December 1, 2011 at 11:40 a.m.
Pointers start fast, hold of RV grapplers
The Pointers jumped out to an early 29-0 advantage, due in part to three forfeits by the Blackhawks. Brian Steffes started the night off with a forfeit at 285, and Reid Suddeth followed with a 17-2 tech fall over Alec Bass at 106.
Deven Walrack (113) and Blake Chambers (126) also picked up six points each via forfeit.
Morgan Mewis scored a quick pin for the Pointers in 45 seconds against Ethan Oman, but Austyn Alt got those six points right back for the Hawks with a pin of Ross Siegenthaler in 1:21 at 132 lbs.
Mineral Point's Cody Bertram battled Nick Lechnir to an 8-3 decision and Todd Tibbits won one of the most hard-fought and exciting matches of the night with a 6-4 decision of Joe Crook at 145.
River Valley started to crawl back into things with a Seth Liegel pin of Tucker Pickel at 152 in 2:29, and got a bit closer with a Brandon Hogan 5-2 decision over Garrett Rose at 160.
Two consecutive Valley pins--the first being Duane Pretch over Josh Webber in 4:30 at 170 and the second Garrett Riek over Colton Kenyon in 2:42 at 182, made the score 35-27 in favor of Point with just two matches remaining.
Robby Chubb ended any hope of a Blackhawk victory with his lightning-fast pin of Valley's Jacob Heiser in just 35 seconds to put the match out of reach at 41-27. A Zach Koch victory for Valley at 4-3 over Brenyn Schmit at 220 ended the night.
"It's always fun to start the season with Mineral Point," said Valley coach Jamie Hegland. "It's a good way to measure where we're at. I'm happy with our effort--our kids kept fighting, but it's hard when you give up 18 points right off the bat with forfeits. Hopefully tonight will be a good learning experience for us."
"Reid came out aggressive and got the tech fall to get the ball rolling," said Pointer coach Scott Schmitz. "Morgan got a big pin to follow up and put momentum on our side. Ross didn't back down against Alt--a freshman going against a senior--and that is something positive I look for as a coach. Cody wrestled a great strategic match versus a kid that was a state qualifier and handled him, which will hopefully build Cody's confidence."
"Todd beat a good, quality kid. Tucker was outmanned against Liegel, the state runner-up, but he showed a lot of heart. Garrett had a great effort against a quality kid, and Garrett's only going to get better as the season goes on. Josh's match was a little disappointing at 170--to be up 5-4 and give up the pin, but we need to work harder. Colton wrestled aggressively, but just needs to work on some technique. Robby had a dominating performance, and that's what we're going to look to him for this year. We should've won Brenyn's match, but just didn't attack when we needed to. We'll have to keep getting better, starting Friday night," concluded the coach.
The Pointers host Fennimore Friday night. It is also Hall of Fame night and Ted Pittz will be inducted. The Pointer Pride youth wrestlers will hit the mat starting at 5:15. They then travel to Watertown Saturday for the Early Bird Scramble.
Valley will wrestle at Dodgeville Friday.
Mineral Point 41, River Valley 30
285: Steffes (MP) wins by forfeit; 106: Suddeth (MP) tech fall over Bass 17-2; 113: Walrack (MP) wins by forfeit; 120: Mewis (MP) pinned Oman 0:45; 126: Chambers (MP) wins by forfeit; 132: Alt (RV) pinned Siegenthaler 1:21; 138: Bertram (MP) decisioned Lechnir 8-3; 145: Tibbits (MP) decisioned Crook 6-4; 152: Liegel (RV) pinned Pickel 2:29; 160: Hogan (RV) decisioned Rose 5-2; 170: Pretch (RV) pinned Webber 4:30; 182: Riek (RV) pinned Kenyon 2:42; 195: Chubb (MP) pinned Heiser 0:35; 220: Koch (RV) decisioned Schmit 4-3.
