Devils Lake grapplers can’t overcome six open weights

By Brian Chepulis

Devils Lake, ND – Wrestling fans of all ages converged upon the Devils Lake Sports Center Friday night to cheer on the Firebird wrestling program. Valley City capitalized on Devils Lake forfeits and rolled to a 60-12 win.

This was the Hi-Liners first dual win of the young season after falling to Grand Forks Central 40-28 last week. The young Firebirds are still winless after dropping their season opener last week to a talented Fargo South team.

Chris Sommer was the only Firebird wrestler to leave the Sports Center victorious. Sommer started the match with a flurry of points in the first period against Brady Beckman. Eighteen seconds into the second period Sommer picked up 6 team points with a pin.

The dual started at 145 pounds with Devils Lake’s Tommy Good going up against Valley City’s Stephen Radermacher. This match set the tone for Valley City’s win with Good getting pinned with only 5 seconds left in the first period.

Devils Lake wrestlers cheering on a teammate

The night got worse for the Firebirds: giving up 24 points to the Hi-liners because they couldn’t field wrestlers for the weights 152-189. Sommer then picked up his lone win for the Firebirds. At heavyweight, Jacob Lagasse of Devils Lake lost in 31 seconds to a very good Alex Andel. Andel holds the top spot at 285 in the North Dakota Class “A” Coach’s Poll.

 There was a double forfeit at 103, which would end up being the last team points Devils Lake would pick up.

Firebird Jacob Clouse was rolling to a win when an unexpected series of events unfolded. Clouse was up 9-1 on Jackson Lemnus when Lemnus was able to get a reversal and caught Clouse on his back. Thirty seconds later Lemnus was in the middle of the mat with his hand raised high.

Austin Schall of Devils Lake also lost a close match to Zach Doty. Schall was up 1-0 in the second period but was taken down and pinned with only 4 seconds left in the period. Valley City picked up the pin in the last match of the night giving the Hi-liners a 60-12 win.

Devils Lake is young and doesn’t have the numbers of other schools, but some of the younger wrestlers showed some promise. Devils Lake will have some individual success towards the end of the season as these young guys gain valuable experience.