Medford moves on to state

The Medford Tigers broke through the final section test last Saturday in St. Clair, taking down the Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial (LCWM) Knights 33-30 in an absolute barn-burner of a championship dual.

Medford faced early adversity falling behind 12-3 through 126 pounds, but the Tigers stood tall and braved the early storm to eventually come out on top with the dual coming down to the final heavyweight match.

“It’s just a huge relief. Like a weight has been lifted from our shoulders. We’ve been working toward this for the past five or six months. Last year when we lost in the finals, our kids all knew this year’s goal was to get back to this match and win. When you put in that work with a clear goal and accomplish it, it’s a huge relief,” said Medford head coach Dennis Whitman.

Through the first four matches, Medford’s lone win came from Luis Lopez at 113 pounds via a 6-0 decision.

Meanwhile, LCWM had accumulated 12 points via a fall at 106 and two decisions at 120 and 126.

With the early momentum swaying toward the Knights, Medford’s Tommy Elwood, Evan Schweisthal and Charley Elwood quickly changed the dynamic of the entire dual.

Tommy Elwood and Schweisthal secured 7-1 and 7-6 decisions respectively to gain six points total and cut the deficit to 12-9 through 138 pounds.

With the Tigers now in striking distance to take the lead, Medford rolled out Class A juggernaut and multiple-time state champ Charley Elwood.

The senior did not disappoint with a fall victory in just 1:13 of the first period to give Medford its first lead at 15-12.

LCWM’s Talan Osborne regained the lead for the Knights at 152 pounds with a fall win over Kael Neumann, but back-to-back first-period pins from Medford’s Garron Hoffman and Tate Hermes settled the score at 27-18 for the Tigers.

LCWM earned another fall at 182 with Nick Slater pinning Aiden Ahrens, but once again Medford had an answer.

Dylan Heiderscheidt gained points back for Medford with a 10-7 decision to improve the score to 30-24 for the Tigers.

As if the drama couldn’t intensify any more, LCWM blew the roof off of the St. Clair gymnasium with a pin at 220 pounds to tie the dual at 30-30.

Conor Wilson put up a fight against LCWM’s Ryder McMichael and nearly escaped without allowing bonus points for the Knights, but a late pin by McMichael at the 5:29 mark evened the score.

With the meet tied going into the heavyweight matchup, Medford’s season weighed heavy on the shoulders of Mason Degrood.

The second-year wrestler had already defeated LCWM’s Dietrich Rosin earlier in the season, however, this time he was in for an even tougher bout.

After Rosin collected an early lead, Degrood worked some escapes and secured a solid reversal to set the score even.

The match looked prime to go the distance until Rosin found a nifty cradle that sent Knights fans to their feet and spelled danger for Degrood and the Tigers.

While Degrood admitted that the Rosin’s cradle caught him off guard he did not allow him to secure the finish.

Instead, Degrood kept Rosin’s near fall points to just two to keep Rosin’s lead at 6-4, and quickly regained the lead himself with a lightning-quick escape-takedown sequence to go up 7-6.

Once Degrood found his way to the top he never gave Rosin a chance to recover.

When the final whistle blew, Degrood made his way to the center of the mat to have his hand raised while Medford fans packing the gymnasium went berserk with excitement.

Having won the Section 2A title, Medford will move on to compete at the Class A state team tournament scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 2 at the Xcel Energy Center.

The Tigers will take the mats immediately following the Class AAA quarterfinals beginning at 9 a.m.

The Tigers' first opponent for the state meet was not made available at the time of press.