Six wrestlers, ninth place and two medals, one of them gold. Not a bad haul for the Centennial wrestling team at state Feb. 15-17.
“We had a pretty good finish,” Coach Phil Payne said. “I have a full heart. They worked their tails off and did it the right way.”
Jarrett Dodson, a senior who moved up to 150 pounds for districts and state, was the Class D state champion at that weight. Dodson pinned his way to the finals, where he beat fellow Southern Nebraska Conference wrestler Rowan Jarosik of Sandy Creek 4-1.
“He wrestled the opponents we thought he would,” Payne said. “He wrestled great.”
In the championship match, Dodson got two quick takedowns in the first period and kept Jarosik on the bottom in the second. For the third, Dodson chose down but did not earn any points in the period.
“He capitalized on his opportunities,” Payne said.
Payne said seeing the win was fun because he’s watched Dodson since he was in Centennial’s youth wrestling club. He’s put in the time and work to become a state champion caliber wrestler, Payne said.
Dodson finished the season with a 52-2 record and now holds the school marks for career pins and wins.
He is the first Bronco state champion since 2021 when Carson Fehlhafer took gold at 285 pounds.
Kasten Ruether earned Centennial’s other medal, placing fifth at 113 pounds. After losing his first match, the Bronco sophomore came back with three straight wins to assure himself of a medal. He lost in the consolation semifinals but then pinned Clayton Scoville of Sumner-Eddyville-Miller in 2:50 to finish fifth.
Payne said Ruether was a little down after losing his opener, but the coaches showed him he could still earn hardware.
“In the first consolation match, he got a reversal and rode out and that got the ball rolling,” Payne said.
When he got to Friday night, one match away from a medal, Ruether stepped onto the mat against Luke Gardner of Garden County and took care of him 7-0.
“To have over 40 wins as a sophomore is good,” Payne said, citing his 45-11 record for the season.
He said Ruether put in a lot of time in the offseason, and that paid off.
Seniors Trayton Stewart, Garrison Schernikau and Cyrus Songster finished outside the medals but wrestled well, the coach said.
At 106 pounds, Stewart faced a wrestler from Plainview to start the tournament who had apparently done some scouting, Payne said.
“There was homework done. He was prepared for the twister,” he said.
Stewart also lost his second match to finish 24-14 on the season.
“He had a great finish to the season,” Payne said. “He had momentum and confidence.”
Schernikau went 1-2 at 126 pounds, winning his first-round consolation match.
“I’m very proud of him,” Payne said. “He was banged up and had the pressure of being his last chance.”
Songster was 2-2 at 157 pounds and was also wrestling with injuries, Payne said. He lost in the quarterfinals after having the score tied 6-6. Payne said he got a takedown with about 40 seconds to go in the third period to tie and let Jairo Lazos of Central Valley up to try to win on a takedown. He finished his tournament with a loss to Caden Larsen of Ravenna.
“The kid’s a dude,” Payne said. “I felt bad – he really wanted this.”
Paul Fehlhafer rounded out the Bronco lineup at 285 pounds. In his first-round match, Fehlhafer wrestled Juan Perez of Perkins County and took him down to his back. Before the referee called a pin, however, the buzzer on his watch went off to indicate the end of the period, but the table clock said there was still time left. After a conference, the referees determined the period was over.
“I was very upset. That can’t happen,” Payne said. “We thought the match was over.”
Fehlhafer came back with a win and was up 2-1 against Taylor Hubl of Hitchcock County and wrestling well when he got rolled through and pinned.
