The Hastings Raider Wrestlers travelled to Simley to take on the Spartans for the Metro East Conference (MEC) lead and ultimately, the conference title. The winner of this matchup is likely to hold on to the number one spot in the MEC until the section tournament.

Simley is currently ranked as the number one team in Class A for wrestling while Hastings is ranked as the number five team in Class AA. The expectations were lofty for this matchup because everyone there knew the stakes were high and these two teams are the true wrestling powerhouses in the MEC conference. It did not disappoint.

The action was intense and the energy in the Simley gym was raucous.

Hastings took the early lead when Trey Beissel pinned Charlie Raymond 1:17 into the match. Hastings-6, Simley-0.

Blake Beissel pinned Austin Grzywinski at 3:32. H-12, S-0.

Then came the most exciting match of the night. Taylon Little Soldier was wrestling Jake Kos. Kos had taken a commanding lead and at one point was up 10-2 in the second, but Kos was called for stalling. The score became 10-3, then Little Soldier escaped to make it 10-4 before scoring a reversal, which instantly turned into a two point near fall and the score was suddenly 10-8 at the end of the second period. Little Soldier had the choice for the start of the third and he chose down. Kos relinquished the point for the escape, and it was now 10-9. The two continued to battle and fight for positioning. Kos scored the take down to make it 12-9. With 50 seconds left, the two were reset and Kos kept control. With 30 seconds left, Little Soldier closed the gap with a reversal to make it 1211, but Kos escaped for a point to make it 13-11. The two were rest at the center to neutral position with 10 seconds left. Little Soldier went on the attack.

“I knew I needed to just score points,” Little Soldier said after the match. “Just score points and get out there and battle. I’ve got to help my team.”

And battle he did. 10 seconds on the clock, all he needs is a takedown to tie the score. The two fought to the edge of the ring and just before the buzzer sounded, the official awarded two points to Hastings for the takedown and the match was tied at 13.

Overtime in wrestling is simple, first to score wins. Little Soldier rode the adrenaline and momentum of the comeback into OT, and he scored two more on the takedown within the first 15 seconds to walk away with a 15-13 decision. H-15, S-0.

“We knew it was going to be really tight and we knew there was a lot of key matches, and a couple toss ups,” said Coach Tim Haneberg. “We knew we had a chance to win every one of the toss ups, we knew we also had a chance to lose the toss ups.”

Little Soldier’s match at 120 pounds was one of those toss up matches that could have ended either way, so with the win there, that gave the Raiders a huge three-point bump.

At 126, Peyton Erickson was pinned by Branon Movari. H-15, S-6.

Jack Bainbridge, one of the better wrestlers in the state at 132, had a tough draw against James Salas and he fell by decision 7-6. H-15, S9.

Another tough match was Raider freshman Mark Svoboda going against senior Kaiden Schrandt. Svoboda fought tooth and nail through the entire match, never giving up, even when Schrandt controlled most of the match. Ultimately, Schrandt defeated Svoboda 6-3. H-15, S-12.

“I knew going into it I was the underdog and I would need to take advantage of the shots I had,” explained Svoboda. I honestly think I did amazing against him. I did not have any faithing in myself winning that match, so I just went out there and fought as hard as I could and tried not to end up on my back.”

He did do an amazing job against a man four years his senior and you could tell that Schrandt walked away from that match with a lot of respect for the efforts of Svoboda.

“Taylon, he started believing in himself,” explained Haneberg. “Guys like him and Mark Svoboda are out there believing in themselves and they have been put in a lot of really big matches so far this year. They have really stepped up, so it is really cool to watch.”

At 145, Josh Route earned an 8-6 decision over Derrick Dohmen. H-18, S-12.

Creed Peterson stepped in at 152 and was pinned by Cash Raymond. H-18, S-18 Aiden Erickson won his match at 160, 3-2 over Vristol Short. H-21, S-18 Ian Pepple won by an 8-4 decision over Danny Martin. H-24, S-18 That is where the strength of Simley took over.

182: Rico Cooper loses by a decision of 1-7 to Travis Smith.

195: Derrick Steinke loses by a decision of 10-13 to Lano Oduwaiye.

220: Austin Leflay loses by a major decision of 4-12 to Gavin Nelson.

285: Blake Clemons loses by fall in 1:20 to Soren Herzog.

Simley’s wrestlers at 220 and 285 are some of the best in the state, and the match finished with Hastings falling 34-24.

After the emotional loss to Simley, Hastings travelled to a quad meet at Bloomington Kennedy where they dominated. The first dual of the day was against Champlin Park where Hastings won 810. Then Hastings defeated Bloomington Kennedy 75-6, and finally Hastings defeated Eagan 78-0.

The team is right in the heart of their toughest run of competitions and the Raiders have wrestled a lot in a month and they have more to go before the run for the state championship.

The next action for the Raiders is Jan. 27 starting at 5:00 p.m. when Prescott and Eastview come to town then they turn around and head to Faribault at 9:00 a.m. the next day for another quad meet.