Blackhawks get matchups they want, drop Medford in semifinal

WIAA DIV. 2 ST. CROIX CENTRAL TEAM SECTIONAL

The tone was set early and the Medford wrestlers weren’t able to turn the momentum Baldwin-Woodville built early in a 44-27 loss to the Blackhawks in the semifinal round of Tuesday’s WIAA Division 2 team sectional hosted by St. Croix Central.

Viewed by most as the surprise team in the four-team event after Medford’s second-place finish at Saturday’s Osceola super regional, where the team outscored highly-ranked Amery to get the second qualifying spot, the Raiders needed some breaks to knock off another highly-touted squad from the Middle Border Conference.

Medford head coach Brandon Marcis said the starting weight of 182 pounds combined with the loss of the opening coin flip determining who presents their wrestler first in each match was a bad omen for the Raiders, who fell behind 26-6 with defeats in five of the first six matches.

“We wrestled all right,” Marcis said. “They had a lineup change that kinda hurt us up top. From 182, 195, 220 and heavyweight, we didn’t really get the matchups that we wanted because they got the flip, so that hurt us. But kids still wrestled good, we’re still wrestling really great.

“They’re a good team,” he added. “They have good kids and I knew that and in order for us to win against Baldwin that we had to get exactly the matchups that we wanted and we didn’t get them.”

At 182 pounds, Medford got a mini victory when sophomore Evan Wilkins got an escape in the third period while down 9-0 to Elliott Anderson, who came into the meet with a 27-13 record. Wilkins then got a takedown with 10 seconds left and wound up losing 10-3, keeping the match a three-point decision, rather than a four-point major decision.

Anderson wrestled at 170 pounds in the regional but bumped up for this match. Andrew Thompson, a 20-14 sophomore, pinned Medford freshman Jonathan Bartnik in 31 seconds at 195 pounds and senior Mason Baribeau (31-10), who is wrestling at 285 pounds individually in the tournament, dropped down to 220 pounds and pinned Raider Braxton Weissmiller in 1:39 to give Baldwin-Woodville a quick 15-0 lead.

Junior Max Dietzman got Medford on the board in the 285-pound match, taking down Mason Pelletier with a single-leg takedown at the edge of the mat. On the restart, Dietzman turned Pelletier and pinned him at 1:21 to cut the Blackhawks’ lead to 15-6.

“That was a single to a double and Max just planted him right on the mat,” Marcis said. “I think Max is a special wrestler. He soaks everything up. He’s just a sponge. The way he’s progressed this year from the beginning to the end is unlike any kid I’ve ever coached.”

Baldwin-Woodville sophomore Carter Benson pinned Medford freshman Broden Schilling in 56 seconds at 106 pounds and Drake Gartmann earned a 16-1 technical fall over Raider Nick Malchow at 113 pounds to push the Blackhawks’ lead to 20.

One of the highlight matches followed at 120 pounds between individual sectional qualifiers Thaddeus Sigmund from Medford (42-7) and Colton Hush, who came in at 38-2.

Hush got the first takedown in the first period, but Sigmund escaped late in the period. Hush’s lead grew to 4-1 with a second- period reversal, but Sigmund got out of it and fought off a good shot late in the period to keep it 4-2 going into the third.

That’s where Medford’s senior leader took over, escaping and taking down Hush to go up 5-4. Hush escaped, the two got into a scramble and Sigmund got the leverage he needed with 10 seconds left, securing the takedown that gave him a 7-5 win. There’s a good chance those two will meet again in Saturday’s individual sectional at Amery.

“That was awesome,” Marcis said. “That was at a point in the meet where we knew we had to come back and win some matches that we weren’t supposed to and that was the one. On paper, that kid’s better. I asked Thad beforehand, ‘do you want to be a state champ or not? You have to beat this guy.’ He goes out there and gets the job done. He wrestled smart. He didn’t get on his knees too much. He wrestled a really smart match. His wrestling IQ was sky high for that match. Hat’s off to Thad but he has to clear that out of his head (Wednesday) and get back to work.”

Another good match followed at 126 pounds. Medford’s regional champion Jude Stark fell behind Baldwin-Woodville’s 29-13 senior Cole Braasch 8-3 midway through the second period, but spun out of Braasch’s grasp in a restart, got control of a leg and turned it into a reversal and two-point near fall to get within 8-7 going into the third period.

Stark and Braasch traded reversals in the third period with Braasch holding on for a 12-9 win to give Baldwin-Woodville a 29-9 lead. Those two will meet again in Saturday’s opening round.

Baldwin-Woodville clinched the team victory with its regional champion, senior Tyler Fink (32-6) pinning Medford’s Owen Higgins in 3:01 at 132 pounds and 34-8 senior Hunter Gartmann fighting off a valiant effort by Medford sophomore Parker Lissner in a 7-2 decision at 138 pounds. A takedown as time expired widened Gartmann’s lead in a competitive match.

Medford’s 145-pound regional champion, Gage Losiewicz, led 4-1 before pinning Graiden Monicken in 1:31.

“He went to work,” Marcis said. “He’s a hammer and we’re going to use him. Sometimes guys will lock up on him a little bit. We like play the feet game, cut him and open him up and that’s what happened. He cut him, opened him up and we got the turn and the pin out of it.”

Most of Losiewicz’s 10 losses came early in the year when he bumped up to 160 and 152 pounds before settling in at 145 at mid-season. Marcis said that is paying off now.

“That’s just kind of the philosophy that we have in general,” Marcis said. “We want to go look for challenges and get beat up so when it gets time to be put to the test that we’ve already been put through harder tests. I absolutely think that the time at 160 helped him because he was never a true 160.”

Baldwin-Woodville’s Austin Schmidt pinned Cory Lindahl in 1:32 at 152 pounds. Lindahl got the first takedown and had early control, but the moment he lost his grip, Schmidt pounced.

With the meet sewn up, Baldwin-Woodville forfeited to Medford’s Logan Kawa at 160 pounds and Paxton Rothmeier at 170 pounds. The Blackhawks went on to defeat St. Croix Falls 42-25 in the championship dual and earn a spot in the March 4 WIAA Division 2 team state tournament in Madison. St. Croix Falls held off St. Croix Central 36-34 in the other semifinal.

Medford still has 10 individuals vying for state berths at Saturday’s meet in Amery.

“It’s alright,” Marcis said. “We’ll come back hungry. We have a young team yet. We only had one senior start (Tuesday). We’re optimistic for the future and we’re looking to finish this season strong in individuals. This gets erased (Wednesday), the team part of it. We had a good run with the team part. Now it’s all up to the individuals to get as far as we can.”