January 26, 2018 at 1:56 p.m.
Kings of the ring
Hodags down Raiders 48-22, take control of GNC title race
Kings of the ring
Rhinelander won the first four contested matches, led 33-3 at one point, and cruised to a 48-22 victory over Medford at Raider Hall in a battle of the two remaining conference unbeatens.
The win gives Rhinelander sole possession of first place in the Great Northern Conference at 5-0 and puts the Hodags in an enviable position heading into next Saturday's GNC tournament in Minocqua. Rhinelander needs to finish second or better at the tournament to clinch its fourth GNC crown in five years.
"We put ourselves in a good position to get back the conference title," Hodag coach Paul Ellenbecker said. "For us to finish third - I think we're a better individual tournament team than we are a dual meet team - we'd have to wrestle really bad at the conference tournament to not win it. I like our odds and I like where we're at right now.
"Everything went our way tonight and it was a good time to wrestle probably the best we have all year."
The strong senior class that has carried the Hodags all season long did so again Thursday night. All six seniors in the lineup won their matches, contributing 30 points to the Hodags' cause. Overall, Rhinelander won eight of the 12 contested bouts.
Senior Scott Fox swung momentum in Rhinelander's direction right away. Trailing 5-3 entering the third period of the opening bout at 170 pounds, Fox turned and pinned Medford's Clay Bowe to give the Hodags' a quick 6-0 lead.
"That kind of got the ball rolling," Ellenbecker said. "That was awesome for Scott with him being a senior and it being potentially the last dual meet we ever have, it was one of the biggest of his career and really got it going for us."
In the blink of an eye, the Hodags' lead ballooned to 30. Hunter Greyhair needed only 1:02 to stop Medford's Dalton Krug at 182, third-ranked Alec Kurtz blanked Jake Rau 6-0 at 195, and Colton Krueger pinned Oscar Poehler in 35 seconds at 220 to put the Hodags ahead 21-0.
Isaac Zepeda put Medford on the board with a 5-2 decision over Trevor Knapp at 285, but the Raiders forfeited to Tim Fox at 106 and then Reuben Guzik quickly pinned reigning 106-pound GNC champ Jake Brunner at 113 to give the Hodags a commanding lead.
"I don't think they were ready for Reuben being down to 113," Ellenbecker said. "Having him down at 113 and wrestling a returning conference champ, Reuben took it to him."
Tyler Olson added a 12-5 win over Emmet Gruenwald at 126, Jacob DeMeyer clinched the win over the Raiders with a first-period pin of Zach Motte at 145 and Eric Grulke put the cherry on top with a second-period pin of Isaiah Heil at 152.
"I'm happy for our seniors that they took care of business," Ellenbecker said. "It was a pretty cool environment. It was a big time dual meet. That little Raider Hall, that's an awesome wrestling facility because everything's boxed in there. They had half their town there and it was quiet for a lot of the match.
"Overall, it was a solid, team performance and something we've been looking for all year in a dual meet. This is what we're capable of and how we wrestled tonight, we're a darn tough team. This is what everyone was expecting all year. I think we're rolling at the right time and I'm pretty fired up about how we looked tonight."
Even in defeat, the Hodags hung tough with some of Medford's better wrestlers. Freshman Walker Hartman nearly upset ninth-ranked (D2) Andy Poetzl at 138, but surrendered a takedown in the final seconds to fall 4-3. Kyle Kuester fell in a high-scoring match to Medford senior Kolton Hansen (No. 2, D2) 16-6 in the final match of the night at 160.
"Walker had a chance to knock him off. He was winning with 10 seconds left and it was a whizzer (maneuver) situation and Walker nearly pulled off the upset," Ellenbecker said. "Kyle made Hanson work for everything."
The Hodags travel to Pulaski for an invite today before turning their attention to next Saturday's conference tournament.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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