By DALE KUGATH
Sportswriter
NEW RICHLAND – Returning to action after a two week break, the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva wrestling squad won two of three matches Friday in only its second home appearance of the season.
Blue Earth soundly defeated the Panthers, but NRHEG bounced back to defeat St. Clair and Triton.
Coach Shaun Larson’s Panthers are now 8-5 for the year.
Blue EarthNRHEG was able to win just four matches in suffering a 48-15 thumping against Blue Earth.
At 113-pounds, Dillon Kubiatowicz scored a solid 7-1 triumph for the Panthers.
Cordell Peterson gave NRHEG a 9-4 lead when he secured a pin with one second remaining in the opening period at 120-pounds.
But, the Buccaneers took over at that point, winning nine consecutive weights, including four pins and two major decisions.
Dillon Parpart’s 9-6 loss at 170-pounds and a 10-4 loss by Nick Bartness at 182 were the only defeats that didn’t give up bonus points.
At 220-pounds, Zeke Erickson stopped the BE run with a fall just 20 seconds into the middle period.
Wyatt Fitterer gave up a second-period escape as he lost a 1-0 heartbreaker in the final bout of the match.
“I think our wrestlers underestimated how their team was going to wrestle. They were far more than we were prepared for,” said Larson. “Blue Earth is good, and even if we wrestled our best. I’m not sure that we would have enough to get them right now.”
Blue Earth improved to 7-5 for the season. The Bucs won last year’s match 42-21.
St. Clair
NRHEG started the match with four consecutive pins and rolled to an easy 63-16 triumph over St. Clair.
The Cyclones slipped to 6-7 overall. NRHEG won 66-14 a year ago.
Matt Butler (5:24), Cole Lenort (0:52), Kubiatowicz (3:20) and Cordell Peterson (2:33) gave the Panthers a quick 24-0 lead and they were never in trouble after that.
NRHEG received forfeits at 138 and 160.
Parpart needed a final-period reversal to pick up a 2-1 victory at 170-pounds.
Two more forfeits and two first-period falls completed the rout for NRHEG. Matt Jensen (1:11) at 195 and Zeke Erickson (1:23) at 220 had the Panther pins.
Triton
An 18-0 start proved to be the difference as the Panthers hung on for a 42-34 win over Triton.
The Triton Cobras are 7-5 for the season.
Bryce Okland got the Panthers off and running with a 6-2 win, followed by a Lenort pin in 1:21.
A forfeit and Palmer Peterson’s 9-3 win opened up an 18-point lead for NRHEG.
Triton picked up four falls, a forfeit and a major decision the rest of the way, but it was not enough to overcome the Panthers. The Cobras held a 34-30 lead with two bouts remaining.
Zeke Erickson put the Panthers back on top with a 3:37 pin at 220-pounds.
Todd Erickson then secured the win with a 3:32 fall in the heavyweight match.
“We were happy that our athletes came back with two decent efforts after a loss to pick up a pair of wins,” said Larson.
NRHEG travels to Wells for a Gopher Conference match against United South Central tonight.
The Panthers journey to Stewartville Saturday.