By Brittany Brevik
Grand Forks Herald Staff Writer
Perham is beginning to own the Grand Forks Sertoma high school wrestling tournament.
The Yellowjackets won the dual tournament for the third straight year Saturday, defeating Grand Forks Red River 51-16 in the championship match in the Grand Forks Central gymnasium.
Perham, which finished second at the Minnesota state tournament last season, was ranked first in the Section 8AA preseason coaches poll.
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Yellowjackets coach Robb Moser attributes his team's success to three factors.
"We have just really good, hard-working kids," Moser said. "There's no substitute for hard work - that's the bottom line."
"I have a coaching staff that is second-to-none. And thirdly, we really focus on team wrestling. Everything we do is about the team."
Six wrestlers went undefeated to fuel Perham's title run. Winning in the upper weights were Mac Stoll (171 pounds), Nathan Schmitz (189), Casey Sazama (215) and Jordan Palubicki (heavyweight).
Isaac Werner at 112 pounds and Jacob Werner at 119 also had perfect records in the tournament.
Perham started the match with pins from Schmitz, Sazama and Palubicki for a 18-0 lead.
Andrew Gorentz won a tight match at 103 against Josstyn Richter, and a pin from Isaac Werner at 112 put Perham ahead 27-0.
Red River's Jayden Richter pulled away in a close match to win at 130, cutting the Perham lead to 36-3.
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Arlo DiCristina, with a 3-1 overtime win at 140, Paul Ericson (13-2 victory at 152) and Nash Hanevold (by fall at 3:34) accounted for the rest of the Roughriders' scoring.
"They're a very tough, very impressive team," Red River coach Bruce Moe said. "They basically outwrestled us."
Jayden Richter, Ericson and DiCristina all went undefeated over the weekend to lead Red River to its second-place finish.
Red River, which graduated two state champions (Steve Klamm and Luke Schieve), hopes to contend for the Eastern Dakota Conference title this season.
"They're big losses," Moe said of Klamm and Schieve. "I'm pretty confident in my wrestlers. They're performing well; I think we're pretty much wrestling to our expectations."
Ttitle run
Perham entered the tournament on Friday having just moved from No. 2 in the Class AA, to No. 1 in the new rankings released Dec. 7. They celebrated with a 37-24 win over West Fargo in the first round of pool play in GrandForks, then followed that up with a 51-16 win over Bismarck-St. Mary's.
On Saturday morning, they shutout Cavalier, 75-0 in the final pool play match.
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In the first round of tournament play, the Jackets beat Section 8AA rival, No. 11 Thief River Falls, 47-20.
"We were hoping to come up against them and we had a good match," Moser said of facing TRF.
"It was a good tournament in general for us," Moser added. "People see we won three of these tournaments and ran up some nice scores and say, 'yeah, but it's North Dakota'. But we went against some good teams there and the thing you have to remembers every team can throw some studs at you, even if they aren't strong top-to-bottom. We saw some good wrestlers and we didn't get nearly as many forfeits as we have there in the past."
Win at D-G-F
Perham took on Heart O' Lakes rival D-G-F Tuesday in Glyndon, winning 52-15. They now will get an 11-day break from competition before returning to the mat against Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale in Verndale on Dec. 21.
(EOT Illustrated Sports Editor John George contributed to this story. The Grand Forks Herald and EOT Illustrated are both owned by Forum Communications.)
December 7-8
Grend Forks Sertoma Tournament
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Pool Play
Perham 37, West Fargo 24
103--Andrew Gorentz (P) def. Kuehn, 10-5
112--Isaac Werner (P) def. Pasion, fall 1:12
119--Jacob Werner (P) def. Neer, 7-6
125--Cassezza (WF) def. Sam Warne, fall 3:56
130--Ramberg (WF) def. Joe Berns, 15-13
135--Charbon (WF) def. Taylor Doll, 10-6
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140--Holmes (WF) def. Barry Nelson, 10-7
145--Lunde (WF) def. Mike Howey, 13-5
152--Olson, (WF) def. Shawn Stafki, fall 1:00
160--Charlie Schmitz (P) def. Owens, 4-2
171--Mac Stoll (P) def. Schiller, 16-5
189--Nathan Schmitz (P) def. Kenedy, fall :38
215--Casey Sazama (P), W-FF
HWT--Jesse Hein (P), W-FF
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Perham 53, Bismarck-St. Mary's 14
103--Gorentz (P) def. Krumm, 5-4
112--Werner (P) def. Turck, TF 2:59 (19-3)
119--J. Werner (P), W-FF
125--Warne (P) def. Kienzle, fall 1:05
130--Brett Greenwood (P), W-FF
135--Cody Soderstrom (P), W-FF
140--Nelson (P) def. Stecher, fall :49
145--Vetter (B) def. Howey, 12-1
152--Engelhardt (B) def. Stafki, 21-4
160--Vetter (B) def. C. Schmitz, 6-1
171--Schweiters (B) def. John Carlson, 8-2
189--N. Schmitz (P) def. Gerhardt, 9-2
215--Sazama (P) def. David, fall 1:34
HWT--Jordan Palubicki (P) def. Horgan, fall :37
Perham 75, Cavalier 0
103--Gorents (P) def. Ulvog, fall :30
112--I. Werner (P), W-FF
119--J. Werner (P), W-FF
125--Warne (P) def. Williamson, fall 1:12
130--Berns (P) def, Lawonn, fall, 2:44
135--Doll (P) def. Gobson, 14-4
140--Nelson (P) def. Wirtz, fall 1:57
145--Howey (P) ef. Sagert, fall :53
152--Stafki (P) def. Olason, 4-1
160--C. Schmitz (P) def. Askew, 9-1
171--Stoll (P) ef. Strauss, fall 2:57
189--N. Schmitz (P) def. Cull, 14-5
215--Sazama (P) def. Berg, fall 2:31
HWT--Palubicki (P), Schlittenhard, fall 1:56
Semifinals
Perham 47, #11-AA Thief River Falls 24
103--Abrahamson (TRF) def. Gorentz, 7-2
112--I. Werner (P) def. LaDue, 3-0
119--J. Werner (P) def. Dyrdal, fall 5:19
125--Warne (P) def. Langerin, fall 1:18
130--Keogn (TRF) def. Berns, fall 3:44
135--Doll (P) def. Redd, fall 2:32
140--Nelson (P) def. Kalinoski, 13-3
145--Funbon (TRF) def. Howey, fall 4:07
152--Engor (TRF) def. Stafki, fall 1:33
160--C. Schmitz (P) def. Kalinoski, 12-1
171--Stoll (P) def. Peralta, 6-5
189--N. Schmitz (P) def. Peralta, fall 3:26
215--Sazama (P), W-FF
HWT--Palubicki (P) def. Sorrig, 5-2
Championship
Perham 51, GF Red River 16
103--Gorentz (P) def. Richter, 8-3
112--I. Werner (P) def. Bogenreif, fall 1:46
119--J. Werner (P) def. Campbell, 7-2
125--Warne (P) def. Ceitvogel, fall :54
130--Richter (RR) def. Berns, 12-8
135--Doll (P) def. Brandt, fall 5:42
140--Dicristina (RR) def. Nelson, 3-1 (OT)
145--Hanevold (RR) def. Howey, fall 3:24
152--Ericson (RR) def. Stafki, 13-2
160--C. Schmitz (P) def. Broderson, 10-0
171--Stoll (P) def. Cooley, fall 1:13
189--N. Schmitz (P) def. Espe, fall 1:13
215--Sazama (P) def. Wilde, fall 1:58
HWT--Palubicki (P) def. Marek, 2:22
Tuesday, December 11
Perham 52, D-G-F 15
103--Dylan Ellingson (P), W-FF
112--Gorentz (P) def. , fall
119--(DGF) def. J. Werner, fall
125--Warne (P) def. , 15-4
130--Berns (P) def. , fall
135--(DGF) def. Soderstrom, 6-0
140--(DGF) def. Nelson, 10-8
145--Howey (P) def. , 8-4
152--Stafki (P) def., 4-2 (OT)
160--C. Schmitz (P) def., fall
171--Stoll (P) def., fall
189--Ben Brill (P), W-FF
215--(DGF) def. Sazama, 2-4
HWT--Palubicki (P) def.,
Class AA Poll Section
1. Perham 8
2. St. Michael-Albertville 5
3. Foley 6
4. Simley 4
5. Plainview-Elgin-Millville 1
6. Montgomery-Lonsdale/LeCentre 2
7. Adrian Area 3
8. Milaca 7
9. Scott West 2
10. Big Lake 6
11. Thief River Falls 8
12. Kasson-Mantorville 1
20. Fergus Falls 8
23. Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus 8
Perham Ranked Individuals
103--Andrew Gorentz (#4)
112--Isaac Werner (#3)
119--Jacob Werner (#7)
125--Sam Warne (#5)
140--Barry Nelson (#9)
145--Dwight Jenne (#6)
171--Mac Stoll (#2)
189--Nathan Schmitz (#4)
215--Casey Sazama (#3)
