Perham's youth wrestlers attended the Northland Youth Wrestling Association Team and Individual State Tournament March 29 - April 1. The tournament was for wrestlers in kindergarten through eighth grade.
In the 7th and 8th grade team competition, Perham got off to a good start by defeating Tracy Area 27-16. Joe Lorenson and Dylan Perrine helped the team by controlling their opponents throughout the match. Lorenson picked up a 12-0 victory over Taylor Eisford, while Perrine shut out Ricky McMath 13-0.
In the second round of competition, St. Michael/Albertville defeated Perham in a very close match. STMA picked up an early lead 11-0, but Ben Nelson got Perham on the scoreboard at 100 pounds with a 7-0 victory and Chase Curtis pinned his opponent making the score 11-9.
Following a loss and the score in STMA's favor, 15-9, Josh Germolus pinned his opponent, tying the score 15-15. Perham would go on to lose the next two matches.
Heavyweight Jessie Klatt pinned his opponent for another six points but STMA was ahead by nine at the time, ending the match 27-24. The loss sent Perham into the third place match, where they defeated Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 30-15.
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In the individual competition, 100-pounder Chase Curtis took first place. Curtis opened the day defeating Danny Chelbeck of Spring Lake 2-0 in overtime. In his second match he defeated Billy Henslin of Zumbrot/Mazeppa 7-2. In the semi-finals, Tracy Area's Logan Axford and Curtis wrestled into double overtime, with Curtis winning the hard fought match 5-2.
The victory put Curtis in the final against Dylan Craig of Kenyon/Wanamingo, where he earned a 4-2 victory.
