By Bruce Karnick

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Heading into the first match last week, the Raider wrestlers knew they had their work cut out for them. Simley has the number one heavyweight wrestler in the nation, and as a team they are ranked in the top ten nationwide.

The night started with Trey Beissel falling in the 106 match by a decision, giving Simley the 6-0 lead. The most exciting match of the night followed when Trey’s brother, Blake Beissel, wrestled for 7:56 seconds against Brandon Morvari.

Head Coach Tim Haneberg explained the history between those two. “Blake lost to Brandon at the Christmas tournament, 3-2 in the finals, then came back here and then beat him in overtime, pinned him. It was just absolutely enormous.”

A win by pinfall was huge and tiring given it was a triple overtime bout, but Haneberg was pleased with the team’s performance. “[Simley has] pretty much got their whole lineup. They have one kid that’s out from a football injury. But besides that, they got the whole lineup in there right now. We won the matches we were supposed to win. We had bonus, which is huge, we always tried for bonus. That is either get a major win by eight points, attack, or pin. So, we got major bonus in a lot of areas, which is huge.”

One of the big wins of the night was from Rico Cooper. Cooper had been controlling the match nearly the entire time, but he could not quite get into a position for a pin. Cooper was positioned to get the pin when the official stopped the match due to a dangerous position. The guys reset, with Cooper on top. Cooper kept the advantage and the pressure on. He managed to roll his opponent on his back and finally, with 14 seconds remaining, the referee slammed his hand down indicating the pin and the win for Cooper. That brought the team score to 24-25 in favor of Simley.

Dylan Bartz was in for the Raiders and number-one ranked at 195 in the state for AA, and Soren Herzog was in for Simley. Herzon scored a pin that gave Simley the 31-24 lead with two matches to go. The final match was a forfeit by Simley, giving Hastings a free six points, effectively making the score 31-30 Simley. That meant, the weight of the meet would ultimately fall on the shoulders of 220lb Austin LeFlay.

LeFlay was excited for this match. This was the kind of match he pines for every meet, according to Coach Haneberg.

“He really wanted that matchup. He’s been looking to get some really hard matches, and really test himself to see where he’s at. And he really wanted the one and they gave it to us, which is sweet. And then I thought he battled against the kid extremely well. So yeah, that was really huge,” said Haneberg.

“I wanted that match to compare myself to who’s at the top, help me figure out some good things to work on, stuff to focus on,” LeFlay said after the meet was over.

LeFlay got the match he wanted against the number one 220-pound wrestler in the nation, Gavin Nelson. Nelson, also a junior, is already slated to be a Golden Gopher wrestler upon graduation. LeFlay is no slouch at 220. Headed into the match, LeFlay was ranked as the number 10 wrestler in AA at 220-pounds.

LeFlay and Nelson had a great match. The score remained 0-0 for the first minute and was 4-1 in favor of Nelson at the end of the first. Nelson extended the lead to 7-1 after two. Nelson scored the Major Decision and won 14-2 over Leflay. That gave Simley the team win 35-30.

After the match, the official of the meet was impressed with the tenacity of Hastings, even saying “They hung 30 on a top 10 team in the nation, that is impressive.”

What did LeFlay learn in his match? “I’m not that far behind. I’ve got some stuff to work on. I have to move my feet, stuff like that, little things. Strength was some of it, and then definitely experience, just him wrestling around the country is big for him.”

How did it feel for the team to put 30 points on an opponent as good as Simley? LeFlay gave a little insight. “Feels pretty good. I know it really boosts team confidence. Really coming into the season, not being ranked at all. And just climbing that ladder all year. It makes it really big confidence booster for everybody and allows everybody to make that list of things to work on.”

Here is a list of the full match results.

106: Trey Beissel loses by decision 0-6 to Austin Grzywinski 113: Blake Beissel wins by fall in triple OT at 7:56 over over Brandon Morvari 120: Mark Svoboda loses by decision 1-7 to Peyton Spychalla 126: Jack Bainbridge wins by decision 7-2 over James Salas 132: Peyton Erickson loses by tech fall 2-17 to Kaiden Schrandt 138: Creed Peterson loses by fall at 1:29 to Chase DeBlaere 145: Josh Route loses by major decision 3-11 to Cash Raymond 152: Aiden Erickson wins by decision 5-0 over Vristol Short 160: Zander Hallis wins by fall at 5:30 over Danny Martin 170: Ian Pepple loses by major decision 6-14 to Travis Smith 182: Rico Cooper wins by fall at 5:46 over Brent Holzem 195: Dylan Bartz loses by fall at 0:49 to Soren Herzog 220: Austin Leflay loses by major decision 2-14 to Gavin Nelson 285: Blake Clemons receives a forfeit Final Team Score: Hastings-30 Simley-35 With the defeat to Simley, Hastings rebounded perfectly against their next two opponents. First up Saturday morning was Minneapolis Washburn, a team Coach Haneberg was looking forward to wrestling. Hastings thumped them 84-0. Then repeated against Centennial 81-0. The third meet of the day would be Zumbrota / Mazeppa. Coach Haneberg pointed out that they are continually at the top of their section every year and a great team. Hastings won that meet 37-30.

Up next for the Raiders is their alumni meet where past Raider wrestlers will be honored before the start of the meet. That meet is scheduled for Jan. 27, with the match starting at 5 p.m. Prescott and Centennial will be the guests. On Jan. Jan. 29, the Raiders head to Prior Lake for an invite.

The thrill of victory… After a hard-fought match, Rico Cooper takes a moment to soak in the win as Raider fans cheer behind him. Photo by Bruce Karnick