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Pins proved to be the difference maker in the wrestling match between Mineral Point and River Valley Tuesday.
The Pointers tallied seven; the Blackhawks four.
Reid Suddeth got the night off on the right foot for the host Pointers, picking up a pin over Mason Wipperfurth at 126 pounds, and teammate Frank Baker followed pinning Ethyn Johnson.
Elijah Alt picked up a decision over Pointer Jake Riley at 138, but back came Mineral Point with two pins, one from Ross Siegenthaler and one from Brandon Forseth, to take a 24-3 match lead.
Valley's Joe Crook had a solid showing against Scott Pittz, and that was followed by a another Blackhawk victory--this time in the form of a pin by Jacob Heiser at 170.
The turning point of the match could very well be the 182 pound battle. Pointer freshman Kyle Juedes trailed in the second period but ended up pinning Wyatt Schauf in 3:42 and turned the momentum back to Mineral Point's favor.
The Pointer wave kept rolling with a pin from Nate Cody at 195 in 5:36.
An interesting match occurred at 220 between Pointer Brenyn Schmit and Valley's Zach Koch. The duo was tied 0-0 at the end of the first period, and Schmit came back to tie things at 3 all with a last second take down in the second period at the buzzer. The match was plagued by headgear issues for Schmit and things were tied at 5 all at the end of three. Schmit scored a take down at the horn in the first overtime period for the 7-5 win.
Valley's Kaleb Crook made quick work of Jacob Parks, pinning him in 49 seconds at 285, but Marcus Shannon battled back for the Pointers and picked up a pin in 4:33 which sealed the evening. Two more pins came for River Valley in the final two weight classes--Dustin Hatfield at 113 and Gavin Wipperfurth at 120.
"We had a great start and couldn't have asked for anything better," said Pointer coach Scott Schmitz of Suddeth's and Baker's pins.
"We weren't ready to wrestle tonight at 138, and Jake is better than what he showed tonight. Ross and Brandon both did a great job to get us back on track in the next two weight classes."
"Scott did a good job against one of their better kids in Crook, who took third at state last year. Not giving up a major decision there was huge."
"I think we were outmanned at 170, but Kyle's match at 182 was huge for us and was the turning point. He battled hard as a freshman to come back and pull out that win."
"Nate got a quality win against one of their better kids as well. Brenyn really gutted it out and stayed focused through the frustration of the headgear and got the job done."
"Again, I think we were outmanned at 285 but Jacob will be okay for us this season in that role and is going to improve. Marcus had a big pin for us at 106. We needed to do a better battling at 113, but the kid at 120 had been wrestling quite awhile and is a quality wrestler."
The Pointers are at Cuba City/Southwestern on Friday and travel to the Watertown Invite on Saturday.
River Valley will be at the Kimberly Invite on Saturday.
Mineral Point 45, River Valley 30
126: Reid Suddeth (MP) pinned Mason Wipperfurth 2:33; 132: Frank Baker (MP) pinned Ethyn Johnson 1:50; 138: Elijah Alt (RV) dec. Jake Riley 8-5; 145: Ross Siegenthaler (MP) pinned Cameron Sorce 1:09; 152: Brandon Forseth (MP) pinned Cole Mahoney 4:43; 160: Joe Crook (RV) dec. Scott Pittz 9-3; 170: Jacob Heiser (RV) pinned Logan Bidlingmaier 4:28; 182: Kyle Juedes (MP) pinned Wyatt Schauf 3:42; 195: Nate Cody (MP) pinned Duane Pretsch 5:36; 220: Brenyn Schmit (MP) dec. Zach Koch 7-5 OT; 285: Kaleb Crook (RV) pinned Jacob Parks 0.49; 106: Marcus Shannon (MP) pinned Dillon Brummer 4:33; 113: Dustin Hatfield (RV) pinned Grant Rose 1:40; 120: Gavin Wipperfurth (RV) pinned David Schaaf 0.33.