FARGO — Jordan Sours and Boeden Greenley push each other so hard in practice that nobody from another team could give either one anything resembling a challenge all season.
The Lisbon training partners both capped off undefeated seasons with state championships at the North Dakota Class B state wrestling tournament on Friday at the Fargodome. The tandem has won a combined seven state titles with Sours, a senior, winning his fourth and Greenley, a sophomore, winning his third.
“That man right there (Sours) is the reason I’ve been able to have so much success,” Greenley said. “He keeps me going all the time and I’m really sad to see him go. I give everything to my practice partner, he made me into everything I am.”
Sours claimed the championship at 170 pounds by defeating Harvey-Wells County’s Carsen Mertz by tech fall 23-8 in 5 minutes, 19 seconds. He scored takedown after takedown, letting Mertz free only to take him down again at will. He notched five takedowns in the first, three in the second and two in the third.
“Everything is paying off right now,” Sours said. “It is awesome to finish this chapter off. I want to take all of this success and hard work into life and keep working hard at life.”
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Sours finished the season a perfect 31-0 and scored bonus points in every match but one all season. He capped off a near-perfect high school career, taking home state titles every year from his freshman through senior seasons, all in different weight classes. He won the state championship at 145 pounds as a freshman in 2018, at 152 as a sophomore in 2019 and at 160 last year as a junior.
“There’s a lot more great wrestlers coming after me,” Sours said. “All of the younger kids in the room, everybody in the room. We love the legacy we’re having and hopefully we can keep it going.”
Greenley claimed the championship at 152 by pinning Des Lacs-Burlington’s Cale Ibach in 1:43 in the final. He managed pins in three of his four state tournament matches. Greenley needed all six minutes to take a 14-6 major decision over New Salem-Almont’s Ethan Hammons in the semifinals.
The sophomore 152-pounder finished the season with an unblemished 33-0 record, his second consecutive undefeated state championship campaign. He hasn’t lost a match since December of 2018 when he was an eighth-grader.
“Now I’ve gotta win two more — that’s the goal,” Greenley said.
“I did exactly what I wanted to do (in the final). He came out a little fiery, but I like that. It was fun.”
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Sours and Greenley helped lead the Broncos to a runaway team state championship. Lisbon racked up 246 team points, nearly 37 more than second-place Carrington at 209.5. New Salem-Almont (185.5) was third, South Border (171.5) was fourth and Velva (169.5) rounded out the top five.
The Broncos had state place winners in 12 of the 14 weight classes. In addition to their state champs, Sours and Greenley, Kashdon Wadeson finished fifth at 106, Blaze Reinke was third at 120, Carter Wallner was eighth at 126, Mike Nelson was fourth at 132, Simon Sveum was eighth at 145, Jaden Schmidt was third at 160, Hunter Schultz was seventh at 182, Averey Dick was second at 195, Granger Dick was eighth at 220 and Josh Shearer was second at 285.
“This whole team is outstanding,” Sours said. “You feel comfortable with every single one of them and you can count on all of them.”
Central Cass junior Jake Deutsch took third at 138 pounds, beating a familiar face in the third-place match. He won a 6-2 decision over Hillsboro-Central Valley’s Henry Nelson — an opponent he said he’s wrestled frequently.
“Henry’s tough, I’ve been wrestling him my entire life,” Deutsch said. “Maybe he’ll get me one of these times in the future.”
Deutsch had his sights trained on making a state championship run this weekend, but a loss in the quarterfinals to Northern Lights’ Jakob Hudson dashed those hopes. He recovered from there and strung together four straight wins to claim third.
“I pride myself on working to come back here,” Deutsch said. “I could have gotten down on myself and come in and taken eighth or not placed. But I fought back.”
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South Border sent three wrestlers to the state finals and ended up with one state champion and two second-place finishers.
Nathan Schauer defeated Lisbon’s Averey Dick by a 12-2 major decision in the finals for his first state title.
Ashton Peterson was second at 220, falling to Carrington’s Beau Retzlaff in the final. Marshall Lindgren was second at 132, losing to Williams County’s Ethan Wonser in the final.
The 132 championship match was a showdown of returning state champions, as Lindgren was the champ at 120 pounds last year and Wonser the champ at 126. Last year's 126-pound runner-up, Carter Schmitz of Kindred, finished third in a loaded weight class.
