Staff Photo by Jake Olson: Martin County Red Bull's Aaron Becker (215) leans on top of Carlos Rodriguez during the opening moments of his 215 bout on Thursday night in the Fairmont High School gymnasium.

FAIRMONT – The Martin County Red Bulls earned their first dual win of the 2025-2026 season, taking down Blue Earth Area 45-27 on Thursday night in the Fairmont High School gymnasium.

After going 3-3 in the first six weight classes, Martin County strung together four consecutive match victories to solidify the win.

“It was a good team win tonight,” Fairmont head coach Adam Williamson said. “Everyone did their part. Guys down in the lower weights found some wins, which were much needed. Through the middle of the lineup, we kind of put a big score up, and it was just a good night all around.”

Brock Jagodzinske (114) started a string of three straight pins for the Red Bulls, defeating BEA’s Jason Casey with an exclamation point finish during the final moments of the third period. Hector Gomez’s (121) last-minute take-down attempt gave him the edge past Lane Casey, and Leandro Ramirez (127) made fast work of Jake Ryan Engelby, 2:39 minutes into the match.

“Even with Jesse [Desjarlais] taking a loss, he wrestled a full match, which was huge and saved a couple of points,” Williamson said. “Borck got a big pin, Hector got a big pin, just seeing those new guys to the lineup, hanging in there, hanging tough, finding ways to win, is just huge for us.”

Buccaneer wrestlers Drake Engelby (133) and Timmy Nagal (139) strung together consecutive pins to push the match score closer, 18-16. But an experienced group of middleweight wrestlers answered the bell for Williamson and the Red Bulls.

A six-point second period helped Brock Stauffer (145) earn the 9-0 major decision win over Layden Bassett. Pierce Rohman used his aggressive offensive attack to slowly dismantle Colin Alfson via Tech Fall.

Torrey Paplow’s (160) 18-5 first-period advantage laid the foundation for an early pin 20 seconds later. Two immediate take-downs for Kaedin Lange set the stage for another pin for the Red Bulls, putting the contest away with a 39-16 lead.

“Our guys in the middle, our more experienced guys, just put up big points and that’s what we need out of them,” Williamson said. Pierce, Torrey and Kaedin just did a great job going and getting pins for us. …We could just rely on those experienced upperclassmen to go and get their job done for us, getting big wins and putting up the big score on our side.”

A quick pin from Aaron Becker (215) over Carlos Rodriguez put the final touch on the evening for Williamson and his team, cementing the score at 45-21 heading into the final match at 285 pounds.

Becker and a handful of other wrestlers are among the new faces the Red Bulls expect to see make big jumps this winter. In dual matches like these, wins or losses, the experience against other competitors and the lessons from older teammates can be detrimental to future success. So far, Williamson has been pleased with the growth.

“It’s just good to see them [the upperclassmen] taking on that leadership role, taking these young guys under their wing and showing how important it is to fight for wins, fight for full matches, and stay in their matches,” Williamson said. “They are learning from those guys and gaining experience by getting out on the mat.”

The Red Bulls will continue their season this Saturday in the 2025 Pizza Ranch Invitational held in Jackson. Match play will begin at 9:45 a.m., with 17 other teams competing for the first-place prize.