SHERBURN — The Class AA No. 3-ranked Martin County Red Bulls are on to the Section 3AA team semifinals.

The top seed in the Section 3AA East bracket cruised through the Luverne Cardinals 81-0 Thursday in Sherburn.

The Red Bulls now face United (Dawson-Boyd-Lac qui Parle-Montevideo) in the sectional semifinal at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, with the winner moving on to the final at 2 p.m.

United beat MAHACA (Morris Area/Hancock/Chokio-Alberta) 39-30 to reach the semifinal round.

Worthington beat New Ulm Area 39-36 to reach the semifinals where it will face Marshall, which beat New London-Spicer 45-31 in the quarterfinals. New London-Spicer beat Redwood-River Valley 53-21 in the opening round.

Martin County head coach Adam Williamson said the Red Bulls are nearing their goal of being the top team in the section, but now they will have to overcome the long ride to Marshall quickly.

“We’re one step closer to our ultimate goal,” Williamson said. “We’re not there yet, so we just need to keep moving forward one match at a time, one period at a time, one point at a time. Whatever it takes to get us there.

“We’ve got to get over that long bus ride early on. We’re gonna have to get our legs back and get a good warmup and come out aggressive like we always do.”

The Red Bulls wrestled only six matches to beat Luverne.

Class AA No. 6-ranked 113-pounder Kain Sanders was the first Red Bull to wrestle, facing the Cardinals’ Riley Cowell.

Sanders forced a takedown with 44 seconds left in the first period for the only points of the opening segment.

Cowell then escaped from the down starting position before Sanders took him down with 1:17 left, then forced a two-point near-fall at the 1:02 mark. Sanders was granted a stalling point in the third period, then escaped from the down starting position with three seconds left in the final period to take an 8-1 decision.

No. 3-ranked 120-pounder Lucas Jagodzinske then earned a slap of the mat against Luverne’s Noah Mehlhaff.

Lucas Jagodzinske forced a takedown late in the first period and was a second away from earning a pin before the first period ended, with the slap of the mat coming just after the two-minute segment concluded.

Jagodzinske forced a reversal from the down starting position in the second period, then earned the fall at the three-minute mark.

No. 7-ranked 132-pounder Blake Jagodzinske was the next Red Bull to face an opponent, earning a pin of Braydon Ripka in 3:33.

Blake Jagodzinske built a 13-0 lead with two takedowns, an escape, a two-point near fall and two three-point nears falls and looked for the technical fall, letting Ripka out of the second three-point near fall. Jagodzinske flipped Ripka again, turning him to his shoulders and earning the slap of the mat.

The Red Bulls’ No. 2-ranked 138-pounder Connor Simmonds needed only 55 seconds to pin Camden Janiszeski, then Cale Steuber used the same amount of time to pin 145-pound opponent Jaden Reisch.

No. 7-ranked 170-pounder Nathan Simmonds was the final Red Bull to face an opponent, pinning Chris Rosin in 57 seconds.

“All of our guys came ready today, we knew they (Luverne) would be a little short-handed,” Williamson said. “I told all the guys to prepare like they had a match. If you don’t get a match, you’re gonna have to get an extra workout in. The guys who did wrestle, wrestled really well. Kain Sanders got a huge win against a guy he needed to for the individual side of things and got things going for us.”

Cooper Steuber (106), No. 2-ranked 126-pounder Jaxson Rohman, No. 2-ranked 152-pounder Payton Anderson, No. 5-ranked 160-pounder Miles Fitzgerald, Max Olson (182), No. 6-ranked 195-pounder Jacob Rahn, Shayne Steinbrink (220) and Everardo Hernandez (285) all claimed forfeits.

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Red Bulls 81, Luverne 0

106: Cooper Steuber (MC) won by forfeit.

113: Kain Sanders (MC) dec. Riley Cowell, 8-1.

120: Lucas Jagodzinske (MC) pinned Noah Mehlhaff, 3:00.

126: Jaxson Rohman (MC) won by forfeit.

132: Blake Jagodzinske (MC) pinned Braydon Ripka, 3:33.

138: Connor Simmonds (MC) pinned Camden Janiszeski, 0:55.

145: Cale Steuber (MC) pinned Jaden Reisch, 0:55.

152: Payton Anderson (MC) won by forfeit.

160: Miles Fitzgerald (MC) won by forfeit.

170: Nathan Simmonds (MC) pinned Chris Rosin, 0:57.

182: Max Olson (MC) won by forfeit.

195: Jacob Rahn (MC) won by forfeit.

220: Shayne Steinbrink (MC) won by forfeit.

285: Everardo Hernandez (MC) won by forfeit.