Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: St. Edmond's Jace Stanley works his way toward a pin against Hampton-Dumont/CAL on Monday in the Gael gym. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

Still a little foggy after a weekend tournament and rusty from the winter break, Humboldt nonetheless found a way to earn a pair of North Central Conference dual victories over host St. Edmond and Hampton-Dumont/CAL on Monday in the Gael gym.

The Wildcats topped the Gaels, 72-12, and clipped the Bulldogs, 35-34.

Chad Beaman wasn’t particularly pleased with Humboldt’s overall performance. The veteran head coach gave some grace to his squad, though, given the timing of the make-up triangular — originally scheduled for 18 days ago but postponed due to weather.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” Beaman said. “We wrestled pretty average, to be honest, but there’s a reason we don’t have many Monday meets — especially coming off a tournament on Saturday (at Osage) and the long layoff (from live competition) before that.

“We aren’t going to make any excuses, though. We looked kind of flat and have to be more consistently competitive, focusing on doing the little things right.”

The Wildcats clinched the narrow victory over H-D/C with victories in the last four matches. A pin by Carson Ireland at 113 pounds helped build the momentum late for Humboldt, which got a major decision from Henry Kramer to put them over the top at 126.

Ireland also registered a fall against the Gaels.

“Carson has been fighting through a (recent) injury, but he came out like a ball of fire,” Beaman said. “We have to keep fine-tuning and working on hand fighting, feet movement and how heavy we are with hand ties. We shorten practices down some in January (to get ready for the home stretch of the season) and focus more on being efficient with our time and preparation.”

Top-ranked (190) Broedy Hendricks had a pin against the Bulldogs, as did Karson Reinhardt at 132. Braden Downs (157), Tate Halverson (175), Mason Frideres (106) and Dylan Frideres (120) scored victories by decision for HHS.

Freshman Nick Utley was a double winner for St. Edmond at 106. Utley had two pins in under a minute.

“Nick really took care of business. We’re very proud of him,” Gael head coach Kaden McClintock said. “He’s coming off an injury and looked ready to go.”

St. Edmond sophomore Matthew Crimmins (144) and freshman Jace Stanley (113) split their respective matches in the double dual.

“Jace was aggressive and came out on the attack,” McClintock said. “He got the pin (versus H-D/C) and wrestled hard. He’s still learning, with this being his first year of varsity wrestling.

“Matthew did a solid job, too. He just got into a tough situation (against the Bulldogs), but had a pin (versus Humboldt). He’s getting there.”

McClintock likes the incremental progress his team is showing.

“We’re just learning and getting better every day. We spent the break going through a lot of technique and spending more time in the weight room. We want to get up to speed more on that and prepare ourselves even more physically (moving forward as a program).”

Caleb Vinsand (150), Jaxson Kirchhoff (165), Kole Olson (285), Dylan Frideres, Ireland and Kramer all had pins for the Wildcats in their win over the Gaels.

St. Edmond returns to action on Thursday at Algona. Humboldt is at Clarion-Goldfield/Dows on Thursday night.