Hawks send 4 to districts

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Sectional Summary

Team Standings

(District qualifiers)

1. Manson-Northwest Webster (6) 190; 2. West Marshall (4) 172; 3. Fort Dodge St. Edmond (5) 140; 4. South Hamilton (4) 134; 5. Ogden (3) 133.5; 6. Prairie Valley (3) 128.5; 7. South Hardin (2) 78.5; 8. Southeast Webster-Grand (1) 59.

Championship Matches

103-Lance Maguire (SE) dec. Dustin Gould (WM), 4-0; 112-Dakota Pack (SHar) dec. Caleb Alne (M), 4-2; 119-Jesse Partlow (M) major dec. Layth Peed (PV), 12-4; 125-Michael Hemesath (WM) dec. Logan Savits (O), 6-2; 130-Brayton Taylor (PV) tech. fall Caleb Smothers (M), 15-0; 135-Jared Hefler (O) major dec. Matt Hemesath (WM), 11-3; 140-Mason Waddell (SE) dec. Justin Toyne (WM), 8-5; 145-Colby Grothoff (SHar) dec. Chris Engelby (SHam), 2-0; 152-Jon Elmore (PV) tech. fall Stephon Ahrens (O), 17-2; 160-Justin Head (SHam) dec. David Linder (SE), 11-8; 171-Sean Nichols (O) dec. Austin Rasch (M), 10-9; 189-Bryan Martin (SHam) dec. Ronnie Albee (M), 6-2; 215-Zach Carstenson (SEW) dec. Ben Kraayenbrink (SE), 10-4; 285-Jared Gross (M) pinned Jedd Ahlberg (SHam), 0:40.

Wrestleback Matches

119-Layth Peed (PV) pinned Dalton Van Zwol (WM), 5:26; 125-Logan Savits (O) pinned Dylan Dorage (M), 2:28; 145-Chris Engelby (SHam) pinned Tanner Lawman (PV), 3:46; 152-Joe Winge (SE) pinned Stephon Ahrens (O), 1:24.

District at a Glance

South Hamilton first round matches

Saturday, Feb. 13

At Clarion (Clarion-Goldfield High School)

145-Chris Engelby, South Hamilton (25-7) vs. Cody Harrison, Eagle Grove 35-4).

160-Justin Head, South Hamilton (28-7) vs. Ryder Clark, West Hancock (22-9).

189-Bryan Martin, South Hamilton (27-2) vs. Zach Schlueger, West Hancock (29-6).

285-Jedd Ahlberg, South Hamilton (13-11) vs. Nick Aitchison, West Hancock (29-8).

OGDEN - Four South Hamilton wrestlers just weren't ready to see the curtain drop on their careers here on Saturday.

It wasn't just the season that was on the line for the senior quartet at a Class 1A sectional tournament. For them, there was no tomorrow.

But now there is.

Justin Head (160 pounds) and sixth-ranked Bryan Martin (189) captured sectional titles, and Chris Engelby (145) and Jedd Ahlberg (285) secured second-place finishes as all four advanced to this Saturday's district tournament in Clarion where spots in the state tournament will be up for grabs.

South Hamilton put together a solid effort with 134 points to place fourth in the eight-team field. Manson-Northwest Webster claimed the team title with 190, 18 points ahead of runner-up West Marshall. Both teams qualified for Tuesday's team regional duals.

"I thought our kids wrestled pretty well throughout the day," South Hamilton head coach Corey Klemp said. "From a team standpoint, we finished about as strong as we could have given the open weights that we had (at 103, 112, 135 and 140)."

Head and Martin picked up three wins each en route to the gold.

Head (28-7) racked up 43 match points - a sure sign that he's staying aggressive - and earned his first sectional crown with an 11-8 decision over David Linder of Fort Dodge St. Edmond in the gold-medal round.

"Justin had a terrific day," Klemp said. "He's really gotten on a roll here lately and is looking sharp. Linder has a different style, but Justin did a good job of staying patient and taking what was given to him."

Martin (27-2) - a seventh-place medal winner at state a year ago - dusted off his opening two opponents in the first period. And in their third meeting of the season, Martin controlled Ronnie Albee of Manson-Northwest Webster for a 6-2 decision. Martin has won all three bouts between the two district qualifiers.

"Sometimes it gets a little hard when you're wrestling somebody you've seen before because they get defensive on you," Klemp said. "But Bryan wrestled really smart and did what he needed to do."

Engelby (25-7) dropped a tough 2-0 decision to fourth-ranked Colby Grothoff of South Hardin in the championship round, but he quickly regrouped in time for a wrestleback and stuck Tanner Lawman of Prairie Valley in 3:46.

"I think Chris gained a lot of confidence knowing that he can wrestle with a kid like (Grothoff)," Klemp said. "Chris was in scoring position quite a few times near the edge of the mat, but he just wasn't able to finish them off."

Ahlberg (13-11) won a pair of matches before being pinned by Manson-Northwest Webster's Jared Gross in the finals. Ahlberg had beaten Gross earlier in the week in a dual meet.

Manson-Northwest Webster grabbed a tournament-best six district berths. St. Edmond picked up five, and West Marshall joined South Hamilton with four.