By Chad Koenen

Publisher

After starting their season with a 1-4 record, the Frazee Hornets have won seven of their past nine matches to not only improve to 11-10 on the season, but secure the top seed in the Section 8A tournament. In fact, the Hornets have not lost to a Class A school since dropping a triangular to second ranked BBE and eighth ranked Royalton-Upsala on Feb. 11. The only two losses the Hornets have suffered since Feb. 11 has been to Class AA Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton and fourth ranked in Class AAA Bemidji.

During their most recent stretch the Hornets have defeated Badger/Greenbush-Middle River, United North Central, Crookston, Wadena-Deer Creek, Barnesville, Pelican Rapids and United Clay Becker.

The Hornets have received the top seed in the Section 8A and will take on the winner of either Red Lake County or Fertile-Beltrami. The winner of the match will advance to the Section 8A semi-finals that will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the high seed school. 

The section finals will take place on Saturday in Cass Lake in the super section/state quarterfinals, which will also include the two finalists in Section 7A. The two section champions will wrestle one another for the right to advance to the final four teams at St. Michael-Albertville as part of a modified state tournament. 

The individual tournament will be held the week of March 15 and the Class A state tournament will be held on Saturday, March 27. The semifinals and finals of the team tournament will begin at 9 a.m. and the individual tournament will begin at 2 p.m. at St. Michael-Albertville. 

The seedings for Section 8A includes ninth seeded Red Lake County/eighth seeded Fertile-Beltrami vs. top seeded Frazee; fifth seeded Fosston/Bagley vs. fourth seeded Crookston; third seeded BGMR vs. sixth seeded Mahnomen/Waubun and second seeded UNC vs. seventh seeded Park Rapids. 

Thursday

In its final home triangular of the season, the Frazee Hornets took some time to honor their seniors and parents on Thursday night. In the process, the Hornets picked up a pair of key wins over two of the top teams in Section 8A to help the team cement itself as the top seed heading into the playoffs.

The Hornets dominated the middle to upper weights against both Crookston and United North Central as they came away with a 42-33 win over Crookston and a 41-24 win over UNC.

In its first match of the night, the Hornets won seven of the eight matches wrestled from 132 lbs. through 195 lbs. to turn a 15-3 deficit into a 42-21 lead. 

Cade Nagel got things going for the Hornets as he won an 8-2 decision at 106 lbs. Following three straight Pirate wins, the Hornets went on a run to essentially put the match out of reach when Jake Nagel won by fall at 132 lbs., and Kaden Hiemenz followed with a 5-2 decision over Carter Coauette at 138 lbs.

Tyler Moe not only secured an upset win over seventh ranked Cameron Weiland, but did it in style as he won by fall at the 2:50 mark of his match.

Preston Mayfield followed with a pin of his own and Brock Barlund won by forfeit at 160 lbs. to make the score 30-15 in favor of Frazee. Crookston cut the to 30-21 with a fall at 170 lbs., but would get no closure as Daniel Graham and Howard Solem won by back-to-back pins to make the score 42-21 in favor of the Hornets.

The Pirates picked up a pair of pins at 220 lbs. and 285 lbs. to make the final score 42-33.

In the night cap, the Hornets once again dominated the middle to upper weights as they blew past the UNC Warriors 41-24. 

Cade Nagel started the match with a major decision to give the Hornets a 4-0 lead. 

After a UNC pin at 113 lbs., Bailey Peichel made the score 8-6 in favor of the Hornets with an 8-0 major decision at 120 lbs. The Warriors picked up back-to-back wins at 126 lbs. and 132 lbs. to make the score 15-8 in favor of UNC. 

That’s when the Hornets went on a run to essentially put the match out of reach when they won six of the next seven matches to make the score 38-18 and put it out of reach for good.

Jake Nagel started that run when he won by forfeit and Kaden Hiemenz followed with a 7-1 decision to give the Hornets a 17-15 lead. 

Moe followed with a pin at the 2:36 mark of the second period of his 152 lbs. match against Joel Isaacson to make the score 23-15 in favor of Frazee. 

UNC’s 10th ranked wrestler, Dakota Meech, made the score 23-18 when he secured an 8-2 decision over Preston Mayfield, but Barlund answered right back with a pin over Logan Torma to make the score 29-18 in favor of Frazee. Graham won by a 10-6 decision at 182 lbs. and Solem capped off the tremendous seven match run for the Hornets with a third period fall at 195 lbs. to make the score 38-18. 

Byron Kropuenske won a 2-0 decision at heavyweight to give the Hornets a 41-24 win and give Frazee its second straight win over a team ranked as Lean and Mean by The Guillotine. 

Frazee 42 Crookston 33

106 Nagel, Cade (Frazee) defeated Trudeau, Evin (Crookston)  (Decision 8-2) (Score: 3-0)

113 Dans, Nolan (Crookston) defeated Sonnenberg, Sebastian (Frazee)  (Fall 2:50) (Score: 3-6)

120 Brown, Zach (Crookston) defeated Peichel, Bailey (Frazee)  (Fall 0:40) (Score: 3-12)

126 Bowman, Ethan (Crookston) defeated Carlson, Christian (Frazee)  (Decision 10-6) (Score: 3-15)

132 Nagel, Jake (Frazee) defeated Coauette, Carter (Crookston)  (Fall 0:59) (Score: 9-15)

138 Hiemenz, Kaden (Frazee) defeated Volker, Braxton (Crookston)  (Decision 5-2) (Score: 12-15)

145 Moe, Tyler (Frazee) defeated Weiland, Cameron (Crookston)  (Fall 2:50) (Score: 18-15)

152 Mayfield, Preston (Frazee) defeated Ness, Spencer (Crookston)  (Fall 4:32) (Score: 24-15)

160 Barlund, Brock (Frazee) defeated Forfeit (Crookston)  (Forfeit) (Score: 30-15)

170 Knutson, Hunter (Crookston) defeated Rue, Max (Frazee)  (Fall 3:51) (Score: 30-21)

182 Graham, Daniel (Frazee) defeated Deleon, Cade (Crookston)  (Fall 2:16) (Score: 36-21)

195 Solem, Howard (Frazee) defeated Kresl, Hunter (Crookston)  (Fall 1:40) (Score: 42-21)

220 Boll, Ethan (Crookston) defeated Kropuenske, Byron (Frazee)  (Fall 1:11) (Score: 42-27)

285 Gonzalez, Greg (Crookston) defeated Kohler, Xander (Frazee)  (Fall 4:39) (Score: 42-33)

Frazee 41 United North Central Warriors 24

106 Nagel, Cade (Frazee) defeated Davidson, Zach (UNC)  (Maj Dec 11-0) (Score: 4-0)

113 Pinoniemi, Reid (UNC) defeated Sonnenberg, Sebastian (Frazee)  (Fall 0:34) (Score: 4-6)

120 Peichel, Bailey (Frazee) defeated Hendrickson, Zack (UNC)  (Maj Dec 8-0) (Score: 8-6)

126 Skaro, Hunter (UNC) defeated Carlson, Christian (Frazee)  (Decision 10-6) (Score: 8-9)

132 Hendrickson, Ethan (UNC) defeated Crabtree, Brady (Frazee)  (Fall 2:16) (Score: 8-15)

138 Nagel, Jake (Frazee) defeated Forfeit (UNC)  (Forfeit) (Score: 14-15)

145 Hiemenz, Kaden (Frazee) defeated Rasmussen, Dylan (UNC)  (Decision 7-1) (Score: 17-15)

152 Moe, Tyler (Frazee) defeated Isaacson, Joel (UNC)  (Fall 2:36) (Score: 23-15)

160 Meech, Dakota (UNC) defeated Mayfield, Preston (Frazee)  (Decision 8-2) (Score: 23-18)

170 Barlund, Brock (Frazee) defeated Torma, Logan (UNC)  (Fall 1:33) (Score: 29-18)

182 Graham, Daniel (Frazee) defeated Hendrickson, Shawn (UNC)  (Decision 10-6) (Score: 32-18)

195 Solem, Howard (Frazee) defeated Hasbargen, Cooper (UNC)  (Fall 4:24) (Score: 38-18)

220 Carlson, Torrey (UNC) defeated Kohler, Xander (Frazee)  (Fall 3:44) (Score: 38-24)

285 Kropuenske, Byron (Frazee) defeated Peterson, Marcus (UNC)  (Decision 2-0) (Score: 41-24)