Tucker Bennett (seventh place) stands on the podium for the 145 weight class.
FARGO — In anticipation for Friday’s individual finals, the rest of the consolation brackets played out over the preceding hours.
Devils Lake’s three finalists — Rylan Samuelson, Owen Lindstrom and Braxton Rance — got to rest up while the four Firebird boys in wrestle backs went back to work.
Wesley Fisk and Tucker Bennett both had nice second-day runs. Fisk wound up winning third place in the 114 weight class, while Bennett managed to win the seventh-place match in the 145.
Second-round wrestle backs
Two of the four Devils Lake boys stayed alive.
Fisk, who’d taken a quarterfinal loss on Thursday, bounced back with a pin to start his Friday. Originally seeded No. 8 in the 114, he took down No. 10-seeded Gallagher Wheeler from Central Cass. His pin came at 5:22 after he’d already built a 15-2 lead.
Daniel Charboneau, who’d stayed alive in the 139 wrestle backs on Thursday, saw his run come to an end in the second consolation round. He trailed 8-1 and was pinned at 5:30.
Bennett, like Fisk, had moved to this round after falling in the quarterfinals of the 145. He built an 8-1 lead and pinned Fargo Davies’ Marques Cline at 4:40.
Fisk and Bennett both earned spots in the third round of wrestle backs.
The fourth Firebird of the day, Coby Dronen Levitt, lost by major decision, 16-7, in the 152. Seeded No. 10, he had beaten the No. 15 seed in the first round of wrestle backs on Thursday. But he got overpowered by the No. 8 seed, Breckenridge/Wahpeton’s Riley Kappes, on Friday.
Third-round wrestle backs
Fisk’s run kept going. He upset Carson Mosset from Bismarck St. Mary’s, who was seeded three spots above him at No. 5. Fisk led 3-0 and took care of his match with a pin at 3:51.
The victory advanced Fisk to the consolation semifinals, with a chance to make the third-place match.
Bennett’s magic, on the other hand, ran out. He was the original No. 6 seed in his bracket, but he lost by a pin at 1:34 to No. 8-seeded Zane Wagoner from Watford City.
Bennett moved to the seventh-place match in his bracket, where his day would end no matter what.
Consolation semifinal
Fisk finally met his match, so to speak, in his third contest of the day. He was the underdog, facing No. 3-seeded Grady Olafson from West Fargo Sheyenne.
Fisk was resilient. He found himself in Olafson’s control multiple times but refused to budge.
It was only in the third period that Olafson managed an escape and got a point on the board. The final was as narrow a decision as one gets — a 1-0 loss for Fisk.
It moved the pesky Fisk, who had a worthy run of matches, to the fifth-place contest in the 114.
Fifth-place match
Fisk beat Hudson Droll from Mandan — seeded one spot ahead of him at No. 7 — to take home the fifth-place title.
Fisk trailed 3-0 early on. But he grinded back to take a 4-3 lead at the end of the first period, then went on to an 8-3 victory. He took over control of the match and didn’t let Droll back into it, fighting through awkward side positions to prevent Droll from taking grasp of him.
It was a win by decision. Fisk finished the tournament with four wins and two losses overall.
Seventh-place match
Bennett resumed play after his win in the third round of wrestle backs. He found himself in a rematch with Lengenfelder, who he beat all the way back in the first round on Thursday.
And he won again. He made a pair of takedowns to lead 6-0 before finishing off the match with a pin at 3:25.
Bennett officially became the seventh-place winner in the 145 weight class. He finished the tournament with three wins and two losses overall.
And that wrapped up Devils Lake’s individual tournament — all except for the finals.
