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Honkers show promise in Region 3 duals

Now that the Region 3 dual wrestling matches have been completed, Honker head coach Danny Mogren has had some time to think about rallying his troops for the upcoming individual Region 3 tournament.

2/09/16 (Tue)

Working toward a pin . . . With Kenmare behind by 4 points in a dual with Northern Lights, Michael Schlosser took to the mat with Tristan Horning at 145 pounds. Schlosser needed a pin or major decision to put the Honkers over the top and did just that, securing a pin with 8 seconds left in the match, giving the Honkers a 42-40 dual win over Northern Lights. The three Northern Lights coaches in the background added some interesting body English to the action.

By Marvin Baker

Now that the Region 3 dual wrestling matches have been completed, Honker head coach Danny Mogren has had some time to think about rallying his troops for the upcoming individual Region 3 tournament.

The only guarantee thus far, is that Minot Ryan and Velva emerged as qualifying teams for the state tournament later this month in Fargo.

As a team, Kenmare finished sixth in the Region 3 team duals, but according to Mogren, numerous Honker wrestlers individually have a legitimate shot at landing in the top 4 of Saturday’s Region 3 meet in Velva.

If that happens, they qualify for individual state competition.

But Mogren knows as well as anyone, that’s easier said than done.

But what he saw in Burlington last weekend, gives him an indication, the Honkers might be getting it together at the right time.

“It was loud, it was fun and it was good for the whole team,” Mogren said of the Region 3 team duals. “I just hope that moral keeps going into this next weekend.”

As an example, an unlikely Honker wrestler came through with a crucial win at the right time to move the Honkers up to sixth place in the tournament.

Michael Schlosser, wrestling at 145 pounds, pinned his opponent Tristan Horning of Northern Lights in the last match of the day with the Honkers down by 4 points.

Mogren said Schlosser needed a pin or a major decision for Kenmare to win the dual and he came through with a pin with just 8 seconds remaining in the match.

That gave the Honkers a 42-40 win over Northern Lights placing the Honkers in a sixth-place tie with Des Lacs/Burlington.

“That was good for Michael. It was good for the whole team,” Mogren said. “The match came down to Peyton and Michael and in Michael’s case, it was down to 8 seconds.”

Several other wrestlers either performed well or just flat out ripped their opponents apart.

As an example, Brandon Burtch pinned Velva and Northern Lights opponents at 126. In fact, he put Braedyn Yannish of Velva on the mat 35 seconds into the match.

Ty Jesz, 182, pinned two of his opponents and won a third by forfeit. Both of his pins were in just over a minute.

Other Kenmare wrestlers who didn’t win, showed a lot of promise, according to Mogren and certainly have the capability to get into the top 4 in the region.

As an example, Skylar Ford at 120 pounds, is currently ranked No. 1 in his weight class in Region 3. Ford dropped all three of his title matches but wrestled well in two of the three.

Peyton Witt has been up and down all season and, although he won two by forfeit on Saturday, was ranked No. 4 in Region 3 last week.

Austin Manz was also ranked fourth at 152 pounds and his weekend wasn’t indicative of the wrestler he really is as one of his wins was by forfeit.

Nicolai Topolski, at 106, didn’t wrestle on Saturday because of an injury, but Mogren believes he has an outside chance of sneaking into the top 4 as well.

Lathan Stroklund, Brennit Bossingham, Tyler Burtch and Trenton Kohler have all won recent matches and are capable of winning on Saturday. Wrestling begins at 10 a.m. in Velva.And we think we have problems with winter in North Dakota. I guess the snow is deeper on the other side... 

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