The Mitchell Kernels wrestling team picked a bad night for a slow start.
Lacking the necessary energy and spark needed to compete, the Kernels paid dearly for collective mistakes as a team, taking pins in the first six matches of the night and dropping a dual meet with Aberdeen Central 69-12 at Mitchell High School on Tuesday night.
"I think we're better than the way we wrestled tonight, to be honest with you," said Mitchell coach Travis Carpenter. "I was a little disappointed with our effort in spots. They're a good team and they were certainly better than us tonight."
It was all Golden Eagles early, as Jacob Moore opened the night with a pin in 2 minutes and 38 seconds at 106 pounds over Mitchell's Kyler Bauder. Chauncey Goethals, Will Jarrott, Austin Cihak, Josh Moore and Michael Peltier all followed with falls of their own, with none of them lasting into the third period.
"We knew Mitchell was a young team and they're in the process of getting better," said Aberdeen Central head coach Merle Aske. "They're putting in the time and trying to make themselves better and that's all you can do when you're a young team because you just fight through it."
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It wasn't until the Kernels' seventh match when Kyle Foote took the mat for Mitchell, that they were able to score a takedown. Foote lost 8-2 but the Kernels finally showed life.
The Kernels veteran wrestlers in the middle of the lineup gave the home crowd more to cheer for when it was their turn. At 152 pounds, sophomore Briggs Havlik dominated the Golden Eagles' Clayton Renleitner for a first period fall in 1 minute, 36 seconds. In the following match, Kernels senior Zach Smith held a 2-0 lead for most of the match until he scored a reversal with about 25 seconds remaining in the match and then finished off Aberdeen Central's Noah Fullmer by pin with five seconds remaining.
"That was just great wrestling by Zach," Carpenter said. "We didn't know much about the kid he was wrestling but he just fought and battled and then really finished the match well.
"We needed those guys to wrestle well but those younger guys are capable of that too," Carpenter added.
Mitchell took three more pins at 170, 182 and 195 pounds and then forfeited at 220 and 285 pounds to set the final 69-12 margin.
Carpenter said some of those matches were winnable matches and the goal should be to improve over the course of the season to earn win those close matches at region tournament time in late February.
"We want to keep getting better to be the point where we get to regions and we're winning those matches," Carpenter said. "We need to keep working for that. There's plenty to improve upon."
The Kernels are off from practice for a few days before returning to practice after Christmas. They're off from competition until after the New Year, when they travel to Chamberlain for a triangular with Chamberlain and Todd County. The Kernels are home again for the Jerry Opbroek Invitational on Jan. 16 at Mitchell High School.
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Aberdeen Central 69, Mitchell 12
106: Jacob Moore (AC) over Kyler Bauder (M) (Fall 2:38)
113: Chauncey Goethals (AC) over Ryan McGinnis (M) (Fall 0:54)
120: Will Jarrott (AC) over Logan Sparks (M) (Fall 3:04)
126: Austin Cihak (AC) over Cole Gehrke (M) (Fall 3:43)
132: Josh Moore (AC) over Matt Lambert (M) (Fall 1:42)
138: Michael Peltier (AC) over Barry Browning (M) (Fall 3:45)
145: Collin Haar (AC) over Kyle Foote (M) (Dec 8-2)
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152: Briggs Havlik (M) over Clayton Rernleitner (AC) (Fall 1:36)
160: Zach Smith (M) over Noah Fullmer (AC) (Fall 5:55)
170: Bradley Nelson (AC) over Cade Carpenter (M) (Fall 2:17)
182: Braiden Nelson (AC) over Carter Max (M) (Fall 3:00)
195: Jake Flakus (AC) over Logan Rietvelt (M) (Fall 4:27)
220: Tristin Beckstead (AC) by forfeit
285: Trajan LaRocque (AC) by forfeit
