Boyceville Bulldogs declaw Durand Panthers, place 4th in North Branch Invite
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PRESTON PINS — The Bulldogs’ Preston Coombs went low to takedown his Durand opponent which eventually turned into a pin for the sophomore at 152 pounds in last Thursday’s dual with the Panthers.
MENOMONIE — To say Boyceville dominated last Thursday’s Dunn-St. Croix home dual against Durand would be an understatement.
The Bulldogs won 13 of the contest’s 14 matches – five by pins and nine more on forfeits – to pummel the Panthers 78-5 in their final home dual of the season and gift a Parents’ Night victory to the large partisan crowd in Boyceville’s Gymatorium January 30.
But just 24 hours later, Boyceville found the competition much stronger as it partook in the North Branch, MN Invitational Friday evening, January 24.
Featuring several state-ranked individuals along with the national-ranked Simley High School (MN) squad, the Bulldogs came in fourth place in the 8-team tournament.
All ten of its varsity competitors placed for Boyceville, headlined by second-place finishes for juniors Nate Stuart and Trett Joles.
Boyceville, 13-6, will wrap up its regular and Dunn-St. Croix dual seasons with a trip to rival Glenwood City this Thursday evening, February 6. Both squads are currently 2-1 in the conference standings.
The WIAA Division 3 Regional tournament is set for Saturday, February 15 in Durand.
Durand Dual
It was nearly a perfect performance by the Bulldog mat men and lady when Durand came to the Dog House last Thursday evening.
Boyceville rang up 78 points on an undermanned Durand Panthers squad that surrendered nine forfeits and won just one match, good for its only five points, in the January 30 dual.
With five pins to go along with those forfeits, Boyceville claimed wins in 13 of the 14 matches for an easy Parents’ Night victory in its final home match of the 2019-20 season.
SOPHOMORE WRESTLER Ira Bialzik of Boyceville lifted his Durand opponent off the mat and eventually secured the takedown. Bialzik went on to score the pin fall in just 38 seconds to win the 145-pound match in last Thursday’s home dual against the Panthers.
—photo by Shawn DeWitt
In the bout, Nate Stuart (132), Peyton Ponath (138), Ira Bialzik (145) and Preston Coombs (152) all scored decisive pin falls. Bialzik had the quickest pin of the evening, sticking Durand’s Logan McNaughton in 38 seconds while Peyton Ponath register his fall of Roy Cooper in just one minute.
Earning forfeits for the Bulldogs were: Dante Butler (106), Emma Gruenhagen (113), Josiah Berg (120), Tyler Dormanen (160), Bash Nielson (170), Nick Hillman (182), Trett Joles (195), Josh Marzofka (220) and Keegan Plemon (285).
Durand’s only win and points came at 126 pounds where Dawson Hartung defeated Boyceville’s Aitor Lopez-Fernandez, 16-1.
At the conclusion of the dual, head coach Jamie Olson recognized three of his varsity wrestlers. Olson presented a 75-win patch to junior Nate Stuart, 100- and 125-win patches to junior Trett Joles, who he announced was 128-2 and has been ranked as the number one junior wrestler in the nation this year by Flo Wrestling, and honored the team’s lone senior, Josh Marzofka.
Boyceville 78, Durand 5
113-Emma Gruenhagen (BV) received a forfeit; 120-Josiah Berg (BV) received a forfeit; 126-Dawson Hartung (D) tech falled Aitor Lopez-Fernandez (BV), 16-1; 132-Nate Stuart (BV) pinned Brett Baker (D), 3:54; 138-Peyton Ponath (BV) pinnedRoy Cooper (D), 1:00; 145-Ira Bialzik (BV) pinned Logan McNaughton (D), 0:32; 152-Preston Coombs (BV) Wyatt Wood (D), 3:05; 160-Tyler Domanen (BV)received a forfeit; 170-Bash Nielson (BV)received a forfeit; 182-Nick Hillman (BV)received a forfeit; 195-Trett Joles (BV) received a forfeit; 220-Josh Marzofka (BV)received a forfeit; 285-Keegan Plemon (BV)received a forfeit; 106-Dante Butler (BV) received a forfeit.
North Branch (MN) Invite
The Bulldogs had ten wrestlers combine to tally 113 team points to finish fourth in last Saturday’s individual tournament in North Branch, MN.
Nationally-ranked Simley, MN came in as the clear-cut favorite and lived up to that billing as it claimed the team championship with 275 points, 117 ahead of runner-up Delano. Simley’s junior varsity squad placed third with 137 points followed by the Bulldogs, St. Paul Washington Technology Magnet (111), host North Branch (105,5), Milaca (80) and Rhinelander (56).
Juniors Trett Joles and Nate Stuart combined to score 36 of their squads 113 points as the pair both finished second in the tournament.
For the nation’s top-ranked junior wrestler at 182 pounds, Joles lost for just the third time in his high school career and first time in two years when he fell 10-4 to another nationally-ranked wrestler, Quayin Shot of Simley, in the 195-pound title match last Friday evening, January 31.
“I bumped him (Joles) up to 195 pounds,” said Boyceville coach jamie Olson.
“Short is ranked 17th in the country.”
According to Olson, the championship bout was knotted at four all in the third period when Joles got caught in the cradle and was turned twice and lost 10-4.
BOYCEVILLE junior Nate Stuart earned a takedown during his 132-pound match against Durand’s Brett Baker January 30. Stuart went on to secure the win with a second-period pin. The Bulldogs easily won their second Dunn-St. Croix Confernce dual with a 78-5 triumph over the Panthers. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
“A great match,” added Olson. “Trett learned that he needs to chain wrestle on the bottom and create opportunities to score.”
“Short is really good on top and did a great job of pinching Trett’s right leg and not allowing him to get his hips out,” state Olson.
Joles, now an impressive 33-1 for the season and a phenomenal 130-3 in his career, made his way to the final with a first-round bye and a 1:04 pin of Ben Sinclair of Rhinelander in the semifinals.
Nate Stuart (22-13) won his first two matches at 132 pounds – pinning Rhinelander’s Brady Schrieber in 1:09 in the quarters and taking a 4-0 semifinal’s shut out over James Diaz Lopez of Simley. But in the final’s match, hometown favorite Josh Logan of North Branch scored a 11-3 major decision over Stuart to take the gold.
Nick Hillman and Ira Bialzik each placed third at their respective weight classes of 170 and 138 pounds after winning two out of three bouts.
Fourth place finishes were copped by Emma Gruenhagen (113), Aitor Lopez-Fernandez (126), Peyton Ponath (145), Tyler Dormanen (152) and Preston Coombs (160).
Josh Marzofka (195) and Brice Evenson (120) placed fifth; Dante Butler (106) was sixth; and Mikayla Schewe (106) and Filup Nelson (126) were seventh.