The third ranked Clear Lake wrestling team moved to 9-0  on the year  with two big North Central Conference wins Thursday, Dec. 20.  The Lions are 4-0 in the NCC heading into the holiday break.
    “Hampton gave us a real test.   Their coaching staff did a nice job of moving their line-up around to give them a chance to win,” said Clear Lake Coach Gary Weber.  “We have a nice rivalry with Hampton. Our wrestlers, crowd and coaching staff handled themselves very well in a semi-hostile environment and I am proud of everybody for that.”

Clear Lake 53, Eagle Grove 20
    The first meet of the night was against Eagle Grove and the Lions came out on top, 53-20.
    The meet started at 145 pounds and Rudy Wieck gave the Lions a 6-0 lead with his patented headlock, recording another pin.  Ryan Wilcke battled hard but lost 12-5. Spencer Rollefson pinned his man in 3:17, while Levi Kellog lost 9-1 at 171.
    “Levi did not win, but he has done an awesome job and has not been pinned this year.  That shows a lot of mental toughness,” said Coach Weber.
    Jace Snyder lost by fall at 189, while Patrick Kolker won by fall at 215.  Zach Lindquist won 15-0 and recorded a technical fall at heavyweight.
    State ranked freshman Jacob Colon won by pin at 103 and his brother,  Joe Colon, received a forfeit at 112. Tucker Weber drew the Eagles’ best wrestler at 119 and lost, 2-0.  
    Joe Bieber and Jake Kopriva both won by pin at 125 and 130.  Ray Teasdale lost to state qualifier David Lindstrom at 135, and Christian Trebil finished off the meet with a pin in 1:50 at 140 pounds to give Clear Lake the big win.

Clear Lake 43,
Hampton-Dumont 32
     In the nightcap, the meet started at 152 with Hampton-Dumont getting on the scoreboard first by pinning Ryan Wilcke. Spencer Rollefson recorded his second pin of the night at 160 and the score was knotted at 6-6.
    Levi Kellog was beat at 171, 14-2, but once again he stayed off his back, saving two team points. Jace Snyder and Patrick Kolker were both pinned at 189 and 215 and Hampton held a 22-6 lead.
    “Patrick wrestled very well. He was beating  Ross Shafrath, who is a state placewinner.  Ross caught us and pinned us.”
     At heavyweight, Zach Lindquist moved to 11-1 on the year with a convincing 9-1 win.
    The next four wrestlers are all state ranked and it showed as the Colon brothers, Tucker Weber and Joe Bieber all pinned their opponents to give the Lions  a 34-22 lead.
    Hampton came back with a major decision at 130 and a pin at 135 out of their two state ranked wrestlers, Bryce Schimp and Joe Slocum, to close the lead to 34-32.
    Christian Trebil put the meet out of reach with a very important pin at 140.  Rudy Wieck finished off the very successful night with a 7-5 win at 145 to make the final score 43 -32.
    “We can’t do much better than 9-0,” said Coach Weber.  “We aren’t perfect; Mason City beat us in a tournament. That will actually make us better.  The kids now have a week off and they will try their best the rest of the season.”