RHS wrestlers take home triangular

The Rhinelander High School wrestling team was successful in a couple of non-conference pick-up matches Friday night, defeating Phillips 48-34 and Merrill’s varsity reserve 36-33 in a triangular at the James Williams Middle School gymnasium.

The Hodags rallied down the stretch in both matches with senior Reid Schultz getting a pair of pins that clinched both duals for Rhinelander.

The duals were a late addition to the schedule as all three teams sought to get more matches in for their squads. Aside from the handful of wrestlers who went to the Northern Badger tournament over the holiday break, the majority of the Hodags would have gone 22 days between matches if not for Friday night’s triangular.

“Being off the mat for 14 days almost for a lot of our guys, and having one practice yesterday, we will definitely be better here in the coming weeks, but it was a good night and we had some excitement,” Hodag coach Scottie Arneson said. “We actually had some really good matchups. All three teams that were here tonight were very inexperienced, which allows for a lot of good wrestling to happen.”

A run of three straight pins in the upperweights for Rhinelander ultimately decided the match against Phillips. Trailing 28-24 with five bouts remaining, the Hodags got pins from Logan Schwinger at 190 pounds, Gavin Dotter at 215 and Schultz at 285 to lock up the dual. 

After Rhinelander gave up a forfeit at 106, Trevor Denton closed the dual with a first-period pin at 113 to account for the final margin.

    Rhinelander’s Reid Schultz looks to throw Merrill’s Aiden Hardy to the mat during a non-conference wrestling dual meet at the JWMS gymnasium Friday, Jan. 3. Schultz pinned Hardy, leading an 18-point rally over the final five matches as the Hodags defeated the Bluejays, 36-33. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Schultz ultimately got the deciding pin in the Merrill match as well, needing only 24 seconds to stop Aiden Hardy. That put Rhinelander down 33-24 with four bouts left, but Merrill didn’t have any wrestlers in the four lightest weight classes. Forfeit wins for Denton and Grady DeBay (120) put Rhinelander over the top.

“Reid did what he typically does, overwhelming heavyweights and putting a whole bunch of pressure on them,” Arneson said. “Wrestling like a little guy at heavyweight goes a long way, especially when you know how to use your hips and put pressure on the right places in and that’s what he did in both matches today.”

Rhinelander jumped out to a big early lead against the Loggers as DeBay and Hoyt Dantoin (132) picked up forfeit wins while Mya Swanson (126) and Avrom Barr (138) earned pins. 

    Rhinelander’s Avrom Barr attempts to break free from Phillips’s Will Pisca during a non-conference wrestling dual meet at the JWMS gymnasium Friday, Jan. 3. Barr eventually won the match with a pin in overtime. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Barr’s match against Will Pisca of Phillips ended up being the most competitive bout of the night. Barr went ahead 9-7 thanks to a reversal and a four-point near fall in the third period, but gave up a reversal in the final seconds of regulation to send the match to sudden death. Barr pinned Pisca 23 seconds into the extra session to put the Hodags up 24-0 in the dual.

“We had a match going to overtime at 138 and ended up getting a pin, which was probably the difference in winning and losing that dual,” Arneson said. “Both kids looked like they were about ready to keel over from the tiredness, but Avrom ended up sneaking out a win, being in really good position and in overtime and picking up the pin. Instead of being three points, it ended up being six points and all those team points really matter.”

Phillips answered with a 28-0 run in the heart of its order between 145 and 175 pounds before Rhinelander made a late response. Schwinger trailed 4-3 to Ayron Deleasky entering the third period, but never let Deleasky off the mat and earned the pin 24 seconds into the final period. That avenged a 14-4 major decision loss Schwinger had against Deleasky in the seventh-place match at the Northern Badger tournament six days earlier.

“I think we dogged the Phillips wrestler, caught him out and ended up capitalizing on some lazy hips in the third period to end up getting the fall,” Arneson said.

Merrill took five of the nine contested bouts against Rhinelander, but Gage Anderson was able to go the distance in an 8-1 loss to Ryan Coates at 157 and the Hodags were able to fill one more weight class than the Bluejays, which ultimately proved to be the difference in the match.

Barr needed only 13 seconds to stop Marcus Downs and Anthony Boldt followed with a first-period pin of Marcus Slagowski at 144 to give Rhinelander an early 12-6 lead. Schwinger and Schultz also wrapped up first-period duals in the match.

Two of Rhinelander’s girl wrestlers earned wins on the night — over the same opponent. Swanson finished off a third-period pin over Journee Wood of Phillips in regulation and Cassidy Lindner wrestled Wood in a exhibition match after the dual concluded, rallying from behind in the third period to earn a 13-11 decision. 

Arneson said the matches were good wins for both wrestlers over Wood, who took fifth in the 120-pound bracket at Northern Badger a week earlier.

“Maya and Cassidy both wrestled tonight and looked really good. Mya, she got a good, hard takedown and did all the stuff we’ve been teaching with her to try to emulate all what her matches should look like,” he said. “Cassidy wrestled the same girl and ended up grinding out of a hard-fought match. She ended up sneaking out a win late in the match because she refused to give up and the fight that the girls are showing right now is really awesome.”

In a scheduling oddity, Friday’s nights matches were the first dual meets of the year for the Hodags, who had a conference dual at Antigo Dec. 19 postponed due to inclement weather. That match has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 4.

The Hodags will have several more duals coming up, with a pair of GNC double duals coming up later this month as well as a non-conference triangular at Laona/Wabeno/Three Lakes.

Rhinelander will be back in action this Saturday with the Hodag boys heading to Valders for an invite while the Hodag girls go to Merrill for the Bluejay Challenge.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].