Justin Martinez/MDN Minot High sophomore Samuel Goodman fights for position during the Magicians' dual against Jamestown on Thursday.

Out of the matches that were actually wrestled on the mat Thursday evening, the Jamestown Blue Jays edged out Minot High School, 7-5.

But, add in a pair of forfeits and the Magicians wrestling team opened the 2019 calendar year with a 31-26 home victory.

Minot High improved to 5-3 overall (4-1 WDA) with the tightly contested win, while Jamestown dropped to 8-5 overall (2-5 WDA).

“That’s a lot of rust,” MHS head coach Justin Racine said. “For most of our guys, we haven’t wrestled in a month and it showed. We kind of figured that was going to happen, I had a feeling. But, our guys fought and that’s more important.

“Getting back in shape will come with matches and tournaments. But, the heart was awesome.”

Jamestown’s Aden Braun (106) and Minot’s Kelby Armstrong (113) traded pins to start the match. Those were the only two pins of the dual.

Braun got his six points in the first period against Gabe Mortensen, while Armstrong finally put his man away with 28 seconds left in the third period.

Davian Rios gave Minot its first lead, 9-6, with a close victory over Talor Huebner. After Huebner took a one-point lead on a takedown in the final minute, Rios got the reversal with three seconds left to escape with a 6-5 win.

The next match at 126 went into overtime with the score tied at 2-2. Finishing off the sudden victory, Minot’s Paden Combs put away Jackson Walters with a takedown to put the Magi up 12-6.

“We won a lot of the close matches,” Racine said. “Early in the year, when we wrestled Century, we lost those matches and that was the difference in the dual. So, hopefully that shows that we are growing.”

The Blue Jays regained the lead with a major decision win at 132 (Ethan Bowman over Samuel Goodman) and a 4-2 win at 138 (Colton Mewes over Carter Peterson).

However, a forfeit at 145 had Minot leading again, 18-13.

Next up, sophomore Chase Burke squared off against the state’s No. 1-ranked (via NDwrestle.com) Noah Braun at 152.

Burke, No. 4-ranked, got a takedown late in the second period to lead 4-2. Braun was later penalized a point in the third period for a false start. Burke gave it back on a stalling penalty but managed to ride out the clock for a 5-4 win.

“We had a long break with the Rumble (on the Red trip) being canceled,” Burke said. “We are kind of out of shape, but we all practice hard.”

Jamestown went on to win the next three matches.

Johnny Browning picked up a major decision in a high scoring affair against Jordin Lennon, 15-5. Coty Huebner outlasted Isaac Fernandez, 11-9. And Aaron Mack got the better of Jacob Carmichael, 6-4.

That gave the Blue Jays a 23-21 lead on the scoreboard, but the Magi already knew they were going to get a forfeit win at 285 to end the match with six more points.

Senior Jorge Talamantes went with the takedown-and-escape tactic to earn a 10-2 major decision at 195. With the forfeit pending, that match win virtually sealed the dual victory for the Magi going into the final match at 220.

The twisting and turning big men at 220 — Minot’s Preston Jones and Jamestown’s Samuel Krebs — concluded the dual with Krebs getting the better of Jones, 10-5.

“There were a lot of matches we lost that we could have given up a pin,” Racine said. “But, we didn’t. So, that was good to see out of this crew.”

The Magi head south for the Bismarck Rotary tournament today and tomorrow at the Bismarck Civic Center.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.