State Wrestling Update: A mixed bag for Boyceville wrestlers in the quarterfinals
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MADISON – Boyceville’s wrestling quintet were all in action in today’s WIAA Division 3 state wrestling quarterfinals.
The results were a mixed bag for the Bulldogs who went 3-2 to open the second day of competition at the state wrestling championship from Madison’s Kohl Center.
As expected, the Bulldogs three sectional champions – Brock Schlough, James Palmer and Garrett Joles – all of whom had preliminary round byes, easily won their matches to punch their tickets to this evening’s semifinal session.
Unfortunately, juniors Justin Malean and Noah Novotney were unable to do the same. Both both were pinned in their respective quarterfinal matches and wrestled in the afternoon consolation semifinals.
Schlough, second in the latest state individual rankings at 160 pounds, jumped out to a 4-0 first-period lead in his quarterfinal battle against senior Isaac Roffers (41-6) of Reedsville. He extended that to six points with a reversal in the opening six seconds of the middle period and rode out Roffers the remainder of the frame. In the third, Roffers finally broke through Schlough’s defense to score a takedown but the Boyceville sophomore responded quickly with his second reversal to put his advantage back to six points at 8-2. Roffers worked free with just 17 ticks left in the match to make it 8-3 but would get no closer.
James Palmer and Garrett Joles racked up the points in their quarterfinal victories.
Palmer, a four-time state qualifier, steadily built his lead through two and a half periods to take a 9-0 lead over his 182-pound quarterfinal opponent sophomore Will Raatz (34-5) of Edgar. Raatz would finally break his goose egg on an escape with under a minute remaining in the match only to have Palmer take him down for the fourth time and claim a 11-1 victory.
Garrett Joles’ machine-like dismantling of Royal junior Noah Friedl (38-4) was impressive to watch. A pair of first-period takedowns and a two-point near fall for a 6-1 lead after the first two minutes was just the beginning. Joles would tack on two more takedowns and a three-point near fall for a 14-2 advantage after two periods. It took the Boyceville junior just an additional 29 seconds to bring the match to a close on sequence takedown and two-point near fall for the 18-2 win.
The results were a bit different for Novotney, who came into the state tourney as a runner-up, and Malean, a third-place sectional finisher. Both fell victim to first-period pins.
Malean was stuck in :44 by the number two ranked Jordan Blanchard (37-3), a senior from Coleman. Novotney was also pinned by a Coleman wrestler. Top-rated senior Donovan Salewski put Novotney’s back to the mat at 1:25.
In this evening’s semifinal round, Schlough (41-1) will see fifth-ranked senior David Marquardt (36-4) of Stratford at 160; Palmer (42-1) has a bout against Athens junior Marshall Westfall (34-9), who came in as a third-placed sectional finisher but has won two straight including a quarterfinal win over number three rated Chase Brouillette of Random Lake; and Joles (42-1) will have his number one ranking put to the test against second-seeded Bryce Holderman (43-2), a fellow junior from Amherst.
Malean was slated to wrestle Darlington junior Tyler Mosely (25-20), a winner over Spring Valley/Elmwood’s Carter Merth in yesterday’s prelims in a 170-pound consolation semifinal while Novotney will grapple Randon Lake senior Ben Drenski in the 285-pound consolation semifinal.
