Favorite Bismarck High School jumped out to the lead after day one of the NDHSAA Class A state wrestling tournament Thursday in the Fargodome.  The Demons won with bonus points where they were supposed to, and even added #5 seed Connor McGregor and unattached Kaden Renner to their group of nine total semifinalists.  In the evening’s quarterfinal round, the Demons racked up six pins, a technical fall, a major decision, and a decision to total 89.5 points.

Should second place Dickinson catch the Demons, it will likely have to be through the wrestlebacks .  The Midgets put five wrestlers into the semifinals, but lost four seed Henry Nelson at 113 by fall to #5 Joel Bowman of Jamestown.  Dickinson was not able to advance any of their four five-seeds to the semifinals. In a round that started at 138, Dickinson #2 Troy Berg had to overcome an early 0-2 deficit to defeat Jamestown’s Colton Mewes in the third overtime period.  Dickinson book ended the semifinal round with a major decision 9-1 from Jaron Berger over Sam Goodman of Minot.

Third place Jamestown sent five to the semifinals including brothers Aden and Noah Braun, and Joel and Ethan Bowman.  The Blue Jays also added 220 Paul Vandal.

The top six teams after day one of the competition are all from the West Region, with seventh place Davies the first team on the leader board from the EDC. Of the fifty-six total semifinalists, twelve are from East Region schools.

Wrestling unattached at 106, Century’s Kaden DeCoteau knocked off scoring teammate Jacob Ersland by 9-6 decision.  DeCoteau is one of five Patriot semifinalists.

Watford City gained the first semifinalist of their new Class A era when Liam Shannon defeated Preston Fettig 7-0 in the quarterfinals at 132.  Shannon will wrestle #1 Drew Steidler in the semifinals tomorrow.

The individual upset of the day came in the first round at 160, where Grand Forks Central’s Ben Stevens upeneded #2 David Peterson of Valley City 8-1 in sudden victory.  Stevens lost to Williston’s #7 Comstock Krenz in the next round 10-1.