By John RittenhouseThe Adrian Dragons earned another trophy during the Minnesota State Class AA Team Wrestling Championships staged at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul over the weekend.Unfortunately for the Dragons, it wasn’t the piece of hardware they wanted to bring home.Making its second consecutive appearance (seventh overall) at the state team event, Adrian went 2-1 and placed third during the three-day event that started Thursday and ended Saturday.The Dragons rolled to a 20-point win over BOLD in Thursday’s quarterfinals, giving them a rematch against St. Michael-Albertville, the team that beat Adrian in last year’s state championship match. SM-A, the eventual team champion, bested the Dragons by 22 points in Friday’s semifinals.Adrian bounced back on Saturday to beat Perham by 17 points, giving the Dragons their third third-place performance (1981 and 1985) at the state championships in school history."Placing third isn’t bad," said AHS coach Gregg Nelson. "We’ve had a couple of really good years over here, placing second and third at the last two state tournaments. There are no complaints about that."Nelson, however, was hoping to give SM-A a better run for the state title. The Knights, a team that fields eight wrestlers who placed in the individual portion of the tournament, simply proved to be too strong for the Dragons to stop."They are just that good," Nelson said of the Knights. "You’ve always got to believe that you have a shot at winning, but if we wrestled them tomorrow, they’d still beat us. They just were a little better than us at a lot of weights. Not a lot, but just a little better. Still, it’s not like losing to them makes the whole season disappointing. Finishing third isn’t bad."Adrian ends the team campaign with a 34-3 record.Adrian 41, Perham 24The Dragons rallied from a four-point deficit to upend the Yellowjackets by 17 points during Saturday’s third-place match.Perham led 18-14 after Greg Perrine pinned Andy Heitkamp 40 seconds into the 140-pound match, but AHS won five of the last seven individual matches to lock up third place.A 15-7 major decision win from Dusty Bullerman (over Mac Stoll) and Tony Sauer’s 3:26 pin of Andrew Kratzke at 152 gave Adrian a 24-18 lead, but Perham battled back to knot the score at 24 with decision wins from Michael Guehna and Kenny Moenkedick at 160 and 171 respectively.Adrian then settled the issue by scoring 17 unanswered points between 189 and 275. Levi Bullerman beat Jon Flatau by technical fall at 189, and Will Lutmer (2:41 over Kyle Christopherson) and Cody Lutmer (1:18 over Joel Gorentz) secured pins at 215 and 275.The teams exchanged leads early in the match.Perham led 4-0 when Josh Harlow secured a 7-2 decision win at 103, but the Dragons moved in front 11-3 when Tony Thier won by technical fall and Joey Bullerman pinned Barry Nelson in 4:22 at 119.Perham regained the lead at 12-11 after Phil Moenkedick handed Jordan Reker a 9-0 major decision setback at 130. Adrian moved in front 14-2 when Brandon Bullerman nipped Justin Berns 2-1 at 135.Match wrap-up103 (P) Harlow 7-2 Loosbrock.112 (A) Thier t.f. Berns.119 (A) J.Bullerman pins Nelson.125 (P) Doll t.f. Z.Reker.130 (P) Moendedick 9-0 J.Reker.135 (A) B.Bullerman 2-1 Berns.140 (P) Perrine pins Heitkamp.145 (A) D.Bullerman 15-7 Stoll.152 (A) Sauer pins Kratzke.160 (P) Guehna 6-2 Engelkes.171 (P) Moenkedick 5-3 Reverts.189 (A) L.Bullerman t.f. Flatau.215 (A) W.Lutmer pinsChristopherson.275 (A) C.Lutmer pins Gorentz.SM-A 38, Adrian 16The eventual state champions overwhelmed the Dragons during Friday’s match in the semifinals.The Knights scored 21 unanswered points in the first five matches and never looked back on the way to a 22-point victory.SM-A won 10 of 14 matches during the clash.Along with receiving decision wins from Andy Hackenmueller, Dan Greeno, SM-A, received a pin from Mike Thorn, a major decision win from Alex Becker and a technical fall win by Joe Grygelko to open a 21-0 advantage after the 130-pound match.Adrian’s Brandon Bulleran snapped SM-A’s run by posting an 8-3 decision win over Steve Hegland at 135, but the Knights won the next four matches to open a 35-3 lead. The four-match run featured a technical fall win by Chad Little, and decision wins from Mickey Kirk, Jake Grygelko and Dusty Baker.Adrian won three of the final four matches, but the outcome was settled by then.Cody Reverts notched an 11-1 major decision win over Kurt Schumm, Levi Bullerman pinned Matt Nerdahl in 3:19 and Will Lutmer nipped Caleb McEachern 3-2 to account for Adrian’s final three wins.Match wrap-up103 (S) Hackenmueller 10-9Loosbrock.112 (S) Greeno 4-1 J.Bullerman.119 (S) Thorn pins Thier.125 (S) Becker 15-4 Z.Reker.130 (S) Grygelko t.f. J.Reker.135 (A) B.Bullerman 8-3 Hegland.140 (S) Little t.f. Heitkamp.145 (S) Kirk 5-2. D.Bullerman.152 (S) Grygelko 10-5 Sauer.160 (S) Baker 5-2 Engelkes.171 (A) Reverts 11-1 Schumm.189 (A) L.Bullerman pins Nerdahl.215 (A) W.Lutmer 3-2 McEachern.275 (S) Dehmer 5-1 Kruger.Adrian 38, BOLD 18The Dragons opened the tournament by besting BOLD by 20 points during Thursday’s quarterfinals.BOLD sported an 18-16 edge after Mark Pietig recorded a pin at 160 pounds, but the Dragons won the final four matches to advance to the semifinals.Cody Reverts put AHS in front to stay with a 12-3 major decision win over Trent Squibb at 171 pounds. Levi Bullerman (40 seconds over Gerald Freberg), Will Lutmer (50 seconds over Brian Hagen) and Cody Lutmer (5:30 over Ben Aaseth) iced the victory with pins.Trailing 3-0 early, Adrian moved in front 7-3 with a major decision win from Tony Thier and a decision victory at 112 and 119.The Dragons led 13-7 when Jordan Reker and Brandon Bullerman won decisions at 130 and 135, and the advantage increased to seven points (16-9) when Dusty Bullerman notched a decision win at 145.BOLD won the next two matches to take a two-point lead that was erased by Adrian’s late four-match run.Match wrap-up103 (B) LeVasseur 1-0 Loosbrock.112 (A) Thier 11-2 Brenner.119 (A) J.Bullerman 5-4 Neubauer.125 (B) Jahnke 11-4 Z.Reker.130 (A) J.Reker 15-10 Kramer.135 (A) B.Bullerman 7-2Rettmann.140 (B) Neubauer 11-9 Heitkamp.145 (A) D.Bullerman 11-4 Revier.152 (B) Elfering 8-2 Sauer.160 (B) Pietig pins Engelkes.171 (A) Reverts 12-3 Squibb.189 (A) L.Bullerman pins Freberg.215 (A) W.Lutmer pins Hagen.275 (A) C.Lutmer pins Aaseth.