The Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Cowboys wrestling team returned to action on Tuesday night, as they made the trip west on Highway 3 to compete in their Class 2A, Region 8 duals at Humboldt High School.
CGD would open the night with Hampton-Dumont-CAL in the regional semifinals, as Adrian Phetxoumphone set the tone for the Cowboys with a 19-4 tech fall over fellow NCC Champ Luke Showalter at 132 pounds. The Cowboys rolled off decisions from Kolton Hefti (138) and Colin Sesker (144) to take an 11-0 lead. HD-CAL fired back with back-to-back pins to take a 12-11 lead, but the Cowboys would then win 8 of the last 9 matches to steamroll the Bulldogs 50-17. Those 8 wins included pins from JT Kelso (285) and Ryan Hartwig (126), tech falls from Charlie Campbell (190) and Linden Phetxoumphone (120), major decisions from Caleb Seaba (165) and Ryland Morgan (175), and a decision from Traesyn Cope (215).
The Cowboys then turned their attention to their western Highway 3 rivals in Humboldt, as the Wildcats started off hot, winning 4 of their first 5 bouts beginning at 138. Colin Sesker picked up the lone CGD win in that timeframe with a 4-1 decision at 150. Charlie Campbell would win by fall at 175, before Humboldt picked up back-to-back falls to go up 31-9 heading into the 285 bout.
From there, CGD would go on a historic tear, beginning with a JT Kelso pin at 285. Paxton Redenius would pick up a big pin at 106, before Angel Cortes had the match of the night, trailing late in the first period before hitting a reversal on Sam Knight to capture a pin and bring the score to 31-27 after 113 pounds. The brothers Phetxoumphone would put a stamp on things as Linden would win by pin, while Adrian won by tech fall, as CGD would forfeit 132 to secure a 38-37 win and a spot in the State Dual Tournament.
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows wrestling will find out their first round opponent on Wednesday afternoon.