HURON — In a near carbon copy of many of their duals this season, the Huron Tigers fell behind in the lighter weights, came storming back in the heavier categories, but wound up just a match or two short, as the Tigers dropped a 40-30 ESD match to the Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles Friday night at Huron Arena.
The match marked the final dual of the season for both teams.
Huron coach Dan McCarty was guardedly optimistic heading into the match, saying, “We had a good week in practice this week. It will be good to get some of the kids back healthy.”
The Golden Eagles took the opening two matches, one by pin and another by decision, then benefitted from two open weights by the Tigers to jump to a quick 21-lead in the match.
Daynon Huber dropped a 10-4 decision to Jacob Moore, but McCarty saw good things from his 132-pounder.
“Daynon lost, but he was wrestling a very tough kid and he wrestled well,” McCarty said.
Huron got its first win of the night at 138 pounds, when Chipper Shillingstad outworked Garrett Mitzel and stuck the Golden Eagle at the 1:58 mark for the win.
“Chipper was Chipper tonight,” McCarty said. “He was just very aggressive tonight and continued to work. Most kids would have just let the period expire, but he began his combination late in the period and stuck the kid with two seconds left.”
Zack Siemonsma at 220-pounds had a similar match, controlling Calob Jones early and just continuing to try different combinations until he found one that worked, earning the pin in 3:01 of the match.
“Zack was aggressive tonight,” McCarty said. “He just got a hold of the kid and kept adjusting until he got the pin.”
Tahjae Jenkins Harris, ranked No. 3 in the state at 152 pounds, controlled the action throughout the first five-and-a-half minutes of his match against 5th rated Will Jarrot, building a 5-1 lead through two periods. Jenkins Harris, however, gave up an escape late in the third period, then gave up two quick stalling points, to survive 5-4.
“It’s frustrating to see the kids give up those stalling points,” McCarty said. “We keep telling them that they need to keep working, be it with hands, or whatever. They need to keep aggressive.”
Wyatt Larsen held on to defeat Brock Backer 3-2 in the 182-pound match, setting the stage for what may have been the oddest match of the night, at 195 pounds.
After a scoreless first period, Aberdeen’s Noah Fullmer took the down position and quickly earned an escape from Gabe Rieger of Huron. He quickly got a takedown and added three back points to take a 6-0 lead, before Rieger earned a reversal at the very end of the second period, but still trailed going to the final period.
An escape and takedown by Rieger carved Fullmer’s lead to 6-5, but a quick reversal by the Golden Eagle grappler made it 8-5. Rieger again got a reversal, but quickly found himself in trouble, as Fullmer executed a near-pin maneuver.
But then, just as quick, Rieger turned the tables, flipping Fullmer and putting together the combination that earned him the 4:56 pin.
“We tell Gabe that it’s not always about style and to concentrate on the results,” McCarty said. “Tonight was a good example of that. It wasn’t pretty, but he stayed after it and came away with the pin.”
The other Huron win came at 170 pounds, where Travis Kleinsasser got the win by forfeit.
PHOTOS BY MIKE CARROLL OF THE PLAINSMAN
Huron’s Zack Siemonsma works to get a pin against Aberdeen Central’s Calob Jones in their 220-pound match as referee Bud Postma looks on Friday at Huron Arena.
Huron’s Chipper Shillingstad tries to turn Garrett Mitzel of Aberdeen Central to his back during their 138-pound match on Friday at Huron Arena. Huron’s Gabe Rieger tries to record a takedown against Noah Fullmer of Aberdeen Central during their 195-pound match on Friday at Huron Arena.
