After a win over Van Buren in the opening dual on Thursday, Highland got a close look at a Notre Dame team that’s wrestling at a level where the Huskies want to be. 

Seniors C.J. Walrath and Blaine Frazier, who had top-three finishes at the 2A state tournament last year, each had a pin in Notre Dame’s 60-9 win over Highland. 

The Nikes were 12-0 in conference duals last year, taking seven to the district meet and five on to state. 

“Burlington Notre Dame is a good team,” Highland coach Nick Cole said. “They’ve got a lot of firepower and we knew going in that some of those results probably weren’t going to be in our favor. But as I told the guys, those guys have a lot of matches in and they’ve trained their whole lives. They do things right, and hopefully our guys were able to watch them and use them as examples of how to prepare as a team.”

The Huskies did have a pair of winners in the dual with Notre Dame. Ayden Havel took a 10-7 decision from Cole Mincer at 145, and Jack Peiffer got his second pin of the day. 

“I just shot my shots, did my thing and took care of the job,” Peiffer said. 

They were Peiffer’s first matches of the season down at 126 pounds. 

“I’m sure he wasn’t feeling real good after managing some weight, but I appreciate his effort,” Cole said.  “If he can keep things under control and stay focused, we’ll see where he can end up throughout the season. 

“Ayden Havel is learning. He’s young, he goes hard. And when you go hard and you wrestle with some emotion… that was good.”

The Huskies had four pins in a 36-24 win over Van Buren in the first dual of the night. 

Peiffer’s win by fall came over Korbin Camp. 

“He was strong, but if you just stay technical, it’s pretty hard not to win,” Peiffer said about his opponent. “Just keep fighting through the entire match.

Carlos Valenzuela, Spencer Grout, and Isaac Kleese all won by fall as well. 

“I think our intensity level was better compared to where we were Tuesday,” Cole said. “We came out a little more with a little more emotion, which is good. Isaac Kleese, when he figured out that he could receive some emotion, he found another gear and got a W. 

“That’s something that we’ve got to realize. If you go out there with no emotion and no fire, that usually doesn’t end in your favor. But when they come out, ready to go with some emotion and be proud of the things we work on and who we are — that’s a little bit different.”

Grout had his first pin of the season to help the Huskies top Van Buren. 

“Spencer really needed that, and he came out and was super aggressive, got to his attack, got to a good hold on top,” Cole said. “Spencer has got to make that a habit of getting to those positions in competition, and learning how to put guys away. It was good for him to get a win and to taste some success and hopefully we can keep building off that.” 

Cole said that he likes what he’s seeing in practice, but the same things aren’t showing up when it counts. 

“We’re not quite seeing the translation from the wrestling room to the competition,” he said.”It’s going to take time. We’ve got guys that are still pretty inexperienced that are getting a taste of competition. Mat time is the best thing to get better so we’re going to get some mat time and continue to take notes and help these guys improve.”

North Cedar Tournament

On Saturday, only Landon Ball was able to finish the day with a win at North Cedar. The freshman bounced back from a pair of losses to win the fifth place match at 106 pounds. He pinned his opponent from Montezuma in 1:17. 

Carlos Valenzuela won his first match to reach the semifinals at 132, but fell to three-time state champion Marcel Lopez by tech fall. In the third-place match, Valenzuela tied North Linn’s Blaine Baumgartner (9-1) at 2-2 with a first period reversal, but gave up a takedown and a pin before time expired in the second.

Jack Peiffer also finished fourth for the Huskies, going 2-2 for the day with a pair of pins at 126. Ayden Havel won his quarterfinal match, but dropped the next three to finish sixth at 145.

On Monday, injury and illness took their toll on the Huskies as Valenzuela scored the only Highland points in losses to West Liberty and host Muscatine. Valenzuela (9-4) pinned West Liberty’s Bryson Garcia in the second period and earned an 18-3 tech fall against Muscatine.