Comets qualify five to State Traditional Wrestling Championships

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

DECORAH — Ethan and Trevor Peterson are not-so-identical twins.

“He was born about six hours before me,” Ethan says of Trevor. “We kid each other about it, but I’ve always been the bigger of the two.”

Still, Ethan in some way tried to take the identity of his “older brother” at Saturday’s Class 2A-District 3 wrestling tournament at Decorah High School.

Throughout most of the season, Trevor wrestled at 195 while Ethan wrestled at 220. During a dual at New Hampton the weekend before districts, Trevor suffered a concussion which ended his season.

For the district tournament from which the top two wrestlers in each weight class advance to this week’s Traditional State Wrestling Championships, Ethan — who was ranked 11th among Class 2A 220-pounders according to the final listing by IAwrestle — decided to drop 195 to fill the void left by Trevor.

“I’m normally at around 198 (while wrestling at 220), so I didn’t have to drop that much weight,” Ethan said. “I feel this is a better weight for me … I feel that I’m much stronger than most wrestlers at 195.”

At districts, Peterson was surely the strongest in his bracket as he recorded three fall victories while winning a district title and punching his ticket to Des Moines.

He will be accompanied by four of his teammates — senior Kayden Blunt, who won the 182-pound bracket; junior Talan Weber, who won the 152-pound bracket; senior Nathan Lopez, who placed second at 145; and junior Carter Haberkorn, who placed second at 106.

While battling Isaac Howe of New Hampton/Turkey Valley in the 195-pound championship match, Peterson appeared to be in a little trouble while nursing a 1-point lead with short time approaching in the third period. With both wrestlers upright, Howe got a hold of Peterson’s leg with Peterson fighting to balance himself on the other leg. Howe seemed on the verge of sweeping Peterson’s other leg for a possible match-winning takedown, but with uncanny agility, Peterson was able to administer a body-lock takedown and suddenly pinned Howe with 23 seconds left in regulation.

“I’ve been in those positions before,” Peterson said. “I have good balance and I use that to my advantage.”

Blunt advanced to state after avenging a loss he had in the championship match of the Northeast Iowa Conference Tournament. Then, Crestwood sophomore Brock Voyna edged Blunt with a 10-8 decision.

Things proved to be different in Decorah as Blunt prevailed in the district title “rematch” with a 12-8 decision in a bout Blunt led from start to finish.

For Weber, making it to state made some advance travel planning pay off. Before the wrestling season even began, his mother already booked hotel reservations for Des Moines for this week.

No need to cancel as Weber was able to control North Fayette Valley’s Jesse Grimes enough to secure a 7-4 decision in the 152-pound title match.

Lopez advanced to the final in his bracket before suffering a fall loss to Decorah senior Brady Stille. Since Stille defeated North Fayette Valley’s Logan Boehm in the semifinals, and Boehm proceeded to win the consolation final, Lopez was forced to face Boehm in a wrestleback with a state berth on the line.

There, Lopez pinned Boehm at the 2:19 mark, becoming the final Comet to earn a berth.

Earlier, Haberkorn defeated NH/TV’s Landon Bruess with a 8-4 win in his wrestleback.

It was a long road to state for Haberkorn as he lost to the eventual bracket champion, Crestwood’s Mitchell Schmauss in his first match.

For the Comets, who were plagued with open-weight forfeits resulting in one-sided dual meet losses throughout the season, advancing five wrestlers to state — who all will be making their first appearance at Wells Fargo Arena — proved to be the highlight of the season.

Thus far.

With the brackets expanded to 24 wrestlers from 16 in years’ past, the Traditional Tournament itself has expanded to four days starting this Wednesday and running through Saturday (Feb. 15-18).

Blunt (26-4) is seeded No. 8 in his bracket and will receive a bye before facing the winner of Jace Mulder (Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley)-Carson Bellamy (Winterset) during Wednesday’s session.

Peterson (20-6, No. 12 seed) will take on Waukon’s Ethan Wood (39-9, No. 13 seed) in the first round for a chance to face Harlan Community’s Zane Bendorf (41-4, No. 5 seed) during Wednesday’s session.

Weber (19-4, No. 13 seed) will face Okoboji’s Bryce Dodge (26-13, No. 20 seed) for a chance to race Osage’s Chase Thomas (30-6, No. 4 seed) during Wednesday’s session.

Lopez (26-9, No. 20 seed) will face Glenwood’s Reese Fauble (21-9, No. 13 seed) for a chance to face Mount Vernon’s Jackson Jaspers (39-3, No. 4 seed) during Wednesday’s session.

Haberkorn (19-11, No. 23 seed) will face Mount Vernon’s Klayton Perreault (37-6, No. 10 seed) for a chance to face Albia’s Wyatt Stewart (34-5, No. 7 seed) during Wednesday’s session.