At 138 Colton Vest (South Tama County) over Cade Pohren (Washington) (Fall 0:44) at the East Marshall Duals on Saturday, January 21. This was Vest’s 100th career win making him the fourth member of the STC Trojan lineup to earn his 100th win this season. News Herald Photo/Allison Graham

All in all Saturday was a great day for South Tama wrestling. The Trojans took second at the East Marshall Dual Invite. STC defeated Union 55-24, Beckman Catholic 37-36, Independence 46-21 and the Class 1A 7th ranked (IAwrestle.com) Sigourney-Keota 40-39. Two of the dual wins came down to a criteria decision which created some extra excitement on the day. They even gave the Class 2A 3rd ranked team a run for their money, falling by just 6 points to Washington (39-33). The cherry on top of an already solid performance was STC’s fourth wrestler of the season, junior Colton Vest, earning his 100th win.

As a dual team the Trojans have not let the fact that they have three open weight classes get to them. They just know if they want a team win they must work all that much harder.

“It’s challenging,” said Van Dyke. “The thing is we’ve got good numbers on our team. We’ve got 26 wrestlers. It just so happens that nobody falls at the lighter three weights, so we don’t worry about it anymore, it’s just part of the deal. We’re used to it and we’ve just got to dig ourselves out of that hole every time.”

The team looked to the dynamic combo of Brady Fritz (126), Tanner Probasco (132), Colton Vest (138) and Isaac Judge (152) to set the tone and provide consistency for the Trojans. And they deliver nearly every trip to the mat. Both Fritz and Probasco went 5-0 on Saturday with 3 pins, 1 decision and 1 forfeit. Vest was also 5-0 with 3 pins, 1 major decision and 1 decision win. Vest’s 100th win came in his third match of the day over Washington’s Cade Pohren. Judge also 5-0 finished the day with 4 pins and a decision win.

Going into the final dual of the day the Trojans had already nabbed one win by criteria over Beckman Catholic. That has been a rarity over the last several years. But the dual between South Tama and Sigourney-Keota would also come down to a coaches meeting at the head table to hammer out criteria.

At 160 Josh Thiessen (South Tama County) over Cole Davis (Independence) (Dec 10-6) at the East Marshall Duals on Saturday, January 21. News Herald Photo/Allison Graham

STC’s Josh Thiessen (160) got things started for the Trojans with a fall over Nate Schuster. Thiessen finished his day 3-2. The Trojans would secure more team points with a fall by Dalton Rosenburg over Mac Conrad at 182. Rosenburg had a solid day ending 5-0 with 1 fall, 1 major, 1 decision and 1 forfeit.

Following Rosenburg’s pin the Savages took over and racked up 18 team points with STC forfeits at 106, 113 and 120. One might think that with a 38-12 lead and just 5 matches remaining Sigourney would have the win in the bag.

But the Savages would have to face that dynamic quartet that has all but been unbeatable this year. The Trojans quickly started to climb out of the 26-point deficit courtesy of Fritz, Probasco, Vest and Judge.

“I’d rather have those guys at the end than anybody else,” Van Dyke smiled. “I had those [forfeits] in ahead of time so I have an idea when we’re working our way through the dual. Wherever they fall, I don’t think about that too much I guess. I just look at the matchups beforehand and let it play out.”

Throw in a win by Pedro Rodriguez (145) and the Trojans tied it up at 39 team points. Rodriguez is new to the Trojan team but is very much holding his own. Rodriguez, who was a state qualifier last season at Sibley-Ocheyden went 5-0 on the day with 1 fall, 2 decisions, 1 win in overtime and 1 forfeit.

At 182 Dalton Rosenberg (South Tama County) over Collin Murphy (Washington) (Dec 10-3) at the East Marshall duals on Saturday, January 21. News Herald Photo/Allison Graham

With just one more team dual that took place on Thursday the Trojans are about to enter one of the most exciting times of the year with the post season just around the corner. With four returning State qualifiers, the Trojans must be thinking about that next step.

“We’re still honing in on it,” said Van Dyke. “The goal is to peak at the right time of the season, but we’re still taking it one step at a time. There’s still things we need to work on so we’ll continue to tweak things and get better where we need to and try to be where we need to be at the end of the season.”

At 285 Kyle Kucera (South Tama County) over Garrett Davis (Beckman Catholic) (Fall 0:27) at the East Marshall duals on Saturday, January 21. News Herald Photo/Allison Graham

South Tama and Sigourney coaches gather at the head table to sort through the criteria to determine the dual winner between the Trojans and Savages at the East Marshall Duals on Saturday, January 21. The point went to the Trojans after a close bout with the Savages. News Herald Photo/Allison Graham