PCM clinches spot in state dual tournament

ATLANTIC — Cody Wallace had one way to describe Prairie City-Monroe’s night at a Class 2A regional dual tournament on Feb. 5.

“It’s about time.”

It was about time Wallace found a way to defeat Carlisle’s Bryce Murray.

And it was about time the Mustangs got it done as a team.

PCM is headed to the state dual tournament for the first time in program history, and Wallace’s win over Murray was a big reason why the Mustangs flipped the script against Carlisle at Atlantic High School.

Wallace was one of six Mustangs who went 2-0 on the night, and No. 12 PCM is headed to Wells Fargo Arena and the state duals next week after wins over No. 22 Harlan and No. 14 Carlisle.

“It’s about time. It’s taken us four years but it feels great,” Wallace said. “It was the perfect time to beat (Murray), too.”

Murray defeated Wallace 2-1 in a dual earlier this season, and then he took him down again, 6-3, at last weekend’s sectional tournament.

The third time was the charm for Wallace as he turned a close match into a 6-1 triumph with a big third period.

“There was some stuff we figured out that could help me based on the previous matches,” Wallace said. “I just trusted that information, and it worked. Wes Cummings and Colby Tool helped me a lot in preparing for that one.”

The Mustangs had several big wins on the night.

Chance Palm’s 9-4 win over Harlan’s Dalton McKinley at 138 in the semifinal round was important. And Palm not getting pinned in his 145-pound match against Carlisle saved the Mustangs some points, too.

“That dual is a lot different if (Palm) doesn’t win that match against Harlan,” PCM coach Jeff Nicholson said. “We told him that he would be a big part of our success, and he was.”

Nicholson chose to move several wrestlers up a weight for strategic reasons. Jarron Trausch, Lucas Roland and Brian Nicholson all wrestled up a weight twice, while Landon Fenton, Payton Drake, Colby Tool, Wallace, Palm and Wes Cummings all were at heavier weights once.

“There was some decisions I had to make that would give us the best chance, and all that stuff worked out for us,” Coach Nicholson said. “It’s crazy how the math works. I penciled things in several different ways, and the math just worked better with guys being moved around.”

The Harlan dual began at 113 where Trey Thomas took a forfeit. Fenton, who is ranked No. 5 at 113, moved up to 120 and claimed a 6-4 win to put PCM up 9-0.

Harlan (25-3) rallied to tie the match at 9-all. One of those wins came at 126 where Payton Drake, who is ranked sixth at 120, lost 8-5.

Palm’s win over McKinley was next and second-ranked Tool (39-1) defeated ninth-ranked Oscar Olmos 3-0 to extend the Mustang advantage to 15-9. Back-to-back pins by Wallace and Cummings made it 27-9.

The Mustangs wrapped up the dual when Trausch won by a 21-3 technical fall at 182 and Roland earned a pin at 195.

PCM had to rally from an early hole against Carlisle, which defeated No. 13 Humboldt (25-4) to advance to the championship round.

Drake (30-7) scored a 48-second pin at 120 to open the dual, but four straight wins by the Wildcats (17-5) put them in front 22-6.

Some of PCM’s best wrestlers were up next though, and the Mustangs went back in front after five straight wins. Tool and Cummings both won by fall, Wallace (34-8) defeated Murray 6-1 and 2A 170 No. 6 Trausch defeated 2A 182 No. 10 Ethan Reed 7-3. Roland’s win at 195 was an 8-5 decision.

“Lucas didn’t have his best stuff tonight, but he gutted it out,” Coach Nicholson said. “There were some guys who didn’t look their best, but they gutted it out. We have a lot of faith in those guys in the middle to do what we need them to do.”

Carlisle got within 27-25 with a win at 220, but Jace Smith (27-15) scored another pin over Lucas Henkelman to give the Mustangs a cushion.

Fenton needed just a win at 113 to give PCM its first state dual tournament berth. He claimed a 16-0 technical fall victory to cap the dual at 38-31.

Fenton spent most of the day under the weather but had confidence he would come through for his teammates when they needed him most.

“It’s just a wrestling match. I plan on doing my job when I go to the mat,” Fenton said. “I was confident I was going to win the match.”

Carlisle defeated PCM 51-27 and 51-23 in duals earlier this season. But Roland (21-3), Fenton (19-3), Palm (9-4) and Brian Nicholson (11-7) were not involved in those duals because of injuries.

A full strength PCM squad has yet to lose a dual this season. The Mustangs are now 16-5 overall and have won 10 in a row since last losing on Dec. 8.

“It feels awesome. It didn’t go our way at this point last year. That was a tough pill to swallow,” Coach Nicholson said. “There were toss up matches that we had to win, and we were able to get those tonight.”

Second-ranked Cummings (36-2) was 2-0 on the night with two pins. Also finishing 2-0 were Tool, Wallace, Trausch, Roland and Fenton.

Trausch’s two wins came at 182, including one over No. 10 Ethan Reed of Carlisle.

“I have the same style no matter what weight I am at,” Trausch said. “I have confidence at either weight. I just needed to stay on my offense.

“To go from winning state in football to now this is just crazy. This has never happened before, which makes it even better.”

The state dual tournament is Feb. 13 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. The Mustangs, who got the No. 6 seed, opens state duals against third-seeded Osage at 9 a.m. on Feb. 13.