By AJ Reisetter
Coming off a strong performance at Rumble On The Red, the largest high school sanctioned wrestling tournament in the United States, the Raiders hosted their first home meet of the year against Mankato East. Northfield escaped with a narrow 36-34 victory backed by pins from Jack Pribyl and Owen Murphy. However, the star of the show was sophomore Ryan Kuyper, who upset the number seven ranked 195lbs wrestler in the state at AA, Brian Tilges, by decision 8-6.
The night got started with Jackson Stensrud (106) getting the major decision over Matthew Dettling (106), 12-4. Caden Staab (113) got the Raiders on the board after an 8-2 regular decision victory over Jackson Buboltz (113).
The Raiders were then awarded 18 points due to Mankato East forfeiting at 120lbs, 126lbs, and 132lbs to put the Raiders up 21-4.
The Cougars came storming back when Luke Sholtee (138) won by a regular decision over Logan Williams (138), 10-5. Ben Glogowski (145) and Tyler Thilges (152) then won back-to-back falls over Andrew Williams (145) and Iah Schweich (152) respectively for Mankato East to bring the score back to 21-19.
Jack Pribyl (160) pinned Elliot Benz (160) in the third period to extend the Raiders lead, but Max Morgan (170) won by a regular decision over Colin Staab (170) 10-5. Owen Murphy (182) had a quick first period pin over Jacob Downey (182) to set up the match of the night.
Mankato East’s Brian Thilges was the only ranked wrestler (seventh, 195lbs in AA) coming into the meet from either side. Kuyper got his second crack at the 2022 state qualifier after getting pinned by Thilges in their first matchup at the Northfield Invite. Kuyper was down 2-1 after the first period but scored an escape, a reversal, and two back points to go up 6-4 after the second period. In the third Kuyper was awarded two more escape points to upset Thilges 8-6.
The Raiders will travel to Buffalo Saturday for an invitational starting at 10:00am.