Wrestling: Milestones continue for Road Crew

Road Crew Owen Dabill.JPG — Road Crew wrestler Owen Dabill locks onto the head and shoulders of an opponent during the team's home invitational on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023.

By Peter Mohs

February 08, 2023 at 4:57 PM

Successful high school teams celebrate many individual milestones.

A good example is the Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus Road Crew wrestling team, which has won 83 matches over the past three seasons.

At the Pine River Triangular Thursday, Feb. 2, two more milestones were reached by Road Crew wrestlers as Trey Tuchtenhagen earned his 75th career victory and Chance Abraham earned his 50th career pin.

“Trey's milestone is based on hard work,” said Road Crew coach Travis Hoffarth, whose squad defeated Fergus Falls 69-12 and Melrose/Sauk Centre 48-27 on Feb. 2. “Trey didn't have success in elementary school, and struggled to find it in junior high as well. The one thing he was doing really well though, was learning how to survive. He was finishing matches and along the way picking up a few more wins.”

Hoffarth said Tuchtenhagen continued to “grind" and was able to develop a successful style.

“Trey was also fortunate to be Connor Tulenchik's (practice) partner as a sophomore and junior,” Hoffarth said of Tulenchik, who earned a state individual wrestling title last year as a senior. “Although Trey wasn't scoring points in the practice room, he was feeling the physicality and intensity that it took to get to the next level. Trey won 30 matches last year, but lost in the Section 8-2A true-second match.”

Also winning twice for the Road Crew Feb. 2 was Easton Miller, Parker Zutter, Adrian Schrupp, Brady Ruhl, Earl Stockman and Corbin Knapp.

“Sauk Centre-Melrose has some solid kids scattered throughout their lineup,” Hoffarth said about his team's win. “We knew with their open weights that we would be able to go straight up. I felt we lost a few matches that we out wrestled their kid in, but that happens sometimes. Hopefully we get to see some of those kids in sections in a few weeks.”

The Road Crew, 26-1 overall, were scheduled to finish the regular season at Lake Park/Audubon Quadrangular Tuesday, Feb. 7. Team sections are Thursday, Feb. 16 at the highest seeds. The section Final Four matches will be Friday, Feb. 17. Individual sections are Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24-25 in Detroit Lakes.