Minot High (4-0, 4-0 WDA), wrestling without former state champion Kelby Armstrong due to an injury, held off the Bismarck Century Patriots (3-1, 3-1 WDA) by a score of 35-25 Thursday evening in Minot.

Given the circumstances, this result gets marked down as a memorable victory for the Magi.

“This is probably one of the proudest duals I have ever coached,” MHS head coach Justin Racine said. “We have some guys out of the lineup, including Kelby (Armstrong) — a former state champ and runner-up — then you come back and win with your backups, that’s a great win for us.”

The Magi got off to a hot start by winning the first three matches at 152, 160 and 170.

Alex Eisen/MDN MHS senior Trevon McClanahan (top) holds down Century wrestler Mason Burke (bottom) during a West Region dual meet Thursday evening at the Magic City Campus.

Carter Peterson piled up takedowns and held on in the third period for a 9-5 decision to open the dual. Trevon McClanahan was well on his way to a technical fall before finally getting his pin in three minutes and 32 seconds. Lastly, Chase Burke had no problems taking care of Dany Tanefeu with a 13-4 major decision.

“We got the ball rolling,” Racine said. “All those little things we talk about to the guys in the (wrestling) room came to fruition.”

Trailing 13-0, Century found some life with a pin at 182 by Jacob Boehm over Isaac Fernandez (1:35).

The Magi got some of those points back at 195 when Jacob Carmichael used near-fall points in the final 15 seconds to secure a 15-5 major decision victory.

Then, MHS senior Dylan Vigested strolled up to the mat at 220 with roughly three weeks of experience under his belt.

“I was walking in the hallway,” Vigested said. “Our heavyweight broke his hand during football, so the coach was like, ‘We need a heavyweight.’ I came out (to practice), and it was kind of fun.”

In the second period, Vigestad was called for stalling but got that point back on an escape. Trailing 2-1 after a neutral start to the third period, Vigestad put his limited training into action.

“I don’t really know a lot of stuff about wrestling,” Vigested said. “But, I know that one move that I did there. I muscled him up and got him down. Through my headgear, I could hear the crowd going crazy. I couldn’t hear my coaches or anything. So, I thought to myself, ‘I’m just going to lay on him, and hopefully he gets pinned.'”

Lykken Parlett was counted out after 4:26, giving Vigestad a come from behind pin for the win.

“Dylan is a guy we pulled out of the hallway because of an injury we had,” Racine said. “He is athletic, strong and works his butt off. He came up with a huge win. For a first-ever varsity dual, that was pretty awesome.”

Gabe Mortensen added another pin for the Magi at 106. But, heading into the match at 126, Century had cut the deficit down to 29-18 with separate victories — including a pin by Kaden DeCoteau.

MHS eighth-grader Tyler Nelson lost a narrow 2-0 decision in that swing. Minot managed to keep Century from gaining bonus points.

Victor Garcia juked his way out of being taken down at 126 and quickly got his own takedown instead. With near-fall points at the end of the second period, Garcia secured a vital 6-2 win.

“It was a great team fight; I’m proud of our team,” Vigested said. “Even if you didn’t win the match, we had people who weren’t getting pinned who could have been pinned. But we aren’t giving up bonus points or technicals because we are fighting until the last six minutes. We are out there grinding.”

The Patriots won two out of the final three matches, but couldn’t get pins to put the pressure on Minot.

Corey Hooker closed out the match at 145 by hobbling around on one leg, but still managed to defeat Ben Weigum, 5-4. That pushed the final score to 35-25.

Minot High will compete at the Carrington Invitational this weekend. The Magi’s next home dual meet is Thursday (Dec. 19) against Dickinson.

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