleischhacker each wrestled one of the state rated kids, and held them to two majors.
Knowing Paynesville had to win one of the next two matches, Josh Bork went out at 189 and gave the Bulldogs a little insurance by winning his match 8-5.
At heavyweight, Matt Brauchler did everything he could to keep the match in Paynesville’s favor and only lost a decision to a very large heavyweight.
Paynesville won the match 27-24, finishing the day with a third place trophy.
Chris Welle was Paynesville’s lone undefeated wrestler, winning all of his matches by pins.
Rocori
On Tuesday, Jan. 5, the Bulldogs traveled to Cold Spring to take on a close rival, Rocori. With Rocori ranked seventh in the state, Paynesville wanted to show themselves and everyone else that they were one of the top in their region.
Paynesville started the match off with Nate Glenz at 103, and to everyone’s disappointment, lost the match with a close score of 9-5 against Dean Lieser.
At 112 and 119, Paynesville lost both matches with Jeremy Sogge and Max Meagher facing very tough opponents.
At 125, Paynesville got ready to put their tough middleweights to the challenge since Rocori’s ability dropped a little in the middle. Once David Kerzman stepped out on the mat at 125; Paynesville didn’t lose a match until 171.
Paynesville racked up 24 points in seven matches, with three of them majors and four decisions.
At 171, Karl Sanborn wrestled a very close match with Joey Guggenberger. This match was very controversial for both teams, but Sanborn lost in overtime.
At 189 and heavyweight, Paynesville lost by a pin and a technical fall respectively. Rocori gained 14 points after 160, putting the final score at a tie, 24-24.
Paynesville was ahead by 14 points going into 171, but lost the momentum and Rocori gained the 14 points back to tie it at the end.