GNC domination continues with double-dual sweep
MEDFORD WRESTLING
In what has been anything but a normal wrestling season, the Medford Raiders are making things seem as though they are business as usual by, as they’ve typically done, starting to peak when it’s time for championships to be won.
The Raiders continued their march toward a potential Great Northern Conference championship by decisively beating Antigo and Mosinee in a doubledual held at Raider Hall Thursday. The 55-17 win over Antigo and the 66-9 rout of Mosinee put Medford at 4-0 in GNC duals.
They will compete in a meet at Tomahawk tonight, Thursday, at 5 p.m. that includes the one team they haven’t faced yet, Rhinelander, as well as the host Hatchets and Antigo. Antigo beat Mosinee 39-24 in the first dual last Thursday in Medford.
After tonight, the six conference teams are hoping to be able to hold a championship tournament in Rhinelander on Jan. 23, depending on WIAA guidelines, and everyone is looking forward to Jan. 30, which is expected to be the start date for the WIAA post-season.
“Overall I’m really pleased 4-0 in the conference,” head coach Brandon Marcis said after last week’s double-dual sweep. “We’ve had to overcome a lot of hurdles this year. I think maybe some people questioned losing our senior class last year where we’d be, but we’re right back there with hard work, determination and all that good stuff. I’m really proud of the guys.”
Following Parent Night and Senior Night presentations, Medford roared out to a 31-3 lead over Antigo and never looked back.
Carson Church got things started at 145 pounds with a dominant 14-2 major decision over Seth Beaber, Emett Grunwald pinned Robbie Hagerty in 48 seconds at 152 pounds and Oscar Hinderliter came up with one of the Raiders’ highlight wins of the night. The junior, who hasn’t seen a lot of varsity action over the years, got a quick takedown and pinned Antigo senior Jacob Dettman in 51 seconds in the 160-pound bout.
“Oscar is one of those guys that’s come so far since his youth days just as far as being a solid wrestler, being mature as a person and just handling the ins and outs of a match,” Marcis said. “He seized the opportunity for sure.”
Freshman Logan Kawa followed with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Antigo senior Gideon Sass. He trailed 1-0 going into the third period, but got an escape and then notched the winning takedown with 55 seconds left to put the Raiders up 19-0.
“Logan Kawa came through,” Marcis said. “That was a good match. We’re just working with him on staying in good position on top. I thought he did really good there.”
The top matchup of the dual came at 182 pounds, where seniors Hayden Johnson of Medford and Josh Heuss of Antigo locked horns. Heuss, a Division 2 state qualifier last year, got a first-period takedown and a second-period near fall to take a 4-0 lead, but Johnson got back in it with an escape and takedown. A stalling point was the only scoring in the third period of a 5-3 win for Heuss.
“That was the showcase match of that dual,” Marcis said. “Those are two good upperclassmen. I thought Hayden wrestled a really good match. It just didn’t go our way. (Heuss) caught us a little bit at the end. Antigo is typically an upperbody team, so we have to try to stay away from that a little bit. He kinda got sucked up into the upper body stuff. We weren’t able to capitalize on our shots. He did get the fireman the one time which was really good. It was a really fun match.”
Dalton Krug and Wyatt Johnson took forfeits at 195 and 220 pounds. Antigo’s Hunter Cordova pinned Raider Braxton Weissmiller in 2:37 in the 285-pound match to make it 31-9.
“Braxton weighs in small at 220,” Marcis said. “We’re just taking it as it comes. When you’re an underclassman and you’re wrestling 182 pounds and up, you’re wrestling men every time. Good things come to those guys as they come around and age.”
Thaddeus Sigmund pinned Antigo’s Daniel Livermore in 1:24 in the 106-pound match, Jude Stark took a forfeit at 113 pounds and Ty Sova got Medford’s last win, pinning Sam Bretl in 1:37 at 120 pounds.
Antigo’s Chris Mackey pinned Itsael Medina Fuentes in 3:46 at 126 pounds and Logan Edwards beat Raider senior Eli Mahner 6-1 at 132. The Red Robins lost a team point in the final match due to unsportsmanlike conduct from the bench.
“Overall if you look at it and think about how many points we gave up whether the kid was better than us or not, we still did what we had to do,” Marcis said. “There was talk about not doing the duals anymore. The duals add so much to it for the team aspect and wrestling for more than yourself and just getting everything that you can. It’s about getting better in wrestling and wrestling for your team. It was a great dual.”
Medford 66, Mosinee 9
In the night’s final dual, the Raiders got a big closing win from Church and made quick work of most of the other matches in their win over Mosinee.
In the second-to-last bout, Church battled Chase Kmosena at 138 pounds in a matchup of seniors who are conference title contenders.
Church came out aggressively and got the first takedown, though Kmosena countered with an escape to make it 2-1. An exchange of escapes made it 3-2 before Church was credited with a late takedown along the boundary to seal a 5-2 win.
“They pretty much knew it could be for number one and number two in the conference,” Marcis said. “Chase is a great wrestler. His dad (Steve) is from Medford, everybody kinda knows each other, so it’s a good battle to see those two. Carson had great position the whole match and just came out on top. Every situation that they were in at the end of a flurry, it seemed like he always had the upper hand. I attribute that to his good head position and controlling the tie.”
Trevon Drallmeier closed the meet with a Senior Night pin of Matt Obremski in 20 seconds at 145 pounds.
Grunwald started the dual with a 9-3 win over Logan Johnson at 152 pounds, using a five-point second period to create separation. Mosinee’s all-state wrestler Gage Coppock pinned Hinderliter in 15 seconds at 160 pounds, but the Raiders went on a tear, getting a pin in 1:06 from Kawa over Noah Meshak, a pin in 53 seconds from Hayden Johnson over Ben Folwarski, a pin in 36 seconds from Krug over Zach Owens, a pin in 34 seconds from Wyatt Johnson over Teryn Walls and forfeit wins for Weissmiller and Sigmund for a 39-6 lead.
“Our big guys really came through,” Marcis said. “Every day in practice, we’re practicing to go from the feet to the back. We don’t want to wait on it. We don’t want to hesitate. Any chance we get to put a guy on his back, we’re training to do that. I think that really showed in those upper weights. For the most part, it was nothing fancy. It was just mastering those basics.”
Stark kept things rolling by pinning Jackson Folwarski in 27 seconds in the 113-pound match. Kade Kmosena got Mosinee’s second and final win of the dual, outlasting Sova 6-1 at 120 pounds.
Medina Fuentes and Mahner got forfeits at 126 and 132 pounds.
“We practiced hard over the break even though there was no holiday tournaments,” Marcis said. “It’s hard to stay focused in a situation like that, but I think we have a good mix of having fun and getting better. Break them down a little bit, build them back up. So far, so good. We’re just hoping for a bright end to the season for a final tournament series.”
Medford’s Oscar Hinderliter gets under Antigo’s Jacob Dettman and eventually pins him in 51 seconds during the Raiders’ 55-17 win over the Red Robins.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
