Shakopee wrestlers fall in title match
The Shakopee wrestling team dream of becoming the state champions came up just short on Thursday night.
The No. 1 ranked Sabers lost 30-25 to St. Michael-Albertville in the Class 3A state wrestling championship at the Xcel Energy Center.
Shakopee sophomore Paxton Creese got the Sabers off to a strong start with a 15-8 decision at 106 pounds which gave the Sabers 3-0 lead.
St. Michael answered by winning the next three matches including pins at 120 and 126 pounds for a 15-3 lead - lead they would never relinquish.
Shakopee cut the lead to 18-17 by winning three of the next four matches. Tyler Jones won 2-0 at 132 pounds, Sam Webster earned a technical fall at 145 and Alex Lloyd won by pin fall at 152 pounds.
STMA answered by winning three very close matches from 160 to 182. St. Michael won 5-1 at 160, 1-0 at 170 and 9-5 at 182 pounds to push the lead to 27-17
DJ Smith won by technical fall at 195 pounds to cut the lead to 27-22 with two matches left.
The Knights clinched the state title when Nolan Schmitz defeated Tommy Johnson 6-3 at 220 pounds for a 30-22 lead.
Tyler Kropiwka finished the match off with a 2-1 win at 285 pounds to put the final score at 30-25.
Shakopee reached the finals with a 62-9 win against Minnetonka in the quarterfinals and a 32-30 win against Willmar in the semifinals.
The state tournament isn't over for six Shakopee wrestlers as they will compete in the state individual tournament starting Friday morning.
Those six wrestlers are Creese, Ben Lunn, Webster, Lloyd, Joey Johnson and Jack Casey.