DEVILS LAKE — The Devils Lake boys’ wrestling team is now 2-0 after a commanding win in a duel against Central Cass on Tuesday.
The Firebirds trailed 9-0 after two matches. But they won eight of the final 11 matches, six via pins, to take the dual 44-27. Wesley Fisk, Owen Lindstrom, Mitchell Gerhardt, Daniel Charboneau, Logan Charboneau and Braxton Rance had the pins for Devils Lake. Coby Dronen Levitt also had a crucial decision that helped run up the score.
“Central Cass, they came out and battled, man. They were ready to go,” Firebirds boys’ head coach Brendon Flynn said. “They got a couple wins by us that we expected, and then it’s just a test of adversity with our guys — can we stay focused and complete what we set out to do? And so it was a good response by our guys.”
The Devils Lake girls (0-2) competed afterwards and lost 72-6 to Central Cass.
In the 107 and 114 weight classes, respectively, Cooper Dahm and Ryan Samuelson took losses to start the dual. Dahm was pinned, and Samuelson lost by decision, 7-1. The Firebirds found themselves in an abrupt 9-0 hole.
“Normally, those guys kick off wins for us,” Flynn said. “So it’s a great test for us early on to see, like, how are we going to respond? Because it didn’t go as planned. They knocked us down; we had to get back up.”
Fisk, Lindstrom and Gerhardt all won by pins before the end of the first period in their respective matches. Each of them had a takedown right away and then finished it off before the initial two minutes were complete. With six points for each, Devils Lake sprung ahead 18-9.
In the 139 weight class, Gerardo Sanchez won by a technical fall after running up his match score to 18-3. He had three takedowns and three near-falls.
After a third-period pin by D. Charboneau, the score was up to 29-9 with all 29 points being unanswered. Tucker Bennett got pinned in the 152 weight class, though, bringing it to 29-15.
So it went to the 160, with Coby Dronen Levitt wrestling in the tightest match of the meet. Both wrestlers were struggling to gain much ground, and it was scoreless after the first period.
Dronen Levitt fell behind 2-0 on a reversal, then got one back on an escape. But his deficit became 5-2 after a takedown.
He chipped away with an escape in the third period. As the clock ticked down to under 30 seconds, he made his biggest move yet with an authoritative takedown that prompted leaps of joy from his teammates on the bench. He edged into the lead, 6-5, and held on for the remainder to record a gutsy decision. Devils Lake extended its lead to 32-15, rather than allowing the Squirrels back in.
“That was the big turning point,” Flynn said. “That was a big win that sealed the deal… The middle weight really took care of business tonight.”
The final four matches, which the teams split, all ended in pins. L. Charboneau made it 38-15, and Rance made it 44-21. Rance had run up the score to 16-3 in the first period alone, nearly achieving a five-point technical fall anyway before taking care of business with his six-point pin.
Freshman Jeremiah White, competing in the 285 weight class, took a loss in the final match despite a scoreless first period and a 1-0 lead in the second period. But the match was already the Firebirds’ by that point, as they won their second dual in as many opportunities.
It didn’t go as well for the girls’ squad immediately afterward, with a smaller roster going against a strong Central Cass team.
The Firebirds had six open spots they had to forfeit. Their lone win came for Olivia Lindstrom on an open spot that the Squirrels had to forfeit. During the six matches that were actually played, Devils Lake didn’t record a single point.
The dual came ahead of a tournament for the boys’ team in Mandan from Dec. 6-7. The Firebirds have a dual on the road against Fargo North on Dec. 12, and return home to face Hillsboro/Central Valley on Dec. 17.
