NDSU football commit Coy Okeson honors late brother with repeat North Dakota state wrestling title

FARGO — This fall, Bishop Ryan’s Coy Okeson will be joining the North Dakota State University Bison on the football field at the Fargodome. Friday, he won his second-straight state wrestling title inside the same building.

This one, Okeson said, is more meaningful than the first as he wrestled in memory and honor of his late brother Corbin.

“I got to do it for my brother,” Okeson said. “He passed away less than a week after the state tournament last year. It’s motivated me for the whole season to do it for him, wrestle for him.”

As far as how often his brother was on his mind during the match, Okeson said, “The whole time.”

“I wish he was here to see it,” he said.

The 285-pound state champion, who will join the Bison next season as an offensive lineman, was also named the North Dakota High School Coaches Association’s Class B Senior Athlete of The Year.

“I don’t even know what to say,” he said of the award. “I never thought I’d get here. I just want to thank my brother and all my coaches. I’m thankful for everyone who helped me get here.”

When it comes to Corbin’s influence on his younger brother, “He helped me become who I am today,” said Coy.

“He helped me every day,” he said. “We’d have our mats out in the summer and we’d wrestle every day year-round almost.”

The first match of the day was a 133-pound bout between Hillsboro-Central Valley’s Sawyer Owens and Northern Lights’ Alvy Henderson.

Henderson entered the match as the No. 1 seed while Owens was No. 3. Once the match started the two went to battle, with multiple stoppages to patch up the wounds of their bout.

When it was over, Owens — with blood on his brow — was the winner, defeating the No. 1 seed.

“In my head, I thought I could win it,” Owens said. “When it comes down to it, seeds don’t matter, we’re both on the same mat. Anybody can win.”

Owens credited Henderson for the hard-fought match, looking forward to potential matches in the future.

“Alvy is a great wrestler,” he said. “Any time we wrestle, and I’m sure we’ll wrestle in the future, too, it’s always going to be a battle. Usually, when it’s a battle, blood is shed. That’s usually what happens.”

The Lisbon Broncos added to their storied wrestling lineage with two more individual champions with Blaze Reinke at 152 pounds and Kashden Wadeson at 127. Both seniors capped off their high school wrestling careers with state titles.

“It’s been a dream since I was three years old to be at the top of the state,” Reinke said. “It just feels surreal.

“Lisbon has been a part of me for a long time and gotten me to where I am today. Just to be on the wall of guys that are all super good is just surreal, again.”

Wadeson, who attends school in Enderlin but wrestles for Lisbon, said he “couldn’t feel any better.”

Wadeson, who won via decision 9-1, put himself in what he called his comfy spot early, taking the lead over opponent Charlie Irwin of New Salem-Almont.

“I like it when people are trying to come at me,” he said. “It just sets up a lot more of my offense. Having the lead and forcing him to make stuff happen is probably the biggest factor in the win.”

Other individuals crowned state champions include Northern Lights’ Bode Henderson (107 pounds), Napoleon/G-S’ Dalton Feist (114), Grafton’s Kruiser Burns (121), Kenmare-Bowbells William Cook (139), Carrington’s Corbin Clifton (145), Killdeer’s Gus Bohmback (160), Bishop Ryan’s Drew Zwak (172), Ellendale-Edgeley-Kulm’s Ivan Carruth (189) and South Border’s Shane Nitschke (215).

South Border won the individual team championship with a total of 185 ahead of Lisbon at 150 and New Salem-Almont with 115.5.

Northern Lights’ coach Ryan Mitchell was named the NDHSCA coach of the year in Class B.

Class B

Team results

1. South Border 185; 2. Lisbon 150; 3. New Salem-Almont 115.5; 4. Northern Lights 110.5; 5. Carrington 85.5; 6. Killdeer 84; 7. Velva 81; 8. Williams County 79; 9. Bishop Ryan 77.5; 10. Kenmare-Bowbells 75.5; 11. Stanley 74; 12. Oakes 68; 13. Kindred 57; 14. Hillsboro-Central Valley 54.5; 15. Napoleon Gackle-Streeter 52.5; 16. Ellendale-Edgeley-Kulm 52; 17. Harvey-Wells County 48; 18. Beulah-Hazen 44; 19. Bowman County/Beach 35.5; 20. Des Lacs-Burlington 32; 21. LaMoure-Litchville/Marion 26.5; 22. Grafton and Pembina County North 26; 24. Hettinger/Scranton 21; 25. Mondak Thunder 15; 26. Linton-HMB 6; T27. May-Port-CG and New Town/Parshall 3; 29. Northern Cass 1; 30. Rugby 0

Individual results

107

First place

Bode Henderson (Northern Lights) 48-0 won by decision over Tristian Miller (Williams County) 33-6 (Dec 9-2)

Third place

Hayes Weinberger (New Salem-Almont) 33-10 won in tie breaker – 1 over Rylan Vetter (South Border) 29-10 (TB-1 4-2)

114

First place

Dalton Feist (Napoleon G-S) 45-2 won by major decision over Josh Ternes (Beulah-Hazen) 25-6 (MD 16-2)

Third place

Cole Mogren (Kenmare-Bowbells) 31-4 won by fall over Dru Carr (Carrington) 44-14 (Fall 2:11)

121

First place

Kruiser Burns (Grafton) 38-2 won in sudden victory – 1 over Cohen Bell (Stanley) 37-3 (SV-1 4-2)

Third place

Jack Bohmbach (Killdeer) 40-13 won by decision over Pitch Hager (Velva) 44-9 (Dec 3-1)

127

First place

Kashden Wadeson (Lisbon) 36-3 won by decision over Charlie Irwin (New Salem-Almont) 41-7 (Dec 8-1)

Third place

Kash Brown (Williams County) 24-7 won by decision over Logan Werner (Pembina County North) 24-8 (Dec 3-0)

133

First place

Sawyer Owens (Hillsboro-Central Valley) 49-6 won by decision over Alvy Henderson (Northern Lights) 24-2 (Dec 5-3)

Third place

Noah Anderson (Lisbon) 22-6 won by decision over Tristen Lepp (South Border) 24-9 (Dec 3-1)

139

First place

William Cook (Kenmare-Bowbells) 42-2 won by decision over Ethan Maier (New Salem-Almont) 33-8 (Dec 9-2)

Third place

Justin Hudson (Northern Lights) 22-4 won by decision over Myles Thielges (Kindred) 15-8 (Dec 5-0)

145

First place

Corbin Clifton (Carrington) 48-9 won by decision over Carson Hildre (Velva) 27-3 (Dec 2-1)

Third place

Havlin Delong (Northern Lights) 29-8 won by decision over Carson Glaesman (South Border) 26-18 (Dec 4-2)

152

First place

Blaze Reinke (Lisbon) 41-2 won by decision over Brody Hoffman (South Border) 31-9 (Dec 3-1)

Third place

Rocker Aguilar (Williams County) 44-7 won by decision over Lincoln Spear (Kenmare-Bowbells) 38-10 (Dec 4-3)

160

First place

Gus Bohmbach (Killdeer) 48-1 won by decision over Josh Meehl (Oakes) 21-4 (Dec 6-3)

Third place

Eli Lyons (Lisbon) 41-7 won by decision over Emery Noll (Bowman County/Beach) 39-8 (Dec 8-3)

172

First place

Drew Zwak (Bishop Ryan) 53-6 won in sudden victory – 1 over Jace Nitschke (South Border) 29-10 (SV-1 3-1)

Third place

Mike Nelson (Lisbon) 26-3 won by decision over Brock Norton (New Salem-Almont) 28-9 (Dec 5-4)

189

First place

Ivan Carruth (Ellendale-Edgeley-Kulm) 40-7 won in sudden victory – 1 over Cole Henderson (Northern Lights) 39-2 (SV-1 3-1)

Third place

Trey Bohmbach (Stanley) 37-10 won by decision over Daniel Schumacher (South Border) 29-11 (Dec 1-0)

215

First place

Shane Nitschke (South Border) 35-1 won by fall over Carter Engebretson (Harvey-Wells County) 25-7 (Fall 3:21)

Third place

Cade Okeson (Bishop Ryan) 33-6 won by fall over CL Weinberger (New Salem-Almont) 36-13 (Fall 4:40)

285

First place

Coy Okeson (Bishop Ryan) 52-4 won by major decision over Ben Roundy (Killdeer) 32-5 (MD 12-2)

Third place

Rodney Wolf (Kindred) 29-5 won by fall over Cole Nitschke (South Border) 23-8 (Fall 3:00)