Detroit Lakes junior Connor Zamzo trailed Perham’s Hudson Hackel 5-2 midway through the second period of the 195-pound match. With the Lakers clinging to a 28-21 lead, Zamzo stunned Hackel with a takedown and a pin to clinch the rivalry win for the Lakers.
“It’s just cool. This was all just so cool,” Zamzo said. “You can’t describe that kind of feeling, honestly. I mean, I was 3-7 going into it. A night like this can do a lot. It was just so awesome.”
Zamzo gave the Lakers a 34-21 lead before Jacob Ehnert pinned Rory Lindquist and Jeffrey Moen won by decision (8-4) over Jaxon Vetsch. What looked to be a tight contest midway through the 195-pound matchup turned into a 43-21 victory for the Lakers.
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“He’s such a smart wrestler,” Detroit Lakes head coach Rob Ullyott said of Zamzo. “When he goes out and wrestles his style instead of trying to do things he’s not capable of, he shows he’s a tough kid to beat. He frustrated his opponent, wore him down a bit and saw the headlock was there; then he hit it. It was a tremendous opportunity he took advantage of there.”
Perham started the match with a fall victory after Dresden Wegscheid (106) pinned Talan Baker. The Lakers evened the score at 113-pounds when Beau Somdahl scored a fall victory over Carsen Zeise.
“(Somdahl) has worked really hard, and he’s looked a lot better since we moved him into that 113 slot,” Ulyott said. “He’s a hard-working kid with a bright future ahead of him.”
The Yellowjackets won the next two matches by decision. Tiegan Detloth (120) and Chandler Mickelson (126) picked up three points each before Detroit Lakes’ Zach Ruhl (132) evened the match with a fall victory over Isaac Azums in 29 seconds.
Ruhl started a string of four consecutive Laker victories. Bradly Swiers (138) edged out a 9-4 decision victory over Carson Byers before Brock Swiers cruised to a 12-4 major decision win over Logan Guck.
“He’s been that utility guy for us in the middle of our lineup so far,” Ullyott said of Brock Swiers. “It goes a long way to have a kid that can hold his own in a couple of those spots. He earned that win tonight.”
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Tyson Ullyott made quick work of Kaden Felt with a fall victory in 1:24 before Blake Lorentz (160) snapped Perham’s skid. He took down Cade Okeson by a 10-5 decision.
Both Perham and Detroit Lakes have heavy hitters who reached the 125 career-victory milestone this season. Junior Cade Jackson has been impressive out of the 170-pound slot for Detroit Lakes but ran into a formidable opponent on Thursday night in Braylon Rach. Tied 4-4 in the final 15 seconds, Jackson scored two takedowns to win 8-4 and put the Lakers ahead 28-15.
“I was really impressed with (Rach),” Ullyott said. “Sometimes those really quick and athletic kids can surprise you, and he almost got Cade a couple of times. Cade did a nice job at the end there against a really good Perham kid.”
Perham’s Brian Ramos wrestled out of the 182-pound slot on Thursday and pinned Marv Mai. The Augsburg College commit and third-ranked 170-pound wrestler in Class AA scored eight takedowns in the first 40 seconds before pinning Mai in 1:17.
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Ramos scored the last points of the night for Perham as the Lakers took the only regular-season dual meeting between the Highway 10 rivals this season.
“It’s honestly just the pride,” Zamzo said on what motivates this rivalry. “This whole rivalry kind of gets you going. It’s fun to go against these guys because it’s always intense. I’m just glad we got the win tonight.”
Before the season started, Ullyott said this year would be a growing process as the Lakers learned how to replace 11 seniors from the 2020-21 team. At the midway point of the season, he believes his team is trending in the right direction but still has some work to do.
“We’re about 40% of the way there,” Ullyott said. “Our lineup only has five kids who started last year. That means we have nine new guys in here. A lot of those guys have very limited varsity experience. We have to be patient. We have to go to the practice room every day and pick on the little things that make big differences. We have to keep working. It’s a nice dual win tonight, and it’s nice to beat one of your rivals. Perham is always a tough, tough team that we wrestle. Our goal is to continue to get better.”
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DETROIT LAKES 43, PERHAM 21
106: Dresden Wegscheid (Perham) over Talan Baker (DL) win by Fall 2:34; 113: Beau Somdahl (DL) over Carsen Zeise (Perham) win by Fall 3:45; 120: Tiegan Detloth (Perham) over Leroy LaCrosse (DL) win by Decision 7-3; 126: Chandler Mickelson (Perham) over Cole Weber (DL) win by Decision 9-6; 132: Zach Ruhl (DL) over Isaac Azums (Perham) win by Fall 0:29; 138: Bradly Swiers (DL) over Carson Byers (Perham) win by Decision 9-4; 145: Brock Swiers (DL) over Logan Guck (Perham) win by Major Decision 12-0; 152: Tyson Ullyott (DL) over Kaden Feldt (Perham) win by Fall 1:24; 160: Blake Lorentz (Perham) over Cade Okeson (DL) win by Decision 10-5; 170: Cade Jackson (DL) over Braylon Rach (Perham) win by Decision 8-4; 182: Brian Ramos (Perham) over Marv Mai (DL) win by Fall 1:17; 195: Connor Zamzo (DL) over Hudson Hackel (Perham) win by Fall 3:25; 220: Jacob Ehnert (DL) over Rory Lindquist (Perham) win by Fall 1:33; 285: Jeffrey Moen (DL) over Jaxon Vetsch (Perham) win by Decision 8-4
