WATERTOWN — Watertown High School’s wrestlers treated the Parents Night crowd in the Civic Arena to 42-24 victory over Huron in an Eastern South Dakota Conference dual on Thursday night.
The Arrows stayed atop the ESD title chase with the win, improving to 4-0 in the league and 11-1 overall. Watertown still has four very tough conference duals remaining with Aberdeen 
Central, Mitchell, Brandon Valley and Harrisburg.
The outcome of Thursday’s dual potentially could have been very different if Huron had been able to fill all the weight classes. The Tigers won six of the 10 bouts, but forfeited the other four to the Arrows.
“We actually wrestled pretty well, but we needed every point they spotted us,” said Watertown head coach Chas Welch. “Huron always brings their A game when we meet and tonight was no different.”
Ty Althoff opened the contest with 12-1 decision over Huron seventh-grader Jallele Jenkins Harris and heavyweight Dane Stahl punctuated the win with a nine-second pin over his Tiger opponent in the final match.
In between, Peyton Johnston hammered out a 12-3 decision over Daynon Huber at 132 pounds and Sam Stroup pummeled Matthew Katz 10-0 at 160. Watertown picked up six points at 113, 120, 126 and 145 in building a 26-6 lead.
Chipper Shillingstad’s pin over Watertown’s Grant Wirkus provided the Tigers with their only points in the first half of the dual. TahJae Jenkins Harris battled his way to a 5-2 decision over Nathan Tuttle at 152. Harris is the top-ranked grappler in the 152-pound division. The Tigers added a pin at 160 and decisions at 182, 195 and 220 before Stahl closed out the match.
“We beat some very good people tonight and did a lot of good things on the mat, but there’s still a ton of things to correct in the room,” said Welch. “Peyton dominated a very good kid tonight and Tuttle lost, but wrestled very well.”
The Watertown junior varsity roared past the Tigers 60-24 in the preliminary match.
Connor Hanson, Jake Beynon, Cael Sutton, Chris Andrews, Brendan Allen and Mason Maag each won by fall for Watertown.
The Arrows will travel to Mitchell this weekend for the Mitchell Invite where they will face Class A teams Rapid City Stevens, Sturgis, Pierre and Mitchell and Class B squads Parkston, Bon Homme, Howard and Wagner.
“This weekend will be brutal. We could have anywhere from three or four placers to eight or nine,” said Welch. “Every team here is tough or has several tough kids. It will be a battle.”

Varsity
Watertown 42, Huron 24
106 pounds — Ty Althoff, W, over Jallele Jenkins Harris, 12-1; 113 — Ben Althoff, W, won by forfeit; 120 — Mason Stoick, W, won by forfeit; 126 — Robert Coyle III, W, won by forfeit; 132 — Peyton Johnston, W, over Daynon Huber, 12-3.
138 — Cooper Shillingstad, H, pinned Grant Wirkus, 1:31; 145 — Jake Werner, W, won by forfeit; 152 — TahJae Jenkins Harris, H, over Nathan Tuttle, 5-2; 160 — Sam Stroup, W, over Matthew Katz, 10-0; 170 — Travis Kleinsasser, H, pinned Lexan Thorson, 4:51.
182 — Wyatt Larsen, H, over Jayden Hartford, SV-1, 15-13; 195 — Gabriel Rieger, H, over Ledgend Thorson, 8-5; 220 — Zack Siemonsma, H, over Lincoln Stahl, 6-1; 285 — Dane Stahl, H, pinned Devyn Balster, :09.
Junior Varsity
Watertown 60, Huron 24
106 — Connor Hanson, W, pinned Cole Wolff, :23; 113 — Jake Beynon, W, pinned Will Radke, :46.; 120 — Cael Sutton, W, pinned Joe Gonzalez, :04; 126 — Chris Andrews, W, won by forfeit; 132 — Chris Andrews, W, pinned Joe Gonzalez, :51.
138 — Mac Young, W, won by forfeit; 145 — Brendan Allen, W, pinned Spencer Lord, 1:31; 152 — Mason Maag, W, pinned Eh Bleh, 2:26; 160 — Blake Larson, H, pinned Jayden Cordell, 1:13; 170 — No match.
182 — Nick O’Connor, W, won by forfeit; 195 — Triatan Cardona, H, won by forfeit; 220 — Kameron Christensen, H, pinned Diego Vellisco Ramos, 1:19; 285 — Hunter Shoemaker, H, won by forfeit.
Exhibition matches
Tyler Rudebusch, W, won by forfeit.
Jessie Werner, W, pinned Cole Wolff, 3:40.
Will Radke, H, over Braden Kraig, 7-0.
Nick O’Connor pinned Joe Gonzalez, 1:47.
Kobe Kettwig, W, pinned Spencer Lord, 1:35.
Bradley Hanson, W, pinned Eh Blieh, 1:45.
Blake larsen, W, pinned Tyler Rudebusch, 1:41.
Connor Wirtjes, W, pinned Hunter Shoemaker, 2:29.

Photos:

Huron’s Zach Siemonsma wrestles Watertown’s Lincoln Stahl in a 220-pound match Thursday. Siemonsma emerged with a 6-1 decision.

Next, Huron’s Chipper Shillingstad wrestles Watertown’s Grant Wirkus at 138 pounds. Shillingstad won by fall in 1:31.

Photos by Terry Hoffman/Watertown Public Opinion