Bismarck Matpac entered three teams into  Large School division of the North Dakota USA Wrestling State Duals, and Matpac Red and Matpac Blue split the state championship.  Matpac Blue, seeded first in the tournament, ran to the title match with a 78-0 won over Mandan and a 71-3 win over Dickinson.  Blue only lost one match on its way to the finals.  Matpac Red was tested in its first match with third place Dakota Rattlers, but ultimately came out on top by 38-30 score.  Red then pounded Tech Team Black of Fargo 60-6 to advance to the title match.  In the match with Dakota Rattlers, Matpac Red flexed its muscle in the lightweights, winning in eight of the first nine matches.  The Rattlers were able to score four pins in a row to end the dual, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the early run by Matpac.  Matpac’s third team, Grey, lost in the consolation semifinals to Tech Team Black 28-27.

Head Matpac Coach Chad Renner was very pleased with the effort from all three of the Matpac teams Friday evening.  Their goal coming into the tournament was to put both teams into the finals and get win from Red over Tech Team.

“For me, the most important thing was that our young kids never got too wound up in the close, tough matches,” Renner stated.  “I think we won almost every close match that was a tossup because our kids didn’t cry or break.”

Renner believes that the competition in the Matpac room, which boasts over a hundred wrestlers, is the reason for the kids’s resolve in tough matches.

“The kids have hard matches every day in the room,” Renner said.  “They are used to fighting hard.  We talked all year about our Red team beating Tech Team and making the finals and the kids stepped up and did it.”

Tech Team Black defeated Dickinson 40-28 for third.

Group 1 Large Team Results