January 27, 2022 at 10:37 a.m.
Hodag wrestlers down Mosinee 48-18 for first Great Northern win
Hodag wrestlers down Mosinee 48-18 for first Great Northern win
Rhinelander recorded seven straight pins, jumped out to a 42-0 lead and cruised to a 48-18 win over Mosinee on the road. The Hodags won seven of the eight contested bouts in the match.
"It feels a lot better," coach Scottie Arneson said afterward. "They actually came out and were ready to compete today, and I think that was the difference between some of the Tomahawk matches."
Cole Lehman, Logan Schwinger, Gavin Ostermann, Reid Schultz, Joe Fugle, Owen Kurtz and Aiden Ostermann all recorded pins for Rhinelander as the Hodags rolled through a string of matches from 160 pounds all the way to 285, and then back down to 106, to clinch the dual with six classes remaining.
"Momentum helps. When the guys are excited and the other guys are doing well, it helps carry into the next match," Arneson said.
After both teams forfeited at 152 pounds to start the match, Lehman controlled the first contested bout against Mosinee's Andrew Nevienski. Lehman was up 9-3 after one period and was still ahead 11-8 in the third when he got a reversal and pinned Nevienski with 1 minute, 29 seconds remaining in the match.
Schwinger then recovered from giving up the first takedown to Mosinee's Ewan Manowski at 170 to get an escape, a takedown of his own and, eventually a pin.
"That's part of the momentum. Cole wrestled a tough match and ended up getting a fall for us," Arneson said. "Then Logan decided he was going to be ready to wrestle for us tonight and got a nice pin. He got taken down right away, but we got to our good positions, got on top, got a cradle and pinned them."
Gavin Ostermann was pushed by Mosinee's Logan Johnson at 182 and trailed 4-1 heading to the third period. Ostermann got an escape and then a takedown to tie the match before Johnson escaped to retake the lead, but Ostermann hit a late takedown, but Johnson to his back and pinned up with just more than 10 seconds remaining.
From there, Schultz, Fugle, Kurtz and Aiden Ostermann all recorded first-period pins to put Rhinelander up 42-0.
Mosinee scored 18 straight after that as the Hodags forfeited at 113 and 126, while Kyle Wiese was pinned at 120 trying to conjure up a comeback, trailing Mosinee Chris Strejc 12-8 in the third.
Joey Evenson picked up a forfeit win for Rhinelander at 145 to round out the scoring.
"All and all, good fight, good heart and good excitement from our wrestlers," Arneson said. "We came out and fired off some leg attacks and looked good on top. There's still some things to clean up but that's why we have a couple more weeks before tournament time."
The win moved Rhinelander to 1-3 in the GNC and the Hodags had a chance to move into fourth in the conference Thursday night when they wrestled at Antigo in a match that concluded after deadline for today's edition. It was the team's final dual meet before next weekend's GNC tournament back in Mosinee.
While most of the team is off this weekend, Arneson will be heading down to La Crosse for the inaugural WIAA girls' state wrestling tournament. The Hodags will have one representative at the meet as junior Abigale Swanson will compete in the 185-pound weight class. Swanson will face the top seed in the bracket, Arial Haemmerle, in her opening-round bout.
"I think she's got a good opportunity to bring home some hardware," Arneson said. "Kudos to her for wanting to go down and compete at girls state and, hopefully, in future years, we'll have more than just her."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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