Tigers go back-to-back; crown three champs

NORTH ENGLISH — The Iowa Valley boys’ wrestling team displayed its dominance at the South Iowa Cedar League Tournament Saturday at English Valleys.

The Tigers put seven in the finals and had three champions.

The final team score was not close either as the Tigers rolled away with the team championship with 199 points.

North Mahaska was second with 165.5.

The decisive win gives the Tigers back-to-back team titles.

“We knew we lost some key kids from last year,” Iowa Valley coach Jeremy Kriegel said. “To have some of those freshman and kids that have never been in the lineup step in and score for us was really good to see.”

The Tigers’ first champion was Chance Hoyt at 150 pounds.

Hoyt continued his phenomenal season with a pin over HLV-TC’s Cael Weisskopf in the finals, moving to 42-4 on the season.

Chance’s brother Mason was next up in the slate of Tigers’ finalists. Mason pinned North Mahaska’s Gage Ries in the finals.

Tigers’ Nolan Kriegel and Colfax-Mingo’s Caden Sykes wrestled in the 175 final, their third bout in the last month.

On Saturday Kriegel improved on his last win over Sykes, this time getting a pin in the third period.

“They’ve continued to grow each day and have been through a lot on the season and have continued to focus on themselves,“ said Kriegel of his three champions.

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BGM was not too shabby either, sending five to the finals Saturday and producing two champions in Hunter Hodina at 113 and Ethan Bridgewater at 157.

Hodina pinned all three of his opponents and moved to 35-4 on the season.

Bridgewater pulled off an upset over Iowa Valley’s Dane Smith in the semifinals with a sudden victory and held on for a 12-11 win by decision in the finals.

Montezuma’s two champions came from the Plants brothers at 190 and 215.

The two reached the 100-win milestone this season within a week of each other.

Brett pinned Iowa Valley’s Josh Read in the final to move to 42-9 on the season.

Braxton pinned Iowa Valley’s Ian Smith in the 215 final to move to 42-5 on the season.

The two brothers have the same number of wins this season after Saturday.

“It’s the second weekend in a row we both have won, said Brett. ”It feels good,“ Braxton added.

The two brothers feel confident heading into the districts Feb. 15 having seen many of the opponents at their district, Brett said.

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Belle Plaine had one finalist on the day in Hayden Neuhaus at 120. Jackson Weeda added a third-place finish at 126.

The Plainsmen were not at full strength Saturday, missing five of their 10 wrestlers due to sickness and injury. The missing wrestlers were some of the team’s top scorers.

The good news is they have two weeks to get healthy for Districts and Coach Brandon Heying is confident they’ll be ready by then.

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English Valleys did not have a finalist on the day but got third-place finishes from Cael Grove at 113 and Kaleb Bollinger at 190.

Behind Weisskopf’s runner-up finish at 150, the Warriors; Remington Huber (106), Allan Scott (113) and Tristan Pirkl (138), all placed fifth.

Next up for all teams is Districts, except for Iowa Valley which will compete in a regional team dual at Alburnett Tuesday.

For Districts, Belle Plaine, HLV-TC and Montezuma will be headed to Colfax-Mingo.

BGM and Iowa Valley will be at Pleasantville and English Valleys will be headed to Wilton.

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Team Scores

1. Iowa Valley 199, 2. North Mahaska 165.5, 3. Sigourney-Keota 140.5, 4. BGM 135, 5. Montezuma 123.5, 6. Lynnville-Sully 96.5, 7. English Valleys 88.5, 8. Belle Plaine 60, 9. Colfax-Mingo 55.5, 10. HLV-TC 54.5

Championship Matches

106 pounds — Cooper Sampson (North Mahaska) dec. Carter Koenig (Iowa Valley), 11-5

113 — Hunter Hodina (BGM) pinned Jett Kramer (Lynnville-Sully),: 58

120 — Logan Van Zee (North Mahaska) pinned Hayden Neuhaus (Belle Plaine), 3:04

126 — Kimball Elliot (Lynnville-Sully) pinned Cason Fitch (Colfax-Mingo), 5:58

132 — Matthew Mintle (Lynnville-Sully) major dec. Hunter Nusbaum (BGM), 12-0

138 — Joel DeJong (North Mahaska) dec. Tyson Kriegel (Iowa Valley), 7-1

144 — Ryan Groom (North Mahaska) tech fall Brock York (BGM), 17-1

150 — Chance Hoyt (Iowa Valley) pinned Cael Weisskopf (HLV-TC), 3:37

157 — Ethan Bridgewater (BGM) dec. Jacob Libe (Sigourney-Keota), 12-11

165 — Mason Hoyt (Iowa Valley) pinned Gage Ries (North Mahaska), 1:37

175 — Nolan Kriegel (Iowa Valley) pinned Caden Sykes (Colfax-Mingo), 4:33

190 — Brett Plants (Montezuma) pinned Josh Read (Iowa Valley), 1:48

215 — Braxton Plants (Montezuma) pinned Ian Smith (Iowa Valley), 4:43

285 — Owen Menke (Sigourney-Keota) pinned Reed Slater (BGM), 1:27

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