December 21, 2020 at 8:11 a.m.
Hodag wrestlers, short on bodies, fall to Mosinee
Hodag wrestlers, short on bodies, fall to Mosinee
The Hodags were unable to fill four weight classes on Friday and fell to Mosinee 42-31 in a Great Northern Conference dual meet at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium.
Despite the forfeits, the Hodags still had an outside chance to win the dual in the final contested bout. Hugh Wiese would have needed to pull an upset and pin Mosinee's Chase Kmosena in the 138-pound match, but Kmosena - the defending conference champ at 126 - controlled the match and pinned Wiese late in the third period to secure the win for the Indians.
"It was tough draw for Hugh," coach Paul Ellenbecker said. "We ended up having our chance, but we gave up way to many easy points with the forfeits and stuff tonight."
Rhinelander won five of the nine contested matches Friday night, outscoring Mosinee 25-24 in those matches.
The Hodags had a few more bodies than they did in a loss the previous Friday at Crandon and Cole Lehman and Cayden Neri both returned after missing the season opener due to health concerns.
Lehman wrestled the opening match for Rhinelander and jumped out to an early 5-0 lead over Mosinee's Logan Johnson, but Johnson rallied back to tie the match at 5 and eventually pinned Lehman with three seconds remaining in the second period.
"It was one of them matches we had our chances to win," Ellenbecker said. "Cole just needs some more mat time and experience. You could tell, the anxiety of his first match of the year at home. He didn't wrestle his best match. Later on, in the exhibition, he wrestled two really good matches."
Neri, in his first match of the season, controlled Mosinee's Andrew Nevienski at 160 and earned a 16-6 major decision.
"Cayden showed his pure athleticism and just heart going after the kid, getting the win," Ellenbecker said.
Mosinee picked up forfeit wins at 170 and 185, while Gage Coppock got a pin at 182 to put the Indians ahead 24-6. RHS rallied back to within two points with pinfalls by Ben Sinclair at 220, Owen Kurtz at 285 and Kyle Wiese at 113.
Mosinee's Dillon Severt stopped Tanner Schmidt in 52 seconds in the 120-pound bout to put Mosinee ahead 30-22, but Tim Fox defeated Kade Kmosena 4-0 in a rematch of the conference's two top 113-pounders from last season, and Robert Schramke collected a forfeit at 132 to give Rhinelander its only lead of the night, 31-30, heading into the last contested bout.
Rhinelander drops to 0-2 on the season with the loss. Ellenbecker said the Hodags have picked up a match over the holiday break and will wrestle Lena in the Hodag Dome Wednesday, Dec. 30.
"We put that out there and their coach practically begged to come to the dome. The dome advantage is real. It's pretty cool that way," Ellenbecker said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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