The Scott West wrestling team keeps grinding out wins as it prepares for the postseason mat.
The Panthers won four of five matches Jan. 8 in the Eden Prairie/Waconia Duals with its one loss coming to the No. 2-ranked team in Class 3A: Waconia. The Wildcats won four of the last five matches to earn a 43-33 win over Scott West.
The Panthers had wins over Perham (49-20), Osseo (60-18), Blue Earth Area (58-16) and Willmar (37-29), ranked No. 7 in Class 3A.
Scott West (8-4 in duals) is unranked in Class 2A and will have to get through a couple of ranked teams — No. 9 New Prague and No. 10 Watertown-Mayer — if it wants to get back to state as a team for the first time since 2018.
The Panthers have lost to both of those squads already, falling 42-29 to New Prague Dec. 11 and 37-24 to Watertown Mayer Dec. 3. St. Peter and Tri-City United, the defending section champs, will also be tough playoff foes.
Scott West has two individuals who are ranked. Sophomore Matt Randolph is No. 2 at 126 pounds and senior Zach Tracy is No. 4 at 132. Randolph and sophomore Caleb Tracy both went 5-0 in the duals tourney.
In the Panthers’ loss to Waconia, Randolph and Tracy earned falls at 126 and 132, respectively. Caleb Tracy also won by pin at 113, as did sophomore Leo Siekmann at 160 and junior Hunter Lilleskov at heavyweight.
Junior Landon Church earned a 4-2 decision at 145 for Scott West.
In beating Willmar, the match came down to the two heavyweights. Sophomore Carson Schoenbauer sealed the win for the Panthers with a fall.
Also getting pins for Scott West were Caleb Tracy (113), eighth-grader Mason Breeggemann (120), ninth-grader Tristan Holbrook (170), senior Ashton Holbrook (182) and ninth-grader Dylan Thomas (195).
Randolph earned a 10-0 win at 126 for the Panthers.
Against Perham, Scott West had three wins by pin. They came from Caleb Tracy (113), ninth-grader Adrain Ledesma (138) and Church (145).
Seventh-grader Bennet Balk had an 11-6 win at 106 for the Panthers, while Zach Tracy won 7-0 at 126. Randolph earned 16-1 technical fall at 132, while Siekmann had a 16-0 technical fall at 152.
Lilleskov won 12-8 at 220, while Breeggemann won by injury default at 120 and junior Luke Meriweather won by forfeit at 195.
Scott West had seven wins by fall in beating Blue Earth. They came from Zach Tracy (126), Randolph (132), Ledesma (138), Ashton Holbrook (160), Thomas (195), Lilleskov (220) and Schoenbauer (heavyweight).
Caleb Tracy and Church earned major decisions at 113 (14-0) and 145 (17-3), respectively. Breeggemann won 9-2 at 120, while Tristan Holbrook was a 5-2 winner at 182.
Scott West’s wins over Osseo came from Caleb Tracy (fall, 113), Breeggemann (fall, 120), Zach Tracy (fall, 126), Randolph (fall, 132), Church (fall, 145), Ashton Holbrook (fall, 170), Tristan Holbrook (fall, 182), Lilleskov (fall, 220), Schoenbauer (heavyweight, 220), Siekmann (medical forfeit, 160) and Balk (decision, 106).
Scott West went into the duals tourney off of a 61-16 victory Jan. 7 over Faribault, ranked No. 11 in Class 3A.
The Section 2AA team tourney is set for Feb. 17 with the first two rounds, while semifinals and title match are Feb. 19 at Watertown-Mayer. The section individual tourney will be held Feb. 25-26 in Delano.
This year’s Class 2A state tourney is March 3-5 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The team tourney is the first day, followed by individual action the next two days.
Scott West has lost in the section team finals two of last three years and in the semifinals in 2020 after having made the Class 2A state field 15 times in the previous 19 seasons.
