The Albert Lea wrestling team started and finished quickly on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Section 1AAA Tournament.

The second-seeded and fifth-ranked Tigers (20-3) recorded first-period pins in the opening four weight classes against No. 7 Northfield (7-16) and five pins over the final seven at Albert Lea High School.

The Raiders forfeited at 195 and 220 pounds, and the Tigers won 69-7 in about 50 minutes.

Albert Lea will face No. 3-seeded Owatonna (27-7) at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the semifinals at the Rochester Civic Center. The winner will face the winner of No. 1 Hastings (25-6) and No. 5 Rochester Mayo (10-9) in the finals at 12:30 p.m.

“I thought as a team for the first round we wrestled great,” Tigers coach Larry Goodnature said. “I was really happy with the way we wrestled being aggressive and getting those bonus points. That’s what we got to do for this tournament. You’ve got to have bonus points, that’s what wins duals, and we went after it tonight.”

The Tigers’ Beau Johnsrud (106 pounds), Dakota Wangsness (120) and Lucas Hansen (126) each pinned their opponents in under one minute, and Garrett Wangsness pinned Bryce Rippentrop in 1:40.

Albert Lea’s Bany Chan (152), Jacob Tyler (160), No. 2-ranked Trey Hable (170) and No. 3-ranked Dalton Westerlund (182) strung together four consecutive falls before the Raiders forfeited back-to-back, and heavyweight Bryce BeBoer pinned Northfield’s Tyler Van Cleave in 1:50 to close the match.

Northfield’s eighth-ranked sophomore Carson Canedy won a 3-2 decision over Devin Nelson, and Adam Woitalla won an 11-2 major decision over Derek Samudio.

The Tigers will next wrestle in a rematch with Big Nine Conference rival Owatonna. Albert Lea beat the Huskies 31-30 on Dec. 15, 2010, in a come-from-behind thriller in Owatonna.

“They’re going to be great high school wrestling duals,” said Goodnature, noting the Tigers first have to beat the Huskies before moving to the finals. “We’re at full strength now, and we’re healthy so I’m confident and we just got to out there, wrestle the match and see what happens.”

The Tigers will also wrestle in the individual section tournament on Feb. 24-25, and Goodnature said that’s one of the great things about the sport.

“We’re going to compete as a team and have a lot of fun, but if it don’t work out for us we turnaround the next week and go at a whole separate tournament,” he said. “They can still go to state as individuals and that’s the unique thing about wrestling.”

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Albert Lea 69, Faribault 7

106 — Beau Johnsrud (AL) fall Noah Vancleave, 0:46

113 — Garrett Wangsness (AL) fall Bryce Rippentrop, 1:40

120 — Dakota Wangsness (AL) fall Matt Metcalf, 0:50

126 — Lucas Hansen (AL) fall Tommy Mathison, 0:58

132 — Carson Canedy (N) dec. Devin Nelson, 3-2

138 — Adam Woitalla (N) maj. dec. Derek Samudio, 11-2

145 — Brody Sundblad (AL) dec. Sam Olson, 9-2

152 — Bany Chan (AL) fall Kyle Reilly, 3:53

160 — Jacob Tyler (AL) fall Shane Peterson, 2:40

170 — Trey Hable (AL) fall Brandon Underdahl, 0:32

182 — Dalton Westerlund (AL) fall Sam Minske, 2:00

195 — Dustin Samudio (AL) forfeit

220 — Jace Talamantes (AL) forfeit

285 — Bryce DeBoer (AL) fall Tyler Van Cleave, 1:50