Graham secures 75th win in Section 8A opener

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Frazee came just one match short of making a return trip to the Xcel Energy Center last week as the Hornets fell to the United North Central Warriors in the section final by a score of 31-24. The match was a rematch of last year’s section finals in which the Warriors were also able to get the best of the Hornets.

The loss came on the heels of a pair of lopsided wins in the quarterfinals and semi-finals of the section meet. The Hornets opened the section tournament with a commanding 76-0 win over Fertile-Beltrami, before defeating Crookston in the semi-finals by a score of 51-21 to advance to the section finals. 

While the loss ends the Hornets season with a record of 23-6 overall, last week did have its fair share of momentous occasions.

In his final home match of his career, Daniel Graham secured his 75th career win by forfeit in Tuesday’s 76-0 win over Fertile-Beltrami. 

Tuesday

A perfect team score in wrestling is 84 points. Frazee was as close to posting a perfect score as one could get on Tuesday night as the Hornets defeated Fertile-Beltrami by a score of 76-0. 

In fact, just three matches didn’t end by a pin or forfeit all night. The first match was a Liam Hamm overtime 9-7 decision over Drew Rasch at 113 lbs. Cade Nagel won by a major decision at 132 lbs. by a 9-0 score and Tyler Moe won by a 7-0 decision at 152 lbs. 

Cash Osterman, Brady Borah, Josh Mellema, Preston Mayfield, Derek Zitzow and Xander Kohler all won by pins to help the Hornets’ cause.

The win advanced the Hornets to the semi-finals of the section tournament.

Frazee 76 Fertile-Beltrami 0

106 Osterman, Cash (FRAZ) over Ramberg, Gregory (FB) Fall 1:05

113 Hamm, Liam (FRAZ) over Rasch, Drew (FB) Decision 9-7 (OT) 

120 Sonnenberg, Blake (FRAZ) over Forfeit (FB)

126 Borah, Brady (FRAZ) over Ystenes, Julian (FB) Fall 2:40 

132 Nagel, Cade (FRAZ) over Vold-Vedbradten, Gage (FB) Maj Dec 9-0

138 Peichel, Bailey (FRAZ) over Forfeit (FB)

145 Mellema, Josh (FRAZ) over Erickson, Jack (FB) Fall 1:40 

152 Moe, Tyler (FRAZ) over Ramberg, Wesley (FB) Decision 7-0

160 Nagel, Jake (FRAZ) over Forfeit (FB)

170 Mayfield, Preston (FRAZ) over Goodwin, James (FB) Fall 0:25 

182 Rue, Max (FRAZ) over Forfeit (FB) Forfeit 

195 Graham, Daniel (FRAZ) over Forfeit (FB)

220 Zitzow, Derek (FRAZ) over Leiser, Jack (FB) Fall 2:54 

285 Kohler, Xander (FRAZ) over Flynn, James (FB) 2:51

Friday

Looking for their first state tournament since 2018, the Frazee Hornets made quick work of Crookston in the semi-finals of the Section 8A tournament on Friday night. The Hornets secured eight wins by either a fall or forfeit on their way to a 51-21 win over the Pirates. 

The Hornets won four of the opening six matches of the night by a fall with Cash Osterman, Blake Sonnenberg, Cade Nagel and Bailey Peichel securing wins by a fall to give the Hornets a 24-6 lead after the 138 lbs. match.

After a quick Crookston pin and a close decision at 145 lbs. and 152 lbs. Frazee once again took charge of the match when Jake Nagel won by a fall at 160 lbs., Max Rue won by a forfeit and Preston Mayfield won a close 8-5 decision to give Frazee a 35-15 lead. The final three matches of the dual ended in a pin with Frazee securing a fall from Jack Graham at 195 lbs. and Xander Kohler winning by a fall at 282 lbs. to end the match by a score of 51-21. 

In a rematch of last year’s section finals, United North Central once again was able to get the best of the Frazee Hornets by a score of 31-24. The Hornets came into the match as the 10th ranked team in the state and winners of 17 straight duals. They had defeated United North Central by a score of 48-23 at the end of January and were the top seed in the section.

However, the Warriors were once again able to defeat the Hornets in the section finals as they advanced to their second straight trip to state, this time by a score of 31-24. 

The Hornets once again got on the scoreboard early when Osterman picked up a 7-1 decision over Levi Olson of UNC.

After the Warriors won the next three matches to jump in front by a score of 10-3, Cade Nagel secured a 10-7 decision over Aaron Lake of UNC to make the score 10-6 in favor of the Warriors. 

Bailey Peichel followed with a 5-2 decision over Wyatt Olson of UNC at 138 lbs. to cut the UNC lead to 10-9. 

Hank Tellers of UNC followed with a pin over Josh Mellema of Frazee at the 3:39 mark of their 145 lbs. match to give the Warriors a bit of breathing room at 16-9. 

That’s when the trio of Moe, Jake Nagel and Mayfield went to work as Moe secured a 16-1 tech fall at 152 lbs., Nagel secured a 14-2 major decision at 152 lbs. and Mayfield won a decision at 170 lbs. to put the Hornets in front by a score of 21-16. 

Frazee was open at 182 lbs. to give UNC a brief 22-21 lead, before Jack Graham secured an 8-7 decision to put the Hornets in front by a score of 24-22.

Graham and Shawn Hendrickson entered the third period tied at 5-5, before Graham earned an early escape and a takedown with just 28 seconds remaining in the match to take an 8-5 lead. Hendrickson earned a reversal with just 13 seconds remaining, but Graham held him off to secure the decision.

At 220 lbs., Cooper Hasbargen of UNC was able to edge Derek Zitzow of Frazee in a pivotal match that ended with UNC picking up the 12-8 decision. The two wrestlers entered the third period tied at 7-7 after Zitzow erased an early 5-2 deficit at the end of the first period with a tremendous second period of wrestling. 

Unfortunately, in the third period Hasbargen earned an early escape and a takedown with 1:29 remaining in the match to take a 10-7 lead. Zitzow earned an escape with 50 seconds remaining to pull within 2 points, but Hasbargen earned a late takedown to end the match by a score of 12-8 and give UNC a 25-24 lead.

With the match coming down to the heavyweights, UNC rolled out second ranked Marcus Peterson who was able to secure a first period fall to hand Frazee its first loss since the Bemidji Lumberjack Duals on Saturday, Jan. 14. 

The loss ends Frazee’s season with a record of 23-6 overall. 

This weekend the Hornets will compete in the individual section tournament at Crookston. The wrestling will take place on Friday and Saturday with the top two finishers from each weight class advancing to state. 

Frazee 51 Crookston 21

106 – Cash Osterman (Frazee) over Mauricio Arriaga (Crookston) Fall 1:32

113 – Evin Trudeau (Crookston) over Liam Hamm (Frazee) Dec 10-3

120 – Blake Sonnenberg (Frazee) over Jaron Knutson (Crookston) Fall 3:56

126 – Gavyn Hlucny (Crookston) over Brady Borah (Frazee) Dec 6-1

132 – Cade Nagel (Frazee) over Lucas Perala (Crookston) Fall 1:48

138 – Bailey Peichel (Frazee) over Casey Weiland (Crookston) Fall 3:24

145 – Ethan Bowman (Crookston) over Josh Mellema (Frazee) Fall 0:49

152 – Carter Coauette (Crookston) over Tyler Moe (Frazee) Dec 3-2

160 – Jake Nagel (Frazee) over Jose Arriaga (Crookston) Fall 1:06

170 – Max Rue (Frazee) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

182 – Preston Mayfield (Frazee) over Hunter Knutson (Crookston) Dec 8-5

195 – Jack Graham (Frazee) over Hunter Kresl (Crookston) Fall 4:00

220 – Ethan Boll (Crookston) over Derek Zitzow (Frazee) Fall 1:38

285 – Xander Kohler (Frazee) over Riley Helgeson (Crookston) Fall 0:48

United North Central 31 Frazee 24

106 – Cash Osterman (Frazee) over Levi Olson (UNC) Dec 7-1

113 – Rhett Anderson (UNC) over Liam Hamm (Frazee) Dec 9-4

120 – Conrad Koll (UNC) over Blake Sonnenberg (Frazee) Maj 13-0

126 – Zach Hendrickson (UNC) over Brady Borah (Frazee) Dec 7-1

132 – Cade Nagel (Frazee) over Aaron Lake (UNC) Dec 10-7

138 – Bailey Peichel (Frazee) over Wyatt Olson (UNC) Dec 5-2

145 – Hank Tellers (UNC) over Josh Mellema (Frazee) Fall 3:39

152 – Tyler Moe (Frazee) over Zach Davidson (UNC) TF 16-1

160 – Jake Nagel (Frazee) over Riley Livingston (UNC) Maj 14-2

170 – Preston Mayfield (Frazee) over Eli Roiko (UNC) Dec 7-2

182 – Toby Isola (UNC) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

195 – Jack Graham (Frazee) over Shawn Hendrickson (UNC) Dec 8-7

220 – Cooper Hasbargen (UNC) over Derek Zitzow (Frazee) Dec 12-8

285 – Marcus Peterson (UNC) over Xander Kohler (Frazee) Fall 1:30