Wrestling: Bombers make short work of Triton

CANNON FALLS – Last year was a trial by fire for the Cannon Falls wrestling team.

Going 12-15 a year ago, early on in the 2012-13 season, Bombers head coach Dudley Flodeen has seen his wrestlers step out of the flames with a different fire in their eyes.

“It’s worked for these guys,” Flodeen said of using the younger wrestlers last year. “Sometimes it backfires, but it’s good for these guys. … It’s basically the same team we had last year, but they’re another year old, they got another year of experience and they feel like they should be on the varsity team.”

Taking on Triton in a Hiawatha Valley League dual on Thursday, Cannon Falls blazed through the match with five pinfalls on the way to a 48-31 victory.

In a dual that went just over 40 minutes, the Bombers’ aggressive approach paid off as they jumped out to a 30-6 lead thanks to pinfall victories by Tyler Wilson at 120 pounds and Connor Rohr at 132. Wilson defeated Blake Randall in 2 minutes, 35 seconds, while Rohr was victorious over Gavin Bowman at 1:09.

“That’s something we want to embed into them to go after it, go the whole time, keep them on the mat and don’t let them rest,” Flodeen said. “That’s the kind of style we want to wrestle.”

Junior Clay Broze added, “In our wrestling room, we attack a lot and I think we’re good with that. … It’s always a grind.”

Facing an undermanned Triton lineup that had three open weights, Flodeen knew the matches were going to come fast against an equally-aggressive Cobras lineup. Just two of the 14 matches went all six minutes, with Triton getting a 10-2 major decision from 145-pounder Alex Head and a 3-0 decision for Brock Franko at 182 pounds.

“Triton’s a very similar team to ours this year,” Flodeen said. “They’re pretty balanced, but having those open weights hurt tonight.”

With Cannon Falls leading 30-6, Triton scored 10 straight points to cut the deficit to 14. But Sterling Carlson and Derek Johnson helped the Bombers put the match out of reach with two straight pinfalls. Carlson pinned Dylan Quaale at 3:42, while Johnson needed just 28 seconds to defeat Max Henderson.

Triton strung together 15 straight points to cut Cannon Falls’ lead to 42-31 before Broze stepped on the mat at 285 pounds for the Bombers.

Holding a 5-0 lead after the first period, Broze ended the match 22 seconds into the second, pinning the Cobras’ Adam Vacura.

“I was really aggressive, and I wrestled my match,” Broze said, “maybe I should have calmed down a little bit (in the first period), maybe that would have helped out. But I got it at the end.”

Last week, Broze beat Kasson-Mantorville’s Broc Berge, the No. 1-ranked wrestler in Class 2A at 195 pounds and a future University of Iowa Hawkeye. Since then, Broze, ranked ninth at 220 pounds, has taken to the mat differently.

“You get a lot more confidence, but you get a little more nervous because you wonder what people think and there are more eyes on you,” Broze said. “They want to know if you’re fake or not.”

With the work Broze put in over the summer, it’s been no surprise to Flodeen to see how his junior heavyweight has taken off early in the season.

“Even from last year, he’s made a big improvement,” Flodeen said of Broze, who went 34-8 a year ago. “He did a lot of stuff in the offseason and that kind of thing pays off. He did camps and he wrestled on the national duals team. … He likes the challenge and he looks forward to going out there against someone who’s a good wrestler.”

Cannon Falls is back on the mat Saturday, wrestling in the Kenyon-Wanamingo invitational.

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