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Home dual loss can't diminish solid showing so far for Watertown grapplers

roger merriam, watertown public opinion
·8 min read

The first home appearance since a season-opening dual tournament didn't go as well as hoped for the 2022-23 Watertown High School wrestling team on Thursday night.

Pierre won the final six duals to rally for a 44-21 Eastern South Dakota Conference victory in the Civic Arena. The Governors improved to 3-0 overall and in the ESD.

Watertown, which was missing some key regulars, fell to 5-2 and 1-1. The Arrows return to action on Saturday in the Jerry Opbroek Invitational at Mitchell.

Here an update on the Arrows' season so far:

Watertown's Weston Everson and Pierre's Rowdy Menning fight for control during their 126-pound match in an Eastern South Dakota Conference wrestling dual on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 in the Civic Arena.
Watertown's Weston Everson and Pierre's Rowdy Menning fight for control during their 126-pound match in an Eastern South Dakota Conference wrestling dual on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 in the Civic Arena.

One bad night doesn't make a season

One bad night, at least one during the regular season, can't diminish what has been another solid season for the Arrows' so far.

Watertown opened the season by finishing second in the Marv Sherrill Duals in the Civic Arena. The Arrows won the Sioux Falls Washington Warrior Invite and the Bismarck (N.D.) Rotary Club tourney this past week, also took second in the Floyd Farrand Invite hosted by Sioux Falls Lincoln and finished third in the Rapid City Invite.

Thursday's loss may hamper the Arrows' bid to reach one of their annual goals — winning the ESD dual championship.

"It certainly won't help," said Watertown head coach Chas Welch. "We have a bunch of really important duals coming up and we'll have to be ready to go for every single one of them."

Watertown's Braden Le aims for a reversal against Pierre's Hudson Shaffer during their 132-pound match in an Eastern South Dakota Conference wrestling dual on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 in the Civic Arena.
Watertown's Braden Le aims for a reversal against Pierre's Hudson Shaffer during their 132-pound match in an Eastern South Dakota Conference wrestling dual on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 in the Civic Arena.

The little guys did their job

Watertown's lineup is pretty talented from top to bottom but was without some key pieces on top Thursday that could have potentially prevented the comeback by Pierre.

The Arrows started well and raced to an 18-4 lead. Gage Lohr won 9-0 at 106 pounds, Sloan Johannsen 16-1 (technical fall) at 120, Weston Everson by fall at 126 and Braden Lee 6-2 at 132.

Johannsen, a two-time state champion, improved to 24-0 on the season. Lohr is 22-2, Everson 22-3 and Le 17-6.

Watertown's only other win came from Ian Johnson, who improved to 16-7 with a hard-fought 14-10 decision over Pierre's Chase Carda at 152.

Pierre got falls from Jaxon Ducheneaux at 145, Chance Carda at 182, Gavin Stotts at 195 and Joshua Rydberg at 285; technical falls from Tristan Spencer at 138 and Lucas Chamberlain at 160; a major decision from Alex Oedekoven at 113; and decisions from Deegan Houska at 170 and Elijah Boutchee at 220.

"We're very close to where we want to be with our lineup," said Welch. "We just have to get some injuries and other issues taken care of that held us back tonight."

Watertown's Ian Johnson battles for control with Pierre's Chase Carda during their 152-pound match in an Eastern South Dakota Conference wrestling dual on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 in the Civic Arena.
Watertown's Ian Johnson battles for control with Pierre's Chase Carda during their 152-pound match in an Eastern South Dakota Conference wrestling dual on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 in the Civic Arena.

Getting ready for the stretch run

The Arrows have pretty much reached the midway point of the season and have a number of conference duals ahead along with regular-season tournaments at Mitchell, Sioux City (Iowa), Aberdeen and Yankton remaining.

Crunch time arrives in just over a month with the Region 1A tournament on Feb. 18 at Madison, followed by the three-day state tournament Feb. 23-25 at Rapid City.

Barring some drastic misfortune, Watertown will likely be able to put Thursday's loss behind and recover to again contend for state dual and individual tournament championships come late February.

"The boys are wrestling well, but we have to make sure everybody's on board and has the same idea," said Welch.

Pierre 44, Watertown 21 — 106: Gage Lohr (WATE) over Jacob Mason (PTFR) (MD 9-0) 113: Alex Oedekoven (PTFR) over Leo Stroup (WATE) (MD 13-4) 120: Sloan Johannsen (WATE) over Lincoln Schoenhard (PTFR) (TF 16-1 4:16) 126: Weston Everson (WATE) over Rowdy Menning (PTFR) (Fall 2:51) 132: Braden Le (WATE) over Hudson Shaffer (PTFR) (Dec 6-2) 138: Tristan Spencer (PTFR) over Derek Hanson (WATE) (TF 18-2 5:37) 145: Jaxon Ducheneaux (PTFR) over Landen Lewis (WATE) (Fall 0:48) 152: Ian Johnson (WATE) over Chase Carda (PTFR) (Dec 14-10) 160: Lucas Chamberlin (PTFR) over Tucker Urdahl (WATE) (TF 16-0 4:40) 170: Deegan Houska (PTFR) over Jax Kettwig (WATE) (Dec 6-2) 182: Chance Carda (PTFR) over Jackson Maag (WATE) (Fall 5:23) 195: Gavin Stotts (PTFR) over Ethan Wientjes (WATE) (Fall 0:27) 220: Elijah Boutchee (PTFR) over Matthew Peters (WATE) (Dec 16-11) 285: Joshua Rydberg (PTFR) over Blake Wientjes (WATE) (Fall 1:34).

Aberdeen Central at Brandon Triangular

BRANDON — Aberdeen Central's boys went 1-1 and girls 2-0 in an Eastern South Dakota Conference wrestling triangular hosted by Brandon Valley on Thursday.

The Golden Eagles (7-3 overall and 4-1 in the ESD) beat Yankton 75-6 and lost to Brandon Valley 45-27 in boys' duals. Aberdeen Central's girls won 36-12 over Yankton and 36-18 over Brandon Valley.

Rayden Zens (126 pounds), Samson Flakus (195) and Bryce Beitelspacher (220) each recorded two falls for Aberdeen Central's boys. Elias Biegler (152) and Cole Dunlavy (182) also were each 2-0.

Madyson Gillen (113), Katrina Gibson (154) and Autumn Gauer (285) each were 2-0 for Aberdeen Central's girls.

The Golden Eagles wrestle Saturday in the Harrisburg Invite.

Aberdeen Central 75, Yankton 6 — 132: Tate Huff (ABCE) over Dylan Sloan (YANK) (Dec 9-6) 138: Joelton Reimnitz-Hahn (YANK) over Brody Aesoph (ABCE) (Fall 2:52) 145: Noah Kramer (ABCE) over (YANK) (For.) 152: Elias Biegler (ABCE) over Chase Howe (YANK) (Fall 0:27) 160: Logan Opitz (ABCE) over Josh Swenson (YANK) (Fall 2:48) 170: Ayden Gisi (ABCE) over Asa Swenson (YANK) (Fall 2:36) 182: Cole Dunlavy (ABCE) over (YANK) (For.) 195: Samson Flakus (ABCE) over Peyton Eustace (YANK) (Fall 1:38) 220: Bryce Beitelspacher (ABCE) over Edly Amaro (YANK) (Fall 3:20) 285: Jacob Krenz (ABCE) over Derrick Biel (YANK) (Fall 0:16) 106: Will Allen (ABCE) over Damian Janish (YANK) (Fall 2:27) 113: Porter Lozenski (ABCE) over (YANK) (For.) 120: Ridley Waldo (ABCE) over Devon Coke (YANK) (Fall 5:54) 126: Rayden Zens (ABCE) over Dominic Cadena (YANK) (Fall 0:40).

Brandon Valley 45, Aberdeen Central 27 — 126: Rayden Zens (ABCE) over Aaron Tucker (BRVA) (Fall 1:24) 132: Jordon Oehme (BRVA) over Tate Huff (ABCE) (TF 20-5 5:30) 138: Alex Mentzer (BRVA) over Brody Aesoph (ABCE) (Fall 2:41) 145: Trason Oehme (BRVA) over Noah Kramer (ABCE) (Fall 4:40) 152: Elias Biegler (ABCE) over Levi Veskrna (BRVA) (Dec 8-6) 160: Gavin Chapman (BRVA) over Logan Opitz (ABCE) (MD 18-6) 170: Lucas Slack (BRVA) over Ayden Gisi (ABCE) (Fall 0:17) 182: Cole Dunlavy (ABCE) over Elijah Schunke (BRVA) (Fall 0:55) 195: Samson Flakus (ABCE) over Noah Bailous (BRVA) (Fall 3:54) 220: Bryce Beitelspacher (ABCE) over Charles Hermann (BRVA) (Fall 1:34) 285: Navarro Schunke (BRVA) over Jacob Krenz (ABCE) (Fall 5:40) 106: Brendon Oehme (BRVA) over Will Allen (ABCE) (Fall 3:21) 113: Landon Walker (BRVA) over Porter Lozenski (ABCE) (Dec 3-2) 120: Trevon Oehme (BRVA) over Ridley Waldo (ABCE) (Dec 6-3)

Aberdeen Central 36, Yankton 12 (Girls) — 106: Avery Bendewald (ABCE) over (YANK) (For.) 113: Madyson Gillen (ABCE) over (YANK) (For.) 120: Kalyn Rohrbach (ABCE) over (YANK) (For.) 126: Jaclyn Kyte (YANK) over Ula Martin (ABCE) (Fall 3:38) 132: Jasmine Maas (ABCE) over (YANK) (For.) 142: Nevaeh Leonard (YANK) over Lin Paw Jone (ABCE) (Fall 3:15) 154: Katrina Gibson (ABCE) over (YANK) (For.) 285: Autum Gauer (ABCE) over (YANK) (For.).

Aberdeen Central 36, Brandon Valley 18 (Girls) — 106: Mary-Katherine Joseph (BRVA) over Avery Bendewald (ABCE) (Fall 0:35) 113: Madyson Gillen (ABCE) over Kendall Clayton (BRVA) (Fall 1:21) 120: Grace Carson (BRVA) over Kalyn Rohrbach (ABCE) (Fall 3:23) 126: Ula Martin (ABCE) over Ljiljana Shellum (BRVA) (Fall 2:47) 132: jasmine Maas (ABCE) over (BRVA) (For.) 142: Lin Paw Jone (ABCE) over (BRVA) (For.) 154: Katrina Gibson (ABCE) over Annala Davis (BRVA) (Fall 2:58) 170: Fantasia Felcher (BRVA) over (ABCE) (For.) 285: Autum Gauer (ABCE) over (BRVA) (For.).

Pierre's Elijah Boutchee lifts Watertown's Matthew Peters during their 220-pound match in an Eastern South Dakota Conference wrestling dual on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 in the Civic Arena.
Pierre's Elijah Boutchee lifts Watertown's Matthew Peters during their 220-pound match in an Eastern South Dakota Conference wrestling dual on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 in the Civic Arena.

Hamlin-Castlewood Quad

HAYTI — Deuel-Deubrook Area went 3-0 to top the field Thursday in a high school wrestling quadrangular hosted by Hamlin-Castlewood.

Deuel-Deubrook Area downed Clark-Willow Lake 57-24, Sioux Valley 48-34 and Hamlin-Castlewood 38-34. In other duals, Clark-Willow Lake topped Hamlin-Castlewood 42-32 and Sioux Valley 54-30 and Hamlin-Castlewood beat Sioux Valley 40-30.

Gavin Kloos (126), Jaxson Quail (132), Korbin Whiteley (170), Dominic Constant (182), Justin Granum (195) and Raymond Klein (220) each went 3-0 for Deuel-Deubrook Area.

Cade Gaikowski (106), Cooper Pommer (113) and Chase Chambers (152) all went three matches for Hamlin-Castlewood as did Gage Tolsma (120-126), Tate Everson (138) and Brock Gisselbeck (145) for Hamlin-Castlewood and Tate Steffensen (120), Andrew Gunderson (160) and Owen VandeWeerd (285) for Sioux Valley.

McCook Central-Montrose Quadrangular

MONTROSE — Kingsbury County went 0-3 in a high school wrestling quadrangular on Thursday, falling 41-30 to McCook Central-Montrose, 37-35 to Tri-Valley and 66-15 to Custer.

Gannon Gilligan won all three of his matches at 126 pounds for the Knights.

Mobridge-Pollock Quadrangular

MOBRIDGE — Miller/Highmore-Harrold went 3-0, Mobridge-Pollock 2-1, Faulkton Area 1-2 and Ipswich 0-3 in a high school wrestling quadrangular on Thursday.

Mark Sandquist (138), Brayden Wientjes (145) and Aiden Schoenhard (220) each went 3-0 for Mobridge-Pollock.

Garrett Cramer (152), Drake Mueller (160) and Lincoln Dikoff (195-220) won three matches apiece for Faulkton Area and Lucas Rowland (285) did the same for Ipswich-Bowdle.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Pierre records 44-21 ESD dual win over short-handed Arrows.