The Blair High School wrestling team captured its best-ever Flatwater Fracas finish Saturday, going 7-1 in duals during the prestigious two-day tournament.
One of the runner-up Bears' victories even came against the Fracas champs.
Coach Erich Warner's squad capped its stint at the Heartland Events Center in Grand Island with a 34-30 win against the Hastings Tigers, who claimed the title by tiebreaker criteria after each of the three finalists went 1-1 in Gold bracket competition.
After starting 6-0 in Grand Island, the Bears dropped their Gold dual debut to Grand Island, 37-33. The loss ended an unbeaten dual streak to start their season — Warner's squad is 16-1 — but it didn't stop BHS from scoring its best Fracas finish by seven spots. It was ninth in 2019.
In addition to its Hastings win, the Bears also dispatched Beatrice, Lincoln East, Kearney, Fairbury, Papillion-La Vista South and Manhattan, Kan. The closest win was the 4-pointer against the Tigers, while the most lopsided was the 60-12 win over the Titans of Papio South.
The win-loss records of Hudson Loges, Brock Templar, Charlie Powers and Kaden Sears stood out for BHS. Loges was 7-0 in contested matches, while Templar was 7-1, Powers was 6-1 and Sears was 7-1 with seven pins — the second-highest total of any Fracas wrestler.
Loges notched three pins and three close wins over Beatrice's Gavin Vanover, Lincoln East's Braedyn Rakes and Hastings' Cameron Brumbaugh at 106 and 113 pounds. Cole Welte (1-0), Josh Rogge (1-0) and he were the only Bears to leave Grand Island without a loss.
Blair's Luke Frost (5-3), Jesse Loges (5-3), Tyson Brown (1-6), Atticus Dick (2-4), Landon Templar (5-1), Yoan Camejo (6-2), Noah Kuefler (2-3), Louis Biffar (0-1), Livai Opetaia (6-2), Corban Landauer (0-2), Jim Rasmussen (0-4) and Seagan Packett-Trisdale (6-2) wrestled and contributed to their team's second-place showing, too. Packett-Trisdale and Opetaia had five pins apiece, Camejo and Jesse Loges had three, and Landon Templar, Dick, Frost and Kuefler had two. Rogge and Brown notched one apiece.
Powers had four pins and Brock Templar tallied two as well.
The Blair JV next competes Jan. 3 at Lincoln East before the Bears' varsity returns to the mat Jan. 6 with home dual against Gretna. The five-day NSAA Moratorium without practice or competition starts Wednesday.
