Emmetsburg, Ia (Northwest Iowa Now) – After a brief hiatus, we get back to our series on the KICD 9-County Area’s Best Teams of the 2025-2026 Year with Boys Wrestling.

Emmetsburg is known for their wrestling program, boosting one of the State of Iowa’s greatest histories. The E-Hawks had some nice pieces coming back for the 2025-2026 season and were looking to chase down another high finish at the State Meet. It was a bumpy regular season, but Emmetsburg would finish strong.

The year opened up with Emmetsburg beating Pocahontas Area 48-29, losing to Sioux Central 41-36, and rolling past West Bend-Mallard 46-18 in a Quad.

At the Joe Fitch Invitational hosted by Humboldt, Matt Rubel was 3rd for the E-Hawks at 113, and Gage Ditch was also 3rd at 144. Brayden Yates would take the 175lb Gold for Emmetsburg. Ryan Wirtz was 2nd at 190, and Nick Saxton finished 3rd in the 285lb weight division. Emmetsburg finished 6th out of the 9 teams.

The E-Hawks would go 1-1 at a Triangular, losing to GTRA 48-34 and beating Sibley-Ocheyedan 45-28.

Emmetsburg hosted the Bob Roethler Invite Brayden Yates was 2nd at 175 with Ryan Wirtz winning at 190. Nick Saxton would finish 2nd for the E-Hawks at 285. Emmetsburg was 8th out of the 15 teams.

Emmetsburg went to the highly competitive Don Miller Invitational in Fort Dodge. In the 175lb weight class, Brayden Yates took 3rd and Nick Saxton was also 3rd at 285. In a 12-team field that featured 5 3A schools, Emmetsburg was the highest placing 1A at 8th.

Emmetsburg hosted the E-Hawk Duals where they fell to Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley 66-14, Earlham 67-9, and Saint Ansgar 47-32. Emmetsburg picked up wins against East Sac County 60-24 and North Union 42-24. At their next dual meet, the E-Hawks went unbeaten in the quad, beating East Sac County 59-18, South Hamilton 60-18, and Southeast Valley 52-30.

Emmetsburg made the long trip east to compete in the Tripoli Invitational against some high-level small school competition. Brayden Yates was 3rd at 175, and Nick Saxton won 285. Emmetsburg finished 8th out of 12 teams.

The E-Hawks would then fall in both duals at a Triangular, 45-36 against South Central Calhoun and 50-18 against Manson-Northwest Webster. They would follow that up with a loss to Alta-Aurelia 49-29 in a Twin Lakes Conference Dual.

At the Twin Lakes Conference Tournament, CJ Rodriguez was 2nd at 126, Gage Ditch took 2nd at 144, and Brayden Yates was 2nd at 175. Ryan Wirtz was the Twin Lakes Conference Champion at 190, and Nick Saxton took 2nd at 285. Emmetsburg finished 3rd in the team standings.

Emmetsburg attended the Herb Irgens invitational, a massive, two-day tournament hosted by OABCIG featuring teams from across the state. The only top 3 finisher for the E-Hawks was Nick Saxton, who took 2nd at 285. Out of 24 teams, Emmetsburg was 16th with 65.5, part of a 4-team grouping that was all withing 5 points of each other.

It was another long trip for the E-Hawks to the Charger Invitational in Guthrie Center, hosted by A-C/GC. There, Emmetsburg was tied with Manson-Northwest Webster for 13th out of 21 teams.

Emmetsburg wrapped up the regular season in a dual triangular where they fell short against Spencer 35-33 and beat West Hancock 41-28.

The E-Hawks were assigned to Class 1A District 4 for the postseason, hosted by Lake Mills. Matt Rubel took 3rd at 113, CJ Rodriguez was 2nd at 126, and Jackson Wilcoxon was 3rd at 138. Brayden Yates took Gold in the 165lb weight class with Ryan Wirtz also winning at 190. Nick Saxton was the District Champion at 285. Emmetsburg took 3rd out of the 10 teams at the District Tournament with 127.5 points.

Emmetsburg would bring 4 wrestlers to the State Tournament, with all four making some noise. Ryant Wirtz found his way to the podium, taking 5th at 190. Nick Saxton would finish 4th at 285, also getting a medal for the E-Hawks. Emmetsburg would finish 17th as a team, scoring 46 points, 1 point ahead of 18th A-C/GC, and 1 point behind 16th place Lawton-Bronson.

All four State Qualifiers graduate for Emmetsburg. Jackson Wilcoxon, an athlete who just missed qualification, also graduated in 2026. Matt Rubel, who took 3rd at Districts, just missing the cut, was only a freshman, and Emmetsburg will look to rebuild in the 2026-2027 season.

This has been another edition of the KICD 9-County Area’s best teams of the 2025-2026 year. We will look at Basketball next.