BHS junior wrestler Ian Frenzel returned to the mat on Tuesday night in Thief River as the Blackduck-Cass Lake-Bena Bears took on Roseau, Thief River and Grand Forks Red River. Frenzel’s been sidelined since a serious injury at the end of the football season -- but he came out strong against both Roseau’s Ben Grindahl and TRF’s Josh Bernier to earn the 100th win of his career, as the Bears competed in the invitational quad.
Blackduck-Cass Lake Bena 50 Roseau 21
Round one saw the Blackduck-Cass Lake-Bena Bears in action against the Roseau Rams, where the match started with three forfeits: Christian Pater at 106, Trevor Janssen at 120 and Christian Schmidt at 120. Landon Gross was pinned at 126 by Connor Eidsmoe and Michael Staples won by a technical fall at 132, beating the Rams’ Owen Gross. At the 138-weight class, Xayvion Rodgers pinned Brutus Grindahl and at 145 in a big and exciting match between the Bears’ Lucas Reiplinger, who is ranked eighth in the state at 138 and the Rams’ Chandler Mooney, who is ranked third at 145. In the rough and tumble match, Mooney defeated Reiplinger by a score of 8-3. Roseau’s Ben Olson beat BCLB’s Logan Dobmeier at the 152-weight class, and at 160, Ian Frenzel won his first match after his football injury with a pin over Roseau’s Grindahl. The Bears’ Mijakwad Johnson was pinned by Sawyer Klatt in the 170-weight class, Mason Smid took a forfeit at 182 and Hunter Wilcowski followed suit at 195. Saige Humphrey lost in a tough defeat at the 220-class against the Rams’ Brodie Wensloff, and in the final match-up of round one, heavyweight Jacob Nattress wrestled like a beast and dominated Kyle Bliss with a big pin, ending the Bears-Rams match with a winning score for BCLB of 50-21.
Blackduck-Cass Lake Bena 43 Thief River Falls 27
In round two, the Bears met the Thief River Falls Prowlers in the big match of the night, where both coaches and wrestlers were determined to prove their mettle. At 106, eighth-grader Pater started things off right with a pin at a minute-eight against Kale Geiser, and Shayne Swedberg followed with a forfeit at 113. The Bears’ Janssen bumped up a weight class to defeat Cody Weinen in a major 22-8 decision. Schmidt lost in a back-and-forth battle in an 11-9 decision with Cody Sele at the 126-weight class. The next two match-ups didn’t go the Bears’ way with Staples losing a 6-3 decision at 132, and Rodgers taking a fall at 138 to one of TRF’s toughest and most dominant wrestlers, Cade Lundeen. Reiplinger came back with a default win at 145 over Cole Johnson. Dobmeier lost a tough battle with the Prowlers’ Jayce Lizakowski, 12-8, and that’s when Ian Frenzel took to the mat at 160 to get his 100th career win with a 5-0 decision over his opponent, Josh Bernier -- owning the night for the Bears, as the win not only marked the 100th win landmark, but also proved that the October injury is not going to affect his wrestling season and career for the Bears. The Bears took a forfeit at 170, and Smid came back to pin his opponent in just 1:49. Wilcowski took the 195-weight class with a forfeit -- and the score stood at 38-15 in favor of the Bears with just two matches left: the Bears’ Humphrey at 220 and Nattress at heavyweight. Humphrey achieved a pin against the Prowlers’ Kevin Jensen, but heavyweight Connor Swanson pinned Nattress, to give the BCLB Bears the win with a score of 43-27.
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“The boys wrestled extremely hard to pull out that win in front of Thief River.” Said coach, Jay Reiplinger, adding, “I am very proud of their performance.”
Blackduck-Cass Lake Bena 63 Grand Forks Red River 9
Round three of competition saw the Bears in action against the Grand Forks Red River Roughriders. The RRHS team was a little short-handed, giving Janssen a forfeit at 106 and Schmidt another at 120. At 126, Isaac Piseni defeated the Bears’ Gross with a fall at 1:23. At 132, Staples came back and pinned the Roughriders’ Gaige Braswell in just 26-seconds. Rodgers took to the mat with Jack Hanson at 138, pinning Hanson at 3:12, and at 145, Reiplinger felled RRHS wrestler Adan Cisneros in just 2:26. Dobmeier took the next forfeit in the 152-weight class. In the next match at 160, the Bears’ Johnson lost in a decision of 10-5 to the Roughriders’ Macaiah Peterson. Smid took a forfeit at 182, and at 192, Wilcowski pinned Jaden Haugen in a 1:12. Humphrey took on Parker Nelson at 220, winning by a 3-1 decision, and Nattress took the forfeit at heavyweight to end round 3 with a score of 63-9 for the Bears.
The Bears are off to a good start for the 2017-18 season, and Coach Jay Reiplinger said the team is “…not exactly where we need to be, but we are starting to fire on all cylinders.”
BCLB was scheduled to take on Walker-Hackensack-Akeley and Mahnomen in Mahnomen on Thursday before the Bears take a well-earned break. They’ll be back in action on Jan. 5 against Pine River-Backus in Pine River.
Also, last weekend was the annual Big Bear Wrestling Tournament in Cass Lake, hosted by the Bears, that draws some 40 teams from around the state.
At the Big Bear, Janssen finished second in the 106 bracket and Wilcowski took third in the 195 to record the highest placements among Blackduck/Cass Lake-Bena wrestlers after the second day.
Reiplinger went 2-2 on the day to lock up sixth in the 138 bracket, while Staples rounded out the Bears’ placers with seventh in the 132 with two wins and a loss.
