Schlough wins back-to-back 152-pound titles to become 4-time state champion
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
HISTORY MAKING — Boyceville senior Brock Schlough held up four fingers, signifying his the four state wrestling titles he has won, moments after winning his championship match at 152 pounds last Saturday, February 23 at the Kohl Center in Madison. Schlough finished his high school wrestling career with a 183-5 record and will be attending St. Cloud State this fall on a wrestling scholarship. —photos by Shawn DeWitt
MADISON – All Boyceville coach Jamie Olson wanted senior wrestler Brock Schlough to do was to open up and let it go in his fourth and final state wrestling championship.
And the rest would take care of itself.
After a tight and cautiously calculated 5 to 4 semifinal win against second-ranked sophomore Aiden Vandenbush of Random Lake the previous evening, Olson wanted Schlough to showcase his wide array of skills and abilities in the Saturday night’s championship.
“Brock had a game plan going in,” said Olson of his one-point win over Vandenbush in the Friday night semifinal. “His plan was to try and take Vandenbush down and turn him and if he didn’t turn him, he was going to cut him and just go on his feet because we knew he wasn’t going to take Brock down.”
“We just were kind of cautious on the feet, Brock was in control,” added Olson. “Would we have liked to get another takedown in there to widen that margin, yeah, yeah, I don’t like sitting on the edge of my seat but he was in control and that was just kind of how he wanted to wrestle that match.”
“I hope tonight he opens up a little more, and that’s our plan, just to open up,” said the coach before Schlough wrestled for his four state championship Saturday in the Kohl Center. “Brock has so much ability and skill, when he lets it go, it’s fun to watch and hard to stop.”
And open it up he did!
It took Schlough just eight seconds to take his championship opponent, Princeton senior Gunther Hebbe (42-4), down to the mat. Schlough would let Hebbe go and take him down once more before the opening period ended with the Boyceville senior in front, 4-1.
The points continued to flow in Schlough’s direction in the second period. Registering a quick escape, he added on two more takedowns and entered the final frame ahead 9-2.
A final takedown in the first 15 seconds of the third period had Schlough comfortable in control and on his way gold number four.
The 11-3 major decision against Hebbe, who made his way through the bracket from the preliminaries, put Schlough in elite and rare company.
LEG LIFT — Brock Schlough used this leg attack to score a takedown in his Friday morning quarterfinals’ match against Stratford senior Derek Marten at 152 pounds. Schlough won 13-4. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
The victory brought Schlough his fourth individual state wrestling championship including his second straight Division 3, 152-pound title and the Kohl Center capacity crowd that witnessed the feat to its collective feet for not one but two standing ovations.
As the captivated audience cheered and clapped, Schlough put up four fingers on his right hand, as the referee raised his left arm, to signify the rare feat he had just accomplished during Saturday’s 2019 championship session of the 76th annual WIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships that ran February 21-23 in Madison.
“The coaches were really emphasizing getting my offense going because in my semifinal match I didn’t really open up as much as I should have and everybody kind of got on me for that,” said Schlough after winning the 183rd match of his high school career which includes a 50-0 mark this season.
“I just knew that I had go out right away and hammer down,” said Schlough.
And Olson agreed.
“He wrestled a great match and showed everyone tonight who Brock is,” Olson said. “In the semifinal’s match, we were tight but tonight he let it go. Once he got rolling you could see that he was comfortable and wrestled like Brock wrestles and that was fun to watch.”
“It was just a matter of time before it was going to be over and get in the record books and make history,” continued Olson. “Super proud of him. He is a hard working, dedicated individual that deserves every bit of four championships.”
That final win of his career continued to set records and goals for future Bulldog wrestlers to chase and aspire to.
Not only is he the first Boyceville wrestler to win four state titles, Schlough became just the 17th Wisconsin wrestler in over three-quarters of a century to capture that elite title of “Four-Time WIAA State Champion”!
Schlough has earned championships at 152 pounds the past two seasons, at 160 in 2017 and 138 pounds during his freshman year of 2016.
When asked what this means to him and Boyceville he said, “I am assuming it means a lot because Boyceville is a big wrestling school, a lot of history, a lot of state champs before me and placewinners and all that. I just feel privileged to be the first four-timer. I am sure there will be another one at some point and I will congratulate him when that time comes.”
“What do you say?” asked Olson. “He got two standing ovations from 12,000 some people, a four-timer. The 17th four-timer in 76 years. It is an incredible feat with lots of pressure.”
“He has beat some really, really good kids in the past to accomplish this”
And he did it one match at a time.
“I took them one at a time,” said Schlough “Like my freshman year after I won it, I kind of set my goal to be a four-timer. I was kind of jacked up at that point. (Since) I took it one tournament at a time and it all added up in the end.”
Schlough’s final state-tournament journey began with a dominating 13-4 major decision victory over Derek Marten (23-5), a Stratford senior that was ranked number four, in the Friday morning, February 22 quarterfinals.
An early first-period takedown put Schlough ahead 2-0. He added another in the second period before Marten escaped for his first point of the match.
In the third, Schlough racked up the points with four more takedowns and posted a 13-4 win to move on to the semifinals that evening.
That’s where Aiden Vandenbush of Random Lake gave Schlough his toughest test of this year’s tournament.
Schlough broke the ice with a first-minute takedown but Vandenbush escaped 20 seconds later to cut the lead to one point.
An escape and a takedown gave Schlough a 5-2 advantage in the second period. Vandenbush narrowed his deficit to two with an escape in the third period and made it 5-4 when Schlough was called for stalling, giving a point to the Random Lake sophomore.
But the Boyceville wrestler held off the second-ranked Vandenbush to earn a berth in the championship match where he dominated Guenther Hebbe of Princeton from the beginning whistle to the final horn.
It marked the second straight year that Schlough capped his wrestling season unbeaten. He was 47-0 in his junior-year campaign, 43-1 as a sophomore and complied a 42-4 record in his freshman season.
But this is not the end of the journey for Schlough. He will begin a new one this fall when he attends Division 2 St. Cloud State under a wrestling scholarship.
“I’m ready for the next one, I guess, College,” concluded Schlough. “It never stops, I’m not really satisfied yet.”
“He is gifted and a lot of that is through hard work to maximize those gifts,” stated Olson. “He is an incredible kid.”
“St. Cloud State is getting a very good one! Can’t wait to follow his next journey in life,” Olson said.
FOR THE FOURTH time in as many years, Boyceville senior Brock Schlough stepped atop the awards podium last Saturday to receive his state gold medal. Schlough picked up his second title at 152 pounds and became the 17th Wisconsin wrestler to finish his career with four state titles. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
