The Britton-Hecla wrestling squad capped a busy week with seven placers in a tournament at Groton on Saturday following a pair of dual wins earlier in the week.
B-H 285-pounder Tucker Hardy led the local matmen in Groton with a championship win. Bryce Hawkinson was second at 144 and also recorded his 100th career win, placing third were Tanner Atkinson at 120, Ben Suther at 165, and Dashel Davidson at 175, and Max Suther was sixth at 126 and Dustin Stabnow sixth at 150.
The Braves stopped Canistota 60-12 and fell to Groton Area 52-20 in a triangular on Friday and downed Chester Area 54-24 while losing to Marion-Freeman 48-34 and Canton JV 62-15 in a quadrangular at Chester last week Tuesday.
This week Britton-Hecla will compete in a quadrangular at Warner on Friday and wrap up its regular season schedule at a tournament in Redfield on Saturday. The Region 1 tournament is set for Gettysburg on Saturday, Feb. 17.
“They guys have been wrestling really well the last couple of weeks,” said B-H coach Josh Hawkinson. “I think the biggest difference from the beginning of the season is that the kids are just more confident, especially in taking our shots on our feet. Whoever gets that first takedown usually wins the match, and we’ve been spending a lot of time working on that.
“Our day in Groton went just great. When one of our kids would win it seemed lit it was contagious, and we had kids winning matches against wrestlers I didn’t expect to beat. It was a fun day and the first time since I’ve been coaching that we have scored 128 points. Our previous high was 80.”
Hawkinson said his team’s focus now is to prepare for the regional.
“We’ll be looking at each individual weight class and seeing where we are going to fit the best and trying to beak our opponents’ match film apart and see where we can beat them. It’s really a caseby- case scenario at this point in the year. The atmosphere in the room is great and the kids are all kind of buying in.”
Groton Tournament
TEAM POINTS: Groton Area 190, Warner-Northwestern 146, Clark-Willow Lake 142, Watertown JV 133, Britton-Hecla 128, Sioux Falls O’Gorman JV 119.5, Potter County 113.5, Huron JV 104, Webster Area 90, Canton JV 86.5, Sioux Valley 79.5, Ipswich-Leola-Bowdle 66, McLaughlin 39, Sully Buttes 35, Viborg-Hurley 33, Milbank JV 31, Canistota 26, Wessington Springs/Woonsocket/ Wolsey-Wessington 21, Sanborn Central 13, Lemmon-McIntosh 7.
106 POUNDS : Lincoln Kilker (BH) pinned by Chase Dunsmore (Wessington Springs/Woonsocket/Wolsey-Wessington) 1:57; pinned by Jack Stuwe (Potter County) 3:52 120 POUNDS: Tanner Atkinson (BH) dec. Simon Lewis (O`Gorman) 76; pinned Andrew Folk (Milbank) 2:36; pinned by Kutler Swenson (Watertown) 1:01; dec. Simon Lewis (O`Gorman) 70; pinned by Donavon Block (Groton Area) 2:48
126 POUNDS: Max Suther (BH) pinned by Joshua Sho (Huron) 2:25; pinned Westen Olson (Clark/ Willow Lake) 1:37; pinned Dubhlainn Vermeulen (Sioux Valley) :26; pinned Zack Karges (Milbank) 2:03; pinned by Camdyn Ockenga (Canton) :28; pinned by Damian Severson (Clark/Willow Lake) 2:06
132 POUNDS: Bryce Heitkamp (BH) lost to Austin Vetter (Warner/ Northwestern) DQ; pinned by Aiden Ellerbroek (O`Gorman) 1:56
144 POUNDS: Bryce Hawkinson (BH) pinned Rylan Meuer (Webster Area) 1:13; won by forfeit over Henry Taylor (Canistota); pinned Gavin Boyle (O`Gorman) 1:21; pinned by Christian Ehresmann (Groton Area) 5:42
150 POUNDS: Dustin Stabnow (BH) pinned Bryce Heun (O`Gorman) :56; dec. Levi Berndt (McLaughlin) 7-4; pinned by Ivan Stuwe (Potter County) 1:45; pinned by Diaz Defender (McLaughlin)1:58; pinned by Tasyn Ockenga (Canton) :57
165 POUNDS: Ben Suther (BH) pinned by Cade Kuemper (Watertown) 3:51; won by forfeit over Evan Campbell (Viborg-Hurley/Irene-Wakonda); pinned Harvey Hardt (Sioux Valley) :15; pinned Jase Kroger (Canton) 2:30; dec. Cade Kuemper (Watertown) 10-2
175 POUNDS: Dashel Davidson (BH) pinned Ben Hoeft (Groton Area) 1:28; pinned by Chays Mansfield (Warner/Northwestern) 1:42; pinned Lucas Chaparro (Huron) 4:11; pinned Micah Decker (Canton) :39 190 POUNDS: Sage Watson (BH) pinned Drew Thurston (Groton Area) 4:32; pinned by Trevor Ryan (Viborg-Hurley/Irene-Wakonda) :45; pinned by Riley Popp (Clark/Willow Lake) :34
285 POUNDS: Tucker Hardy (BH) pinned Karter Moody (Groton Area) :41; pinned Jacob Johnson (Viborg-Hurley/Irene-Wakonda) 4:31; dec. Owen Vandaweed (Sioux Valley) 3-2
Britton-Hecla 54 Chester Area 24
106: Lincoln Kilker (BH) pinned Dawson Haffner 1:08; 113: CJ Peterson (CH) won by forfeit; 120: Carter Leibeg (CH) won by forfeit; 126: Connor Peterson (CH) won by forfeit; 132: Bryce Heitkamp (BH) pinned Angus Frankenhoff :49 138: Double Forfeit; 144: Bryce Hawkinson (BH) pinned Daniel Swenson 5:29; 150: Dustin Stabnow (BH) pinned Lawrence `Quincy` Emery :55) 157: Ben Suther (BH) pinned Arien Stalford 1:50; 165: Brennan Jordan (CH) pinned Cecilia Anderson :39 175: Dashel Davidson (BH) won by forfeit; 190: Liam Paxton (BH) won by forfeit; 215: Sage Watson (BH) won by forfeit; 285: Tucker Hardy (BH) pinned Aiden Hilbelink :32
Marion-Freeman 48 Britton-Hecla 34
106: Logun Pankratz (MF) pinned Lincoln Kilker 3:08; 113: Brody Gossen (MF) won by forfeit; 120: Michael Blau (MF) won by forfeit; 126: Easton Tschetter (MF) won by forfeit; 132: Keaton Prehiem (MF) pinned Bryce Heitkamp :04 138: Alaric Knittel (MF) won by forfeit; 144: Bryce Hawkinson (BH) dec. Axle Schultz 9-1; 150: Dustin Stabnow (BH) pinned Hunter Spangler :34; 157: Ben Suther (BH) won by forfeit; 165: Brodee Snyders (MF) pinned Cecilia Anderson :51 175: Dashel Davidson (BH) won by forfeit; 190: Liam Paxton (BH) won by forfeit; 215: Raymond Arnold (MF) pinned Sage Watson 2:37; 285: Tucker Hardy (BH) won by forfeit
Canton JV 65 Britton-Hecla 15
106: Bode Walker (CAN) tech fall over Lincoln Kilker 16-1 6:00; 113: Aiden Ostrom (CAN) won by forfeit; 120: Shane Sehr (CAN) won by f orfeit; 126: Kayden Chaulk (CAN) won by forfeit; 132: Wyatt Tuntland (CAN) pinned Bryce Heitkamp :47 138: Slayton Swenson (CAN) won by forfeit; 144: Bryce Hawkinson (BH) dec. Chase Adam 7-2; 150: Ryland Richardson (CAN) dec. Dustin Stabnow SV-1 4-2; 157: Tasyn Ockenga (CAN) pinned Ben Suther 3:43; 165: Jase Kroger (CAN) won by forfeit 175: Dashel Davidson (BH) pinned Devin Ridge :46; 190: John Anderson (CAN) pinned Liam Paxton :40); 215: Gunnar Swenson (CAN) won by forfeit; 285: Tucker Hardy (BH) pinned Tyler Lease 1:04
Groton Area 52 Britton-Hecla 30
106: Wyatt Hagen (GR) tech fall over Lincoln Kilker 15-0 4:08; 113: Lincoln Krause (GR) won by forfeit; 120: Tanner Atkinson (BH) pinned John Bisbee 2:30; 126: Donavon Block (GR) pinned Colt Hansen :43; 132: Max Suther (BH) won by forfeit 138: Walker Zoellner (GR) won by pin; 144: Bryce Hawkinson (BH) won by forfeit; 150: Christian Ehresmann (GR) won by forfeit; 157: Easten Ekern (GR) pinned Dustin Stabnow 3:49; 165: Korbin Kucker (GR) pinned Ben Suther 3:30 175: Dashel Davidson (BH) pinned Ben Hoeft 1:32; 190: Drew Thurston (GR) pinned Sage Watson :30; 215: Charlie Frost (GR) pinned Liam Paxton 1:09; 285: Tucker Hardy (BH) pinned Gaviin Englund 1:32
Britton-Hecla 60 Canistota 12
106: Lincoln Kilker (BH) pinned Koda Popkes 1:22; 113: Double Forfeit; 120: Tanner Atkinson (BH) won by forfeit; 126: Colt Hansen (BH) won by forfeit; 132: Jack Conn (CAN) pinned Max Suther :51; 138: Joshua Popkes Jr (CAN) pinned Bryce Heitkamp 1:39; 144: Bryce Hawkinson (BH) won by forfeit; 150: Dustin Stabnow (BH) won by forfeirt; 157: Double Forfeit; 165: Ben Suther (BH) won by forfeit 175: Dashel Davidson (BH) won by forfeit; 190: Sage Watson (BH) won by forfeit; 215: Liam Paxton (BH) won byt forfeit; 285: Tucker Hardy (BH) wonm by forfeit
