APPLE VALLEY &045;&160;The combination of an Albert Lea team that was not wrestling to its usual high level, and a well-balanced St. Francis team worked against the Tigers at the Eastview Quadrangular.

The eighth-ranked Fighting Saints downed No. 1 Albert Lea 31-27 in the finals of the dual meet.

&8220;The whole day we seemed to be a little flat for whatever reason,&8221; said Albert Lea head coach Larry Goodnature.

&8220;St. Francis came in undefeated and they are a good, balanced team and we just didn’t match up well against them.&8221;

St. Francis won the first two matches dealing 5-0 and 12-7 losses to ninth-ranked Cody Hansen and No. 9 Logan Kortan.

However, No. 8 Eric Johnson would get six points for Albert Lea with a pin in 1:33 to tie the team score.

After another St. Francis win at 125, third-ranked Beau Hansen gave the Tigers their first lead by pinning Jared Blaser in 3:52.

No. 3 (at 140) Ryan Owens was able to pull out a tight 8-6 victory over No. 3 Zach McGinnis at 135 before 10th-ranked Logan Hansen came up short at 140 10-4 to give the Panthers a 15-12 lead in the team race.

Sixth-ranked Matt Morris was able to get a close match to go the Tigers way at 145 downing No. 5 Justin DeCheine 3-2 before St. Francis went on a run winning four of the next six matches to get the win.

Second-ranked Robby Kriesel edged out Nate Goodnature 4-3 at 152, Garrett Long earned a major decision over No. 3 Alex Paul 10-1, Shawn Malley threw Matt Vietze and No. 3Andy Robinson downed No. 9 Mike Honeycutt 15-8.

The Tigers got wins from No. 7 Tayor Ignaszewski and second-ranked Ben Berhow with a pin and forfeit, respectively.

&8220;We didn’t wrestle as a team and were not wrestling with out best effort,&8221; said coach Goodnature.

&8220;The kids found out that we are not going to automatically win just by showing up, but in the long run I think this will help us.

It is just one match and one tournament it is certainly not the end of the world.&8221;

The Tigers opened up their day with a 60-10 domination of Eastview getting pins from Cody Hansen, Eric Johnson, Beau Hansen, McGinnis, Logan Hansen, Morris, Ignaszewski, Paul and Berhow.

Kortan scored a big win defeating fouth-ranked Minh Huynh 3-2 at 112 to help spark the squad early on.

Albert Lea also downed Coon Rapids 33-18 to advance to the finals.

Top-ranked Jason Adams was able to squeeze out the slimmest of victories over McGinnis in a battle of highly rated wrestlers at 135, while No. 8 Jason Engstrom edged Honeycutt by the same margin at 215.

Cody Hansen, Eric Johnson and Berhow picked up bonus points in their wins for the Tigers.

The Tigers are back in action Thursday when they host rival Austin in a Big Nine Conference dual in Albert Lea, Thursday.