The Becker Bulldog wrestling team captured the Section 6AA title last Friday, and in addition to another piece of hardware for the BHS trophy case, the Bulldogs also earned a second straight appearance in the MSHSL Class AA state wrestling tournament.  The team event will be held March 2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Becker won the title with a pair of convincing matches held at Rocori High School, first downing Princeton 45-19 in the semifinals before defeating St. Francis 35-23 in the title match.

Becker senior Dylan Weber was obviously proud of the Section title, but alluded to bigger goals being on his mind.

“Making it to state back to back as a team is a great accomplishment, and it makes it even better going down there with a great group of guys that I’m proud to call my teammates,” Weber said.  “I’m proud of everybody on that team, but the job isn’t finished.”

The Bulldogs never trailed in the semifinal match against the Tigers, with Bennett Kujawa picking up a pin at 106, followed by a tech fall by Tyler Hall at 120.

Kaden Nicolas scored a third period fall at 126, followed by Landen Kujawa’s 17-2 tech fall at 132.

Becker then ran off three straight wins, with a fall by Drew May at 145, a 9-5 decision at 152 for Ethan Duncombe, and a 17-2 tech fall by Adam Jurek at 160.

Tyson Ricker picked up the next Becker win at 182 with a 6-1 decision, and Lance Lysdal scored the team’s final points with a fall at 1:05 of the 285 match.

Finals

The finals were much closer, as the Bulldogs and Saints battled back and forth in a match that featured three tie scores and six lead changes before the Bulldogs won the final three matches to pick up the state berth with a 35-23 win.

Boston Kuschel opened up the match for Becker with a 9-2 decision, but the Saints scored a decision at 113 to tie the score.

Becker fell behind at 120, but Nicolas tied it up again with a 10-5 decision at 126.

Landen Kujawa put Becker up 12-6 with a pin at 1:17 of his match at 132, but the Saints followed with a decision win at 138 and a tech fall at 145 to pull ahead 14-12.

Becker went up 17-14 on Duncombe’s tech fall at 152 before the Saints scored a pin at 160 for a 20-17 lead.

Senior Adam Jurek then wrestled up a weight class at 170 in maybe his most important match of the season and came out on top with a hard fought, 1-0 decision, to tie the match once again, this time 20-20.

“I felt the pressure during my match because I knew the coaches bumped me up because they knew I could beat their 170 pounder,” Jurek said after the match. “I knew it was pretty much a must win because I beat him earlier in the year and it was a swing match that we needed.”

Becker then fell behind 20-23 after the 182 pound match and the Saints appeared to have some momentum.

But Tyson Ricker proved to be the stopper as he pinned his man at 195 in just over one minute and Becker again led, 26-23. Dylan Kolby followed with a pin at 220 for a 32-23 lead and the match was clinched. Lance Lysdal made it official with a 7-5 decision at 285 and the Bulldogs were ready to take their team photo with the Section trophy.

Quarters

Last Thursday night, Becker advanced out of the Section quarterfinals with a 65-12 win over Dassel-Cokato Litchfield.

The Bulldogs picked up ten pins in the match, including two in under a minute in the opening two weight classes.

At 106, Bennett Kujawa stuck his man in 34 second and then Blayne Kuschel pinned his man in 41 seconds at 113 pounds.

Kaden Nicolas scored his pin at 126 pounds at the 4:54 mark of his match, followed by a 2:45 pin by Drew May at 138. In between those matches, Landen Kujawa dominated his opponent with an 18-3 tech fall at 132.

Jake Rosenow got in on the action with a first period fall at 145, followed by an Ethan Duncombe stick in the second period at 152.

Jurek (160) and Angell (170) both scored second period falls for back to back pins for the Bulldogs, followed by a great match by Weber at 195 that ended with his opponent stuck to the mat at 1:02.

Kolby scored the final pin for Becker at 285 with just 8 seconds left on the clock in the second period of his match.

Next up for the Bulldogs is the Section 6AA individual tournament to be held in Becker February 24-25, with the top two finishers in each weight class qualifying for the MSHSL individual state tournament.