FLATTENED FOE — Martin County Red Bull wrestler Pierce Rohman (top) flattens out New London-Spicer’s Carson Nelson during their 121-pound semifinal match during Saturday’s Section 3AA Individual Meet in Windom. Rohman went on to post an 8-0 major decision. (Photo by Charlie Sorrells)

WINDOM — Freshman 121-pounder Pierce Rohman and sophomore 133-pounder Torrey Paplow know each other’s wrestling techniques to a tee after countless training sessions on the canvas.

Now, the pair of Martin County Red Bulls will spar for one more week after qualifying for their first-ever Class AA individual state bids via runner-up showings at Saturday’s Section 3AA Individual Meet in Windom.

Rohman and Paplow will make their individual state debuts on the Xcel Energy Center mats in St. Paul at 9 a.m. Friday.

Paplow and Rohman captured true-second challenge victories to claim sectional silver medals, while Red Bulls teammates Taylor Austin pocketed a bronze medal, Maddex Faber netted fourth-place hardware and Berent Kosbab exited with a fifth-place medal.

“We were only able to enter eight wrestlers into today’s competition due to an assortment of injuries, so to come away with five place-winners is something to be proud of,” said Red Bulls head coach Adam Williamson.

Rohman, the lone Red Bull grappler to earn a spot in the sectional championship clash, demonstrated his resilience by rebounding from an 8-2 loss to Marshall’s Landon Marthaler in the 121-pound finals. Marshall’s junior standout also defeated the Martin County freshman phenom in the Big South Conference Meet’s 121-pound gold-medal match earlier this season.

Ironically, Rohman faced another familiar foe in Saturday’s true-second match, and like his duel with Marthaler, stayed true to form from the league meet.

Rohman, who downed New Ulm’s Alex Portner in the BSC’s 121-pound semifinals by a 7-0 decision, coasted to an 8-2 win over the Eagles’ freshman to earn a state bid.

Rohman opened his sectional meet with a fall in 2:20 over Hutchinson’s Brayden Denler and posted an 8-0 major decision over New London-Spicer’s Carson Nelson in the semifinals.

While Rohman had a case of deja vu in the sectional, Paplow locked up his first individual state bid by defeating two unfamiliar rivals in his third-place and true-second matches in the 133-pound bracket.

After losing by technical fall to unbeaten Dylan Louwagie of Marshall in the sectional semifinals on Saturday, Paplow countered with a 21-6 technical fall over New Ulm’s Braxton Kiecker in the wrestlebacks before squaring off against Hutchinson’s Max Martin in the bronze-medal match.

Paplow clung to a narrow 3-2 lead after two completed periods before pressing Martin’s shoulders to the canvas in 4:42 for a fall.

Paplow then displayed his stellar stamina by rallying from a 5-0 deficit to New London-Spicer’s Isaiah Nelson in their true-second match.

“Better conditioning paid off for me,” Paplow said in reference to outscoring Nelson 6-1 during the third period to force overtime. “You just have to believe what you’ve done in practice all season long will work for you on the mat.”

Paplow utilized his reserve of energy to maintain forward progress during the final 2 minutes of regulation, causing Nelson to lose points due to continual stalling penalties. Paplow then notched a quick takedown of Nelson in the overtime to gain a spot at state via the 8-6 decision.

Austin nearly joined Rohman and Paplow in St. Paul, but exited the Windom canvas just three points shy of a win in his 172-pound true-second clash with NLS’ Brody Duke.

Austin gave himself a chance to punch his ticket to state by edging Marshall’s Tucker Fiene in the third-place sectional match by an 8-6 decision.

After a scoreless first period in the true-second duel, Duke managed to outscore Austin by a 5-2 margin in the second period before hanging on for an eventual 7-4 victory.

Austin opened the sectional by pinning Morris Area/Hancock Area/Chokio-Alberta’s Ryker Erickson in 41 seconds, edged New Ulm’s Wyatt Pollard by an 8-5 decision and lost a 4-0 decision to eventual sectional champion Sam Rock of Luverne in the semifinals.

Austin earned a spot in the bronze-medal match by rolling to an 8-3 win over Hutchinson’s Conner Kurth in the wrestlebacks.

Faber took a different path to the third-place match, rebounding from a fall in 1:56 at the hands of Marshall’s Drew Chandler in their opening clash at 145 on Saturday.

The Red Bull freshman posted a 5-1 consolation win over Hutchinson’s Cody Tews, downed NLS’ Caleb Nelson by a 10-4 wrestleback decision before losing to Chandler again in the bronze-medal match, 14-2, to place fourth overall.

Kosbab opened his 152-pound bracket with a fall in 1:07 over United’s Mason Pederson before dropping a 7-4 semifinal decision to another Chandler from Marshall — Brayden Chandler.

The Red Bull junior standout then lost a narrow 10-9 wrestleback decision to MAHACA’s Andrew Marty to square off again against United’s Mason Pederson. Kosbab edged Pederson by an 11-9 decision to finish with a fifth-place sectional medal.

•

Section 2A Meet

Blue Earth Area’s Kade Gaydon and Cooper Peterson each captured runner-up honors during the Section 2A Individual wrestling meet in Blue Earth on Saturday to punch their tickets to state.

The 172-pound Gaydon returns to the Class A state competition at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul at 9 a.m. Friday, March 1, while Peterson will make his individual state debut in the 139-pound division.

Gaydon received a quarterfinal bye before pinning Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial’s Nathan Sickler in 3:17 in the semifinals.

New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva’s George Roesler pinned Gaydon in the 172-pound finals in 1:35 to set up a true-second challenge match for the second state berth. Gaydon coasted to a 17-4 major decision over St. Clair/Mankato Loyola’s Lucas Vaughan to extend his senior wrestling campaign.

Peterson opened his sectional meet by needing only 59 seconds to pin Madelia/Truman’s Nick Firchau in a 139-pound quarterfinal before the BEA senior generated a 7-2 semifinal win over NRHEG’s Deven Parpart.

LCWM’s Zach Palmer edged Peterson by a 3-1 decision in the championship match, with Peterson claiming the second state bid due to defeating third-place winner Parpart earlier in the meet.