Cardinals 2010 Conference Champions

On Friday morning Coach Adams, still dripping wet from the morning shower, (I know this is an ugly picture) heard his cell phone ringing and upon looking at the caller id and seeing the call was from the Gagne home, he knew instantly that it was not going to be good news.  He was right, by the end of the conversation Coach Adams knew that the Cardinals would be without their starting 119 pound Darren Gagne who was home sick with the flu.  So as Adams often tells his wrestlers, he had to immediately start working on his plan B.  Making things even worse at 3:30 Coach Adams learned that the Cardinals would also be without their 103 pound starter Super Duper Cooper Anderson who was also home sick with the flu.  Our coaching staff realized that the conference championship was not going to be an easy task and without the services of two starters, the challenge would be even more challenging.  Everybody knows that the Anoka Coon Rapids rivalry is always intense one with little margin for error and not a good place for an up and coming eighth grader to make his second varsity start.  Corey Vaillencourt rose to that challenge and came up huge for the Cardinals in the opening bout of this great rivalry winning by 10-3 decision.  Great job Corey!  Captain Luke Stocker then dropped a hard fought 4-3 battle. Stocker always wrestles with a huge heart so this was a match the Cardinals thought they could win but remember this is an intense rivalry and sometimes things don’t always go as planned. At 119 in place of Gagne, Zac Lindberg, who is essentially a 103 pound wrestler and tried making 103 at 3:30pm but was 2 tenths over weight, was then bumped up to wrestle one of Anoka’s best wrestlers at 119. Zac battled hard but was just giving up to much weight.

Before the Cards knew it, they were in a hole and down by six points after the first three bouts.  On paper the Cardinals hoped to win the first eight matches in this dual knowing they would need a big lead due to Anoka’s solid upper weights.    The Cardinals then rattled off five straight wins in a row starting with a tech fall by Kahron Nix.  Brandon Peterson followed up with another gritty performance by overcoming cramps winning 4-2. The Cards then had consecutive victories of 7-2 by Captain Dan Coughlin and Matt Julkowski.  Captain Chad Mack scored 12 takedowns in his match to score a 27-9 tech fall.  (27 points is not a misprint).

At 152 Austin Lubinski, who spent most of the week at home because of the flu, lost to Anoka’s best wrestler Kyle Begin.  Making the team score 22 to 14.  The coaching staff for the Cardinals knew that they were in trouble.  Somebody had to step up.  Jake Emmerfoll did just that.  The coaching staff weighed in Lubinski and Emmerfoll  both at 152 and decided to give Emmerfoll a crack at Ducharme who had previously beaten Lubinski at the Rumble on the Red.  Emmerfoll gave up an early take down and was behind throughout most of the match, however, in wrestling you are required to wrestle the entire match and Emmerfoll  rose to the occasion and got a take down with 13 seconds in the match to secure a 4-3 victory.  Giving the Cardinals a much needed win.  At 171 Brandt Halseth lost a close 5-2 match. This was a match that could have gone either way. Halseth was repeatedly in on his opponents legs but came up short in the end. Buddy Falconer then lost by fall and Michael Burckhardt, who bumped up in weight to 215 pounds lost 3-2 giving the lead to Anoka 26-25 with one match remaining.  FLASHBACK:  Tanner Lowe defeated Johnson from Anoka in a close 3-2 match at the Christmas Tournament in December making the outcome of this dual very much in question.  Tanner Lowe, the bigger and more aggressive wrestler, out pointed Johnson with the benefit of two penalty points to win 4-2 to give the Cardinals a 28-26 victory and a piece of the NWSC Conference Championship.  In the end Coon Rapids had defeated all conference teams including Elk River in the rematch at Blaine. All Cardinal wrestlers will receive their conference patch at the wrestling banquet that will be held on March 23^rd in the Coon Rapids High School cafeteria.