Mitchell wrestling beats Yankton

Injuries determined the momentum in Mitchell’s 36-31 dual win over Yankton on Friday in a high school wrestling match at Mitchell High School.

At first, it was an injury which swung the momentum Yankton’s way. During the 130-pound match, Mitchell’s Landon Neugebauer lost consciousness after circulation in his neck was cut off for a moment. Matt Huber took advantage and pinned Neugebauer to give Yankton a 10-9 lead.

“We got into a goofy situation and our kid was knocked out,” Mitchell coach Travis Carpenter said. “It’s one of those I thought we could win. Not only did we not win, but we got pinned because he lost consciousness.

“That was huge at that point. I said at the beginning of the night that we had to win 130 to win the dual, and at that point, we were in trouble.”

Yankton used the momentum to go up 19-9.

However, at 145 pounds, Yankton’s Logan Smith hurt his shoulder early in the match against Ben Kummer, who won the match by injury default.

“For him (Yankton coach Ryan Hage) to have Logan go down like that, that’s no fun either,” Carpenter said. “We both had that situation (Friday night).”

Hage said he thought the 145-pound match swung the dual in Mitchell’s favor.

“It looked like Logan bumped his shoulder up, and we decided to play it on the safe side,” he said. “That’s a big swing for us right there. We are pretty confident in Logan’s abilities.

“Win or lose, we definitely would not have been giving up six points there, that’s for sure.”

The injury default started a 27-point swing for Mitchell. That sealed the dual for the Kernels.

Mitchell started the dual with a 9-0 lead after Alex Herrick (103), Lakin Neugebauer (112) and Dylon Bollock (119) all earned decisions.

“I thought our biggest match was at 119 with Dylon, who wrestled a heck of a match,” Carpenter said. “He wrestled up from 103 pounds, and he wrestled against a pretty good kid (Trevor Rueb).”

Yankton’s Ryan Lammers put an end to Mitchell’s streak with an 18-6 major decision over Matt Larson. Then, Huber and Mark Vetter had back-to-back pins, and Levi Davis won the 140-pound match 11-6 to put Yankton up 19-9.

“I know we were looking for some bonus points in those classes, and we were able to get some,” Hage said. “Things maybe turned the corner a little bit.”

But Smith’s injury stopped Yankton’s momentum and Mitchell’s Jason Greenway put the Kernels back up 21-19 with a pin against Brook Woehl.

“The injury changed how I approached my match,” Greenway said. “Obviously, if they got the pin, the score would’ve been different. It was a big match for us. We did a pretty good job of getting our bonus points so we didn’t put the pressure on too many of our guys.”

Yankton forfeited at 160 and Mitchell’s Justin Greenway pinned Thomas Kruse at 171-pounds for a 33-19 Kernels lead.

Mitchell’s Cole Johnson guaranteed a Kernels’ victory at 189 pounds with a 1-0 victory. The only points of the match came on Johnson’s escape in the second period. At that point, Mitchell held a 36-25 lead.

“We definitely had a lot of momentum going our way, and that definitely helps,” Jason Greenway said. “We had a packed gym, when we get going and the crowd gets going, I think that helps us.”

Yankton closed out the dual with two pins, one by Mike Connell at 215 and the other by Dylan Halvorson at 285 pounds.

Mitchell wrestles today at the Winner Invitational.

MITCHELL 36, YANKTON 31 – 103: Alex Herrick (M) dec. Pete Hernandez (Y) 5-3; 112: Lakin Neugebauer (M) dec. Casey Skillingstad (Y) 2-1; 119: Dylon Bollock (M) dec. Trevor Rueb (Y) 8-3 OT; 125: Ryan Lammer (Y) maj. dec. Matt Larson (M) 18-6; 130: Matt Huber (Y) pinned Landon Neugebauer (M) 1:04; 135: Mark Vetter (Y) pinned Tanner Henkel (M) 2:37; 140: Levi Davis (Y) dec. Ben Kummer (M) 11-6; 145: Ryan Buck (M) won by injury default Logan Smith (Y); 152: Jason Greenway (M) pinned Brook Woehl (Y) 1:37; 160: Brent Havlik (M) won by forfeit; 171: Justin Greenway (M) pinned Thomas Kruse (Y) 1:39; 189: Cole Johnson (M) dec. Cameron Schiltz (Y) 1-0; 215: Mike Connell (Y) pinned Tyson Sprinkel (M) 1:13; 285: Dylan Halvorson (Y) pinned Chasten Schroeder (M) 3:03.

Tags: high school wrestling, sports, wrestling, kernels