The Scott West wrestling team upped its
season dual meet record to 10-0 with a pair of victories on Thursday and Friday
night.  After defeating Sibley East 52-10 on Thursday night in Belle Plaine, the
Panthers traveled to Delano where they pulled out a 36-30 win over the host
Tigers.  "It's good to be 10 and 0," states Scott West coach Darren Ripley. 
"However, we need to start wrestling better overall as a team."

The meet in Delano would
start with Phillip Dvorak accepting a forfeit at 103 and the Panthers would jump
out to an 18-0 lead behind pins at 112 and 119 that came Lee Goldberg and Tyler
Zilverberg, respectively.  Delano would get on the scoreboard in a match between
two Rumble on the Red place winners as Dalton Sowers better Jake Siegle 7-3. 
Sowers had placed 5th the week before in the Rumble at 125, while Siegle had
placed 3rd at 130.  With the scored tied at 2-2 in the third period, Sowers
would throw Siegle to his back in a lateral drop and the five point move would
prove to be the difference in the match as the Delano wrestler would win a 7-3
decision.  "It was a tough match to lose," comments coach Ripley.  "However, you
have to credit the Delano wrestler for hitting a great move."

At 130 pounds Mark Dvorak
would hit a great move as he reversed Delano wrester Tim Celander to his back
and pinned him with a tight half nelson midway through the second period.  The
match up at 130 was the second consecutive match up between Rumble on the Red
place winners as Dvorak had placed 8th at 135 the week before in Fargo, while
Celander had placed 6th at 130.  "Mark really isn't known as a pinner," claims
coach Ripley.  "However, with that said, he has become much better from the top
position and it was good to see him go after the pin here like he
did."

Following the Dvorak pin, Delano would follow with two pins of their own
as Rumble on the Red place winners Ben Brasket (135) and Joe Hessing (140)
notched first period pins over Tom Hentges (135) and Paul Dvorak (140).  The
Tigers would then get a 6-0 win by Mike Roth over Nick Dvorak at 145 pounds to
make the team score 24-18 in favor of Scott West as Tyler Kivel came to the mat
at 152.  Kivel would add to the dual meet pin fest as the senior delivered a
second period pin of Chris Gallus.  "Usually when you get two pretty good teams
together, you don't see a lot pins," insists coach Ripley.  "However, that
certainly was not the case tonight."

There would be no pin at 160 pounds although
Scott West wrestler Dillon Fogarty got taken down and put on his back in the
opening period by Delano's Jake Bohler.  However, trailing 6-0 early in the
second period and 7-2 at the end of the second period, Fogarty would
methodically work his way back into the match as he scored three take downs on
the Delano wrester in the third period to cut the margin to 9-8 before giving
the Tiger wrestler a late escape and a 10-8 victory.  "The negative of course
would be that Dillon lost the match," states coach Ripley.  "However, the
positive is that he outscored the Delano wrestler 8-2 after digging himself a
6-0 hole."

With the team score at 30-21, the four upper weight matches would have to
decide the meet.  Scott West would get a 9-2 win from Connor Fogarty at 171
pounds as he stretched Delano's Jordan Braegelamann out in  a third period
guillotine to secure the win.  The Fogarty win put Scott West up by twelve
(33-21) and freshman Michael Kroells would find himself fighting off an ambush
of attacks from Delano wrestler Eric Dahl at 189 pounds.  After the dust had
settled from the first period, Kroells found himself trailing 7-0.  However, the
freshman would prove his mettle as he would hold his ground in the final two
periods refusing to give up bonus points in an 11-4 loss.  "You have to give
Michael a lot of credit for staying in there and fighting for six minutes,"
states coach Ripley.  "The Delano wrestler had a seven point lead after the
first period and that is all he had after the third period."

Scott West would take a
nine point (33-24) team lead into the 215 pound match and Travis Hentges would
have the opportunity to seal the team victory with a win.  The match would
remain scoreless through two periods and then Hentges would score a reversal of
Delano's Dalton Copenhaver and with the ensuing ride out Hentges had a 2-0 win
and the Panthers had an insurmountable 36-24 team lead that was cut to 36-30
when Delano's heavyweight Eric Nelson closed the night of wrestling with a
second period pin of Bruce Koepp.    "Delano is a dangerous team because they
have guys that are pinners," states coach Ripley, who had just watched a meet
with seven pin falls.  "We also did a good job tonight of getting
pins."

And speaking of pins Tony Valek, former Scott West State Champion, would
record three pins down in Cedar Falls, Iowa as the freshman 141 pounder helped
the Augsburg Auggies to the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division III
National Duals Championship held on Saturday and Sunday at the UNI Dome.  Valek
lost his final match in the championship meet against Wartburg, but the Auggies
stunned the #1 rated Knights 21-20 to win the team championship.  Also involved
in the action, was another former Scott West State Champion, Nick Slack, who is
an assistant coach for Augsburg.  In addition, former Scott West State place
winner, Jacob Roberts (149), competed in the event with the St. Cloud State
Huskies.  Roberts, like the Huskies, went 1-2 in the tournament.   "It was a big
win for Augsburg," states coach Ripley.  "The Auggies and the Knights have a
great rivalry and will meet again in Minneapolis on Friday, January
30th."

This week Scott West will host Windom Area and New Prague on Thursday
night in Jordan and then the Panthers will travel to Wayzata for a quad with
Wayzata, Eastview and Lakeville South.  On Saturday, January 17th there will be
a benefit dinner for Roger Whipps presented by Allied Waste that will be held at
the Jordan High School from 4 pm to 7 pm.  Roger died in a motorcycle accident
this past summer and he is the father to former Scott West wrestlers David
(State Champion) and Robbie Whipps.  "We have five meets in two days so their
should be plenty of good wrestling action," states coach Ripley.  "And we hope
to see a lot of people out at the Whipps benefit dinner."