(Underwood) Elliot Cooney, Ben Breheny, Tyler Breheny, and Austin Wilson are the four Nodaway Valley wrestlers that still have the dream alive to get to the state tournament. The Wolverines are among the teams in competition Saturday at a Class 1A District Tournament in Underwood.
Nodaway Valley claimed three individual sectional titles last weekend and advanced another as a runner-up. At 113 pounds sophomore (39-3) Elliot Cooney is a returning state qualifier and is ranked 9th, but his path back to Des Moines isn’t a given. He’ll open up with 35-14 Niles Sollazzo, of Underwood. The other side of the bracket has #6 (36-2) Jace Rose, of Riverside, and 19-14 Westley Ganoe, of West Central Valley. Head coach Jesse McCann says, “He’s gonna have two good kids. He’ll face Rose hopefully again and the Underwood kid. Those are two tough teams right there and you know they are going to be ready to battle. We are going to be watching a lot of film and be preparing Elliot hopefully to move on to state.” Rose downed Elliot in the John J. Harris finals earlier this year.
Another ranked wrestler for Nodaway Valley is #9 Austin Wilson at 160 pounds. His semifinal foe will be 23-17 Carson Burhenne, of Treynor. The rest of the quartet includes 30-10 Javyn Bladt, of Audubon, and #10 (33-7) Denver Pauley, of AHSTW. Wilson is 38-1 despite not even getting past the sectional round last year. “He’s really good on his feet. We still are working on his top game a little bit, but something has clicked this year where’s he’s way better on his feet. Way more mat awareness and knowing the situation. He’s looking really good. I’m excited to see him wrestle some tough opponents at districts.”
26-15 Ben Breheny goes in as a sectional champ at 120 and his first match will likely determine his fate. He sees a returning state qualifier in 25-23 Hayden Fischer, of AHSTW. Defending state runner-up Stevie Barnes is the heavy favorite at 120. He’s ranked #2 in the state with a record of 51-1 and will face 15-18 Dawson Muller, of ACGC, in the semi’s.
Tyler Breheny at 152 is 24-22 on the year and will compete in a weight class with two ranked wrestlers. He’ll face #3 (16-2) Blake Thomsen, of Underwood, first. Thomsen has placed 3rd at state in each of the last two years. The other semifinal has 37-9 Jake Cox, of Bedford/Lenox, against #7 (34-7) Jaedan Rasmussen, of AHSTW.
Wrestling starts at noon. KSOM will have updates on the air twice an hour. KSWI will be tracking district wrestling action in Class 2A from Atlantic on Saturday.