INVERTED TILT — Martin County Red Bulls wrestler Pierce Rohman (left) tilts Blue Earth Area’s Timmy Nagel during their 106-pound match in Thursday night’s Big South Conference dual meet at Cardinal Gym in Fairmont. Rohman went on to post a 16-6 major decision. (Photo by Charlie Sorrells)

FAIRMONT — The Class AA No. 7-ranked Martin County Red Bull grapplers went on a bonus-points bonanza during their season-opening dual meet Thursday night at Cardinal Gym.

The Red Bulls produced four falls and four major decisions to combine with three forfeits to amass a 58-12 Big South Conference triumph over the Blue Earth Area Bucs in Fairmont.

“Everybody was looking for bonus points,” Martin County head coach Adam Williamson said in reference to winning individual matches by eight or more points. “It’s a great way to start our dual-meet season and in front of a home crowd, too.

“Our guys really gave us a boost right out of the starting game by earning three falls and a pair of major decision during the first five matches for a 26-0 lead.”

Pierce Rohman transformed leads of 8-3 and 13-4 after the first two respective periods into a 16-6 major decision over the Bucs’ Timmy Nagel at 106 pounds.

“I believe that was Pierce’s first dual win at the varsity level,” said Williamson.

Torrey Paplow and Maddex Faber then generated back-to-back falls for the Red Bulls at 113 and 120 pounds, respectively. Ironically, each wrestler utilized the take down-and-release technique to build 10-4 leads before recording the opening-period pins. Paplow downed Colton Tolzmann in 1:24, while Faber followed with a fall in 1:57 over Wyatt Holland en route to a 16-0 team lead.

No. 7-ranked 120-pounder Rylan Cutler moved to 126 and led 6-2 and 8-4 over Carson Sturtz after the initial two frames, respectively. Cutler, however, doubled his takedowns in the third to close out a 16-6 major decison.

Berent Kosbab did not waste any time in pinning the Bucs’ Blair Lunz in 1:14 during 132-pound action to widen Martin County’s margin to 26-0. Kosbab took Lunz down right away en route to earning the slap of the canvas.

Angel Martinez ended BEA’s scoring drought by earning the visitors’ lone fall on the dual meet. After a low-scoring first period, Martinez pinned Evan Welcome in 2:54 to put six points on the Bucs’ side of the team ledger.

Aden Welcome quickly countered for the Red Bulls by gradually building a 9-0 major decision over Cooper Peterson at 145. Welcome led 2-0 and 3-0 after two periods before erupting for six third-period points.

Taylor Austin and Ty Kolbe received forfeits at 152 and 160, respectively, for Martin County before No. 5-ranked 160-pounder Carver Rohman climbed the weight bracket to chalk up a 21-9 major decision over Kade Gaydon at 170.

Rohman used a takedown-for-escape strategy to net an 8-3 first-period lead before duplicating the process to a 17-7 margin after two completed frames.

Parker Meyers and Cory Kitchel answered for the Bucs by generating back-to-back six-point winning decisions at 182 and 195, respectively.

Meyers combined a first-period takedown, with a three-point near-fall in the second and an escape in the third to earn a hard-fought 6-0 decision over Gage Cyphers.

Kitchel rolled to an 6-1 lead over Riley Allen in the opening segment but Allen rallied with a third-period takedown to inch within 8-5. Kitchel, however, put the match away by an 11-5 decision.

Max Olson, who’s ranked No. 2 at 285, notched the 100th win of his esteemed prep wrestling career by receiving a forfeit at 220.

“We’d rather had Max wrestle for an important win like that, but it wasn’t to be,” said Williamson.

Colby Schwichtenberg then delivered the Red Bulls’ fourth fall of the dual meet by pinning Zach Benson in 3:00 at heavyweight.

The Red Bulls (1-0) compete in the Jackson County Central Invitational at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in Jackson. Blue Earth Area (0-1) participates in a triangular with Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial Area and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton at 5 p.m. Tuesday in Waterville.