The Pequot Lakes/Pine River-Backus Road Crew were seeded fifth for the Class 2A state team wrestling tournament and will face the No. 5 Becker Bulldogs in the quarterfinals at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 2, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
The Road Crew are 30-1 overall - the best regular season team record in program history. The Bulldogs qualified for a second straight state trip after defeating St. Francis for the Section 6-2A title.
“Becker is a tough team, they all are at this point,” Road Crew coach Travis Hoffarth said of Becker, which is 22-5 overall. “Three of their losses have come against teams who are in the state tournament. They are battle tested, and come with tournament experience after finishing third last season at state.”
Hoffarth added that the Bulldogs are favored in the quarterfinal matchup.
“We know (they’re favored), but at the same time if we wrestle to our abilities we believe we can hang around,” he said. “We will need a few breaks to fall our way in order to knock them off, but we will lay it on the line. We have to stay focused on wrestling, and understand that the only way to survive at state is to be aggressive.”
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The other quarterfinal matchups in the Road Crew bracket is No. 1 Simley vs. Totino Grace. Matchups in the other bracket are No. 2 New Prague vs. Mora and No. 3 Kasson-Mantorville vs. Dayson-Boyd/Montivideo-LQP. All rounds take place on Thursday, March 2. The semifinals and consolation are 1 p.m.; the third-place and consolation final 5 p.m. and the championship 7 p.m.
“We are looking to represent our program, schools, and communities and look forward to the support from our fans and communities,” Hoffarth said. “We hope to see a sea of royal blue in the stands. These young men have worked extremely hard for this opportunity.”
The Road Crew are making their second team appearance at state in three years. The Road Crew lost to Princeton in the state quarterfinals in the 2020-21 season.
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