ELLSWORTH — It may be too early to dub a “Dual of the Year,” but Ellsworth’s 40-34 win over the state’s third-ranked team, Osceola, on Jan. 8 is going to be tough to beat. There were wild pins, tough battles and a final match to decide the dual.

“It shows why you wrestle the meets. On paper, most people said that we weren’t going to win. They have seven guys in their lineup that made it to the State tournament, and all of those seven guys won,” Head Coach Carson Huppert said. “Our other seven guys stepped up. Our whole team stepped up, even the guys that wrestled those State guys. They got pins where they needed pins. It shows why wrestling is a team sport.”

Parker Lampman started the matchup with a pin at 106 that was traded back with an Osceola tech fall at 113. Osceola looked to be taking the 120 match as well with a 7-0 lead and EJ Langer on his back on the ropes, but Langer spun a reversal in the blink of an eye, twisting his opponent on his back and securing a pin seconds later for a 12-5 lead in the dual.

“It sparked a little momentum and got everybody else kind of fired up,” Huppert said. “Everybody else saw, alright this can be done. Big match for EJ for him to do that for our team.”

Ellsworth followed with a 12-3 win for Chase Amundson at 126, a forfeit win at 132 and an opening minute pin at 138 by Brody Flynn to lead 28-5.

Osceola showed why they are third-ranked, though, winning by pin at 144, 9-6 at 150, 14-8 at 157, tech fall at 165, and pin at 175 to tie the dual at 28 with three matches to play.

At 190 pounds, Breken Young secured a second period pin that was swiftly countered with an Osceola pin at 215.

That meant it all came down to one of the team’s leaders, Jeremiah Johnson at 285. Johnson secured a takedown in the first and an escape point in the second to lead 4-0 heading into the third period. Johnson has been dealing with an arm injury and wearing an arm brace for much of the season, but he is a captain for a reason, stepping up when called upon.

“Whenever you go into your last match and you get your team captain going out there, you just expect him to do what he’s supposed to do,” Huppert said. “He has a great shot to be a key contributor to us [for the upcoming dual stretch]... It’s good to have a team captain going out there at the end of the match.”

All Johnson needed to do was protect the lead to win the match, but he started on top in the third, flipped his man directly on the center of the mat and earned the pin. The crowd erupted, the team erupted and Johnson’s hand was raised to conclude the dual 40-34.

Coming off the Osceola win, Ellsworth also picked up a win at the Cannon Falls Invitational on Saturday. The Panthers are wrestling well at the perfect time ahead of some vital duals.

“Most of them are really good friends. They all hang out together,” Huppert said. “Practice room is easy because they’re having fun, they want to work out, they work hard. They’re really gelling, so when they go out there, they’re not just stepping out there for themselves, they’re stepping out there for their friends.”