OWATONNA – Albert Lea made it look easy.

On a night when Owatonna honored its state championship team from 1989, the No. 7 Albert Lea wrestling team showed it owns the Huskies of the present, and the recent past for that matter, winning the last five duals the two teams have had. Saturday the Tigers won 10 of the 14 matches and showed how wide the gap is between the best in the Big Nine Conference and the rest with a 43-15 drilling of the No. 6 Huskies.

&8220;We knew they hadn&8217;t been wrestling the toughest competition all year, and we figured we would come in here and they would see some kids who wanted to wrestle, wanted to beat them,&8221; senior Logan Hansen said. &8220;We thought we were going to beat them but it is great to see 43-15 up on the scoreboard.&8221;

The victory nearly assures the Tigers of their 24th Big Nine title in school history &8212; most of any Big Nine school &8212; their third straight conference crown and a mighty impressive 33 consecutive Big Nine dual match victories. Albert Lea only needs to beat Rochester John Marshall to complete the perfect conference season Thursday.

&8220;This was a total team effort,&8221; Albert Lea head coach Larry Goodnature said. &8220;We wanted it and we showed it. The kids were aggressive, they were relentless and they went out there and they wanted this title.&8221;

For the second straight year Albert Lea had to trek to Owatonna for the regular season dual, and just like last year there were too many big performances to single out one or two.

&8220;It is great to come up here and beat them in their own house,&8221; Hansen said. &8220;They have got all this hubbub going on and we just came in here and got the fans to quiet down.&8221;

It started with the first match of the night where No. 2-ranked Cory Hansen put on a takedown clinic at 103 dominating Scott Summer to the tune of a 22-6 technical fall.

A matchup of two ranked wrestlers at 112 turned out to be no match at all as top-ranked Cody Hansen pinned No. 5 Dillin Schultz in 1:21 to put Albert Lea up 11-0. Cody Hansen improved to 32-0 on the year and showed the importance of this dual to him by expressing some rare emotion on the mat after winning the match with a fist-pump to his teammates and the large contingent of Albert Lea fans in the stands.

Owatonna would get on the board when fifth-ranked Richard Rodriguez held off Kyle Kriewall 3-1 at 119, but No. 5 Trevor Rasmussen got those points back for the Tigers in one of the most competitive matches of the night at 125.

Rasmussen scored a first period takedown to go up 2-1 against No. 4 Dane Schroeder, but the Huskie put Rasmussen on his back in the second period to go into the third with a 4-3 lead. Rasmussen would retake the lead with another takedown but the determined Schroeder forced overtime with an escape in the last 10 seconds. Schroeder&8217;s momentum would not last as Rasmussen scored another takedown in extra time to win 7-5.

&8220;It was close &8212; I knew that it would be &8212; and I just wanted to win and I did,&8221; Rasmussen said.

&8220;Everyone on our team has a never give up attitude, a never quite attitude, and that was Trevor tonight for sure,&8221; Goodnature said. &8220;If you get behind you can&8217;t get worry you just have to keep grinding.&8221;

The two teams would trade pins at 130 and 135 with the Huskies&8217; fifth-ranked Hector Milan pinning Connor Kortan in 2:48 while No. 2 Logan Kortan needed just 1:04 to stick Zach Schreiber.

The Tigers&8217; Adam Kermes got up 2-1 at 140 after one period and proceeded to ride Taylor Hedberg for the final four minutes of the match scoring a big win for the team.

Anthony Tippett continued the theme of physical domination by the Tigers with his major decision over Cory Francis 11-3 at 145. Tippett got to Francis&8217; legs with ease and scored the final takedown in the last 20 seconds to reach the major.

Tippett has become one of the Tigers most consistent wrestlers this season after the senior had to wait his turn behind some very talented wrestlers in the past. He credits the work in the wrestling room for making the difference.

&8220;My practice partner is Logan Kortan this year and there aren&8217;t going to be too many kids I am going to be wrestling this year better than him so he helps me a lot,&8221; Tippett said. &8220;I knew what I had to do so I just went out there and did. It is always good to win Big Nine, but it is even better to beat Owatonna.&8221;

After Owatonna posted back-to-back wins, Matt Tiegs earned a major decision at 171 by an 8-0 count, No. 3 Logan Hansen bumped up to 189 and downed Sean Wallace 6-1 and Ethan Reed took Cody Johnson out of the match winning 8-4 while Johnson cost Owatonna a team point for unsportsmanlike conduct.

&8220;We know that we have better technique than them and we out condition them,&8221; Logan Hansen said. &8220;We could see they were tired going into the second period and we just kept going all six minutes. Everyone gave a great effort.&8221;

While the high-profile dual brought out enough fans to pack the Huskies&8217; gym, several Owatonna fans made a quick dash for the exit after Reed&8217;s performance.

Andrew Peterson closed out the dual in style for the Tigers pinning Casey Dehn in 5:23 earning Albert Lea bonus points on the scoreboard for the sixth time.

The sequel of this dual will not be far behind with the two favorites in Section 1AAA likely meeting in the finals Feb. 16 at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.

Albert Lea 43, Owatonna 15

103 – Cory Hansen (AL) tech fall over Scott Summer 22-6; 112 – Cody Hansen (AL) pinned Dillin Schultz 1:21; 119 – Richard Rodriguez (O) dec. Kyle Kriewall 3-1; 125 – Tyler Rasmussen (AL) dec. Dane Schroeder 7-5 (OT); 130 – Hector Millan (O) pinned Connor Kortan 2:48; 135 – Logan Kortan (AL) pinned Zach Schreiber 1:04; 140 – Adam Kermes (AL) dec. Taylor Hedberg 3-1; 145 – Anthony Tippett (AL) major dec. over Cory Francis 11-3; 152 – Kade Zeman (O) major dec. over Pat Ignaszewski 13-4; 160 – Jordan Grnerer (O) dec. Mitch Webb 8-2; 171 – Matt Tiegs (AL) dec. Tyler Thomas 8-0; 189 – Logan Hansen (AL) dec. Sean Wallace 6-1; 215 – Ethan Reed (AL) dec. Cody Johnson 8-4; 285 – Andrew Peterson (AL) pinned Casey Dehn 5:23.