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Forest Lake hangs with favored Anoka
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Wednesday, 16 January 2008
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Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor
Just when the Forest Lake wrestling team was showing noticeable improvement, the Rangers had to follow up a home match against Woodbury last Thursday, with a trip to No. 6 ranked Anoka on Friday.
But even though Anoka finished the night with a 39-22 victory over Forest Lake, there were many signs indicating head coach Billy Pierce and his Rangers squad are going to provide a difficult challenge for anyone on their schedule.
“We had an opportunity to win that dual,” Pierce said about the Anoka loss. “These guys are improving and getting better, and we (the coaching staff) don’t let them know that enough.”
An opportunity indeed. When Pierce explains how if a few two-point decisions would have gone Forest Lake’s way, it doesn’t take long to make up the 17-point difference.
But beyond the If Only scenarios, Forest Lake and Anoka are coming from two different directions this year. Forest Lake is young and moving up, while the Tornadoes are experienced and looking down on most of its competition.
“Without working as hard as they have, they wouldn’t have even been in this situation,” Pierce said of his team. “But that’s the difference between Anoka and us — they’re used to winning. Our guys’ inexperienced showed. It just takes time.”
Ranger wrestlers like Tony Chamberlin, Tony Smith, Ben Morgan, Brent Kolbow and Josh Mabry were all able to land victories, but in between Morgan’s win at 119 pounds and Kolbow’s at 189, it was all Anoka.
Sometimes those were losses to nationally ranked wrestlers, like Forest Lake’s Dan Blaser taking on Jake Deitchler (“He went out there and fought him, Pierce said of Blaser. “He made him work.”)
Or Kevin Nelson coming up on the wrong end of a heartbreaking defeat in double overtime to Kyle Begin.
“That was probably the match of the night,” Pierce said. “The crowd was on fire and both benches were at the matsides. It was great to see.”
For Pierce, an added bonus to the Anoka trip was that it gave him a chance to see his old friends and colleagues. In just his first season since coming over from the Tornadoes, Pierce said he has nothing but positive memories and experiences from Anoka. Apparently the people at Anoka feel the same way.
“I got cheered,” he said. “It was really, really nice.”
Thursday night
When the Royals were in town, the Rangers were counting on the team win, but it probably took more effort than expected.
Due to match counts, Forest Lake needed to sit some of its regulars, but as the night went on, Pierce had to use Kolbow and Mabry. That was not part of the plan.
Pierce said he was frustrated with some missed points, and “as a whole, the team did not do enough to secure the victory (earlier).”
But with the win over Woodbury, and a strong effort at Anoka, Pierce said he was happy with the outcomes.
“Right now we’re working on the mental game,” he said. “We believe in them, now they just need to believe in themselves.”
Fabulous Frosh
In a display of the wrestling program’s depth, the freshman team is working on an undefeated season.
Forest Lake hosted White Bear Lake, Stillwater and Totino-Grace on Tuesday, and according to Pierce, if the boys win, they will qualify for this weekend’s Team State competition at Hastings.
Rangers 33, Woodbury 27
103 lbs. — Tony Chamberlin won by fall
112 lbs. — Tony Smith lost by fall
119 lbs. — Russell Wedger lost by fall
125 lbs. — Nathan Johnston lost, 5-0
130 lbs. — Kevin Nelson won 10-2
135 lbs. — Cody Kendrick won 6-2
140 lbs. — Andy Kolbow won 13-7
145 lbs. — Ben Ulrich lost 7-5
152 lbs. — Mitch Koenig won 10-3
160 lbs. — Dan Blaser won 9-3
171 lbs. — Caleb Corrow lost 13-8
189 lbs. — Brent Kolbow won by fall
215 lbs. — Josh Mabry won by technical fall
HWT — John Heim lost by fall
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