State Wrestling Update: Three Bulldogs to wrestle for state gold
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MADISON – It was a history-making semifinal round for Boyceville wrestling.
The past three years, Boyceville has had two wrestlers reached the state finals but it has never had three make the championship matches in the same tournament.
That was until last night.
Senior James Palmer, junior Garrett Joles and sophomore Brock Schlough all won their semifinals matches to earn a spot in the WIAA Division 3 championships later today at the Kohl Center in Madison.
Schlough was the first to hit the mats last night for the Bulldogs and advanced to the finals with a hard-fought, 10-7 triumph over Stratford senior David Marquardt.
The win improved Schlough’s season mark to 42-1.
Marquardt drew first blood with a takedown at 1:02 of the first period. Schlough quickly went on top to stay with a five-point move – a reversal followed closely by a three-point near fall. The Stratford wrestler escape in the closing seconds of the opening period to cut his deficit to 5-3.
Taking the down position to start the second, Schough worked an escape and then a takedown to stretch his lead to 8-3. Again Marquardt would come up with points late in the period as he scored a reversal with 12 second on the clock too make the score 8-5 after four minutes of wrestling.
Marquardt scored his third consecutive point on an escape just second into the third period to make it an 8-6 match.
The score narrowed to just a single point when Schlough was hit with his second stalling call which gave the Stratford senior a point.
It remained a one-point affair until the final seconds when Schlough was able to get a takedown at the final horn for the 10-7 victory.
This will be Schlough’s second straight appearance in the finals. Last year, he won the D3, 138-pound state title.
Schlough championship opponent is also a defending state titlist. Senior Brandon Roen (21-2) of Riverdale will be going for his second straight state crown as well after nipping previously unbeaten Michael Bertrand of Southern Door 5-3 in overtime.
Until this year, four-time state qualifier James Palmer had not had much luck on the Kohl Center mats. In his three previous trips to the state tournament, the Boyceville senior had won just once in six matches.
But what a difference a year can make.
After wrestling at 113, 120 and 132 pounds in the his three previous state trips, Palmer is now wrestling at 182 pounds after having grown a half a foot and putting on over 40 pounds in the past year.
The physical transformation has been nothing short of amazing as has been his wrestling.
Palmer has delivered a pair of dominating performances in this year’s state tournament including a pin of sixth ranked Marshal Westfall (34-10) in semifinals.
The Athens junior had no answers for Palmer’s no non-sense, get-after-it style.
It took Palmer all of 40 seconds to rack up a takedown, two-point near fall and the pin against Westfall.
Palmer will face Wittenberg-Birnamwood senior Alex Peplinski (44-4) in the title match. Peplinski also pinned his semifinal opponent.
Garrett Joles is no stranger to the finals.
In his two previous state appearance, the junior made it to the finals only to come up a point short both times.
This year, Joles is looking to finish the deal and appears to be on a mission to do just that with a pair of impressive wins.
That latest came in last night’s semifinals match at 195 pounds that pitted top ranked Joles against second-ranked Bryce Holderman (43-3), a junior from Amherst.
It was no contest.
Joles moved to 43-1 on the season with a dominating 15-3 major decision over Holderman.
The match started slowly as both wrestlers probed the other’s defense for opening. Joles broke through for a takedown 46 second into the first frame to take the 2-0 lead. The Boyceville junior added another takedown and a two-point near fall in the second two-minute period and led 6-1 heading into the third and final period. In that final two minutes, Joles scored and escape and a takedown to up his advantage to 9-1.
Holderman finally scored on an offensive move to get the takedown but Joles quickly escaped and added a final takedown along with a three-point near fall to win 15-3.
Joles’ final’s opponent is Tory Jandrin (41-4), a senior from Southern Door. The third-ranked Jandrin scored a 3-1 overtime win against sixth-ranked Caleb JOhnson of Riverdale in the other 195-pound semifinal.