State wrestling: A year later, St. Michael-Albertville gets its title with convincing win over Mounds View
St. Michael-Albertville lost a heartbreaker a year ago, squandering a 32-9 advantage to fall to Hastings in stunning fashion, with the Raiders finishing the duel with three straight pins to win the Class 3A state title by a single point.
A newspaper commemorating Hastings’ state title was hung up in the Knights’ wrestling room as a reminder of that evening and what went wrong.
“It was hard, especially knowing we were better wrestlers. We beat them three times before that, so we just used it as motivation,” St. Michael-Albertville senior Jed Wester said. “We didn’t want to take anything easy. Just bring it all on the mat, every time.”
And that’s exactly what they did Thursday. A year later, St. Michael-Albertville got its state title in dominant fashion, besting previously unbeaten and top-seeded Mounds View 47-10.
On paper, the Knights and Mustangs (30-1) figured to be an electric duel. Mounds View’s rise to the top of the state rankings has been nothing short of impressive over the past two seasons. But second-seeded St. Michael-Albertville (30-1) always appeared to be a peer given the depth of talent each team sported.
And seemingly every expected close match Thursday went the way of the Knights.
St. Michael-Albertville scored a trio of coin flip victories to jump out to a 9-0 advantage.
Grant Bergeron topped Owen LaRose at 107 in a battle of top-seven ranked wrestlers, then fourth-ranked Lincoln Robideau pulled off a mini upset of second-ranked Brett Swenson in overtime. Then Brady Bergeron bested Will Schneider 6-2.
Chase Mills delivered a pin at 127 pounds, and the Knights were off and running with a 15-0 advantage.
“It was just their night. They’re a good team,” Mounds View coach Dan Engebretson said. “They had everything rolling today, and it’s momentum. Once the momentum started going, it was hard to turn it.”
Mounds View is strong in the middle and upper weights, where it has made its hay all season. The problem is the Knights are just as formidable at nearly every step. Mounds View’s Apollo Ashby is the No. 2 ranked wrestler at 152 pounds. But the Knights’ Landon Robideau is a dominant top-ranked wrestler who won via tech fall.
At the next weight, Jarrett Wadsen scored an upset via pin for St. Michael-Albertville in a top-five showdown to essentially put the duel away. Wester, a Gophers commit, put an exclamation point on the proceedings via a tech fall victory at 172 pounds over third-ranked Ethan Swenson.
The Knights were not to be denied.
“There was a bunch of 50-50 matchups that we were right there with. The duel could’ve gone one way or another and honestly, our guys just really stepped up to the plate,” St. Michael-Albertville coach Josh Joriman said. “”One of the things that we’ve been preaching the most was wrestling for each other, and you could see that was evident throughout the matches. They were competing for each other. Not just out there wrestling with each other, but for each other. And it was awesome to see.”
Perhaps Mounds View will be the Knights of next season, getting back to the same stage and potentially getting over the top. The Mustangs will return five ranked wrestlers on next year’s squad, four of which are ranked in the top four at their respective weight classes. The program is quickly establishing itself as a perennial power. The Mustangs are 61-2 over the last two seasons. And, in Thursday’s opponent, they have a blueprint for attempting to reclimb the mountain.
“We learned a lot of lessons. We learned a lot of hard lessons here. It was good,” Joriman said. “It wasn’t good at the time, but you take what you can and you learn from those losses and you come back.”
OTHER RESULTS
— Chatfield won the Class A title with a 47-7 victory over Staples-Motley.
— Apple Valley fell 45-11 to Shakopee in the Class 3A quarterfinals. Shakopee went on to take third place.
— Hastings, the defending champ in Class 3A, lost tight quarterfinal 33-32 to Albert Lea. The Raiders reached the consolation final, where they fell to Willmar.
