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South Tama sending seven to district wrestling

MaCael Bear clamps down on Tyler Schutt of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont during the sectionals championship match in the 126-pound weight class. Bear, who has had to fight his way back from injury this season, returned just in time to earn his first district meet qualification with a pin over Collin Vellinga of West Marshall in the semifinal round a pin over Schutt in the championship. Bear received a huge response from the Trojans cheering section following his pin over Schutt. – Photo by Darvin Graham
South Tama’s Gavin Bridgewater (left) sets up a throw against Colton Robinson of East Marshall/GMG during the semifinals at the 2A sectional tournament in Grinnell last Saturday. Bridgewater has had a breakout season as a sophomore, taking a dominant 35-5 record into a state-qualifying opportunity at the district meet where he will be the odds-on favorite in a bracket with three unranked opponents. – Photo by Darvin Graham
Logan Arp rag-dolls his opponent, Nathan Curry of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, onto the mat during the first round of South Tama’s sectional tournament on Feb. 5 in Grinnell. Arp cruised through his bracket with two first-period pins and will be looking toward a return to the state tournament where he finished third as a junior last season. – Photo by Darvin Graham
South Tama senior Dayton Filloon (15-12) wrestled one of the most exciting matches of the sectional tournament last Saturday, lining up against Elijah Meester (20-10) of West Marshall who appears to have wrestled up a class most of the year at 285, having registered at 225 pounds on the Trojans’ football roster this fall. Filloon opened the match with two takedowns in the first period and managed to hold a 4-2 lead into the opening minute of the final third round. Meester scored his first takedown at the top of the third period. Points were awarded to both wrestlers for stalling violations and in the final 20 seconds, Filloon completed a reversal that might have won the match had Meester not countered with his own reversal and wound up injuring Filloon’s arm and leading to a pin to win the match in the waning seconds of the final period. – Photo by Darvin Graham

West Marshall’s strength in numbers edged out South Tama’s five champions to win the Class 2A Sectional 6 wrestling tournament on Saturday at Grinnell High School.

West Marshall racked up 218.5 points to South Tama’s 218, driven by one sectional champion and seven runners-up. South Tama had five bracket champions and two runners-up.

West Marshall’s lone sectional champion was 170-pound junior Austin Pfantz. He pinned both of his opponents, including South Tama’s ninth-ranked Boden Koehler in the finals, to improve to 27-8 for the season.

South Tama’s five sectional champs were led by third-ranked Logan Arp (37-2), who pinned two opponents in a combined 1 minute, 1 second, to win at 138.

Eighth-ranked Amare Chavez (31-6) had a pin before beating Grinnell’s Logan McDonald by decision, 5-0 in the 120 finals.

Sophomore MaCael Bear (13-7) returned from a weeks-long hiatus due to an injury and had two pins on his way to the 126 title. At 220, 10th-ranked Gavin Bridgewater (35-5) made quick work of his sectional opponents, earning two wins by fall en route to the 220 championship. Rudy Papakee (25-11) had a pin and a 6-3 decision over West Marshall’s Wyatt Weuve in the 195 final.

Eligh Branan (113) and Andres Lugo Jr. (152) both took losses in their respective finals, but advanced to districts as runner-ups. Branan beat Oskaloosa’s Ty Lorentzen by decision, 4-0, to claim true second and Lugo qualified without having to compete in a wrestle-back match.

South Tama was a half of a point shy of taking the sectional team title, but managed to qualify for 2A Regional Duals competition with an at-large bid announced later in the day last Saturday.

The Trojans faced Mount Vernon in the opening round with the winner slated to take on West Delaware for a chance to go to the state duals meet.

The Mustangs were too much for STC however, shutting the Trojans down by a score of 41-22 before things could even get started. Mount Vernon was then swiftly eliminated by multi-year defending state champions West Delaware (56-12) who appear on a Don Bosconian-like ascent into the perennial echelons of success at the state dual meet.

South Tama’s seven district qualifiers head to Knoxville on Saturday to battle for a place in the state tournament at Wells Fargo Arena later this month.

District Wrestling – Feb. 12

Matchups for Saturday’s district action in the seven weight classes South Tama will be competing in include:

113

No. 2 Carter Anderson of Albia vs. Eligh Branan South Tama

Marco Alejo of Knoxville vs. Wyatt Benson East Marshall

120

No. 9 Brodie Conner of Albia vs. Logan McDonald of Grinnell

Remington Fry of PCM vs. No. 8 Amare Chavez of South Tama

126

No. 9 Dawson Bonnett of Albia vs. Tyler Schutt of E-B-F

No. 10 Dawson Townsend of Davis County vs. MaCael Bear of South Tama

138

No. 11 Taylor Huggins of Davis County vs. Caden Vellinga of West Marshall

Logan Carter of Albia vs. No. 3 Logan Arp of South Tama

152

Eli Zanoni of Albia vs. Andres Lugo Jr. of South Tama

Leland Henderson of Centerville vs. Tim Benson of East Marshall

195

No. 12 Jayden Allen-Winston of Chariton vs. Wyatt Weuve of West Marshall

Donovan Nickelson of PCM vs. Rudy Papakee of South Tama

220

Paul Ballard of Albia vs. Sam Schaper of West Marshall

Trenton Kingrey of Knoxville vs. No. 10 Gavin Bridgewater of South Tama