West Central Valley’s Blaise Beane will head to the District 7 tournament’s 145-pound bracket at Underwood on Saturday and face off with Mt. Ayr’s Trae Ehlen in the opening round. 

Beane is 23-13 on the season while Ehlen is 37-2 and holds the No. 8 ranking in the weight class according to The Predicament.

Head Wrestling Coach Ben Strandberg says Beane and his twin brother Brayden are the right type of wrestler to pull off this type of upset.

“They’ve been wrestling a lot since they’ve been little, and there’s still some things as sophomores that we’re still trying to iron out when it comes to basic wrestling and doing things correctly. But, when the whistle blows with Blaise, you never know what you’re going to get. He comes out firing, has a lot of energy and has a pretty good gas tank on him. If he takes you to the later part of the match and can tire you out, anything can happen. It’s one of those things where if he has his mind on right, he’s the kind of kid that can definitely upset some people.” 

Beane was leading 5-4 in his opening match of the Sectional Tournament with an escape, takedown and nearfall before pinning St. Albert Catholic’s Andrew Crawley in 2:29. Underwood’s Kadyn Fleek held a 3-2 lead over Beane after two periods before the Wildcat flipped and pinned him in the third.

The final match of the night went to Missouri Valley’s Eric McIlnay in a 9-2 decision over Beane. The West Central Valley sophomore flipped his opponent over for reversal points in the final period, but couldn’t convert it into the pinfall victory.

McIlnay and Treynor’s Duncan Clark will make up the other half of the District 7 145-pound bracket.The top two places advance to the state tournament in Des Moines beginning Thursday February 18.