January 4, 2021 at 8:37 a.m.
Hodag wrestlers fall in tiebreaker to Lena
Hodag wrestlers fall in tiebreaker to Lena
The Hodags had four forfeits in its lineup and fell to Lena 37-36 in a non-conference dual held inside the new Hodag Dome. The match was tied 36-36 after the final bout, and the dual was decided via the rulebook, with the Wildcats earning the tiebreaker point based on a 4-3 edge in contested matches won.
"It drives you nuts when you lose three matches and one kid makes a difference in every match we wrestle," Rhinelander coach Paul Ellenbecker said. "It's frustrating, but you've got to worry about the guys you have here, and the kids we have here are getting better. We had some great matches and great exhibition matches. The kids that are here are going to get better from it."
The Hodags (0-3, 0-1 Great Northern) opened the dual with a pair of pins. Cole Lehman stopped Franky Umentum in 50 seconds at 152 pounds and Cayden Neri pinned Nathan Younger at the 3:12 mark of the 160-pound bout to put Rhinelander ahead 12-0.
Ben Sinclair (220) and Owen Kurtz (285) picked up forfeit wins later on to give Rhinelander a 24-18 lead, but the Wildcats ran off a string of three straight pins at 113, 120 and 126 to take a 36-24 lead. Hugh Wiese stopped Lena's Sam Marquardt in 1:10 at 132 on Robert Schramke picked up a forfeit win for the Hodags at 138 to tie the match at 36 and send the match to the rulebook to determine the victor.
The Hodags and the Wildcats wrestled a series of exhibition matches after the dual, with Rhinelander winning six of the 10 bouts. Neri picked up two additional pin falls in the extra matches for the Hodags to finish 3-0 on the day.
"Cayden is kind of an animal," Ellenbecker said. "He's a kid who will wrestle whenever we need him to wrestle. He'll wrestle whoever (in) exhibition. He'd probably wrestle everybody on the other team if he could. That makes a big difference to have those guys that compete like he does. We're super excited about what Cayden did and just getting better as a team."
Hugh Wiese pinned state qualifier Luke Misco in the exhibition bouts and Sinclair also got a pin, but the two highlights in the exhibitions were from newer wrestlers - Kaeden Pillar and Joey Evenson - who recorded pins in their bouts. Evenson was trailing 1-0 in the third period of his match with Jackson Dahin, when he took Dahin to the ground, caught him in a headlock and pinned him.
"It's good for them guys," Ellenbecker said. "Kaeden's a guy that came out because he wants to be a better football player, and he's really learned to like the sport of wrestling now. He's struggling tying to get some positives. It's hard when you're wrestling varsity. But he's won two matches already this year, which tells you he's going to get better from the sport. He's going to continually get better. We're just happy to have him here. Next year, when he competes, he's going to have so much more experience.
"Joey works hard every single day. He competes and he's part of our team. You can tell. When he wins, the team gets pretty excited about it. Joey's trying to get down to 195, so he might be part of our varsity lineup soon, which will help us to keep people honest."
The match against Lena was a late addition to the schedule in what would have otherwise been an idle period for the Hodags over the holiday break. It was also a chance for Rhinelander to wrestle in the Hodag Dome for the first time. The team was initially schedule to hold a large holiday tournament inside the dome, but those plans were nixed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Overall, it was a fun day to get a match in," Ellenbecker said. "You do what you can do to try to give the best opportunity for kids. That's what we did today and we got a chance to wrestle in the dome, which was a pretty cool experience. Right now, it ain't so much wins and losses as it is getting better and competing."
Rhinelander is scheduled to travel to Medford this Thursday for a GNC dual, however Ellenbecker said a couple more teams may be added to the mix, with the WIAA's recent allowance for wrestling teams to schedule three- or four-team meets beginning Jan. 4.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.