After four years of losing to the Albert Lea wrestling team in the Section 1AAA championship Owatonna looked like it had a ravenous desire to get to the state tournament this time.

Given 10 opportunities against the Huskies, Albert Lea head coach Larry Goodnature said Owatonna would likely win each time and Saturday in the Section 1AAA championship dual the Huskies affirmed that notion.

The seventh-ranked Tigers (19-11) couldn’t match third-ranked Owatonna’s intensity and balance en route to a 46-7 loss for the first championship loss in four years.

The 39-point margin of victory for the Huskies tied the second-largest margin of victory ever for Owatonna (50-7) against the Tigers and it could have been worse.

Albert Lea, which advanced to the championship with a 45-23 victory over Faribault, won just two matches and failed to win at the spots it did last time against the Huskies in a 36-16 loss in Owatonna.

“They came to wrestle and they’ve got a balanced team along with a bunch of studs in their lineup,” Goodnature said. “They don’t have a weak weight. They wanted it a little more than we did.”

Fourth-ranked Nick Scheffert (33-5) made up for a loss against Tigers freshman Garrett Wangsness (24-8) with a 6-3 decision Saturday as he set the tone of the dual early. Scheffert looked aggressive from the start and the rest of the Owatonna squad fed off that for the duration of the dual.

“The matches before us they matter in duals like this,” said Albert Lea sophomore Dalton Westerlund. “If someone wins in front of you, it will pump you up more. Down in the lower weights we didn’t have any of that. All of the wins went their way.”

Owatonna scored bonus points in five matches and generally held control of the other matches.

Any advantage Albert Lea had last time went in favor of the Huskies in the second meeting. Westerlund (27-9), ranked sixth at 130, and sophomore Trey Hable (29-8), ranked fourth at 125, both won last time, but fell in their matches Saturday.

Uncharacteristically both came out cautious to start their matches and it cost them.

“A couple of them are sophomores and didn’t wrestle well,” Goodnature said. “They held back too much, they’re too cautious and you can’t do that.”

Westerlund earned a major decision against eighth-ranked Dillin Schultz (20-16) but scored just a third-period escape point after the first period ended without either wrestler scoring.

Hable’s match went much the same way. Hable defeated Bowen Schultz (27-9) 6-1 last time, but failed to score in the second meeting. Instead Schultz scored an escape and a takedown in the third period

Albert Lea seemed to struggle with the strength of the Huskies and allowed Owatonna to pick up escape points time and time again.

Cory Hansen (33-4) provided the Tigers their first victory of the dual at 135 pounds with a 12-4 major decision against Tom Lundberg (14-12) and Trevor Rasmussen (28-9) followed with a 7-2 overtime victory against Jake Fox (31-7) at 140.

There were spots the Tigers improved at, Goodnature said, but it didn’t result in any victories.

Goodnature pointed to the performances of Lucas Hansen (22-17), Carter Kortan (24-9) and Connor Kortan (26-9) as some who performed better than last time.

Eighth-ranked Lucas Hansen lost 10-5 last time to Evan Green (26-12), but lost 7-6 Saturday. Connor and Carter Kortan both lost; Carter 6-0 to Jordan Zeman (28-7) and Connor 4-1 to 10th-ranked Jeremy Duruji (32-5). But on Saturday both kept it closer. Carter fell 3-1 and Connor 3-2.

The Tigers now turn their attention to the section individual tournament next weekend where many will see some of the same Owatonna wrestlers again.

“The neat thing about this sport is the team portion is over, but we’re not going home and cleaning out our lockers,” Goodnature said. “We’ve got another week left with the section individuals and these kids can turn it around.”

Owatonna 46, Albert Lea 7

103—Nick Scheffert (O) dec. Garrett Wangsness 6-3; 112—Evan Green (O) dec. Lucas Hansen 7-6; 119—Ben Anderson (O) maj. dec. Devin Nelson 10-2; 125—Bowen Schultz (O) dec. Trey Hable 3-0; 130—Dillin Schultz (O) dec. Dalton Westerlund 3-1; 135—Brett Meger (O) dec. Brandon Ranum 6-1; 140—Cory Hansen (AL) maj. dec. Tom Lundberg 12-4; 145—Trevor Rasmussen (AL) dec. Jake Fox 7-2 OT; 152—Jordan Zeman (O) dec. Carter Kortan 3-1; 160—Jeremy Duruji (O) dec. Connor Kortan 3-2; 171—Tyler Thomas (O) pinned Mitch Webb 3:32; 189—Coyte Kuefner (O) pinned Caleb Gaudian 1:08; 215—Dalton Henderson (O) tech. fall Alex Nielsen 24-9; 285—Logan Barrett (O) maj. dec. Christian Anderson 14-2.

Albert Lea 45, Faribault 23

103—Garrett Wangsness (AL) pinned Trevor Morris 2:29; 112—Brandon Peters (F) dec. Lucas Hansen 2-1; 119—Marcus Riggle (F) pinned Devin Nelson 1:19; 125—Trey Hable (AL) pinned Tyler Broughton 2:53; 130—Brandon Ranum (AL) dec. Josh Palmer 7-1; 135—Dalton Westerlud (AL) pinned James Dennis 3:01; 140—Cory Hansen (AL) pinned Matt Purfeest 1:28; 145—Trevor Rasmussen (AL) dec. Dalton Chmelik 7-1; 152—Nick Knott (F) tech. fall Caleb Kolodge 15-0; 160—Connor Kortan (AL) pinned Kevin Palacios 1:48; 171—Mat Becker (F) dec. Mitch Webb 7-4; 189—Caleb Gaudian (AL) pinned Alex Miller 3:25; 215—Alex Nielsen (AL) dec. Caleb Becker 5-2; 285—Cole Wilson (F) pinned Christian Andersen 0:49.