Photo by Sam Davis New Ulm's Tegan Kral wrestles against Marshall's Emmett Frazee in the 133 round Saturday night in the Big South Conference championship. Kral defeated Frazee in a 21-4 technical fall. 

By Samantha Davis

MARSHALL — In a down-to-the-wire match that came to the final rounds, the No. 11 New Ulm Area boys wrestling team fell short 34-24 to No. 5 Marshall in the Big South Conference championship in a Saturday night dual.

The Tigers got back-to-back pins in the final two rounds to secure the win.

New Ulm built up a 6-point lead after the first six rounds, but Marshall took the next three straight rounds to catch up. The Eagles did not have a pin throughout the night, but Alex Portner and Lane Ruch each recorded a major decision, while Wyatt Pollard and Tegan Kral each won in technical falls in their respective rounds.

For a majority of the match, the two teams fought back-and-forth, trading takedowns and leads.

“It’s always close when you wrestle with New Ulm. They have a great program, and they are a team where we know that they’re going to get their wins. It’s a lot about being able to withstand the bonus points,” Marshall head coach Ethan Hoppe said. “It was close, and it was, by all means, they all wrestled hard … It’s just one of those matches where you hang on and get your wins where you can.”

New Ulm built up a 15-9 advantage after Kral and Elijah Rieser took the 133 and 139 rounds, but Tyson Louwagie began to turn things around for the Tigers.

Louwagie brought the Tigers within two at a 15-13 deficit in the 145 round after earning a 10-2 major decision win over Braxton Kiecker through three periods.

Drew Chandler then put Marshall back in the lead by a point after taking down Candon Briggs in 152. Chandler followed that up with a pin over Dirk Haynes in the 160 round.

Chandler’s pin gave Marshall a 22-15 advantage with four rounds to go.

New Ulm’s Pollard kept the Eagles within reach, as he secured a technical fall at 2:33 over Josh Kraft in 172. Ruch then won the 189 over Marshall’s Aidan Mattison in a 10-2 major decision.

New Ulm earned a 24-22 lead with the two consecutive wins.

With two rounds to go, Gavin Schaefer pinned the Eagles’ Jamisen Frederickson at 3:44 to give Marshall the lead back.

Emerson Johnson took the mat for New Ulm in the final round, but Marshall’s Braedyn VanMeveren recorded a first period pin at 1:17 in the 285 to end the night.

Marshall’s Keynan Coequyt and New Ulm’s Regan Johnson started the match off in the 107 round. Johnson collected 3 points with a takedown in the first period, and grabbed another two in the second.

Coequyt responded with a 3-point takedown midway through the final period and put up a fight, but Johnson withheld him to take a 6-3 decision and put the Eagles up 3-0 early on.

Marshall’s Levi Kraft and Portner went back-and-forth in the 121. But, Portner came out victorious by the end of the third with a 13-4 major decision.

The win put the Eagles back up by a point, 7-6, showcasing the aggressive competition between the two teams after the first three rounds.

New Ulm will next head into the postseason, looking to make a deep run in the Section 3AA Tournament. Seeding information is to be announced in the coming days.

The tournament will begin Feb. 13, and Marshall will be the host site for the semifinals and championship match.

RESULTS

107: Regan Johnson (NUA) over Keynan Coequyt (MARS) (Dec 6-3) 114: Lincoln Christenson (MARS) over Braydon Miller (NUA) (Fall 3:22) 121: Alex Portner (NUA) over Levi Kraft (MARS) (MD 13-4) 127: Landon Marthaler (MARS) over Kane Johnson (NUA) (Dec 4-1) 133: Tegan Kral (NUA) over Emmett Frazee (MARS) (TF 21-4 4:07) 139: Elijah Rieser (NUA) over Dawson DeCamp (MARS) (Dec 5-2) 145: Tyson Louwagie (MARS) over Braxton Kiecker (NUA) (MD 10-2) 152: Drew Chandler (MARS) over Candon Briggs (NUA) (Dec 10-3) 160: Brayden Chandler (MARS) over Dirk Haynes (NUA) (Fall 2:33) 172: Wyatt Pollard (NUA) over Joshua Kraft (MARS) (TF 18-3 2:33) 189: Lane Ruch (NUA) over Aidan Mattison (MARS) (MD 10-2) 215: Gavin Schaefer (MARS) over Jamisen Frederickson (NUA) (Fall 3:44) 285: Braedyn VanMeveren (MARS) over Emerson Johnson (NUA) (Fall 1:17)