January 19, 2018 at 1:21 p.m.
Perfect 100
Krueger's milestone leads Hodags to 44-25 win over Antigo
Perfect 100
Sitting at 99 career wins, and with his team clinging to a seven-point lead with two matches remaining, the ninth-ranked 220-pounder in Division 1 did what he's been doing all year long.
Krueger pinned Antigo's Josh Roller in 40 seconds and the Hodags avenged last year's conference loss to the Robins with a 44-25 victory at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
For what the match lacked in drama - Krueger took down Roller in 16 seconds and finished him off with the pin a short time after putting the Antigo sophomore to his back - it more than made up for in significance for Krueger and the Hodag senior class.
"It couldn't have timed out any better to have it on senior night with all these great guys that I'm surrounded by," Krueger said afterward. "I couldn't be more proud of my class and my coaching staff. I'm so happy that I could enjoy this moment with all of these guys at home, in front of the home crowd."
Krueger joined four of his RHS classmates in the 100-win club and the Hodags won the final four matches of the night to set up a showdown with Medford for first place in the GNC next Thursday at Raider Hall.
"It's a great group," coach Paul Ellenbecker said of his seniors. "Five guys with 100 wins, seven guys in the class. That's unheard of. We're excited about it and I'm glad for them that they got to have such a great night."
Krueger's win actually came in the heavyweight division as the teams did as much jostling at the scorer's table as they did in the circle, trying to work the matchups in their favor.
Rhinelander, which had last choice in the odd-numbered matches, did just that in the 195-pound bout after falling behind in the dual, 25-20.
When the Robins trotted out Jessip Williams the Hodags countered with freshman Ben Sinclair, who made short work of his Antigo counterpart, pinning him in 24 seconds to give Rhinelander a 26-25 lead.
"I didn't know much about the kid, but I knew Ben has a good headlock and he's been working hard on it all year," Ellenbecker said. "I wanted to reward him and he got a big win for us. For a freshman to come in and help our seniors have a better night, Ben deserves it. He's a good kid and he's going to remember it for a long time."
Antigo forfeited at 220 rather than face Alec Kurtz, who's ranked third in Division 1 at 195. That set up Krueger's clinching match. Freshman Tim Fox put a cherry on the sundae with a first-period pin of Ben Brown at 106.
"After Ben Sinclair got the pin with Colton and Kurtz and all them guys coming up, I felt pretty sure. I know Timmy had good odds," Ellenbecker said.
Rhinelander worked around Antigo's highest-ranked wrestler, Ben Stimac, early in the dual, denying the fans a matchup against Tyler Olson that would have pitted the 11th and 12th-ranked 126-pounders in D1 against each other.
The Hodags forfeited to Stimac at 126 to have Olson take on Dylan Dykstra at 132. Despite giving up nearly 10 pounds to the Antigo sophomore, Olson never trailed and eventually earned a 6-3 decision.
Ellenbecker said the move was less about keeping Stimac and Olson from grappling than it was to prevent a mismatch at 132 with Dykstra taking on first-year grappler Jacob Wagler.
"We're pretty new at 132 and we didn't like our odds there at all," he said. "We knew Tyler had better odds to get a win at 132. It was a tough match because Tyler's working on keeping his weight down and then to go up (a weight class) and wrestle, it's not easy. He gutted out a big win on senior night for us."
The Hodags also had the benefit of last choice at 152, where Jacob DeMeyer jumped out early and defeated Brandon Lucht 6-2. Kyle Kuester moved into the 160-pound spot where DeMeyer was originally penciled and took care of Jovanni Castaneda with a second-period pin that gave Rhinelander its first lead of the night at 20-15.
"He's a pinner," Ellenbecker said of Kuester. "He can be down in the match and still pin the guy. We're excited for the future with him. He's a talented kid. He just needs to wrestle more."
Reuben Guzik earned a technical fall for Rhinelander at 120 and Walker Hartmann added a 3-1 decision for the Hodags at 138. Rhinelander won eight of the 12 contested bouts in the match.
The win sets up a showdown at Medford next Thursday with the winner holding sole possession of the first place in the GNC heading to the conference tournament Feb. 3 at Lakeland.
Medford ended Rhinelander's run of three straight conference titles last year and Krueger said the Hodags are eager to return the favor.
"We're coming after Medford," he said. "We've got a lot of confidence this year. Last year they kind of caught us by surprise. As we showed here tonight, we're capable to getting after them and taking back our conference title."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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