Irish Wrestlers Win A Thriller Against Eagan

After two hours of twists, turns and thrilling flips of fate, the Rosemount wrestling team closed out its regular season by gritting out a 33-30 home victory against conference and section rival Eagan on Thursday night.

"I knew one way or the other it'd be tight tonight," Irish head coach Brett Larson said. "Eagan is a solid team and we had three junior varsity wrestlers in the lineup."

After 103-pounder Dan Rosa put Rosemount up 6-0 by doing little more than standing in the center of the mat and having his hand raised in a forfeit win to start the night, the first of the Irish JV trio claimed a victory in his first-ever varsity match.

Connor Hagen, a Rosemount freshman, took Adam Hedin's spot at 112 and claimed a 6-3 win to put the Irish up 9-0 after two matches.

"That was a big win for Connor and for the team," Larson said.

Eagan rallied to win three of the next four matches, with only senior Paul Domeier's 7-4 win at 130 breaking up the Wildcats' rally, as the Irish led by a lone point at 12-11 heading into a crucial match at 140.

Rosemount senior Colin Busho found himself down 4-1 in the second period against Eagan's Alexie Gwinup before turning the tables on his opponent in the blink of an eye and pinning the Wildcat for what amounted to, at the very least, a nine-point swing on scoreboard.

"When Colin came back and we got that fall, I knew we had a shot to win tonight," Larson said.

Eagan remained close with a major decision at 145, yet a technical fall from Adam Jackson at 152, a win by fall from Josh Francois at 160 and a major decision at 171 propelled Rosemount to a 33-15 lead with three matches remaining.

The Wildcats needed three pins to span the 18-point deficit — they got only two as the meet went to Rosemount by just three points.

"Jackson and Francois scored big, like they should, Domeier got a nice win and we got enough points to take it tonight," Larson said. "We needed a good performance from all 14 kids tonight and it was a big win."

The victory clinched a third-place finish in the South Suburban Conference with a 6-2 circuit record and an overall dual meet mark of 19-5 this winter.

"It's our best record in about eight years," Larson said. "That's pretty good."

Next up on the schedule are the team and individual sectional tournaments that will decide which wrestlers could represent Rosemount at state.

While Larson concedes the team title to Apple Valley, who host the Section 3AAA team tournament on Friday, Feb. 18, he is looking forward to the individual tourney, slated to be held at Park High School in Cottage Grove on Feb. 25 and 26.

"We're really gearing up for the individual sections and we have five or six guys that are good enough to go to state," Larson said. "Our section is the toughest in the state, so anyone that makes it through is quality."

Whatever lies ahead for the Irish, Larson was pleased with how his squad persevered on a Parent's Night where his grapplers showed appreciation to their folks and then made them proud.

"It was a great night overall," he said. "Our guys really stepped up and pulled out a tight win."