OWATONNA — The Albert Lea wrestling team traveled to Owatonna on Saturday afternoon to wrestle for the spot atop the Big Nine Conference.

In a dual filled with closely contested battles and only a few bonus point matches, the Tigers were unable to hold off a late surge from the Huskies, as they fell 30-27.

Seventh-grader Cole Glazier got the dual started off with a match against the No. 5-ranked Blake West of Owatonna. Glazier was able to stick with his opponent for the majority of the match, but came up just short, losing in a 4-2 decision.

Eighth-grader Cameron Davis was up next at 113. He grabbed one of the three bonus point victories for the Tigers, via a 13-4 major decision.

Albert Lea would then go on to rattle off four straight decision wins. The first coming from junior Nic Cantu, who just barely missed out on bonus points, 11-4. Senior Jake Johnsrud would then grab a victory with a 4-1 decision, followed by Gavin Ignaszewski with a 7-2 decision. Rounding out Albert Lea’s win streak was senior Logan Donovan with an exciting 1-0 decision victory.

Six matches into the dual, the Tigers found themselves winning by a score of 16-3. Senior Ty Harms would lose a heartbreaking match when he was taken down in extra time. Senior Brody Nielsen would come out looking for vengeance in the next match, pinning his opponent in 53 seconds.

Owatonna would start its comeback with senior Garrett Grandstrand getting pinned at 160. Senior Zach Glazier would answer right back, however, with a 18-3 technical fall of his own.

With four matches remaining, the Tigers were leading the Huskies, 27-12. An open weight class at 182 gave the Huskies six points, leaving them down by nine with three weight classes remaining.

Senior Spencer Indrelie put up a good fight against his opponent, who was the No. 4-ranked 195-pounder in the state, but still came up short, losing via a 8-1 decision.

Senior Jaime Valdez also put up a valiant effort, but lost in a back-and-forth match, 5-2. Junior Christian Garcia put up another gutsy effort, lasting into the second period, where he fell victim to a pinfall with just 12 seconds remaining.

The Tigers drop to 21-4 on the season and will have one more dual before the start of postseason action when they travel to Northfield on Thursday.