Wrestling: Road Crew defend Mid-State title

DETROIT LAKES — Payton Scott, Trey Tuchtenhagen, Chance Abraham, Easton Miller and Parker Zutter all finished 5-0 to help the Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus Road Crew win five matches and claim their third straight Mid-State Conference championship Friday, Jan. 20, in Detroit Lakes.

“Our entire team wrestled well,” said Road Crew coach Travis Hoffarth. “Our lower weights did a nice job of building leads for our middle and upper weights.”

Sweeping five duals to win the conference was a confidence booster for the Road Crew, who were coming off their first loss in 23 matches when they were edged by Perham 36-31 on Tuesday, Jan. 17.

“We had a good wakeup call in losing to Perham,” Hoffarth said. “So it was nice to see them respond so well. We are using that loss as a lesson as we get closer to February since we have talked about being in the mix in Section 8AA all season. These kids have been in big matches before and know what we are hunting.”

The Road Crew opened Friday’s conference duals with wins over Staples-Motley 51-20, Crosby-Ironton 72-9 and Park Rapids 60-14.

“We started with a nice win over an up-and-coming Staples-Motley team,” Hoffarth said. “(S-M) has a bright future, but we were able to take advantage of their upper weights. The win over Park Rapids helped with our Section 8AA seeding.”

The Road Crew then downed Detroit Lakes 48-32 and Aitkin 48-30.

“Against Detroit Lakes, it was again our lower weights helping us jump out to an early lead and our experienced guys up top were able to put it away,” Hoffarth said. “DL is always in the mix in our section, so it was nice to beat them, and build some confidence as we moved closer to sections.

“We ended the night with a great duel with Aitkin, which seems to always match up well with us. The team did a great job of getting bonus points all day, and this dual was no exception.”

Riley Peters, Brady Ruhl and Corbin Knapp were 4-1 for the Road Crew while Earl Stockman finished 3-1.

Zutter, Miller, Abraham, Tuchtenhagen, Scott and Knapp, who combined for a 29-1 record, earned all-conference honors, while Peters, Ruhl and Stockman earned honorable-mention.

The Road Crew, 22-1 overall, are scheduled to compete at the Sauk Centre/Melrose triangular Thursday, Jan. 26. The Road Crew will then host matches against Albany and Brainerd Friday, Jan. 27, in Pequot Lakes.

Road Crew split at Perham

PERHAM – On Tuesday, Jan. 17, Chance Abraham and Earl Stockman each picked up two pins at two different weight classes as the Road Crew split at the Perham triangular, defeating Alexandria 59-16 and losing to Perham 36-31.

Easton Miller finished 2-0 for the Road Crew, and collected his 75th career win in the process. Parker Zutter went 2-0 with two pins while Corbin Knapp and Riley Peters each finished with two wins.