View from the cheap seats

A weekly perspective on sports

Casey Krautkramer Reporter The Record-Review

Stratford senior football lineman Zack Seitz has committed to play college football for the Division 2 Bemidji State Beavers, following last weekend’s visit to the campus. He’ll be college football teammates with Edgar graduate Ty Guden, who plays linebacker for the Beavers.

Guden finally got to see playing time as a redshirt freshman during this past fall’s 2021 season. He redshirted in 2019 and the team’s 2020 football season was cancelled due to COVID-19. Guden finished his Edgar football career second in school history with 358 tackles.

You’ll see I finally got all the local high school basketball preview stories and team pictures in this week’s newspaper. Wrestling fans, please be patient with me as your turn is next week. I will print the Athens, Edgar and Marathon varsity wrestling team preview stories and team photos in next week’s newspaper.

Athens wrestling alumni might be shocked to hear the Bluejays only have two high school wrestlers competing this season, but Athens varsity head coach Jodi Gauerke told me in the sport of wrestling every high school makes a revolution of having a lot of wrestlers and being on top.

Athens had one of the best high school wrestling programs in the state and nation back in the 1980s and 1990s under the guidance of former head coach Jerry “Buddha” Wagner.

Back in those days, Stratford High School’s wrestling program was struggling. Tom Schoenherr of Stratford told me in the early 1990s, Stratford considered forming a high school wrestling cooperative with Spencer due to low numbers of student athletes participating in the sport.

Thirty years later, Stratford High School’s wrestling program is one of the best in the state and it has 37 wrestlers participating this season. The Athens High School wrestling program, meanwhile, has struggled to get enough student athletes to wrestle.

Coach Gauerke said there are eight Athens Middle School wrestlers this year and four of them are in eighth grade. After varsity senior Brooks Kraus graduates this spring, Athens should have at least five varsity wrestlers next season. Athens’ other varsity wrestler this season, Connor Lewandowski, is a junior.

Coach Gauerke is happy there are 56 Athens youth wrestlers in Kindergarten through fifth grade this year. Therefore, if all 56 of these youth stick with the sport then the Athens High School wrestling program could return in 10 years to being one of the best varsity teams in the state or even in the nation again. Only time will tell.