Cavaliers host Groton, Sisseton in wrestling triangular

 The Cavaliers played host to Groton and Sisseton in their wrestling triangular at Roncalli Gym. There were 18 total pins in the triangular. The Cavaliers had six total pins in their two matches against the Tigers and the Redmen.

 “That is something we work on a lot is to be pinners,” Roncalli coach Justin Briese said. “We want to be aggressive.”

 Groton won the triangular. The Tigers defeated Sisseton 54-24 and defeated the Cavaliers 53-29. Roncalli lost to Sisseton 42-24.

 “It is one of those things that it is tough to get a win tonight,” Briese said. “We won more matches than we lost in the actual matches that we wrestled. It was a good night.”

 The Cavaliers lost several points due to open weight classes.

 “It hurts not having a full squad,” Roncalli junior Tyson Mitzel said, “but in our eyes, we won the duals because we won most percentage of our matches, so it was a good day in our eyes.”

 Mitzel picked up a pair of wins on Thursday. The junior pinned John Meland of Sisseton at the 1:02 mark of their match and won by an 18-2 technical fall win over Tyler Scott of Groton.

 “He comes out and does his work,” Briese said. “He knows these matches right now are important, but he is looking further ahead to getting better for regions and state.”

 Mitzel, the top rated wrestler at 160-pounds in Class B, improves to 18-0 on the season.

 “I feel good about how I’m wrestling right now,” Mitzel said. “With these couple of tournaments coming up, I should get some good competition, which is always nice to get. I like to get tougher matches throughout the season, because win or lose, it is preparing you for what is coming ahead.”

 Sophomore Matt Schlosser picked up a pair of pins on Thursday in the 220-pound weight class. He pinned Brandon Nigg of Sisseton and Trenton Duncan of Groton to improve to 15-4 on the season. It appeared as if Schlosser was going to get pinned against Duncan. However, Schlosser reversed his position on Duncan and pinned him at the 3:17 mark.

 “I just kind of arched my back as hard as I could and rolled through,” Schlosser said. “Luckily he landed in bounds and just stayed in bounds and I got the pin out of it.”

 Schlosser normally wrestles in the 195-pound weight class, but was bumped up to the 220-pound weight class for the triangular.

 “He had a little weight advantage on me,” Schlosser said about Duncan. “He got a little high I noticed. I just arched my back. He fell over on the mat. I just got the pin out of it.”

 Senior Zach Sumner got a pair of quick pins in the 182-pound weight class for the Cavaliers. Sumner pinned Josh Currence of Sisseton just 55 seconds into the match. He followed that up with a pin over Brandyn Anderson of Groton just 44 seconds into the match.

 “He came out and wrestled real aggressive,” Briese said. “He just came out and wrestled two solid matches.”

 Roncalli will wrestle at the Potter County Tournament this Saturday in Gettysburg.

 “It is another weekend for us to see where we are at with some guys we don’t usually see and get ourselves better,” Briese said.