Football stars wrestling to get on the podium - Part Two

Across the state of Minnesota, tomorrow, thousands of wrestlers will compete for a chance to keep their season alive and reach every young wrestler's goal of advancing to the state wrestling tournament. Six hundred twenty-four kids will make that dream come true. Many of those athletes also star on their high school's football team. Here are a handful of athletes who will try to keep their state tournament dream alive tomorrow. Then, they will be back on a high school football field near you next fall. For more wrestling, <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2025/02/football-stars-wrestling-to-get-on-the-podium-part-one/">check out part one</a> of this story.    LB Prepredzonemn ranking140/Ranked #4 in the 285A weight class by The Guillotine   Carlson is a two-way player and a multi-faceted offensive player. He is a physical runner who could be a primary back. He can run a defender over or make a move in the open field. However, the junior is more valuable as a multi-use back. He is a punishing lead blocker, has great hands, and makes plays deep down the middle of the field – not just in the flat. On the defensive side of the ball, he lines up as an inside linebacker or sometimes a defensive tackle. His strength and speed make him tough to block on the line. His explosiveness from the linebacker spot makes him effective between the tackles, and he has the speed to make plays on the outside. Two years ago, Carlson fell one win short of the state tournament. However, he was the Section 1A champion last year.     Prepredzonemn watch list/Ranked #7 in the 152AA weight class by The Guillotine   I wasn't able to find any highlights of Sather. This three-sport athlete's best sport might not be football or wrestling. It might just be baseball. Sather is an outfielder and pitcher for the Blackjacks. He was recently selected by Prepbaseballreport.com's pre-season All-State team as an outfielder. He helped his team to the section finals last spring. Last season, Sather went 2-2 on the mat in the state individual tournament – falling one win short of the podium. He also wrestled three times in the team tournament – going 2-1 and helping Dawson-Boyd – Lac Qui Parle – Montevideo United to a 5th-place finish. Two years ago, Sather qualified for the individual tournament and team tournament. He went 0-1 in the individual tournament and 2-1 in the team tournament. The Jackrabbits again came home with the 5th place trophy.     Prepredzonemn ranking 172/Ranked #3 in the 189AA weight class by The Guillotine   Zingler does a little bit of everything for the Rockets. As a running back, he rushed for nearly 1000 yards. He is a powerful runner with quick feet to avoid tacklers instead of always running defenders over. That power makes him a devastating blocker for his teammates. He has good speed for a back his size and can catch the ball out of the backfield. He can even throw a halfback option pass. Defensively, his explosiveness is obvious when he lays into a ball carrier from his linebacker position. Zingler is also the team's punter. On the mat, Zingler qualified for the state tournament last season but did not advance out of his bracket.     Prepredzonemn watch list/Ranked #6 in the 152AAA weight class by The Guillotine   Carr is a Swiss Army knife for the Wolfpack. Offensively, he is most effective as a one-cut-and-go runner. The junior has good speed out of his cuts. His pad level isn't as low as some guys. However, he has better power than I thought he would have because of his pad level. The Wolfpack junior can catch the ball out of the backfield. He is also a great blocker – out of the backfield as well as lined up at tight end. He can even throw a pass once in a while. Defensively, Carr plays deep safety but has the speed and football instincts to close on receivers. He is quick to get toward the line of scrimmage to support the run, even though he often starts twenty yards or more off the line of scrimmage. Carr is a three-time state wrestling entrant. His best showing in St. Paul was as a freshman. Carr went 3-2 at State and took 4th place in the 120AAA weight class.     Prepredzonemn watch list/Ranked #9 in the 215AAA weight class by The Guillotine   Although smaller than a typical nose tackle – Cook is listed as a linebacker, but most of his film is at nose tackle. Cook uses great leverage to keep his pads lower than the offensive linemen. He has nice hands, which allows him to get off blocks to get into the backfield or get back into the play even when he is moved off the line. He has good quickness – allowing him to slide up and down the line of scrimmage and make plays outside of the tackle box. His wrestling season fell one win short of the state tournament as a sophomore – taking 3rd at the section tournament. Two years ago, he finished fourth in the section.

Across the state of Minnesota, tomorrow, thousands of wrestlers will compete for a chance to keep their season alive and reach every young wrestler's goal of advancing to the state wrestling tournament. Six hundred twenty-four kids will make that dream come true. Many of those athletes also star on their high school's football team. Here are a handful of athletes who will try to keep their state tournament dream alive tomorrow. Then, they will be back on a high school football field near you next fall. For more wrestling, check out part one of this story.