2010 State Tournament

Denver-Tripoli jumps out
to early lead in Class 2A

By Matt Pfiffner
Top-ranked Denver-Tripoli made an early statement at the 2010 Class 2A State Tournament Wednesday afternoon. They may have been telling the other teams, including defending champion and second-ranked Ballard and third-ranked Davenport Assumption, "Catch us if you can."

The Titans went 8-1 in the first round of wrestling and lead after the first day, 28-21 over Davenport Assumption. Ballard sits third with 19.

D-T was kick started by top-ranked 103-pound sparkplug Dylan Peters, who recorded a 30-second fall over Bret Hildebrand of Waterloo Columbus.

At 112, No. 4 Gunnar Wolfensperger recorded a thrilling 8-7 win over sixth-ranked Kyle Blocker of East Marshall/GMG. Blocker led 7-3 after the first period and it was still 7-3 heading into the third. Wolfensperger chose down in the third. An escape and quick knee tap takedown made it 7-6. A turn for two near fall points later in the period gave the Titan sophomore the one-point win.

"It's rough coming back from that deficit," Wolfensperger said. "You just have to keep fighting all six minutes. He slowed down a little and I had to turn it on. That's when you have to push, is in the third period."

As for helping in the team race, Wolfensperger said he knew it was a big win.

"It's huge. Ballard has seven or eight guys and we have nine. We just have to keep pushing forward and getting points," he said.

Top-ranked Titan freshman Brandon Sorenson won by fall at 119, as did No. 1 Levi Wolfensperger at 125. No. 9 Cory Chapin trailed when he pinned Kwinn Kraft of RCL/SCAL at 130.

But the biggest win for Denver-Tripoli came from an unlikely source at 135. Blaze Shedenhelm had a counter for just about everything top-ranked Trevor Hejhal of Osage threw at him in a stunning 11-9 victory for the Titan.

Second-ranked Blake Sorenson of D-T avoided another first-round loss with a workmanlike 3-2 victory over No. 4 Ryan Valline of East Marshall/GMG. Noah Minikus won easily at 160 for D-T, but the Titans did suffer a loss at 215 by Tanner Klein. He did come back to win his wrestle back to stay alive.

Other first-round highlighted matches include:

At 145, a first-round bout between No. 2 Brody Grothus of Davenport Assumption and No. 8 Brett Yonkovic of West Delaware didn't last very long. Grothus scored an early takedown and three near fall points and pinned Yonkovic in 1:41.

It was the second pin in a row for Grothus over Yonkovic after winning their first meeting, 13-8.

"My style of wrestling, it's hard to prepare for," Grothus said. "I'm going to bring something different every time and you never know what I'm going to do.

"The first year here, I went 0-2 and that just lights my fire. This year, I know I'm the best, whether other people believe it or not."

Grothus said being involved in what could be an epic team race with Denver-Tripoli and Ballard makes bonus points even bigger.

"First things first, you have to take care of yourself," he said. "But the team is always there. When you get bonus points, it's great to help the team out."

One of the more exciting finishes was at 171, where No. 3 Ryan Rozeboom of Sergeant Bluff-Luton trailed No. 6 Seth Esaias of Red Oak 2-0 entering the third period. Rozeboom scored an early escape to cut the lead in half and then countered an Esaias half-shot to take him to his back for the stunning fall in 5:28.

Not a bad way for the senior to end his first-ever State Tournament bout.

"It really wasn't a planned move. It just happens sometimes you just get lucky," he said. "He shot in and I had good position and I caught him.

"I wrestled him once before this year. He's very talented but he got gassed in that match and we thought that might be an issue for him again."

Another thrilling finish occurred at 171, where No.8 Trevor Pisney of Crestwood and Drew Cox of Clear Creek-Amana went to the ultimate tiebreaker tied 7-7. Pisney had scored first and chose the down position. Cox did a great job of riding for 28 seconds, but Pisney scored a reversal with just two seconds left in the match for the 9-7 win.

Some of the great quarterfinal bouts to watch for on Thursday are No. 2 Kalen Greiner (36-0) of Sigourney-Keota against No. 3 Matt Paulus (34-2) of New Hampton at 112; No. 2 Jacob Colon (23-2) of Clear Lake against No. 3 Bradley McDermott (34-1) of Davenport Assumption at 119; No. 1 Jake Marlin (40-3) of Creston/O-M vs. No. 4 Tyler Endres (41-0) of Independence at 130; former champs No. 3 Dakota Bauer (34-1) of Ballard and No. 5 Tanner Schmidt (30-5) of Charles City at 130; No. 1 Willie Miklus (37-1) of Ballard against No. 3 Shane Havenstrite (35-2) of North Fayette at 145; No. 1 James Morris (35-0) of Solon against No. 5 Cole Jackson (38-1) of Gilbert at 215; and at 285, No. 2 Tyler Swope (39-1) of Davenport Assumption vs. No. 3 and defending champ Austin Blythe (49-3) of Williamsburg.