Wrestling: Hodags fall to Antigo,bunching field for GNC tournament

The Rhinelander High School wrestling team missed out on an opportunity Tuesday to cement itself into second place in the Great Northern Conference heading into this weekend’s conference tournament.

The Hodags won only four of nine contested matches and gave up three forfeit losses in a 46-27 defeat at Antigo to round out the dual meet portion of the schedule. 

Rhinelander (6-3, 3-2 Great Northern) had a chance to move four points clear of Antigo, Medford and Mosinee for second in the conference with a win. Instead the Hodags are even with the Robins (3-2 Great Northern), and only two points ahead of Medford and Mosinee, going into Saturday’s finale in Minocqua. 

“Disappointed for the way tonight went, but we always get another opportunity to go out there and let fly this weekend to try and get some those matches back,” Hodag coach Scottie Arneson said. “Having the dual season that we had and then to finish it up like this is going to leave the sour taste in your mouth, but the sun’s coming up tomorrow.”

The Hodags still had a shot down the stretch, trailing Antigo 34-27 with two bouts remaining, but Gage Anderson was pinned in the first period by Jayson Arrowood at 150 pounds to seal the match and Dresden Klaver fell to Joseph Stimac early in the second period at 157 to close out the dual. 

Antigo finished the night with four pins, three forfeits and a major decision in its favor while Rhinelander had two pins, one forfeit, a technical fall and a major decision. The squads both forfeited at 106 pounds. 

“They did a better job in those in those 50-50 matches and we got to figure out how to put our best foot forward in the next couple weeks here,” Arneson said. 

Antigo led wire-to-wire in the contest, going up 12-0 on a pin by Nolan Kielchieski and a forfeit win by Levi Binversie to start the dual. Logan Schwinger got the Hodags on the board with a technical fall over Antigo’s Caleb Vandenlangenberg 3:21 into the 190-pound match.

“Logan did a nice job scoring points in a variety of ways which we’ve been working on. I think he understood that maybe he had the upper hand in experience and ability tonight, and he was working some of the techniques that we’ve been working on that we think get him an extra weekend coming up here in the next few,” Arneson said. 

The Hodags got to within 18-17 on a pin by Reid Schultz at 285 and a forfeit win for Trevor Denton at 113. Schultz gave up the opening takedown to Antigo’s Johanan Taylor but rallied back to finish off the match in only 55 seconds. 

“We were talking after we got back tonight and he’s like, ‘I don’t know why my feet were so lazy tonight. I can’t believe I gave up a takedown.’ But I think it’s sparked a fire under him to maybe get his footwork a little bit faster and move a little bit quicker,” Arneson said. “But he ended up doing a really nice job with a nice reversal into a big mat return to eventually get the pin.”

Ivan Loka secured the Hodags’ other pin, stopping Antigo’s Zander Zilles in the second period at 126, which closed the score to 24-23. 

“He’s got a weird gas tank that I don’t know if it has an empty,” Arneson said. “I haven’t seen it yet where he gets to the end of a match and he’s dead tired. I think he’s got a lot of pride in taking matches the full length and trying to sneak them out at the end. He used it tonight and found a way to get on top and get a fall.”

Anthony Boldt picked up the Hodags’ other victory, earning a 16-3 major decision over Antigo’s Seth Medo at 144. Arneson said it was a needed win for Boldt, who relinquished second-period leads and was pinned in both of his matches five days prior at a non-conference triangular in Three Lakes. 

“When he gets onto the leg, his ability to finish now is night and day better than it was three weeks ago,” Arneson said. “We’ve just been trying to get them into a six-minute match and instead of just shutting down and letting guys battle back, and tonight he was proud of himself.”

While Tomahawk appears to be the odds-on favorite on Saturday, the rest of the GNC could be wide open, based on how close dual meet scores were during the regular season and how teams fared relative to each other during non-conference invites over the course of the season. Arneson said emerging from the fray in second place will boil down to two factors. 

“I’m not going to throw out any crazy guesses or anything like that, but I think with the amount of guys that teams will put on the mat and the amount of guys that we can put out on the mat this weekend will dictate where placement for teams ends up,” he said. “I think there’s going to be good opportunities for our wrestlers to get all-conference awards and hopefully they’ll be full bracket so that a lot of matches take place.”

Saturday’s conference tournament gets underway at 10 a.m. at Lakeland Union High School in Minocqua.  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].