At the Class 2A Wrestling Sectional 2 in Woodward on Saturday, Greene County won the team title with 220 points and eight District qualifiers; six champions and two runners-up. ADM and Gilbert each had three champions with one apiece by Van Meter/Earlham and Woodward-Granger. Perry did not have a champion. The race for second as a team was extremely close with W-G getting the nod with 182 points, just ahead of ADM’s 177.5 and 177 for Gilbert. Van Meter/Earlham had 163 points and Perry 96.

The Hawks had seven District qualifiers (1 first, 6 seconds). ADM had three champions and one second place finisher with Gilbert at three champions and two runners-up, while VM/E had one champion and two second place finishers. Perry had no champions and one wrestler in second place.

The Rams went 9-2 in semifinal matches with eight falls and the stellar round propelled Coach Zach Beekman’s team to the lead which they held the rest of the day.

One of the featured matches of the tournament saw Ram sophomore McKinley Robbins edge Perry junior Cole Nelson, 4-3 for the 120 lbs. title. Both were State Tournament place winners last year with Robbins second at 106 lbs. and Nelson sixth at 113 lbs. Robbins improved to 27-0 this season and 64-2 for his career while Nelson fell to 36-5 this season. The Ram is ranked number one in 2A while the Blue Jay is rated eighth.

A thrilling title match at 113 lbs. went to VM-E’s freshman Payton Harger as he upset number nine Peyton Nixon, a sophomore, and the top seed from W-G, 9-8, with a late escape and the winning takedown with two seconds left in the third period. Nixon met Greene County’s Brenner Gallagher, a 2020 State qualifier for second place in a wrestle back with the Hawk winning 12-7 to advance as the runner-up.

Nine of the 14 weight classes had wrestle back matches for second place. That occurs when the loser of the first place match and winner of the consolation match had not met earlier Saturday.

The qualifiers from Woodward meet the qualifiers from the Knoxville Sectional to form District 1 in Adel on Feb. 13. The top two finishers from each weight class will qualify for the Feb. 18-19-20 State Tournament in Des Moines. Raccoon Valley Radio will have extensive play-by-play coverage of the State Tournament on all three radio stations, plus stream the action on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.

Qualifiers for 2A District 1 in Adel on Feb. 13:

106 lbs. 1- Jake Alexander, ADM 2- Alex Saxton, W-G

113 lbs. 1- Payton Harger VM/E 2-Peyton Nixon, W-G

120 lbs. 1- McKinley Robbins, Gr. Co 2- Cole Nelson, Perry

126 lbs. 1- Cael Ihle, Gilbert 2- John Sprague, Gr. Co.

132 lbs. 1- Ben Smith, ADM 2- Riece Graham, W-G

138 lbs. 1- Brady Stauffer, Gr. Co. 2- Kadin O’Connor, ADM

145 lbs. 1- Gavin Scheuermann, Gr. Co. 2- Jackson Böese, VM/E

152 lbs. 1- Gage Davis, ADM 2- Hank Johnson, Gilbert

160 lbs. 1- Nate Black, Gr. Co. 2- Dustin Harney, W-G

170 lbs. 1- Jon McKeever, W-G 2- Noble Hoyt, Gr. Co.

182 lbs. 1- Fernando Villaescusa, Gilbert 2- Trey Bond, VM/E

195 lbs. 1- Joe Larimore,Gilbert 2- Devan Brown, W-G

220 lbs. 1- Broc Hamman, Gr. Co. 2- Nic Romero, Gilbert

285 lbs. 1- Sawyer Schiltz, Gr. Co. 2- Alex Evans, W-G