(Avoca) AHSTW gets the luxury of competing in front of their home crowd with a trip to state on the line. The 13th ranked Vikings hill host #9 Woodbury Central Tuesday night.
The semifinal pairings at Avoca have AHSTW against Woodbury Central and #7 Underwood against unranked Mount Ayr. With the Eagle’s history of putting a junior varsity lineup on the mat in regional duals, that puts a lot of emphasis on AHSTW’s first matchup.
Head coach Evan McCarthy’s squad has made a habit of appearing in the regional duals, but getting to state has been elusive. This group is hungry to break through. “The group this year is pretty senior heavy. They are excited to compete as a group at the state tournament. I know they are still a little sour about not getting into the playoffs in football, so this is an opportunity to for them to kind of right that wrong a little bit and still compete at the state level like they are used to in other sports. I think the guys are excited for the opportunity and hopefully we’re wrestling our best.”
McCarthy says the main message to the team is that every match is important and keep in mind a decision loss is better than getting pinned. The Wildcats are especially strong from 120-152. 34-6 Joel Sampson against 45-3 (#3) Beau Klingensmith and 33-7 Denver Pauley or 34-7 (#6) Jaedan Rasmussen against 43-7 (#9) Nate Monahan are anticipated to be a pair of the high profile matches.
Woodbury Central was a sectional champion last weekend with 217 points. The Wildcats had seven district qualifiers including five sectional champions. They filled all fourteen weight classes last weekend. AHSTW was a sectional runner-up as a team with 192 points. The Vikings have eight district qualifiers, two of which won sectional titles individually. They fill 12 of the 14 weight classes. Each team’s lineup with records listed below is based on their sectional tournament results. Rankings are from IAwrestle.
AHSTW coach Evan McCarthy:
| #9 Woodbury Central | #13 AHSTW | |
| 106 | 36-14 Ryder Koele | Open |
| 113 | 24-26 Gunnar Vohs | Open |
| 120 | 31-19 Brackett Locke | 25-23 Hayden Fischer |
| 126 | 45-3 Beau Klingensmith #3 | 8-18 Dayden Moertl |
| 132 | 24-16 Tristen Jessen | 34-6 Joel Sampson |
| 138 | 15-22 Kyan Schultzen | 29-24 Garrison Gettler |
| 145 | 34-12 Max McGill | 12-21 Aidan Cano |
| 152 | 43-7 Nate Monahan #9 | 34-7 Jaedan Rasmussen #6 |
| 160 | 20-29 Brayden Sanford | 33-7 Denver Pauley |
| 170 | 4-8 Luke Paulsen | 28-12 Seth Kiesel #9 |
| 182 | 10-26 Andrew Martens | 27-19 Michael Shiffer |
| 195 | 26-14 Ty Dennison | 42-5 Gavyn Fischer #10 |
| 220 | 15-16 John Groetken | 25-22 Leland Barr |
| 285 | 19-22 Warren Smith | 25-2 Brady Canada #8 |
