By Autumn Peissig
TOMAHAWK – The Tomahawk wrestling team held a quad against Antigo, Medford, and Rhinelander at Hatchet Field House on Thursday, Jan. 14. The evening was set up into three rounds. The first round was a dual between Antigo and Tomahawk. The second round would have a rematch between Medford and Tomahawk. The third round of the evening would be for coaches to match up wrestlers from the different teams to get the athletes quality mat time.
Starting the night off against Antigo, at 285 lbs., senior Erik Decker of Tomahawk dominated Antigo’s Hunter Cordova, by getting a pin in the first period in a time of one minute and 22 seconds. Presley Gutbrod, coming in at 106 lbs., wrestled Antigo’s Daniel Livermore. Gutbrod pinned Livermore in the first period with 42 seconds remaining. In a tight match between Addison Peissig of Tomahawk and the Red Robins’ Sam Bretl, the match was tied up in the third period with 30 seconds to go, when Bretl got a reversal and won the match 9-7.
With Ryan Larson at 120lbs. up next, the Hatchets led the Red Robins with a team score of 12-3. Larson put up a good fight but was pinned by Antigo senior Christopher Mackey. At 126 lbs., Hatchet Blake Felser received a forfeit, and the Hatchets hold the lead 18-9.
Senior Mitchell Holloway had a tough match against Antigo’s Logan Edwards and was pinned. Seth Beaber of Antigo also got a pin for the Red Robins over Tomahawk’s Hudson Mattke. Coming in at 145lbs., Micah Arnott received a forfeit for the Hatchets, bringing the team score to 24-21 in favor of the Hatchets.
At 152 lbs., Brayden Jones of Tomahawk put up a good battle but was pinned by Robbie Hagerty of Antigo. The Hatchets’ Logan Bishop matched up against Antigo’s Gideon Sass. In the first period, Bishop took control of the match and held the lead 4-1. In the second period, Bishop manhandled Sass, ending the period 7-2. Bishop was able to get a victory, with a final score of 9-5, earning another three team points for the Hatchets.
Hatchets were now trailing the Red Robins 27-33. Freshman Ethan Trayes took the mat at 170 lbs. against senior Joshua Heuss of Antigo. Trayes put up a good battle but got pinned in the first period. In need of a win, the Hatchets put in Isaiah Scheffler at 182lbs. Scheffler controlled that match and won 10-1 over Alex Schileve of Antigo.
Both receiving forfeits for Tomahawk were Marcus Matti (195 lbs.) and Kade Wenninger (220 lbs.), ending the dual with a Hatchet win over the Red Robins, 43-33.
Round 2 featured a rematch between Medford and Tomahawk from earlier this season, where Medford beat Tomahawk in a tight one, 37-34. Being that this was the 2nd matchup between these two teams this season, no team score was kept on the scoreboard; however, athletes, coaches, and fans were keeping track of the score throughout the dual.
Up first was P. Gutbrod of Tomahawk, who took on an experienced wrestler, T. Sigmund, at 106 lbs. Sigmund got the pin in 1:10. 113 lbs featured A. Peissig of Tomahawk against T. Sova in a tight match. Going into the 3rd period, Sova had the lead 2-1 and chose down, where he was able to get a reversal, leading to the eventual win over Peissig, 4-1. R. Larson of Tomahawk would take on a much improved wrestler from Medford, in J. Stark., Stark got the pin in 1:48.
Wrestling at 132 lbs., Blake Felser of Tomahawk competed against Medford’s Isarel Meding. Felser won by a landslide with a final score of 17-0. Hatchet grappler Mitchell Holloway took on Raider Corey Lindal. Holloway started the match aggressively with a takedown, but Lindal ended up getting a pin in the second period.
Hatchets gave up a forfeit at 138 lbs. to Carson Church of Medford. At this point, the Hatchets were in need of a pin and next up was Micah Arnott. Arnott faced Medford’s Trevon Drallmeier at 145 lbs. Arnott had an exciting match and pinned Drallmeier in the second period with 51 seconds remaining. Seasoned wrestler Logan Bishop, controlled his match against Medford’s Emett Gruenwald. Bishop wrestled strong at 152 lbs. and claimed victory over Grunewald, as the final score was 4-0.
Both Hatchet and Raider coaches, wrestlers and spectators sat on the edges of their seats as the Hatchets began scoring points. Following Bishop’s exciting match, Tomahawk’s Brayden Jones took the mat at 160 lbs. Although Jones fought hard, Medford’s Logan Kawa got the pin in 1:06.
Hatchet senior wrestler Isaiah Scheffler proved his skills as he took on Oscar Hinderliter of Medford at 170 lbs. I. Scheffler established dominance in the first period and pinned Hinderliter in the second period, in a total time of 3:02. The Raiders gave up a forfeit to Hatchet wrestler Ethan Trayes at 182 lbs.
Junior Marcus Matti of Tomahawk had a close match with Medford’s Dalton Krug. Matti started off the match in true Marcus Matti-style with an amazing throw at the edge of the mat, keeping his toes in bounds to get the takedown. Krug was able to get a reversal and then Matti was able to get an escape, leaving the score 3-2 in favor of Matti at the end of the 1st period. But in the second period Krug was able to put Matti to his back and score a three-point near fall. In the final period, Matti worked back to be within one point of Krug only give up a takedown and near fall points in the last minute of the match. The final score was 11-8 (Krug).
Kade Wenninger of Tomahawk wrestled Wyatt Johnson of Medford, and Wenninger pinned Johnson in 42 seconds. 2020 State Qualifier Erik Decker faced Braxton Weissmiller of Medford. Decker ended the match in 16 seconds with a pin.
With no score on the scoreboard, but all the Tomahawk and Medford athletes, coaches, and fans knowing that the final score was Tomahawk 38, Medford 36, there was excitement and pride in the Hatchet accomplishment.
“It came down to our wrestlers not giving up pins when we needed them to fight off their backs and our wrestlers that needed to get pins, getting them!” commented Coach Garrou.
Round 3 started with a match from Tomahawk’s freshman P. Gutbrod, which entailed an exciting match battling Kyle Weise of Rhinelander. In the third period, Gutbrod pinned Weise with only one second remaining. Ryan Larson wrestled another exhibition match against Delanio Zivko of Rhinelander. Young Larson wrestled one of his better matches of the season. Larson took control of the match early and ended it with a victory. The final score was 17-1.
The next competition for the Hatchet grapplers is at Rhinelander High School in the field house for the conference championship at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23.