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No cooling off

Minot High wrestling stays focused in 60-20 win

Justin Martinez/MDN Freshman David Schulze gets into position for his 126-pound match against Bismarck Saint Mary's Reece Barnhardt during the Magicians' 60-20 win over the Saints on Thursday.

On a night where building momentum was no small task, the Magicians still found a way.

Despite seven of the 14 matches being forfeits, the Minot High wrestling team managed to keep its rhythm at home against Bismarck St. Mary’s for a 60-20 victory. From freshmen wrestlers to savvy upperclassmen, the Magi got production from top to bottom in the wire-to-wire win.

“It’s a hard dual to get into when there are so many forfeits,” MHS head coach Justin Racine said. “But we had some younger guys come in and get some good experience, so that was good to see.”

Junior Preston Jones set the tone in the opening 220-pound match by attacking St. Mary’s Ian Indovina as soon as the whistle sounded. Jones quickly took his opponent to the mat and forced a pin just 66 seconds into the match, giving the Magi a 6-0 lead.

After three open victories extended Minot High’s lead to 24-0, the Saints finally got on the board thanks to Reece Barnhardt. The sophomore forced a fall in the second period of his 120-pound match with sophomore Paden Combs, cutting the Magi’s lead to 24-6.

That’s when David Schulze got the home team back on track. After two and a half periods of dominating St. Mary’s James Richter in the 126-pound match, the freshman delivered the pin at 5:15 to snatch back momentum.

The Saints cut the lead down to as little as 10 points (30-20) before Trevon McClanahan swiftly put an end to their comeback efforts. The junior made quick work of St. Mary’s Andrew Schweitzer in the 152-pound match, pinning him in just 48 seconds to give his team a 36-20 lead.

“I just went out there and did what I had to do,” McClanahan said. “It was just half (of a period), but it was a good fight and it gave us a good boost.”

The final matchup of the night went to freshman Jordin Lennon, who followed up McClanahan with a pin of his own against St. Mary’s Dominick Schaefbauer in the 160-pound match. After commanding the first period, Lennon finished his opponent off at the 3:09 mark to extend the Magi’s lead to 42-20.

“It was hard to keep going because there were opens every other match,” Lennon said. “But coach (Racine) told us to just worry about ourselves, and that’s what I did. I tried taking my shots, and it worked.”

Minot High went on to claim the final three open matches for the 60-20 victory. The Magi will look to build on Thursday’s win as they now shift their focus to a matchup at Jamestown on Jan. 3.

Justin Martinez covers Minot High School sports and Class B high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @JTheSportsDude.

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