PIERRE – Aberdeen Central went into the Class A State Dual Wrestling Tournament as the second seed and that’s where the Golden Eagles ended up.

Central finished runner-up at the event, defeating West Central 49-26 in the opening round, edging Brandon Valley 36-31 in the semifinals, and falling to top-seeded Sturgis in the finals 58-7.

“This team that we have here is pretty special. … It’s been fun and it was a good year,” said Central coach Donnie Bowden.

The Golden Eagles came up with some big bonus points to turn back Brandon Valley. Those extra points gave Central enough of a cushion down the stretch.

“That’s huge. That’s the name of the game in dual play,” Bowden said. “Find the bonus points and prevent them from getting them, and that’s what we’ve been able to do all year.”

However, Sturgis was a completely different challenge in the finals as the Scoopers won the first five matches and never looked back.

“They wrestled really tough, but we tried some different things today,” Bowden said. “We bumped every one up it seemed like. We started our bump really down low to try to get some different matchups.”

Central got those matchups, but was unable to take advantage of them against the premier dual squad in the state.

“We had some really competitive bouts in there and we got to see some different matchups that we hadn’t seen and those kinds of things,” Bowden said. “They are definitely the upper echelon. They are tough. They are good, onery. It’s hard to find points.”

Central has not lost a dual to anyone but Sturgis and Pierre in the past three seasons, and the Golden Eagles are the last team to beat the Scoopers, that coming three years ago.

Central will now turn its sights to the Region 3A tourney in Mitchell next Saturday and try to qualify each of its wrestlers for the upcoming state tournament.

“The goal is to always get all of them, and we’ve been fortunate the last couple years that we’ve been able to do that. That’s not always the most realistic thing,” Bowden said. “We’re going to have an uphill battle this year. Some of those weights in our region are really, really tough, and we understand that. We’ve been through tough wrestling all year long, and we’re going to get our nose in there and see what we can get done.”

Bowden was pleased with the way the Central program was represented on Friday.

“I’m extremely proud of this group,” Bowden said. “I’m proud of our kids, I’m proud of our coaching staff, I’m proud of our parents, everyone that was there. Aberdeen Central, it’s first class all the way around.”

Aberdeen Central (ABCE) 49, West Central (WC) 26

120: Bentley Klinkhammer (WC) over Landon Schaffner (ABCE) (Fall 1:53)
126: Esten Foss (ABCE) over   (WC) (For.)
132: Mason Backous (ABCE) over   (WC) (For.)
138: Alex Siemonsma (WC) over Logan Heier (ABCE) (Fall 5:34)
144: Langdon Klinkhammer (WC) over Will Allen (ABCE) (Dec 8-3)
150: Jude Sumner (ABCE) over Grayson Pischke (WC) (MD 15-7)
157: Porter Lozenski (ABCE) over Hayden Whiting (WC) (Fall 3:29)
165: Ridley Waldo (ABCE) over Jett Whiting (WC) (Fall 2:27)
175: Kaylor Swenson (ABCE) over Kevin Cholopray (WC) (Fall 1:22)
190: Grayden Timm (ABCE) over   (WC) (For.)
215: Owen Ward (ABCE) over Luke Larson (WC) (Fall 0:20)
285: Kash Garry (WC) over Felipe Gonzalez (ABCE) (Fall 3:38)
106: Henry Gillen (ABCE) over Briggs Robbins (WC) (Dec 8-5)
113: Kaden Haakinson (WC) over Paxton Ewing (ABCE) (TF 19-3 5:04)

Aberdeen Central (ABCE) 36, Brandon Valley (BV) 31

106: Henry Gillen (ABCE) over Jagger Rehorst (BV) (MD 15-3)
113: Isaac Weerheim (BV) over Paxton Ewing (ABCE) (SV-1 10-7)
120: Brendon Oehme (BV) over Esten Foss (ABCE) (Dec 6-2)
126: Beckett Rehorst (BV) over Landon Schaffner (ABCE) (Fall 1:42)
132: Mason Backous (ABCE) over Gunnar Deffenbaugh (BV) (Fall 1:35)
138: Will Allen (ABCE) over Braylon Bach (BV) (Dec 8-2)
144: Aaron Tucker (BV) over Jude Sumner (ABCE) (MD 13-3)
150: Braden Shoemaker (BV) over Hunter Opitz (ABCE) (TF 19-3 3:11)
157: Porter Lozenski (ABCE) over Garrett VanDusen (BV) (Fall 1:20)
165: Ridley Waldo (ABCE) over Parker Ripperger (BV) (Fall 1:36)
175: Kaylor Swenson (ABCE) over Harmon Kramer (BV) (Fall 5:18)
190: Levi Veskrna (BV) over Grayden Timm (ABCE) (MD 11-2)
215: Owen Ward (ABCE) over Cody Lindekugel (BV) (TF 20-3 4:50)
285: Elijah Schunke (BV) over Felipe Gonzalez (ABCE) (Fall 0:31)

Sturgis Brown (STUR) 58, Aberdeen Central (ABCE) 7

132: Parker Graveman (STUR) over Logan Heier (ABCE) (Fall 2:47)
138: Mason Hagen (STUR) over Jack Stuwe (ABCE) (Fall 0:50)
144: Josiah Drummer (STUR) over Will Allen (ABCE) (MD 12-2)
150: Jace Thurman (STUR) over Jude Sumner (ABCE) (Inj. [time])
157: Benjamin Nadig (STUR) over Porter Lozenski (ABCE) (TF 19-3 4:52)
165: Ridley Waldo (ABCE) over Evan Juelfs (STUR) (MD 14-5)
175: Gavin Werlinger (STUR) over Kaylor Swenson (ABCE) (MD 14-4)
190: Kelson Dirk (STUR) over Grayden Timm (ABCE) (Fall 5:23)
215: Zhoel Irion (STUR) over Owen Ward (ABCE) (Dec 9-5)
285: Tyce Uherka (STUR) over Felipe Gonzalez (ABCE) (Fall 2:50)
106: Sullivan Sigman (STUR) over Henry Gillen (ABCE) (Fall 1:23)
113: Tyce  Dunn (STUR) over Paxton Ewing (ABCE) (Dec 7-3)
120: Tyler Baldwin (STUR) over Esten Foss (ABCE) (Dec 7-3)
126: Mason Backous (ABCE) over Tarver Zebroski (STUR) (SV-1 8-5)