Mineral Point wins battle of ranked wrestling teams
Senior Chase Fisher toes the line in his 170# match vs. Mineral Point.
Senior Matt Rogge applies pressure with a turk just before turning his Mineral Point opponent for near fall points.
On Thursday, Dec. 31, the D2 6th ranked PDC Blackhawks played host to the D3 3rd ranked Mineral Point Pointers. This marquee match-up featured two returning State Champs, two returning State Placewinners, and two returning State Qualifiers. In addition, 15 wrestlers from the two teams are in the State Individual Rankings. On paper, it had the makings of a great dual.
The dual would start at 160#, where freshman Cole Halverson would toe the line with a state ranked wrestler and battle hard through three periods, but come up short in a 6-4 loss. It was a gritty match for the freshman who is showing early season promise.
At 170#, senior Chase Fisher had the daunting task of wrestling MP’s returning State Champion. Fisher was overmatched by a very good wrestler and pinned in the first period.
At 182#, sophomore Brogan Brewer would battle with a returning State Placer and show resilience by taking him to the second period before being pinned.
At 195#, freshman Ty Wagner would wrestle another of MP’s ranked wrestlers and be pinned at the end of period one.
At 220#, senior Kyle Quick gave up a first period takedown that took him to his back and was pinned in the first period.
At 285#, senior Jayden Johnson wrestled a highly ranked MP wrestler. Johnson would show much determination and lose a hard fought 3-2 decision.
At 106#, freshman Mason Baumgartner would excite the PDC crowd with a quick blast double leg and take his opponent to his back for a first period fall.
At 113#, it was a matc-up of two state ranked wrestlers. In the end, the MP wrestler would prove to be too much for sophomore Ryder Koenig and beat him with a major decision 15-5.
At 120#, returning State Champion and sophomore Rhett Koenig would wrestle a ranked opponent, and use a combination of four takedowns and two near falls en route to a 13-4 major decision.
At 126#, freshman Drew Hird toed the line with a ranked opponent only to come up short in a hard fought 6-2 decision.
At 132#, sophomore Maddox Cejka would wrestle a returning State Qualifier in a match-up of ranked wrestlers. In a closely contested match, with lots of points, MP would get a 12-8 decision.
At 138#, sophomore Kurt Wall would pick up a 13-6 decision with a couple of takedowns and a couple of near falls.
At 145#, returning State Qualifier and highly ranked sophomore Luke Kramer would notch a 5-4 decision with the difference being a third-period reversal by Kramer.
At 152#, returning State Placewinner and highly ranked senior Matt Rogge would put up a lot of points with a 18-1 technical fall. Rogge did it with two takedowns and four near falls.
Final Score: Mineral Point 40, PDC 21. Following the varsity action, there were 34 exhibition matches. Picking up wins for the Blackhawks were: Christian Black, Chase Fisher x2, Brogan Brewer, Drake Ingham x2, Rhett Koenig x2, Ryder Koenig, Maddox Cejka x2, Jeremiah Avery, Luke Kramer, Matt Rogge, Cole Halverson, and Drew Hird.
Next up, the Hawks will be hosting an SWC quadrangular on Friday, Jan. 8 at 6 p.m., with Lancaster, River Valley, and Richland Center coming to town. Go Hawks!
Box Score
160#: Hanson (MP) over Cole Halverson (PDC) by decision 6-4. PDC 0, MP 3.
170#: Springer (MP) over Chase Fisher (PDC) by fall in 1:20. PDC 0, MP 9.
182#: Hughes (MP) over Brogan Brewer (PDC) by fall in 3:18. PDC 0, MP 15.
195#: Aurit (MP) over Ty Wagner (PDC) by fall in 1:59. PDC 0, MP 21.
220#: Nordstrom (MP) over Kyle Quick (PDC) by fall in 0:24. PDC 0, MP 27.
285#: Straka (MP) over Jayden Johnson (PDC) by decision 3-2. PDC 0, MP 30.
106#: Mason Baumgartner (PDC) over Robinson (MP) by fall in 0:48. PDC 6, MP 30.
113#: Sullivan (MP) over Ryder Koenig (PDC) by major decision 15-5. PDC 6, MP 34.
120#: Rhett Koenig (PDC) over Kroll (MP) by major decision 13-4. PDC 10, MP 34.
126#: Nafzger (MP) over Drew Hird (PDC) by decision 6-2. PDC 10, MP 37.
132#: Riley (MP) over Maddox Cejka (PDC) by decision 12-8. PDC 10, MP 40.
138#: Kurt Wall (PDC) over Lindsey (MP) by decision 13-6. PDC 13, MP 40.
145#: Luke Kramer (PDC) over Bakken (MP) by decision 5-4. PDC 16, MP 40.
152#: Matt Rogge (PDC) over Gunderson (MP) by technical fall 18-1 in 5:20. PDC 21, MP 40.
