The Riverdale Chieftain wrestling team was controlled in all aspects of the match Friday night against nineth ranked Mineral Point falling 63-6.  The Pointers won 12 of 14 matches, including six by pin and three by forfeit.

“Mineral Point came in and really wrestled well,” said coach Jeff Campbell. “We could not keep up.  They were better than us in all aspects of many matches.” 

Mineral Point would score a pin, decision and two forfeits to open up a 21-0 lead.  Riverdale would get on the board when Brian Mathews scored an 8-3 decision at 126 pounds.  Mineral Point would collect a forfeit, pin and a decision at 145 to take a 36-6 lead.  Bradon Roen would take the mat and score a 6-1 decision at 152 pounds.  The Pointers would not lose another match the rest of the way scoring a come from behind win at 160 and securing first period pins in the final four matches.

Coach Campbell: “Mineral Point has a very solid team, but I felt we should have been able to compete better in a number of matches,” Campbell said. “We had yet to face a team of Mineral Point’s caliber and it showed in a number of areas.  The kids work hard every night and we will get better.”

Wrestlers 7th at Waunakee

The Chieftains traveled to Waunakee on Saturday to compete in the 17 team Waunakee Scramble Invitational.   The team finished 7th with nine scoring wrestlers. 

“We wrestled well Saturday,” Campbell said. “The kids bounced back from Friday night and competed well against some good teams.”

Bryndl Nalepinski made his varsity debut at 106 pounds finishing 6th.  Bryndl will continue to work hard to gain confidence.  He wrestled the 2nd place wrestler to an 8-5 decision in the first round. 

Shale Meyer went 2-3 finishing fourth in a solid weight class at 113.  He lost to the top two finishers and a close 5-3 decision in the 3rd place match.  Shale had two pins on the day including a quarterfinal fall over an undefeated wrestler from Waunakee. 

Brian Mathews went 4-1 at 126 pounds.  Brian won a number of close matches using his conditioning and good position to fend off a number of attacks.  Brian’s loss came to the eventual champion from Holmen in the semifinals.  Brian really is improving every time he takes the mat.  He is starting to move better on the mat, always pushing the pace. 

Colt Pechan went 2-3 at 138 pounds to finish 7th.  Colt scored a fall and major decision and lost a match in the final seconds.  Colt is putting himself in better positions to score points and looked dominating in his two wins.  Colt is an extremely hard worker and more mat time will result in more victories. 

Caleb Johnson finished 3-2 on the day, good for 6th place.  Caleb wrestled five tough matches on the day.  Every one of his opponents sported winning records.  Caleb wrestled strong with all of his matches going the entire six minutes.  He won a couple of close matches against solid opponents.   

Bradon Roen won his first Waunakee tournament championship with a dominating performance over a number of state qualifiers.  Bradon won 6-1 over an undefeated wrestler from Waunakee in the semifinals and then 6-0 over another undefeated state qualifier from Rhinelander.  Bradon wrestled really well on top scoring turns in both matches against very quality opponents.  Bradon moved to 10-0 on the year.

Micah Arellano saw his first action of the season.  He went 2-3 on the day to place 11th at 152 pounds.  Micah was very aggressive and scoring a pin on a perfect lateral drop in his placement match.

Isaiah Snyder finished 6th at 160 pounds finishing the day 3-2.  Isaiah scored a fall and two decisions on the day.  Isaiah was in both matches that he lost and show a lot of grit in some tight matches.  Isaiah will continue to get better as he builds more confidence in himself and his wrestling ability.

Kenny Elliott competed in the 182 pound weight class and finished 5th going 3-2 on the day.  Kenny got better every match on the day.  You could see Kenny getting more confident every match.  He wrestled the best he has all year, scoring two falls and a 12-6 decision in the fifth place match.

Garret Wilmot went 2-3 to finish 6th at 285.  Garret won two matches by pin and lost some very close matches throughout the day.  Garret will start to pull out the close matches as the year goes on and he continues to develop his offense on his feet.

 “I was proud of how the kids bounced back after a tough match Friday night,” Campbell said. “We understand that to compete with the top tier teams in the conference we must put the time and effort into our preparation.  The kids have been doing that every night and will continue working hard.  Saturday was an improvement and we will use this as a building block going into Boscobel on Friday night.”

JV at Waunakee

In JV action Mike Helt went 3-1 with two pins to place second.  Terry Hrubes also went 3-1 with three pins to place second and Athan Karabetsos went 1-3 scoring a pin and losing two close decisions 3-1 and 6-3 to finish 6th.  All three kids had a great day and continue to get better. 

The wrestling team will compete at the Boscobel dual Friday night before heading to the annual Richland Center Invitational on Saturday.   Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 10:00 on Saturday and will be streamed live online at vernontel.com/live.