December 18, 2015 at 3:00 p.m.
Hodag grapplers dominate Mosinee 62-3
Hodag grapplers dominate Mosinee 62-3
The outcome of the dual was never really in doubt as Mosinee forfeited seven of the 14 weight classes, but Rhinelander won six of the seven contested matches to put a stamp on the evening.
"It went about as good as it could have," RHS wrestling coach Paul Ellenbecker said. "We can't complain at all. It's a conference win to start the year. To start out like this is definitely a good start for us."
The Hodags started the night with pins in the first three contested matches of the evening and never looked back. Eric Grulke, who was on his way to a major decision win, stuck Dom Collelo to the mat with six seconds remaining in the 152-pound match to give the Hodags a 6-0 lead.
"Eric Grulke, wrestling as a freshman, he's coming around," Ellenbecker said. "He competes and that's all you can really ask. He's a tough kid and he's getting better. We're going to need him a the end of the year."
Jacob DeMeyer pinned Nathan Kostecki in the second period at 160 and Mike Wagner added a pin at 285 to give the Hodags a 36-0 lead. Wagner was on his the mat for most of the first period against Vince Dehavan, but chose to start the second period on his feet, quickly hit a headlock and pinned the Mosinee senior.
"Mikey's got a big headlock and we always joke with him that he's got to hit that headlock," Ellenbecker said. "He doesn't have many moves, but the ones he does he really hits. He hit that headlock and really hit it pretty good and caught the kid. There was no doubt after he hit it because the kid was pretty flat right away. Mikey's a kid who's all out effort all the time. It's kind of cool for him. Senior year, second to last match here, to get a win and be contributing on our team this year. From where he started to where he's at this year is quite accomplishment."
Rhinelander's only loss of the night came at 113 pounds where sophomore Tyler Olson dropped a 5-0 decision to Mosinee's Josh Ehster, who is currently ranked fourth in the state in Division 2 at 120 pounds by Wisconsin Wrestling Online.
"He wrestled good for the first half of the match against the runner-up at state last year," Ellenbecker said of Olson's bout against Ehster. "He's got to get a little more offensive, but overall he competed. He had a shot early, had a chance to take him down."
Rhinelander closed out the match with a second-period pin by Kevin Albrandt at 132, a technical fall by Josh Randolph at 138 and an 11-4 decision for Jon Fox over Ty Gauerke at 145.
"Jonny Fox, last match against a tough kid," Ellenbecker said. "The kid's (Gauerke) a funky (wrestler) and the way Jonny controlled the match was really huge. He just did a really good job in that match."
The Hodags travel to Shawano Saturday for an invitational. Ranked teams New London, Wittenberg-Birnamwood and Coleman are among the other teams scheduled to compete.
"We have pretty tough teams that are doing well," Ellenbecker said. "We'll see. We've got to go out and compete. I think the best we've took there is fourth and I think it would be nice, if we wrestle really well, we could possibly take second or better."
Notes: The latest individual rankings by Wisconsin Wrestling Online were released earlier this week. DeMeyer checked in 12th in Division 1 at 160 point. Jon Fox (145) and Alec Kurtz (182) both received honorable mention ... Kurtz (illness) did not compete Thursday as the Hodags took double forfeits at 182 and 106.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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