2A state wrestling: A-P/GC's Maitland still in medal hunt

DES MOINES – Hunter Maitland, a senior on the Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center wrestling team, bounced back after an opening-round loss at the Class 2A state wrestling tournament in Des Moines today, winning his first-round consolation match and living to fight another day while staying in the hunt for a top-8 finish.

Maitland will face either Julien Broderson of Davenport Assumption or Nick Dickerson of Shenandoah in a second-round consolation match on Friday morning. Broderson and Dickerson will wrestle as part of the 2A quarterfinals, which are wrestled to completion before second-round consolation matches.

If Maitland wins his second-round consolation match, he is guaranteed a state medal with at least a top-8 finish.

Southeast Valley's Kyler Fisher won a 9-3 decision against Maitland in the first-round match at 182 pounds, but Maitland staved off a strong first-round consolation competitor in Conner Huss of MOC-Floyd Valley, winning an 8-7 decision.

Huss led Maitland after the first period, but the A-P/GC senior escaped to start the second period and scored a takedown to take a 4-2 lead into the third period.

Huss evened the match at 4-all early in the third period but was penalized a point for locked hands while he was atop Maitland, forcing Huss to let Maitland escape in hopes of scoring a match-equalizing takedown. Instead, Maitland scored a takedown of his own on Huss, stretching the lead to 8-4. Huss got loose and finally got his takedown, but it was too late to catch the Falcon 182-pounder.

For updates from the state wrestling tournament, "like" the Eclipse on Facebook or follow @jakearyder on Twitter. The full story from the state wrestling meet will be in the Feb. 21 Eclipse.