CALEDONIA, Minn. – Townspeople here and 12 miles away in Houston have taken exception to the word “brawl” in news reports to describe what happened in he Caledonia High School boys locker room on December 11. Word on the street is that it wasn’t a brawl but a savage attack on a Houston wrestler who was a weaker team member. The injured boy ended up not only bruised seriously but beaten senseless. Police and school authorities have chosen to be silent on what details they know, which has left talk on street to wander different directions. The consensus, however, is that:
> After workouts a group of Caledonia wrestlers, the number isn’t clear, colluded to attack the Houston boy. They knew he was the only Houston wrestler at practice that day and that he had no Houston comrades to come to his defense. The other Houstonites were away on a senior class trip.
> The Caledonians switched off the locker room lights and pummeled the Houston boy mercilessly.
> The Houston boy either was beaten unconscious or fell during the attack or was pushed into a wall or the floor, hit his head, and lost consciousness.
> The assailants panicked. It’s not clear if they scattered or called a coach.
> An ambulance took the Houston boy 32 miles to a trauma unit at a LaCrosse hospital.
> The bou has recovered and will return to school. His family, however, will not allow him to rejoin the joint Caledonia-Houston team, which some say is what the Caledonia wrestlers had in mind in the first place.
The future of a joint Caledonia-Houston high school teams is uncertain. The combined team hadn’t gone over well in Caledonia when after it was realized it put the team into an interscholastic division with tougher competition. The town’s teams have dominated southeast Minnesota athletics for years and have become a town obsession. Some say a strong strain in the local mentality is winning at any cost.
Earlier: Anything criminal in Caledonia wrestling brawl?
A brawl?
Savage attack?
School profiles
Caledonia High School
270 students in grades 9-12.
Overall enrollment: 700
Budget: $14.1 million
Per student: $19,100
Houston High School
230 students in grades 7-12
(excluding virtual program)
Overall enrollment: 430
(excluding virtual program)
Budget: $29.7 million
(including virtual program)
Per student: $15,600,
(including virtual program)