Lake Mills hosts tournament, wins its first four duals

 

The Lake Mills wrestling team finished as the runner-up in its home tournament Saturday. Lake Mills, ranked No. 5 in Class 1A, won four of its five duals to improve its overall record to 24-2.

“I thought we wrestled well today against two very tough teams,” Brandenburg said. “Both duals were very exciting with many back-and-forth matches.”

In the six-team tournament, the Bulldogs beat the first four opponents before falling to Humboldt (No. 7, Class 2A) 37-28. Humboldt went 5-0 in the tournament and stayed undefeated. Even after the first two duals went well for coach Alex Brandenburg’s Bulldogs, he knew that last one with Humboldt was the one to watch.

“That’ll be a tough one to win,” Brandenburg said.

It was, but not without a late Lake Mills rally after Humboldt started with a 31-3 lead. Lake Mills wrestlers junior Lincoln Boehmer (120-pound match), senior Andy Dahle (138) and junior Noah Irons (145) each pinned their opponents late in the match to narrow the lead for Humboldt.

The other important dual for Lake Mills was against Emmetsburg, ranked No. 6 in Class 1A. The Bulldogs were behind 35-18 with four matches left when four wrestlers stepped up and helped their team to a close 39-35 victory. Boehmer, freshman Noah Greenfield (126 pounds), sophomore Brady Schmidt (132) and Dahle rattled off four straight wins which included three pins.

“The win over Emmetsburg was big,” Brandenburg said. “Not only are they ranked right behind us in our class, but it is always fun beating the school I wrestled for.”

Some Lake Mills individuals had perfect days on the mat. Boehmer, Greenfield, Schmidt, Dahle and Irons all went 5-0 to improve on their individual records.

Brandenburg credits the success of the team’s season so far to a strong lineup.

“We just have good senior leadership,” Brandenburg said. “We have nice balance throughout the lineup. We don’t have too many holes.”

Lake Mills also beat North Butler 55-18, West Hancock 46-27 and Fort Dodge JV 70-9.

In the match against Fort Dodge in the second round, the Bulldogs recorded eight pins and won by forfeit three times to gain significfant points. During a tough heavyweight match, Lake Mills junior Tyler Mary was able to pin his opponent at 5:00.

Lake Mills will be at home again at 6 p.m. Thursday for a triangular hosting Garner-Hayfield/Ventura, St. Ansgar and Nashua-Plainfield.