ADAMS — Four of the six local wrestlers that qualified for state placed last weekend at the WIAA Division 2 and 3 state tournaments held Feb. 13.
Noah Krahenbuhl, a Pecatonica-Argyle senior, finished sixth at 132-pounds in the Division 3 state meet at Wausau East High School. Krahenbuhl qualified for state in each of his four years, but hadn’t placed until this season.
He opened the day on the losing end, falling 9-2 to Saint Croix Falls’ Mason Will, who finished third. In Round 1 of the consolation tournament, Krahenbuhl beat Random Lake’s Stone Pomeroy by pin (4:29) in the third period. In the consolation semifinals, Krahenbuhl was pinned in the third by Caleb Delsman of Reedsville, who was fourth. In the fifth-place match, he lost to Cael Large of Ozaukee, 5-0.
In the Division 2 meet at Adams-Friendship High School, Monroe junior Brady Schuh did what he needed to do to get his name on the wall above the training area in his home gym. Schuh, fighting at 138-pounds, joined his grandfather and great uncle in placing at state.
In the quarterfinal to start the day, Schuh lost 7-4 to Jordan Pernard of Amery. In the consolation opener, Schuh walloped Ezekiel Sippel of Kiel by a 14-1 major decision. Denmark’s Ethan Schwartz pinned Schuh in the second round of their match in the consolation semifinals. Schwartz took third. In the fifth-place match, Tanner Halopka of Abbotsford-Colby beat Schuh 8-3.
Sugar River senior Joe Quaglia finished fifth at 132 pounds. He lost to eventual champion Blaine Brenner of Owen-Withee/Stanley Boyd in the opener by pin in the second round. In the consolation quarterfinal, Quaglia pinned Catholic Memorial’s Lucas Migliaccio at the 1:44 mark in the first period. Quaglia then lost to Chase Kmosena of Mosinee 9-2 in the consolation semifinals. In the fifth-place match, Quaglia won a tight 5-4 decision over Prairie du Chien’s Maddox Cejka.
Quaglia’s teammate, Mason Mau, lost both of his matches at 120 pounds. Mau was pinned in the second period by Kiel’s Even Dessellier, who was fifth, in the opener. In the consolation quarterfinals, Mau lost 8-2 to Derek Zschernitz of Neillsville/Greenwood/Loyal, who would take fourth.
Also going 0-2 on the day was Brodhead-Juda’s Cole Hoesly at 182-pounds. Hoesly lost his opener by a 16-2 major decision to Northwestern’s Ian Smith. In the consolation quarterfinals, Hoesly fell to Mike Volz of New Holstein in a third-round pin.
Darlington-Black Hawk senior Matt King finished off his prep wrestling career with a fifth-place finish in the 220-pound weight class at the 2021 WIAA Division 2 Individual State Wrestling Meet held at Adams-Friendship School on Saturday, Feb. 13.
King (15-4, ranked No. 7 in D2) shook off an injury suffered in an opening round loss to advance to the fifth-place match, and then avenged last week’s sectional finals loss by pin to Wisconsin Dells’ Hunter Isaacson (11-4, No. 5) by rallying from an 8-3 deficit in the third period to defeat the Chiefs’ sophomore by a score of 9-8 to end his career on a winning note.
“Matt was so excited to make it to state. He hurt his shoulder in his first match and I didn’t know if he was going to be able to continue. He told me he didn’t come all this way to just wrestle one match. I was so proud of him,” said WarBirds’ head coach Casey Horne. “I told him that he can beat him, it’s your last match of your career. Just go out and give it everything you got and leave it all on the mat.”
King used an early escape to trim the gap to 8-4, and then with around 20 seconds remaining he threw Isaacson to his back for a takedown and held him there for a three-point near fall to garner a 9-8 win.
“It was awesome and I am so happy I got to be a part of it,” Horne stated.
King’s first state appearance opened a bit rough with Omro senior Kyle Dietzen (18-3, No. 3) recording a fall just 19 seconds into their quarterfinal match.
The WarBird senior shook off the loss and a hurt shoulder to pin Ripon senior Aaron Socha (14-6, No. 8) in 2:31 in their consolation match, but was pinned by Xavier senior Matt Strand (16-3, No. 4) in 37 seconds in his third match to drop into the fifth-place match.
“(Matt) showed such toughness and determination by going out and pinning his next kid,” said Horne. “I think Matt exceeded his expectations of himself this year. I always believed he had it in him, I just needed him to believe it too.”
Amery freshman Koy Hopke (20-0, No. 1) completed an undefeated season by defeating Baldwin-Woodville junior Max Ramberg (19-4, No. 2) by a 6-4 decision in the 220-pound championship match on Saturday evening.
Strand finished third in the class after besting Dietzen by a score of 3-1.
—Thomas Gunnell of the Darlington Republican Journal contributed to this story.
