The trend of tough competition with positive results continued Saturday for the Albert Lea wrestling team at St. Cloud Tech High School.

Among six teams — all mentioned in the Guillotine’s polls — the Tigers qualified for the championship match and took second place.

“It was a good team effort from a lot of our wrestlers,” said Albert Lea coach Larry Goodnature. “I knew what the competition was going to be up there, but we need to get into those kind of matches.”

To get to the title match, the No. 4 Class AA Tigers edged No. 11 AAA Elk River 29-27 and beat St. Cloud Tech, the first team listed in the Guillotine’s lean and mean category of Class AAA, 36-20.

No. 2 AAA St. Michael-Albertville qualified for the tournament championship after a 55-15 win over No. 8 AA Foley and a 48-18 win over No. 3 AAA Hastings.

Although Albert Lea led the title match 13-3 after four bouts and 19-15 after a fall by Santana Acosta at 145 pounds, St. Michael-Albertville reeled off seven straight wins to beat the Tigers 47-19.

The tournament was scheduled to feature eight teams. However, Apollo High School and Hammond Baptist, a team from Schererville, Indiana, backed out because of sickness, Goodnature said.

The Tigers departed Albert Lea at 5 a.m., but didn’t wrestle until noon against Elk River.

“We weighed in and had to sit around,” Goodnature said. “I know it affected the way we wrestled.”

Despite the waiting, Albert Lea won three of the first four matches against the Elks.

Zach Glazier, ranked No. 3 AA at 106 pounds, beat No. 9 AAA Anthony Meister with a 2-0 decision, Joe Peterson won a 10-7 decision at 113 pounds and Brody Nielsen earned a fall in 1:08 at 126.

Elk River went on to win the next four matches, but wins by Chris Nelson at 160, Parker Mullenbach at 170 and No. 9 AA Tim Christianson at 182 kept the Tigers’ hopes alive.

“Some of our kids who win all the time got beat, but we still had a chance to win the match because other kids stepped up,” Goodnature said.

A 13-3 major decision by Triston Westerlund sealed Albert Lea’s win.

Against St. Cloud Tech, the Tigers jumped out a 12-0 lead and never trailed.

Next, Albert Lea will compete in a triangular today at Mankato West. West and Rochester Century will start at 5 p.m. The Tigers will wrestle Century at 6:30 p.m. and West at 8 p.m.

The rest of Albert Lea’s home meets will be special events. The Tigers will have Take Down Cancer Night at a triangular against Northfield and Plainview-Elgin-Millville at 5 p.m. Jan. 15. The second Freedom Night of the season will be against Rochester John Marshall at 7 p.m. Jan. 22, and the team will have its first Alumni Wrestling Day against No. 2 Class A Adrian at 3 p.m. Jan. 31. Goodnature said the alumni will be announced and a social at Green Lea Golf Course will follow the meet against Adrian.