When the Ankeny Centennial wrestlers dropped their opening match in the Class 3A state duals tournament on Saturday, the Jaguars still had plenty of motivation to bounce back.
“Last year it was great qualifying, but we went 0-3,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “This year we didn’t want to leave with that same bitter taste in our mouth. We won that second round, and then we talked to the guys about what a great dual-meet season we’ve had and we don’t want to end it with a loss. So we went out and got after it against Waukee Northwest.”
The fifth-seeded Jaguars rebounded with a 51-22 win over No. 8 Waverly-Shell Rock in a consolation semifinal at Xtream Arena in Coralville. They then earned a fifth-place finish with a 38-29 victory over No. 6 Northwest.
Centennial had defeated the Wolves by a similar score, 39-28, on Jan. 25. The Jaguars finished with a 21-2 record.
“I think we wrestled pretty well,” Groth said. “We knew what we had to do to beat Fort Dodge (in the quarterfinals), and things just didn’t go our way in that one. We had a shot, but just didn’t get it done. But then we rebounded, and I thought we wrestled real well. Our guys just responded by looking for pins and bonus points, and they did a good job.”
Centennial opened the tournament with a 40-33 loss to No. 4 Fort Dodge. It was a rematch of last year’s consolation semifinal, which was also won by the Dodgers, 37-30.
Fort Dodge won the first five matches to build a commanding 29-0 lead, racking up four straight pins and a technical fall.
“We won the toss and tried to move Mitchell Grider away from one of the best kids in the nation (in Dreshaun Ross), so we bumped him up to heavyweight but they’ve got a good heavyweight too (in Luke Fierke), and he had about 60 pounds on Mitch,” Groth said. “It was a tall order, but Mitch went out and gave it a shot and didn’t back down. You can’t fault him for that.”
In the consolation semifinal, Centennial avenged last year’s 43-24 loss to Waverly-Shell Rock in the quarterfinals. The Jaguars won nine of the 14 matches and racked up eight falls.
One of the Go-Hawks’ wins came at 150 pounds, where second-ranked Bas Diaz got a fall over Jackson Anonson. Groth elected not to have No. 1 Lucas Bruhl wrestle Diaz in a rematch of the Ed Winger Invitational championship match that Bruhl won last month, 3-1.
“We’ve already got a head-to-head victory against Bas,” Groth said. “I have no doubt that Lucas would go out and do it again, but it just wasn’t worth it. We didn’t need that match to win the dual.”
In the fifth-place match, Northwest took a 26-13 lead by winning five of the first eight matches. But Centennial then won the next five bouts and clinched the victory when Danny Dhabolt posted a 10-7 decision over Bryce Williams at 175.
The Jaguars will compete in a Class 3A district tournament on Saturday at Cedar Rapids Prairie.
“I think it’s a good district for us,” Groth said. “If we continue to wrestle like we have, I’m confident that we’ll have a great day.”
Here are the match-by-match results from the state duals tournament:
Fort Dodge 40, Centennial 33
175: Da. Ross (FD) pinned Smith, 3:42; 190: Hartman (FD) pinned Cahill, 1:17; 215: Dr. Ross (FD) pinned Bogseth, :41; 285: Fierke (FD) pinned Grider, 1:23; 106: Rial (FD) won by technical fall over Larsen, 16-0; 113: Ca. Vandermark (AC) pinned Kasperbauer, 1:01; 120: Ayala (FD) beat Co. Vandermark, 10-6; 126: Sodergren (AC) pinned S. Davidson, 1:07; 132: Butrick (FD) beat Roland, 12-2; 138: K. Davidson (FD) beat Brennan, 10-2; 144: M. Dhabolt (AC) pinned Brown, 1:06; 150: L. Bruhl (AC) pinned Fraher, 1:30; 157: I. Bruhl (AC) beat Egli, 13-6; 165: Ehlts (AC) pinned Cowell, :55.
Centennial 51, Waverly-Shell Rock 22
190: Wedemeier (W-SR) beat Cahill, 7-4; 215: Grider beat Lashbrook, 6-2; 285: Wetherell (W-SR) pinned Winkel, :09; 106: Larsen pinned Westendorf, 1:54; 113: Ca. Vandermark pinned Kibbee, 1:09; 120: Co. Vandermark pinned Hornyak, 5:21; 126: Graff (W-SR) beat Sodergren, 9-0; 132: Roland pinned Sprole, :19; 138: Z. Behrends (W-SR) beat Brennan, 5-1; 144: M. Dhabolt pinned Epley, 1:54; 150: Diaz (W-SR) pinned Anonson, :55; 157: I. Bruhl pinned Hagarty, 3:13; 165: Ehlts pinned Forcier, 2:32; 175: D. Dhabolt pinned P. Behrends, 5:07.
Centennial 38, Waukee Northwest 29
215: Grider (AC) beat Mohr, 9-7; 285: Neeway (WN) pinned Bogseth, 1:19; 106: C. Christensen (WN) won by technical fall over Larsen, 21-6; 113: Ca. Vandermark (AC) beat Cahill, 14-4; 120: Co. Vandermark (AC) pinned Phillips, 3:13; 126: K. Christensen (WN) pinned Sodergren, :15; 132: King (WN) beat Roland, 13-4; 138: Freeman (WN) won by technical fall over Brennan, 22-6; 144: M. Dhabolt (AC) pinned Gallagher, 2:39; 150: L. Bruhl (AC) beat Hutt, 13-2; 157: I. Bruhl (AC) pinned Vollmecke, 2:36; 165: Ehlts (AC) pinned Rubino, 1:25; 175: D. Dhabolt (AC) beat Williams, 10-7; 190: Parker (WN) beat Cahill, 11-5.
