WITTENBERG, WI – It’s not to often that you only win one match as a team and still win a duel, but Wittenberg-Birnamwood did that to hold off Bonduel 39-36 on Thursday.
The Bears decided to forfeit 6 matches to the Chargers.
“This was a duel that whoever won this one was going to be the front runner heading into the conference tournament,” said Bonduel Coach Chris Rank. “We had to make some decisions, and we don’t like forfeiting to good kids, but we decided that needed to be part of our game plan.”
Rank said coming into the night, Bonduel was shorthanded due to injury and illness. They decided to forfeit matches to five ranked Charger wrestlers as part of their plan.
“We wanted to do our best to keep the momentum down and keep the crowd out of it.”
The night started pretty much as planned. Kaden Bergsbaken earned a pin at 182, Issac Banker battled ranked freshman David Gauderman to a 4-3 win and Alex Garside took a forfeit at 220.
“We wanted bonus points from Issac, but we did not get those.”
Bonduel’s lead was 15–0 before Allen Uttecht earned the first of six forfeits at 285. The Bears also forfeited to Damien Wudtke and Pierson Potrykus and trailed 18-12.
Tyson Bogacz won by pin at 120 and two more Bonduel forfeits made it 30-21 Chargers.
The duel ended up tied at 30-30 with three matches to go.
The Bears forfeited the lead away at 152, and with that, needed a pin and a win in their final two matches to win the duel.
Will Urquhart defeated Moises Lagunes in the swing match 4-0, giving the Chargers the win.
“That was a tough task. He beat Mo twice last year and he might just have his number.”
Rank said the plan was to at worst end up with a tie which they would have won the tiebreaker since they won more matches.
“Our goal was to wrestle eight matches and win all eight, we just came up a little short,” Rank said. “We knew we had to win them all and we knew we needed to make up bonus points since we were giving up 36 points in forfeits.”
All together, Bonduel won seven out of eight matches wrestled.
“They stepped up, they knew what they needed to do and they stepped up, so I am very proud of what they did. I have been thinking about this match for a long time and it almost came out to perfection, just one match short,” Rank said. “I do not like doing that, it is not my style of coaching, but this was a big duel.”
Wittenberg-Birnamwood 39, Bonduel 36
106: Damien Wudtke (WIBI) over (BOND) (For.)
113: Pierson Potrykus (WIBI) over (BOND) (For.)
120: Tyson Bogacz (BOND) over Dakotah Olson (WIBI) (Fall 2:24)
126: Austin Worzalla (WIBI) over (BOND) (For.)
132: Chad Moegenburg (WIBI) over (BOND) (For.)
138: Jayson Toellner (BOND) over Bryce Zoromski (WIBI) (Dec 3-2)
145: Max Sokolski (BOND) over (WIBI) (For.)
152: Wyatt Esker (WIBI) over (BOND) (For.)
160: Will Urquhart (WIBI) over Moises Lagunes (BOND) (Dec 4-0)
170: Tristan Tomashek (BOND) over Larken Betry (WIBI) (Fall 3:51)
182: Kaden Bergsbaken (BOND) over Kyle Linke (WIBI) (Fall 2:40)
195: Isaac Banker (BOND) over David Gauderman (WIBI) (Dec 4-3)
220: Alex Garside (BOND) over (WIBI) (For.)
285: Allen Uttecht (WIBI) over (BOND) (For.)
Menominee Indian 37, Rosholt 36
Tate Zhuckkohosee won the final match of the duel by pin to give the Eagles a 1 point win over Rosholt. It was the Eagles only win out of 6 matches wrestled. The rest of the points came from forfeits.
Weyauwega-Fremont 72, Almond-Bancroft/Pacelli 12
Shawano 55, New London 24
The Hawks benefited from 4 forfeits and 3 wins by pin. Colten Herm, Gage Timm and Andrew Popp all won their matches with a pin. Lucas Gerrits and De Evian Ross were the only two match winners for New London. The rest of the Bulldogs points came from forfeits.
Xavier 54, Seymour 24
Seymour led 24-0 to start the duel, but could not hold on. Xavier won seven straight matches by pin to take a lead that the Thunder could not overcome.
Wrightstown 75, Clintonville/Marion 3
Freshman Caden Young was the lone winner for Clintonville/Marion as he stayed unbeaten on the season.
Luxemburg-Casco 46, Oconto Falls 25
Denmark 58, Marinette 14
Waupaca 39, Fox Valley Lutheran 36
Freedom 45, Little Chute 15
De Pere 40, Bay Port 27
Ashwaubenon 36, Green Bay Preble 33
Pulaski 70, Sheboygan North 12
M& O Conference Tournament
Coleman earned convincing wins over Oneida Nation, Gillett/Suring, Crivitz and Lena to secure the M&O Conference Title.
Coleman 4-0
Crivitz 3-1
Lena 2-2
Gillett/Suring 1-3
Oneida Nation 0-4
Crivitz 36, Lena 33
Gillett Suring 30, Oneida Nation 18
Coleman 78, Oneida Nation 0
Lena 58, Gillett Suring 6
Coleman 78, Gillett Suring 6
Crivitz 48, Oneida Nation 6
Coleman 73, Crivitz 0
Lena 66, Oneida Nation 0
Coleman 71, Lena 4
Crivitz 42, Gillett Suring 18