Idaho state wrestling: Lakeland’s Edelblute brothers nab two state titles, one runner-up finish

POCATELLO – At the end of the day, the goal of the brothers Edelblute of the Lakeland Hawks was only two-thirds accomplished.

Sam and William Edelblute scored pins to repeat as state champions, but Alex fell just short of completing the Edelbute repeat trifecta Saturday at Holt Arena.

Alex Edelbute (29-4) was first to attempt to defend his title, squaring off against Twin Falls’ Kase Mauger (43-1) for 4A 106-pound supremacy. Edelblute’s offense was stifled by Mauger for the majority of the match, which ended with Edelblute on the wrong end of a 4-2 score.

On the same mat and in the next match, Sam Edelblute (39-7) put the Hawks on the board, winning the 4A 113-pound weight class and his second consecutive state title against Dante Roggio (42-6) of Vallivue via pin. It was Edelblute’s third pin of the tournament, with the other win an 8-0 shutout of Minico’s Ryeker Andersen (34-14) in their semifinal.

Edelblute was happy but subdued following his win.

“I feel pretty good, but it would have been nice to have Alex win also,” Edelblute said. “But, I’m a two-time state champion.”

Edelblute said his confidence and intensity were high from the early going in the championship match, neither letting up until the referee’s hand slapped the mat.

“Once I had him on his back and got a near fall, I knew it was going my way.”

In the 4A 126-pound weight class, William Edelblute (40-4) netted Lakeland’s second individual title by pinning Esai Castaneda (43-15) of Blackfoot in the championship round. Eerily similar to Sam’s match, William controlled the match early, emphatically ending with a pin the match that was never really in doubt.

The 4A 145-pound weight class saw the Edelblutes’ Lakeland teammate and three-time state champion Larry Johnson (40-2) miss out on a fourth state title, narrowly losing to Caldwell’s Christian Hudson (42-0) in arguably one of the closest and most exciting bouts of the tournament.

With a total of one loss between them, Johnson and Hudson jockeyed for position for the majority of regulation, with Johnson netting one point for an escape in the first period, and Hudson tying up the score in the second with an escape of his own. After the third period remained scoreless, the two competitors went to sudden victory. After remaining tied for the first 1-minute extra period, Hudson managed to muster another escape point to make the score 2-1, and held off Johnson to win the match and the title.

Lakeland scored 212.5 points, good for second in 4A behind team champion Minico, which totaled 241.5 points.

Moscow’s Britton Needham (26-11) made a surprise appearance in the 4A 160-pound finals following a narrow 2-1 victory over Lakeland’s Logan Kelley. Needham was defeated 10-1 in the finals by Anthony Rawson (42-2) of Minico.

In 3A, Jesse Sandelin (38-13) of Bonners Ferry made it to the finals at 160 pounds, coming up just short in a 5-4 loss to Jesse Camacho (35-3) of Parma. Aaron Reyes (28-9) of Priest River made a finals appearance at 220 pounds but was soundly defeated by Teton’s Chad Larose (49-5).