FARGO - With ears laid back and fangs bared, the the Bismarck wrestling team Saturday left its mark in the illustrious annals of Demon wrestling history.

The Demons, with their 30th state individual tournament title virtually locked up, roared through the final day of competition at the Fargodome, adding 54 points to their championship total.

When they were done, the Demons had scored 246.5 points and captured six individual titles.

Dustin Brendel (125 pounds), Drew Spaulding (130), Joe Schumacher (135), Trevor Johnson (145), Joe Latham (160) and Alex Granfor (285) won individual titles as BHS went 6-1 in the finals.

All told, 11 of Bismarck's 14 qualifiers placed, with a pair of fourths and a pair of fifths thrown in.

Saturday's spectacular effort sprang from an unlikely source, Bismarck was left with a bad aftertaste after defeating Fargo South 39-31 for its 10th straight state dual title the night before. South won five of the last six bouts.

"We knew we didn't wrestle up to our ability," Johnson said as he looked back at the dual final. "A few guys were talking to each other afterward and they said that shouldn't happen and won't happen again."

It didn't. The Demons actually fattened their lead - 85 points after two days - on Saturday, leaving runner-up Fargo South 95.5 points in the dust with 147 points. Century scored 141.5 points for third place, the Patriots' highest finish since its championship season in 2001. Williston with 129.5 was fourth. Mandan took sixth with 104 and St. Mary's was 16th with 49.5.

Brendel, seeded fourth, was a surprise champion at 125. He knocked off the top seed, Brock Krumm of St. Mary's, 9-6 in the semifinals and took care of the St. Mary's alternate, Neil Kienzle, 10-8 in the championship match.

"I felt after I beat Krumm I had a pretty good chance," Brendel said.

Brendel lost a major decision to Krumm in the first tournament of the season and dropped an overtime match to Kienzle in December.

But Brendel, a sophomore who is wrestling two weight classes down from last season, remained hopeful. "I knew I was able to do it, but I didn't expect to," he said. "My goal coming in was third or better."

Schumacher and Granfor were both seeded third, but their pedigree was solid. Schumacher won at 112 last season, and Granfor was the heavyweight runner-up.

Leaping four weight classes isn't exactly the norm, but Schumacher said he had his reasons.

"The guys are a lot stronger, and they're more seasoned wrestlers," Schumacher said. "¦ I thought 135 was the best weight class in Class A ¦ and I wanted to see if I could compete with them. It matters whether you win or lose, but what matters most is improving."

For Granfor, a senior, winning the championship meant turning around a 6-4 loss to Fargo South's Gerad Fugleberg, the No. 1 seed, in the dual final. Granfor said wrestling that match actually benefitted him.

"The dual was the only time I'd wrestled him," Granfor said. "I lost that one, but I knew what I had to prepare for. It was a close score, so I knew I could compete with him."

The key to Granfor's 4-3 championship match win over Fugleberg was a four-point move with :40 remaining. He trailed 1-0 at that point, but said he remained patient.

"You can't wrestle panicked," he said. "¦ You've got to wrestle every second of every minute just like you're in the practice room."

Spaulding, a sophomore, finally reached the pinnacle after two runner-up finishes - at 112 and 119.

"I really wanted to win it this year," Spaulding said. "¦ Coming into the finals I was really positive. My goal was to pin my finals guy (Jerrod Peterson of Grand Forks Central), and I got it done."

Spaulding said as the match progressed he could see a fall looming.

"I was really working my moves on top. That (the pin) was the third or fourth time I put him on his back, so I knew I was going to pin him," he said.

For Johnson, the 11-5 victory over Mandan's Tate Schwagler in the 145-pound final was anything but a storybook finish. He was ill with stomach flu-like symptoms overnight and went to the mat feeling physically spent.

"I might have looked like myself, but I didn't feel like myself," said Johnson, who is a light 145-pounder to begin with. "¦ I was running pretty much on pure adrenaline in the finals. I gave it all I had left."

Johnson said Bismarck's performance on Saturday surpassed his expectations.

"It was probably a little more than I expected," he said. "The big surprise was having Dustin Brendel beat the No. 1 seed in the semis and win the state championship."

On Friday, the dual all came down to Jon Binstock, a freshman 119-pounder. Binstock won his bout 2-0 to clinch the victory. Johnson said the Demons were much better at taking care of business on Saturday.

"It's nice to go out and get it done yourself rather than banking on your teammates," he said. "It's definitely a better feeling."

Granfor, like Johnson a senior, said the tidal wave-like finish was the perfect way to close out the season. "It makes it kind of a good ending to a good wrestling season with a good team," he said.

Century senior Derek Lee earned a 152-pound title to go with last winter's championship at 145. He said this season was different in a couple of ways, though.

"I was pretty nervous before that (championship) match," he said. "Everyone expects you to perform again, so it makes you kind of nervous."

However, this championship was made all the sweeter by Century's strong showing as a team. The Patriots finished third in both the dual and individual tournaments.

"When you get rolling everyone gets jacked up to have success," Lee said. "We were all jacked up over Tyrell Miller getting third today."

Miller, a sixth-seeded sophomore, clinched third with a pin in the 145-pound third-place match.

Lee, Johnson and Schumacher were among five Class A wrestlers seeking repeats at the Fargodome. All five succeeded. The other two-time winners are Fargo South 112-pounder Eric Forde and West Fargo 189-pounder Scott Schiller.

West Region schools produced eight of the 14 Class A champions. The only West Region winner from outside Bismarck was Turtle Mountain junior Payton DeCoteau, who upended top-seeded Justin Lynnes of Fargo North 10-8 in sudden death overtime for the 215-pound title.

Kienzle, wrestling as an alternate at 125, was the top St. Mary's placer with his runner-up finish. Mandan's Schwagler and Mike Volk took second at 145 and 152, respectively.