The Antigo Wrestling Team Traveled to Rhinelander for the Final Dual Meet of the Season with the Hodags
FOR ANTIGO TIMES
The Antigo wrestling team traveled to Rhinelander on Thursday, January 30, 2020 for the final dual meet of the season with the Hodags. Several outstanding performances led to a dominant 48-27 victory. With the victory, Antigo secured third place for the dual meet season in the Great Northern Conference.
Rhinelander jumped on the board first with a forfeit victory at 106 and a pinfall victory by state ranked Tim Fox over Christopher Mackey at 113 pounds.
Connor Dettman got Antigo on the board with a forfeit victory before Sam Hoffman went to battle with Cole Lehman at 126 pounds. Hoffman scored first with a takedown, and after some solid riding ended the first period wit ha 2-0 lead. Hoffman chose to start the second period on the bottom, and after a reversal, ended the period with a 4-0 lead. In the third, Lehman chose neutral and Hoffman scored on another takedown. A reversal and nearfall by Lehman cut the lead to 6-5, before an escape and takedown by Hoffman led to the Antigo wrestler winning by decision, 9-6, and cutting Rhinelander’s lead in the team score to 12-9.
At 132 pounds Logan Edwards score on a quick takedown, added some near fall points, and eventually won by pinfall at 1:42 of the first round, putting Antigo in the lead 15-12.
At 138 pounds Jaden Schoeneck continued his successful senior season against Trevyn Rappley, by earning 3 first period takedowns before securing the fall in the second period and increasing the Antigo lead to 21-12.
At 145 pounds, Robby Hagerty and Cayden Neri put on the most exciting match of the evening. Neri scored the first takedown, with Hagerty scoring a reversal to tie the match at 2 at the end of the first period. Neri chose bottom, and was able to secure a reversal. Hagerty was then able to score an escape, takedown, and nearfall to lead 8-4 at the end of the second period. In the third period, Neri was able to secure 3 takedowns, and earned another point due to stalling calls, ending the period deadlocked at 11. The first overtime period saw many scoring opportunities for Hagerty, but came up just inches short on finishing his takedowns. The match then went into the second set of overtimes, where Neri was able to secure a set of takedowns and nearfall to win 19-12 and cut the Robin lead to 21-15.
At 152 pounds, Neil Bretl made short work of Jordan Sparling, scoring an early takedown, 2 sets of nearfall, and an eventual fall in only 46 seconds, increasing the Antigo lead to 27-15.
At 160, Gideon Sass scored a takedown before an escape by Joe Fugle to take a 2-1 lead into the second period. In the second period, Fugle chose bottom, and was able to score on a reversal. Sass was then able to secure a reversal of his own, and then stuck Fugle’s shoulders to the match to win by fall at 3:53 and further increase the Antigo lead to 33-15.
Antigo stand out Josh Heuss bumped up to 170 pounds to take on state ranked Walker Hartman. Hartman was able to score the first takedown, and take a 2-0 lead into the second. In the second, Hartman chose to start on the bottom and earned an escape to increase his lead to 3-0, before Heuss was able to score on a late period takedown to cut the lead to 3-2. In the third, Heuss chose to start on the bottom, and was able to score on an escape. Another takedown by Hartman increased the Hodag wrestler’s lead to 5-2. Heuss was able to continue pushing the pace, and scored on a reversal and nearfall to win the marquee matchup of the evening 7-5, increasing the Antigo team lead to 36-15.
After a forfeit at 182, Austin Helms made his varsity debut against state ranked Trevor Knapp at 195 pounds. Despite a valiant effort by Helms, Knapp was able to secure the fall victory. The score now stood at Antigo 36, Rhinelander 27.
Nick Roller, who held steady in the rankings this week at number 6, made short work of David Schramke, needing only 20 seconds to win by pinfall. Roller’s victory secured the Antigo win.
At heavyweight, Talik Bussey fought off his back after an early takedown by Ben Sinclair. Bussey was able to maintain his composure, scoring with a takedown of his own that lead to a pinfall victory at 3:16.
In Junior Varsity action, Hunter Cordova was able to win both of his matches by pinfall, Jessip Williams won his match by pin fall, and Alex Hofrichter, who is currently the 3rd ranked girl in the state at 145 pounds, was able to win her match by pinfall.
Up next for the Antigo wrestling team is the incredibly tough Pulaski Invite. With 5 ranked teams, and ranked wrestlers, another that can find their way to the podium has had themselves a good day.