BLUE EARTH &045; The seventh-ranked United South Central wrestling team finished second to Maple River at the Blue Earth Area Dick Maher Invitational over the weekend. The Rebels finished with 167.5 points while Maple River had 193 points to win.

The Rebels did finish ahead of Wabasso (fourth in Class A), and Adrian (fourth in Class AA.)

USC did not have any individual champions, but the Rebels had several runners-up and top-five performances.

Daniel Sandt, coming off a broken elbow suffered last season, finished as the runner-up at 135 falling 9-2 to Brainerd&8217;s Nick Lingwall in the finals. Sandt downed Cam Bullerman of Adrian16-4 in the semifinals to advance to the championship round.

Brian Wood fell to Maple River&8217;s Alex Back in the finals at 152 13-1 after advancing with a pin in the semifinals, while third-ranked Aaron Norgren of Maple River pinned the Rebels&8217; Sam Stevermer in the championship match at 160.

Preston Staloch suffered a tough 9-8 semifinal loss to Madelia-Truman&8217;s Kevin Leiferman, but bounced back to take third with a pin of Maple River&8217;s Charlie Sieberg in 3:36 at 119.

Fifth-ranked Seth Amberg lost in the semifinals at 130 to Brainerd&8217;s Nate Ruman but came back to take third with a 6-3 win over Blair Oachs of Maple River. Tenth-ranked Jake Bonsack also had a tough 8-7 overtime loss to Madelia-Truman in the semifinals before rebounding to handle Andy Heitkamp of Adrian in the third place match 7-2.

USC&8217;s 10-ranked Nathan Goette would finish fourth at 171 getting pinned by Wabasso’s Mitch Altermatt in 2:31.

Zach Wigern placed fifth at 103 for the Rebels downing Joe Franta of Blue Earth 2-1, Dustin Dylla was fifth at 112, Dylan Nelson was fourth at 125 after being dealt a 2-0 setback from Wabasso&8217;s Joel Grave at 125.

Mike Linder just missed a trip to the finals with a 1-0 loss to Worthington&8217;s Bryant Schroeder in the semis only to finish fifth, while heavyweight Cassidy Carlson lost to Wabasso&8217;s Zach Wurshcer in the semifinals and ended up fourth overall.