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Spirit Lake Park has been building their wrestling program over the
past few years to a level where they could at least compete with
state powers like Emmetsburg/Armstrong-Ringsted.

The Class 2A No.4 Indians moved one step closer to completing the
process Thursday defeating the defending Class 2A champions and top
rated team on criteria in front of an intense and near deafening
capacity crowd in Emmetsburg.

Spirit Lake Park and Emmetsburg/Armstrong-Ringsted were tied at 34
after the conclusion of matches. The first tiebreaker was number of
matches won - both had seven wins each. The next one was number of
pins each team had. The Indians won that four pins to three, sparking
off one jubilant celebration among team, coaches and fans.

“It’s a great feeling,” said junior Mike Sandy. “They’re a great
team. We thought we had a chance. They’ve always beaten us. It’s
going to boost our moral.”

“There’s not many wins that are sweeter,” said Indians coach Rick
Vander Woude. “It was awesome.”

The win was Spirit Lake Park’s first Lakes Conference team dual
wrestling conference championship since the 1991-1992 season. They
are the only team to knock off the E-Hawks in Lakes Conference team
dual action in the past three decades.

Vander Woude made some significant shifts in his lineup to have the
best wrestlers on the mats. From 140 pounds and higher, each wrestler
moved up one spot from their normal positions - Beau DeWall wrestled
at 140 pounds; Chris Sandy wrestled up at 145 pounds; regular 145
pound wrestlerJacob Johnson wrestled at 152 pounds; Mike Kalkhoff
moved to 160; Regular 160 Brock Bonnicksen moved to 171 pounds;
Collin Clark made the shift to 189 pounds; Brad Engel to 215 pounds
and Alex Will from 215 pounds to 275 pounds.

The shifts paid huge dividends.

“You pencil things in and never know how if it’s going to work out
the way you pencil it,” Vander Woude said. “This time it did.”

Vander Woude also wanted seasoned grapplers taking to the mats,
especially with moving Will up to 275 pounds.

“We decided to move some people up to get everyone in the lineup,”
Vander Woude said. “Beau DeWall and Jacob Johnson are very good
wrestlers. We moved Alex to heavyweight because he had some more
experience. It was a gamble we had to do.”

The dual started at 152 pound and right at the strength of the E-
Hawks lineup. Emmetsburg/Armstrong-Ringsted trotted out top ranked
Aaron Janssen at 152 pounds and top ranked and current state champion
Justin Kerber at 160 pounds.

Emmetsburg/Armstrong-Ringsted opened up a quick 11-0 lead courtesy of
a technical fall win by Janssen over Johnson and a pin from Kerber
over Kalkhoff.

Ryan Ballman’s pin of Bonnicksen gave the E-Hawks an early 17-0 lead.
Spirit Lake Park responded with a run of their own. Engel won the
Indians first match of the evening, taking a 13-4 major decision over
Josh Casey at 215 pounds.

Emmetsburg/Armstrong-Ringsted has usually been forfeiting the 275
pound weight class in duals this season. In such a tight dual, those
six points were too precious to give up uncontested. The Indians
earned the six points when Will pinned Joel Godfredsen in 58 seconds.

“Every match is huge when you wrestle Emmetsburg, every point is
huge,” Will said. “I got my guy in headlock and just squeezed as hard
as I could.”

Clark and Emmetsburg/Armstrong-Ringsted’s Josh Fog were engaging in
the match of the evening at 189 pounds at the same time the Indians
won those two matches. Fog led 2-0 going into the third. Clark
outscored the E-Hawks wrestler 3-1 to send the match into overtime.
The Indians senior, ranked third in Class 2A, scored the winning
points on a takedown with four seconds left, cutting the E-Hawks lead
to 17-14.

“I’d been hitting the same shot over and over, but just couldn’t
finish it,” Clark said. “I caught him off balance and finally
finished it.”

The excitement of Clark’s match with Fog along with the
simultaneously exciting match at 103 pounds had fans from both sides
enthusiastically showing support for their teams, creating a buzz
normally reserved for Veterans Memorial Auditorium and the state
tournament.

“When our guys did something big, our fans were screaming and when an
Emmetsburg kid did something big, they were doing the same thing,”
Chris Sandy said. “It was awesome to see all the people from Spirit
Lake there cheering us on. I want to thank everyone for coming and
supporting us. It makes it awesome.”

The E-Hawks momentarily stopped the Indians run when Doug Thompson
edged Class 2A No.10 Derek Miner 9-6. Spirit Lake Park retook the
momentum behind a pin from Class 2A No.2 Dillon Miner over Daniel
Reedy and a Grant Williard 8-2 win over Joey Brandenburg. The Indians
held a 22-20 lead going into the final stretch of matches.

Emmetsburg/Armstrong-Ringsted build the lead out to 30-22 when Class
2A No.3 Matt Stillman earned a 15-8 major decision over Brendan
Fitzgibbons at 125 pounds. Bryan Sundall, ranked third, pinned Nolan
Grieves at 130 pounds.

Spirit Lake Park picked up a very timely pin from Class 2A No.5 Mike
Sandy at 135 pounds. The junior’s pin over Tom Thompson cut the E-
Hawks lead to 30-28.

“My pin was big,” Mike Sandy said. “I knew I had to have it if we
were going to have a chance.”

Indians senior, and Class 2A No.2 at 140 pounds, Chris Sandy gave the
Indians a 34-30 lead when he pinned Ryan Joynt in 3:55 at 145 pounds.
De Wall needed to avoid giving up a technical fall or pin to force at
least a tie. De Wall did his part against Kyle Malm. While Malm won
15-6, he was unable to pick up any bonus points.

It forced the teams and the fans to nervously wait while the rule
book was consulted to determine the winner.

The Indians win showed themselves and the state just how much the
team has grown over the past few seasons.

“I’ve been here six years and we’ve never touched them in a dual,”
Vander Woude said. “This has been a big mountain to climb.
Yet Vander Woude kept the win in proper perspective - with the
sectionals, districts and state tournaments still to come.

“This is a little goal on the way to the mountain top we want to
climb this season."

For Chris Sandy, Clark and the other seniors who suffered through
several tough losses to the E-Hawks, the win was sweet redemption.

“My freshman year we got slaughtered, my sophomore year they handled
us,” Chris Sandy said. “Last year it was closer. This year we won. I
don’t care if we won on criteria, it’s still amazing.”

Earlier in the evening the Indians easily handled Storm Lake, winning
72-0.

Spirit Lake Park 34, Emmetsburg/Armstrong-Ringsted 34
SLP won on second criteria four pins to three
103 - Doug Thompson (EAR) dec. Derek Miner, 8-6; 112 - Dillon Miner
(SLP) pinned Daniel Reedy, 2:33; 119 Grant Willard (SLP) dec. Aric
Larsen, 8-2; 125 - Matt Stillman (EAR) dec. Brendan Fitzgibbons,
15-7; 130 - Bryan Sundall (EAR) pinned Nolan Grieves, 2:33; 135 -
Mike Sandy (SLP) pinned Tom Thompson, :55; 140 Kyle Malm (EAR)
maj.dec. Beau DeWall, 15-6; 145 - Chris Sandy (SLP) pinned Ryan
Joynt, 3:55; 152 - Aaron Jannsen (EAR) pinned Jacob Johnson, 19-1;
160 - Justin Kerber (EAR) pinned Mike Kalkhoff, :52; 171 - Ryan
Ballman (EAR) pinned Brock Bonnicksen, 1:49; 189 - Collin Clark
(SLP) dec. Josh Fog, 5-3 (OT); 215 - Brad Engel (SLP) maj. dec.
Josh Casey, 13-4; 275 - Alex Will (SLP) pinned Joel Godfredsen, :58.

Spirit Lake Park 72, Storm Lake 0
103 - Derek Miner (SLP) dec. Jared Brashears, 13-7; 112 - Dillon
Miner (SLP) pinned Cole Raghen, 2:43; 119 - Grant Willard (SLP)
pinned Jose Diaz, 1:29; 125 - Brendan Fitzgibbons (SLP)pinned Kelly
Evans, 4:58; 130 - Nolan Grieves (SLP) pinned Ryan Lovstad, 17-0;
135 - Mike Sandy (SLP) dec. Daniel Higgins, 3-1; 140 - Chris Sandy
(SLP) won by FF; 145 - Beau DeWall (SLP) maj. dec. Tim Seaman, 15-1;
152 - Mike Kalkhoff (SLP) pinned Tony Beaer, 2:29; 160 - Brock
Bonnicksen (SLP) pinned Nate Tucker, 1:22; 171 - Collin Clark (SLP)
pinned Logan White, 18-2; 189 - Brad Engel (SLP) pinned Justin
Keewright, 1:16; 215 - Alex Will (SLP) dec. Juan Flores, 7-2; 275
Wade Franek (SLP) won by FF.