Wrestling: Tigers tough in dress rehearsal

Godfrey Mpetey scored a pin in the 285-pound match (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Tigers officially opened their 2013-14 season with a 72-0 whitewash of Edina/Richfield Thursday night at Tiger Gym but coach Chad Olson conceded tonight's (Friday) home meet with state-rated Hastings will be a better measuring stick of things to come.

"This was a warm up," he said "I knew we would not have much problem tonight, but 72-0 was not even a thought.

"We wrestled as well as we ever have. Tomorrow will tell us a lot about how good we are. I've never shut out a team as a coach or scored that many points. I am going to have to look back to see if this has ever happened in the program's history."

Farmington scored 12 of its points via forfeit but the rest came from a dominant performance on the mat.

Merek Reddell (106 lbs.), Matt Rustad (132), Eric Heusbourg (152), Joe Liden (160), Joe Hoeve (182) and Godfrey Mpetey (285) all scored six points falls and Jamin LeDuc (120) and Jake Rudeen (170) each added five team points with a technical fall.

Kyle Benjamin won a 14-0 major decision at 145 lbs. and Skylar Raymond (106), Brayden Chapman (138) and Trevor Frost (195) each recorded three-point decisions.

Hastings, a perennial state power, was ranked fourth in the metro area in the StarTribune's pre-season poll released on Tuesday. Tonight's varsity match begins at 7:00 .m at Tiger Gym.