NEW GLARUS — Evansville-Albany edged Monroe for the team title at the annual Sugar River Invite held Dec. 8 at New Glarus High School. The Blue Devils finished with a score of 212, just ahead of Monroe’s 200.5. Dodgeville (148.5) was third, Cuba City (121.5) fourth, Brodhead-Juda (107.5) fifth and Sugar River (96) sixth in the eight-team tournament.

“I thought we could beat Evansville-Albany. It was close,” Monroe head coach Tom Witt said.

There were chances for the Cheesemakers — two wrestlers bowed out with injuries early, forfeiting points, and another, Logan Clark at 170, let a lead slip away in pool play before being pinned. Advancing into the Gold Bracket would have meant more points and a chance for Monroe to capture the team title.

“It was good to get some match wins for the guys, to get some confidence back up,” Witt said.

Monroe had four first-place finishers. Brady Schuh won the 106-pound bracket, finishing 5-0 with three pins, a technical fall and a 13-6 decision in the semifinals over Evansville-Albany’s Gunner Katzenmeyer. In the championship match, Schuh (10-2) pinned Mount Horeb’s Jax Pernot (9-2) at the 4 minute, 21 second mark.

“He was a completely different wrestler Saturday from Friday (vs. Stoughton). It was a difference of physicality and attitude,” Witt said.

Patrick Rielly returned of injury and won his first five matches of the season to take home first-place in the 160 division. Rielly had two pins and a tech fall, and then defeated Riley Crook of Dodgeville (9-3) by an 11-4 decision in the championship.

“Pat was behind 5-0 in his first match, then came back. It was a good day for him,” Witt said.

At 182, Alex Witt (11-1) went 4-0. After receiving a first-round bye, Witt pinned Sugar River’s Lance Varney in 1:31, then edged Dodgeville’s Tanner Bell (9-3) with a 3-2 decision. In the semifinal, Witt won by major decision over Durand/Pecatonica’s Corey Leman 14-4 and then defeated Bell a second time in the championship, 4-3.

Coach Witt said Alex Witt was bumped to 182 from his normal 170 because Logan Clark came in too low. Clark had been wrestling at 160 with Rielly injured.

“Alex wasn’t happy about it. He was giving up 14-16 pounds in a match, but he wrestled smart,” coach Witt said.

Kelsey Domingez (11-1) won the 220-pound bracket, going 4-0 after a first round bye. Dominguez won all of his matches by pin, and each in under two minutes.

Monroe also received second place finishes from Bodie Minder (10-2, 285 pounds), Julian Gruber (8-4, 195), Dakota Wickstrum (6-6, 126), and Kyle Haldiman (4-7, 113).

Brodhead-Juda’s Jackson Hauri (9-1) won the 152 class, finishing 5-0 with three pins. Hauri defeated Sugar River’s Jack Diederich by pin at 5:14 in the semifinal and then won by an 8-2 decision over Cuba City’s Shaedyn Lane in the finals. 

Theodore Policastro (8-2) was second for the Cardinals at 132, receiving a bye in the first round and later pinning Monroe’s Zack Roper in the semifinal in 33 seconds and then losing to Evansville-Albany’s Matt Kostroun 4-0 in the final. 

Russell Waeffler (7-3) was second at 120 for Brodhead-Juda, winning his first four matches before losing via pin fall to Evansville-Albany’s Jared Miller in second in the championship. At 126, Braden Erb was third.

Sugar River got a first-place finish from Robert Chenoweth (7-3) at 145. Chenoweth won all five of his matches, including the championship match in which he pinned Evansville-Albany’s Evan Senter in 4:55.

The Raiders got third-place finishes from Daniel Enloe (285), Diederich (152), Avery Lettman (132) and Joe Quaglia (120).

Dec. 7: Stoughton 70, Monroe 6

STOUGHTON — Monroe’s Kelsey Domingez pinned Tony Hohol at the 2:50 mark to score the Cheesemakers’ only points against defending state champion Stoughton.

The Vikings pinned eight Monroe wrestlers and picked up a forfeit at 138 to seal the win. Four of the pins came in under a minute.

“This is my 22nd year as a wrestling coach, and I think this is their best team yet,” Witt said of Stoughton. 

At 106, Schuh lost to Ethan Peterson by a 9-6 decision. Gruber, at 195, lost to Rudy Detweiler in a 10-1 major decision, and Alex Witt lost the 170-pound match for Monroe to Luke Geister-Jones by an 11-2 major decision. Minder lost by technical fall at 2:58 by a score of 15-0.

Dec. 6: Brodhead-Juda 40, Jefferson 36

JEFFERSON — The Cardinals picked up a tight conference win thanks to a 25-0 run to close out their dual with the Eagles Dec. 6.

Brodhead-Juda got pins from Jayson Starr (138) and Brian McCollough (152) early in the match to hold a 12-6 lead on Jefferson, but then the Eagles stole 30 straight points on a pin and four forfeits from weights 182 and above. 

Jefferson then forfeited the 106 and 113-pound weight classes, while Erb pinned Tatiana Rios in 2:45 in the 120-pound match to make it 36-33. Russell Waeffler (126) then won a 14-4 major decision over Jefferson’s Sofia Brynman-Metcalf to put the Cardinals in front, and then Policastro (132) won a 10-3 decision over Ethan Dieckman to seal the win.