It wasn’t a perfect night for Bismarck High, but it was good enough to put seven through to the state finals and put 92 team points between themselves and second place Minot.  The Demons got things started at 132 with one of the most anticipated semifinals of the evening in Demon Kaden Renner and Minot state champion Kelby Armstrong.  Things went Armstrong’s way in the first, as he scored a two point takedown  and gave up an escape point to end the period ahead 2-1.  In the second, Renner changed the game when he found a cradle from a scramble off an Armstrong shot for five points.  Armstrong would continue to work, but it wasn’t enough as Renner won 9-6.  After losing two semifinals in a row the Demons got back at it with 152 Brock Fettig.  Fettig and Legacy’s Draken Sugelymeyer wrestled a back and forth barn burner in which Fettig took the lead in the second and went on to win 15-10.  Fettig will wrestle #3 Noah Braun of Jamesotown in tomorrow’s final.  Braun edged Mandan’s Will Kleinknecht 2-1 in the other semifinal.  At 170, Gage Roaldson advanced to his first state finals with an 8-2 victory over Parker Vilandre of Devils Lake. Roaldson missed the end of last season with a neck injury, bit has dominated North Dakota competition this year.  Tomorrow will be his first bout with Davies’ Connor Chloupek.  Demon 182 Isaiah Huus picked up where Roaldson left off, scoring a 17-0 technical fall over Anthony Carranza of Century.  Bismarck High then went for three consecutive pins in their final three semis.  LJ Araujo (106), Christian Tanefeu (113), and Wilfried Tanefeu (120) all made quick work of opponents to finish the night in a crescendo.  Demons Preston Fettig (138), Ben Nagel (145), and Brandt Kringlie (160), came up short in their title bids.  Kringle, a champion at 152 last season, fell to Minot’s Chase Burke 3-2.

Four teams, Minot, Century, Jamestown, and Valley City are bunched up heading into tomorrow’s wrestelback rounds.

The lone top seed to fall on the Class A side was Dickinson’s Tanner Jarrett at 195.  Jarrett was upended by Shane Kennedy of West Fargo Sheyenne 3-2.  Kennedy is Sheyenne’s first state finalist in school history.

Ten of the fourteen Class A state finals will be contested by the top two seeds in the tournament.