January 11, 2021 at 8:41 a.m.
Hodag wrestlers split GNC matches, retain Handrick Hammer
Hodag wrestlers split GNC matches, retain Handrick Hammer
The Hodags reeled off five straight bout wins down the stretch to defeat Lakeland 36-27 in the third edition of the Handrick Hammer dual in Minocqua.
Named for Tom Handrick, a longtime assistant coach for both Lakeland and Rhinelander who passed away unexpectedly in 2018, the Hodags have now won all three Hammer duals. The victory carried extra significance for Rhinelander coach Paul Ellenbecker, who was a close friend of Handrick's.
"Winning the Hammer was the highlight of the night. It's important to our program and it's something we want to win every year," he said. "A lot of the kids now don't really know who Tommy was, but we told stories about him all week long but a lot of the kids, just have a rivalry, it's kind of cool having something like that going on for wrestling.
"If there was a dual that meant anything to me this year, this was the one. It's COVID, everything should have an asterisk by it and, unfortunately for us, we've seemed to have a lot of bad things happen to our team this year, but this was the one match that I truly cared about."
The dual was part of a three-team meet with Tomahawk as the Great Northern Conference restructured its schedule after the WIAA eased restrictions on how many teams could gather at a particular meet. Rhinelander fell to Tomahawk 51-27 earlier in the evening while Lakeland fell to the Hatchets, 44-30.
The Hodags were as close to a full lineup as they have been all season, forfeiting only two of the 14 weight classes in each of Thursday night's duals. One of the wrestlers back in the lineup, junior Joe Fugle, helped swing the match against Lakeland in Rhinelander's direction with a second-period pin against Leonard Chosa in the 195-pound bout.
From there, Ben Sinclair held off Landon Saglin 3-2 at 220, Owen Kurtz pinned Esaube Brown in 31 seconds at 285 and Kyle Wiese received a forfeit at 113, part of a closing 27-0 run for Rhinelander.
"Joe pinned him in a move that I don't know how he did it," Ellenbecker said. "I don't know if he know's how he did it. He threw a leg in by accident, like an old guillotine. It's a move you don't like as a wrestling coach, especially against a kid that's new like Joe. I'm yelling, 'No! No! No! No!' Then, all of a sudden, it's 'Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!'
"It was one of the wild card matches and when Joe got the pin, it pretty much secured the victory, because we had a forfeit on the back end too. I felt pretty good with Owen Kurtz and Ben winning. Ben didn't pin his kid. Usually Ben's either pin or get pinned, but Ben got the win and Owen got the big pin and we had the forfeit at the end to secure it."
Kurtz's pin gave Rhinelander its first lead of the match. After Lakeland's Ben Nemcek and Rhinelander's Tim Fox traded pins at 120 and 126, respectively, the T-Birds ran off a string of four consecutive bouts to take a 21-6 lead. Brady Abb edged Hugh Wiese 9-5, Logan Strasburg beat Robert Schramke 10-4, Jose Retana pinned Trevyn Rappley and Zane Grams defeated Cole Lehman 10-4.
"In that Lakeland match we had a lot of kids that just competed," Ellenbecker said. "Robert Schramke didn't get pinned. Hugh kept it close. Cole Lehman, against one of their better wrestlers, he lost 10-5, but that's how you win close duals. It was nice for us to not give up bonus points in some of those matches. But when we won, we pinned the guys. It was a really good, team effort."
Cayden Neri defeated Tommy Howard 13-8 at 160 to start momentum back in Rhinelander's direction. Lakeland's Jerry Goselin and Rhinelander's Kaeden Pillar traded forfeits at 170 and 182 before the Hodags began their late run.
Against Tomahawk earlier in the evening, the late run went the other way, with the Hatchets taking five straight classes in the heavy weights to reel off 30 straight points and take a 24-point win.
The Hodags were up 27-21 after Neri's 5-4 decision over Isaiah Scheffler at 170. However, Ethan Trayes, Marcus Matti, Kade Wenninger and Eric Decker recorded pins over Pillar, Fugle, Sinclair and Kurtz, and the Hatchets tacked on a forfeit win at 106.
"I thought we had our chance to sneak up on them. Obviously, we didn't," Ellenbecker said. "I made a wrong move at the 182, 195 matchups that probably cost us a close dual meet against them. But when Ben got pinned it didn't help matters against them. We were close, but not close enough.
"Ben got surprisingly pinned in our eyes. The kid's a good wrestler, don't get me wrong. I have a lot of respect for the Wenninger kids. They're all really good, but I honestly thought Ben would pin the kid and it didn't work out. Ben got pinned. The kid was ready for Ben. They did a good job of getting him prepared. Owen wrestled Decker, who's No. 4 in the state."
Tim Fox and Hugh Wiese recorded pins at 126 and 132, and Robert Schramke picked up a forfeit at 138 to give Rhinelander an early 18-9 lead. Tomahawk then reeled off 12 straight points before Cole Lehman won by forfeit for Rhinelander at 160 and Neri's win gave Rhinelander a six-point advantage.
Rhinelander (1-2 Great Northern) travels to Medford Thursday for a quadrangular meet with Antigo and Tomahawk also in attendance. The duals against Medford and Antigo will count toward the GNC standings.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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