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COLFAX — The Colfax-Mingo wrestling team had to almost be perfect against Class 2A No. 6 Prairie City-Monroe on Thursday night.
The Tigerhawks had to win all of the swing matches. They tried to shift some guys into different weights.
In the end, the Mustangs were just too good on Colfax-Mingo’s Senior Night.
PCM recorded five pins, won all the close matches and defeated Colfax-Mingo 51-18 in the final dual of the night. The Mustangs are 20-3 on the season after a 75-6 victory over BGM earlier in the evening.
“I came in here thinking they had a shot. They had to win all the toss up matches, but it was definitely a possibility,” PCM coach Jeff Nicholson said. “I thought it was going to be closer. We were missing some guys, but we won a lot of the matches I had as toss ups. And we didn’t get pinned in those toss up matches that we lost.”
PCM was without junior Cody Wallace due to illness at 138 pounds. Senior Jacob Ponder also was out at 220 because of a skin condition. Freshman Colby Tool continues to miss time with an injury.
Colfax-Mingo did not have 106-pounder Noah Strohmeyer because of a funeral. The Tigerhawks were also open at 138 pounds.
“The better team won. I am not making excuses,” Colfax-Mingo coach Erin Hume said. “We didn’t look good tonight, and that showed. There is a reason they are ranked sixth in the state. They’re good.”
Hume moved junior Cauy Fitch (41-4) and sophomores Cyden Fitch (34-10) and Tim Carroll each up a weight for strategical reasons. Only Carroll won his match at 138, and Colfax-Mingo was on the wrong side of one-point matches at 132 and 152.
“On paper, we were better than them at 20, 26, 32, 38 and maybe 45 and 52. If you look at records, we were better than them,” Hume said. “I know they had some guys out, too. They won the coin flip, which meant we had to show our cards early.”
The Mustangs got a jump start at 126 when senior Chase Shirk (24-8) returned to the lineup and pinned Class 1A No. 7 Cauy Fitch, who was wrestling up a weight.
“That would have really given them a good shot in the arm, but it was a good job out of Chase to get us on the board,” Nicholson said. “He is not in the best of shape yet after being out, but he has a huge heart.”
Hume made the move to bump up his wrestlers because he had confidence in all of them. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as he hoped it would go.
“We went with Cauy at 126. I believe in him, but I feel like he gave it away at the end,” Hume said. “He made a poor choice on the move he was going for against a bigger kid, and he paid for it.”
Cyden Fitch lost his match at 132 against junior Clay VanWyk. The back-and-forth match ended with VanWyk winning 6-5. Carroll came through with a 6-1 win over PCM freshman Mason Shirk at 138, and C-M senior Nathan Evans defeated junior Kaeden VanSoelen, 6-4, at 145.
Those were all swing matches in the dual.
Another swing match at 152 pounds went to PCM senior Drew Johnson, who defeated C-M sophomore Trystin Ross, 9-8.
“We lost a bunch of matches by a single point,” Hume said.
The Mustangs led 12-6 when the dual got to PCM’s consecutive ranked wrestlers at 160, 170 and 182.
PCM junior Wes Cummings, who is ranked No. 2 at his weight in 2A, faced 1A No. 6 Chance Rice. Cummings scored an early takedown and rode out Rice the rest of the way in the first period and then rode out the Tigerhawk senior during the entire second period.
Cummings went on to win 6-1 and is now 40-2 on the season. Rice dropped to 40-3.
“It’s hard to turn ranked kids. Wes is used to taking guys down and turning them quick,” Nicholson said. ‘He rode him hard and tried some stuff, but Chance is a tough kid. He wasn’t going to just give us that one.”
Hume added, “Chance has some chances at a few takedowns. It was a decent match. (Cummings) is ranked second in the state, and will probably be a state finalist. Chance is right there. He had a couple of opportunities to get some points, but he unfortunately didn’t get them.”
The Mustangs eventually went up 27-6 following pins at 170 and 182 by second-ranked Lucas Roland (39-1) and eighth-ranked Jarron Trausch (37-4).
Colfax-Mingo got a win at 195 when senior Nick Barnes (32-10) rallied to defeat Noah Anderson by fall.
The final swing match of the dual came at 220 pounds.
PCM came out on top of that one after junior Dalton Schlangen got a 23-second pin over C-M junior Skyler Aikin.
Three of the final weights were forfeited by both teams. Colfax-Mingo senior Colton Lourens took a forfeit at 285, while PCM freshman Landon Fenton (34-6) and senior Caleb Peter were given forfeits at 106 and 120, respectively.
PCM sophomore and sixth-ranked Payton Drake (35-3) won his match at 113 by fall.
The forfeit Lourens took at 285 didn’t come without a bit of frustration from Hume. PCM has heavyweight Jace Smith but elected to sit him out after he pulled his record to .500 earlier in the night against BGM.
“That was hard for me because I have known Colton for a long time,” Nicholson said. “Jace is now a seedable wrestler for our sectional tournament. His record is right at .500, and we didn’t want that record to be any worse than that going into sectionals.
“It was hard for me too because it was Colton’s Senior Night, but I didn’t want to sacrifice Jace’s seed because of one match.”
Hume didn’t agree with Nicholson’s decision. He is tired of Lourens being dodged by several teams around the state.
“I don’t agree with it, and I wouldn’t have done it that way,” Hume said. “It is what it is though. It’s a coaches’ decision. Colton’s just been dodged a lot. He’s taking so many forfeits. That is just not how I coach. I sent all of my inexperienced kids out there against his ranked kids, too.”
Lourens took a pair of forfeits on the night. His two victories though pushed him into the record books at Colfax-Mingo. He improved to 40-3 on the season and set a new school record for career victories at the school with 127.
The Tigerhawks opened the night with a 66-16 win over BGM. They took six forfeits and got pins from Cauy Fitch, Rice, junior Damir Gumerov (26-8), Barnes and Aikin.
The win over BGM completed a perfect dual season in SICL action this season. The Tigerhawks will battle for their first SICL tournament championship at 10 a.m. Saturday in Montezuma.
PCM’s win over BGM included five forfeits and six pins, five of which came in the first period. Peter also won his match by decision at 120. Peter was one of 10 Mustangs to win both of their matches on Thursday night, joining Fenton, Drake, Shirk, VanWyk, Johnson, Cummings, Roland, Trausch and Schlangen.
The Mustangs are off until the 2A sectional tournament hosted by North Polk in Alleman on Feb. 3.
PCM 51, Colfax-Mingo 18
126: Chase Shirk (PCM) over Cauy Fitch (COMI) (Fall 4:25) 132: Clay VanWyk (PCM) over Cyden Fitch (COMI) (Dec 6-5) 138: Tim Carroll (COMI) over Mason Shirk (PCM) (Dec 6-1) 145: Nathan Evans (COMI) over Kaeden VanSoelen (PCM) (Dec 6-4) 152: Drew Johnson (PCM) over Trystin Ross (COMI) (Dec 9-8) 160: Wes Cummings (PCM) over Chance Rice (COMI) (Dec 6-1) 170: Lucas Roland (PCM) over Xavier Anderson (COMI) (Fall 1:50) 182: Jarron Trausch (PCM) over Damir Gumerov (COMI) (Fall 5:45) 195: Nick Barnes (COMI) over Noah Anderson (PCM) (Fall 1:41) 220: Dalton Schlangen (PCM) over Skyler Aikin (COMI) (Fall 0:23) 285: Colton Lourens (COMI) over (PCM) (For.) 106: Landon Fenton (PCM) over (COMI) (For.) 113: Payton Drake (PCM) over (COMI) (For.) 120: Caleb Peter (PCM) over (COMI) (For.)
PCM 75, BGM 6
106: Landon Fenton (PCM) over Wright Hilpipre (BGM) (Fall 1:42) 113: Payton Drake (PCM) over (BGM) (For.) 120: Caleb Peter (PCM) over Blake Mann (BGM) (Dec 2-0) 126: Chase Shirk (PCM) over (BGM) (For.) 132: Clay VanWyk (PCM) over (BGM) (For.) 138: Christian Loschen (BGM) over Mason Shirk (PCM) (Fall 2:40) 145: Kaeden VanSoelen (PCM) over (BGM) (For.) 152: Drew Johnson (PCM) over (BGM) (For.) 160: Wes Cummings (PCM) over Jeramie Kane (BGM) (Fall 1:03) 170: Lucas Roland (PCM) over Tylor Kane (BGM) (Fall 3:12) 182: Jarron Trausch (PCM) over Dalton Alexander (BGM) (Fall 0:32) 195: Noah Anderson (PCM) over Dakota Tuttle (BGM) (Fall 0:38) 220: Dalton Schlangen (PCM) over David McCammant (BGM) (Fall 0:34) 285: Jace Smith (PCM) over (BGM) (For.)
Colfax-Mingo 66, BGM 16
113: Zack Barnes (COMI) over (BGM) (For.) 120: Cauy Fitch (COMI) over Blake Mann (BGM) (Fall 1:39) 126: Cyden Fitch (COMI) over (BGM) (For.) 132: Ilia Hostetter (COMI) over (BGM) (For.) 138: Christian Loschen (BGM) over Tim Carroll (COMI) (MD 18-4) 145: Nathan Evans (COMI) over (BGM) (For.) 152: Trystin Ross (COMI) over (BGM) (For.) 160: Chance Rice (COMI) over Jeramie Kane (BGM) (Fall 1:19) 170: Tylor Kane (BGM) over Xavier Anderson (COMI) (Fall 4:27) 182: Damir Gumerov (COMI) over Dalton Alexander (BGM) (Fall 2:36) 195: Nick Barnes (COMI) over Dakota Tuttle (BGM) (Fall 2:59) 220: Skyler Aikin (COMI) over David McCammant (BGM) (Fall 5:01) 285: Colton Lourens (COMI) over (BGM) (For.) 106: Wright Hilpipre (BGM) over (COMI) (For.)