Osage flexes muscle in double dual with N-P, Saints

By Kristi Nixon

OSAGE — Even minus a few of its regular lineup, the Class 2A top-ranked Osage boys wrestlers showed how formidable it is with a double-dual sweep of a Class 1A ranked Nashua-Plainfield team and St. Ansgar at home on Thursday, Jan. 4.

The Green Devils topped the Class 1A fifth-ranked Huskies in one of their closest dual wins of the season, 48-36. 

“We knew they would be pretty good,” Osage coach Brent Jennings said of N-P. “Actually, we were missing a few kids tonight. If they’d have had their lineup that we thought they were going to have, kind of thought it would be a tough dual to win, but they had a few kids out like we did, so it kind of evened the score a little bit and were able to come away with the win.”

Over the course of the first five matches against the Huskies, the visitors held an 18-12 advantage before the Green Devils reeled off six of the next seven wins by fall, including a convincing victory for Darren Adams at 150 pounds, where he will remain the rest of the season. He held a 15-6 lead on the Huskies’ Aiden Geiner before earning the fall in 5 minutes, 41 seconds. Anders Kittelson, who is one of three wrestlers for the Green Devils who are among the top-15 finalists Class 2A Mr. Dan Gable Wrestler of the Year, along with Tucker Stangel and Blake Fox, will stay at 144.

“We wrestled pretty well at some weights there,” Jennings said. “Darren Adams wrestled really well tonight, I thought, it’s a good match for him to have. Him and Anders switched places: Anders down to 144 and Darren to ‘50…”

The full story and more photos will be found in the Jan. 10 print and e-editions of the Enterprise Journal.