MEDFORD WRESTLING - Raiders get some revenge, sweep home double dual

MEDFORD WRESTLING

Winning three close matches early set the tone in what wound up being a notso- close team win for the Medford Raiders Friday in their wrestling rematch with defending WIAA Division 2 sectional champion Baldwin-Woodville.

Gage Losiewicz, Paxton Rothmeier and Evan Wilkins won their early matches by a combined six points, helping the Raiders get out to a 15-0 lead that grew to 39-0 before the Raiders settled for a 51-21 win over the Blackhawks to start a double-dual event at Raider Hall.

Medford finished the night with a very quick 72-12 win over Plainfield Tri-County to improve to 5-0 in dual meets and continue to build momentum for the second half of the season.

The Blackhawks clearly aren’t as strong as they were last winter, when they ended their year at the WIAA Division 2 state team tournament in Madison. They beat Medford 44-27 in a sectional semifinal dual. But, according to Medford head coach Brandon Marcis, this still was a dual the Raiders were highly anticipating.

“We were excited to wrestle them,” Marcis said. “We knew they had some good kids. We knew that they fell off a little bit from what they were last year, but it would still be a good test. Any time you wrestle those teams on the western side of the state, they see Minnesota competition. They just wrestle a little differently.

The dual got a little physical and a little chippy. That’s good. When duals are blowouts they don’t get like that. We need to be in those situations where we have to overcome a little emotion, a little adversity. It was a good test for us and I thought we wrestled great.”

Losiewicz improved to 17-2 by the end of the night. He opened the Baldwin-Woodville dual by holding off Blackhawk junior Taden Holldorf 3-2, using a second-period escape and takedown to score all of the points he would need. “Gage always does good when he gets in flurries and wrestles free,” Marcis said. “The match was tight then he got an escape and a takedown, boom, boom. When he can put the pieces together like that, that’s when he’s at his best. We just have to keep him moving on his feet and pushing those flurries. If we give up a point or two in the process, that’s OK, because typically he’s so strong and such a good athlete that when he usually lets it fly enough he’ll end up on top.”

Rothmeier’s match at 165 pounds with Andrew Thompson followed. Rothmeier got the initial takedown in the first period, but, starting the second period in the down position, he got caught and was nearly pinned, giving up a threepoint near fall. A locked hands violation against Thompson in the third period sent the match to overtime. In the 60-second sudden-victory period, Rothmeier fought off a shot, then quickly pounced on an opportunity to take down Thompson for the 5-3 win.

Rothmeier stands at 9-3 after Friday. Thompson was one of the Blackhawks that got a win against Medford in last February’s sectional dual.

“Winning the tight ones matters,” Marcis said. “The first period is usually won by the technician, the second period is won by the guy with the best conditioning and the third period and overtime is won by the guy with heart. Paxton wrestled with heart.”

Logan Kawa took a forfeit at 175 pounds, then Wilkins got into a tight one at 190 pounds with Baldwin-Woodville’s Drew Stark. In a matchup of solid junior wrestlers, Wilkins got the first takedown and had a 2-1 lead after one period. Stark reversed Wilkins for the only points of the second period, giving him a 3-2 lead. Wilkins wasted no time in the third, drawing a locked hands violation point and then reversing Stark for a 5-3 lead. Another violation late in the match secured the 6-3 win for Wilkins.

“He had to dig that one out,” Marcis said. “That was a physical match. His mat returns kind of won him that match a little bit, just being able to set that guy back on the mat, set him on his belly. That was definitely a grind match. I was super proud of him for digging it out. I really liked his motion on his feet. He was working the head and moving and taking his shots. He’s taking what the other guy is giving him. For Evan, come the rest of the season if he keeps wrestling like that, I see big things for him.”

Medford went on a quick 24-point run from there to build its big lead. Braxton Weissmiller got two takedowns before getting a pin in 2:32 over Trever Murdock in the 215-pound match. Max Dietzman pinned Sam Aho in 1:53 at 285 pounds and the Raiders’ Caden Olson and Ayden Tyznik received forfeits at 106 and 113 pounds.

Baldwin-Woodville then made a run with four straight wins. Carter Benson, who got a win in last year’s dual, got another, this time pinning Medford’s Nick Malchow in 1:59 in the 120-pound match, which was Malchow’s first varsity match of the season.

Jordan Lavin nearly won the 126-pound match, but he couldn’t quite finish it when he got Baldwin-Woodville’s Travis Kuhn to his back in the second period and took a 5-1 lead with the near fall. The lead grew to 7-1 early in the third, but Kuhn escaped with just over a minute left, got a double-leg takedown and turned it into a pin at 5:32. Drake Gartmann, another Blackhawk who got a win in the meet with Medford last year, pinned Raider Avery Losiewicz in 24 seconds at 132 pounds.

Raider senior Jude Stark bumped up to 138 pounds to take on Baldwin-Woodville’s state finalist from a year ago, Colton Hush, who rode a first-period takedown and second-period reversal to a 4-2 win.

Medford closed out the dual with a pin in 1:10 from Owen Higgins over Garrett Guthrie at 144 pounds and a pin in 1:45 from Cory Lindahl over Wesley Braasch at 150 pounds.

After the Blackhawks defeated Tri-County 57-6, Medford took care of the Blackhawks quickly.

Wilkins took a forfeit at 175 pounds, and Kawa took one at 190 as one of Tri-County’s best wrestlers, Jovanni Mata, sat this dual out after getting banged up against Baldwin-Woodville. Weissmiller pinned Evangelina Flores in 19 seconds at 215 pounds and Dietzman and Olson took forfeits for a 30-0 lead.

Tyznik got into a good, high-scoring bout at 113 pounds with Kyu Yang. Tyznik jumped ahead 4-0 with a takedown and two-point near fall. Yang responded with a reversal and three-point near fall to lead 5-4.

Tyznik’s reversal and three-point near fall put him in front 9-7 in the second period, but Yang reversed Tyznik and pinned him at 3:50.

Malchow took a forfeit at 120 pounds, and Lavin quickly pinned Brianna Garcia in 1:30 at 126 pounds. The Penguins Cayden Weis pinned Avery Losiewicz in 1:16 at 132 pounds to make it 32-12.

From there, Stark got a forfeit, Higgins pinned Dominique Friebel in just 1:06 and Lindahl, Gage Losiewicz and Rothmeier took forfeits.

Medford is next at Holmen’s Bi-State Classic, held in the La Crosse Center Thursday through Saturday. Girls com- petition gets the tournament started on day one.

“I love going to Bi-State,” Marcis said. “I love seeing the competition down there. We want to keep testing ourselves against the best guys. This team is coming together, the pieces are coming together. We still have work to do if we’re going to be where we want to be at the end of the season. But Bi-State is a way to get there. I’m really excited. The competition will be good and we’re ready for it.”

Medford’s Jordan Lavin works to free his left arm before completing his pin of Tri-County’s Brianna Garcia during the Raiders’ 72-12 win over the Penguins Friday. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS