Bulldogs Claim Three Individual NCC Titles

The North Central Conference wrestling tournament is the longest running conference tournament in the state of Iowa.  When you think about the storied past of Iowa wrestling and the role the NCC has played in that history, it makes winning a conference title even more special.  Coach Hansen and his staff were excited about the possibility of having a few wrestlers etch their name in stone and claim one of those titles.  Hansen thought his team had an outside shot at repeating as conference tournament champions. Hansen said, “The NCC is extremely deep this season.  You look around at all the kids that are ranked and kids that will be on the podium this year, it shows how deep the NCC is.”

On Tuesday Jan 17th The Bulldog wrestlers traveled to Garner for a double dual with the Garner-Hayfield/Ventura Cardinals and the Forest City Indians..  The Bulldogs would face off with the home team first and came away with wins in 8 of the 14 matches with Taylor Mahler, Hector Bunston, Carter Heilskov, and Brody Strother all winning by fall.  Karter Janssen, Jayson Stevens, Jaymes Stevens, and Charlie Showalter all took forfeits.  The contest ended with the Bulldogs beating the Cardinals 48-30.  The next dual pitted the Bulldogs against the Indians and  The Bulldogs dominated, winning 11 of the 14 match-ups.  Taylor Mahler, Colin Bird, Karter Janssen, Cael Burmester, Maddon Evans, Carter Heilskov, Jayson Stevens, Jaymes Stevens, Brody Strother, and Chase Johnson would all get pins for the Bulldogs and Charlie Showalter would earn an 11-5 decision.  The two dual wins reset the Bulldog’s dual record back to 8 and 8.

On Saturday Hampton-Dumont-CAL hosted the 56th annual North Central Conference wrestling tournament, one that has seen some of the great Bulldog wrestlers of the past as champions.  One of those legends and the first NCC champion, John Showalter, recently passed away early this year. However his legacy lives on as this meet saw his grandson Charlie Showalter, competing for the Bulldogs 56 years after the auspicious occasion  This year's tournament included eighteen individual ranked wrestlers across the eight team field.  The Bulldogs would field a full line-up and started the first round off with some fireworks, seeing the first four Bulldog wrestlers all win.  The big bang would be sophomore Chase Johnson hitting a big headlock to knock off the 10th ranked and second seeded Zinnel from Algona.  The Bulldogs would finish the first round with eight wrestlers on the front side of the bracket.  The second round saw five Bulldogs advancing to the finals.Jayson Stevens at 106 pounds won by fall to advance to the finals.  At 126 pounds Charlie Showalter prevailed in a hard fought, 3-1 decision to make the finals.  Taylor Mahler, at 145 pounds, earned a major decision to make the finals.  Cael Burmester bumped up a weight class and pinned his way to the 195 pound finals for the Bulldog.  Fifth Ranked, Carter Heilskov suffered a bye first round, but earned a pin to find himself in the finals at heavyweight.  On the backside of the bracket seven of the nine remaining Bulldogs would place.  Jaymes Stevens at 113 pounds, Brody Strother at 120 pounds, and Hector Bunston at 220 pounds all finished fourth for the Bulldogs.  Chase Johnson at 132 pounds, Colin Bird at 152 pounds, Karter Janssen at 160 pounds, and Maddon Evans at 182 pounds all placed sixth for the Bulldogs.

Finalists then got to wrestle with the lights turned down in the Hampton-Dumont gym.  At 106 pounds, eighth ranked Jayson Stevens would take on second ranked Linden Phetxoumphone of Webster City.  Stevens scored an early takedown then gave up an escape.  The Lynx wrestler would get another escape to tie the match up.  That took the match to overtime with Stevens getting in on a shot off the whistle.  Which led to a scramble and Stevens rolling through to get the takedown and claim his second NCC title.  At 126 pounds, Charlie Showalter would take on eighth ranked Barrett Morgan of Algona.  Showalter faced a tough match against Morgan, but was unable to get to his offense and Morgan claimed a 5-1 victory, with Showalter finishing second. Taylor Mahler took on Caleb Seaba of Clarion-Goldfield-Dows   At 145 pounds, with Mahler getting takedowns in both the first and second periods while only giving up one escape. Mahler had a 4-1 lead going into the final 10 seconds of the match but gave up another takedown, but would earn the 4-3 decision to earn his first NCC title.  Cael Burmester wrestled for the 195 pound title against second ranked CJ Hisler of Webster City.  Hisler scored early putting Burmester to his back, but Burmester fought off his back multiple times before being pinned.  The final saw Burmester placing second at 195 pounds and Carter Heilskov finished the event at 285 pounds.  Fifth ranked Heilskov would waste no time getting to the offense and scoring a takedown, locking up a cradle against Webster City’s Landon Griffin and getting the fall. In so doing Heilskov claimed his first NCC title after being a runner-up last year.  The Bulldogs would finish fifth as a team with 160 points.

The Bulldogs are now preparing for the postseason and should start to look to get ready to wrestle in Des Moines.  They return to action Tuesday January 24th when they travel to Britt to face off with the West Hancock Eagles and the Algona Bulldogs.  Then on Saturday they will head to Roland-Story for a dual tournament.