Posted: 12/11/02

Anoka clips Forest Lake in title match

Berk Brown
Sports Editor

Anoka never led Forest Lake in the decisive match of the Forest Lake Invitation on Saturday until it needed to.

After Forest Lake had built a commanding lead by winning five of the first six matches, Anoka won seven of the last eight ñÝincluding the final four ñÝto rally for a 37-31 win over the Rangers.

Three of those final four losses, however, were by forfeit, and margins of 2-0 and 2-1.

Although Forest Lake coach Rich Elliot was disappointed with the loss, he said itís far too early to put too much of an emphasis on the outcome.

ìIt was a good early-season showing, but weíre definitely not at our peak yet,î he said.

Forest Lake got wins from Eric Morris at 103 and Sean Hogan at 112 to take an early 11-0 lead. The Rangers then increased that lead to 25-6 after Jordan Kolbow won at 125, and Dan Taylor (130) and John Denney (135) each won by fall.

Forest Lake, however, would win only one more match ñÝDoug Joyer by fall at 160 ñÝas the Tornadoes rallied to win the team title and leave the Rangers in second place.

In early matches in the tournament, Forest Lake defeated Kasson-Mantorville 34-32 and the Rangers beat Goodhue 39-25.

In the win over Kasson-Mantorville, the Rangers got wins from Hogan (112), Kolbow (125), Taylor (130), Denney (135), Brandon Girtz (140), Joyer (160) and Dan Aschenbrener (171).

In the victory over Goodhue, Forest Lake got wins from Morris, Hogan, Kolbow, Taylor, Denney, Jimmy Underdahl (145), Jim House (152), and Brandon Engel (275).

Hogan went undefeated in the tournament for the Rangers with a pair of falls while Kolbow, Taylor and Denney also posted perfect 3-0 marks.

On Thursday, Dec. 5, Forest Lake opened its season with a 36-26 Suburban East Conference victory at Hastings.

Kolbow posted a 17-2 technical fall over Jared Genevich for the Rangers while Taylor downed Hastingsí Kyle Baker 20-8.

At 136, Denney defeated Andy Siebenaler by fall in 55 seconds. Girtz won by technical fall (24-9) over Kevin Leifield and Underdahl defeated Glenn Petersen 9-4 at 145.

At 152, House defeated Shawn McMenomy 14-6 and Alex Behling defeated Randy Foss 4-3 at 215. Engel defeated Hastingsí Jeremy McCarthy by fall in 1:41.

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