Berg suffers heartbreaking overtime loss in state wrestling championship

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MADISON – Sometimes the difference between winning a championship and finishing as the runner-up is very small.

A fraction of an inch here or a second there often determines the outcome in those instances.

Both, as it would turn out, loomed large for Boyceville wrestler Josiah Berg in his bid for a state title last Saturday evening.

The Bulldogs’ sophomore was mere seconds away from securing his first state wrestling championship, in this just his second trip to the state tournament, when the unthinkable, the undesirable happened.

Leading 3-1 as the third-period clock ticked down the final ten or so seconds remaining in the Division 3, 120-pound state title match, Berg got caught in a throw by his opponent, Cash Stewart, who took him to the mat as the pair fell out of the circle. Stewart, who had been able to keep his feet just inches inside the boundary was awarded a takedown and with it two points that tied up the match with just two seconds remaining.

The bout would head to a one-minute overtime where Josiah Berg nearly ended it with a takedown only to run out of time before he could complete the scoring move.

In the subsequent tie breaker, a pair of 30 second periods in which each wrestle has the choice of position, Berg chose to go to the mat in the first half-minute period. He was unable to escape Stewart’s grasp before time expired.

When it was his turn to choose, Stewart (44-1) also took the down position and quickly worked free from Berg for a point and a 4-3 advantage. The Poynette sophomore, who was ranked second in the weight class, then rebuffed Berg’s repeated takedown attempts and ran out the clock to claim the state championship.

Berg remained on the mat for a few seconds, absorbing the sting of defeat and the realization that he had to settle for the silver medal at the 77th Annual WIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships. The annual championships are held inside Madison’s Kohl Center and began Thursday, February 27 and culminated with the championship round on Saturday evening, February 29.

“I am really down,” admitted Boyceville head coach Jamie Olson following Josiah’s loss. “It broke my heart that Jo lost the way he did.”

“I would love to have those 11 seconds back at the end (of regulation),” lamented Olson. “You know, those types of matches are hard to overcome but I think there is always a purpose for loses like that. Josiah will come back stronger and it will make him a better wrestler.”

Still, Olson could not help but wonder what might have been.

“We knew going in that he (Stewart) could throw but you’re trying to hold on at the end and survive the last few seconds and the kid threw something at us,” said Olson. “I give the kid a lot of credit, he had his toes in with an inch, two seconds left when we landed. His toes were probably an inch inside the bound it was that close.”

“We had a takedown in overtime I thought that was really close too, we needed a couple more seconds to get that and didn’t. It was a heartbreaking loss, it really was,” Olson admitted.

“We need to move on from it somehow, but it will take some time.”

While time may heal the hurt of such a gut-wrenching defeat, neither should it, nor will it define Berg’s outstanding state tournament run and 2019-20 season.

After placing fifth as a freshman at 106 pounds in last year’s state championships, Berg opened this year’s tournament with convincing wins over a pair of state-ranked opponents.

His 2020 state debut began with a 120-pound quarterfinals match-up Friday morning against Jericho Helser (36-12). The Shiocton junior, who came into the state tournament ranked sixth in the weight class, had beaten Ethan San Felippo of Random Lake on a first-period pin fall to earn the spot opposite Berg, the third-ranked wrestler in the most recent pre-state poll.

Berg, as he usually is, was all business on the mat, methodically stalking Helser adding on points throughout the three-period, six-minute match to score a big 13-6 decision.

Berg opened the scoring with a takedown at the 22-second mark of the first period and built on it, adding another takedown and a pair of two-point near falls to lead 8-1 at the end of one period.

Helser opted for a neutral starting position to open the second, a strategy that initially worked in keeping Berg at bay, but the Bulldog eventually broke through the Shiocton wrestler’s defenses for his third takedown of the match and a 10-1 advantage with half the competition remaining.

Helser scored a one-point escape at 59 seconds but trailed by eight. Berg added a third and final takedown some 20 seconds later but Helser was able to work free for another escape point to make it 12-3 at the end of the second period.

Like his opponent the period previous, Berg chose neutral with aspirations of another takedown, but instead, it was Helser that scored the two-point move to close within 12-5. Berg, however, refused to be controlled and escaped in the waning seconds of the match for a 13-6 victory.

The win advanced Berg to the evening’s much anticipated event – the always entertaining yet nerve-wracking state semifinals.

“I was really impressed with Josiah,” said Olson of his quarterfinal’s victory. “Coming in, he was a little nervous yet, he is only a sophomore and pretty young yet for the big stage, but he just lit it up and was tough in all positions against a good kid, against a really solid wrestler.”

In his semifinal match one year ago, Berg was shut out 10-0 by the eventual state runner-up. Last Friday night in the Kohl Center, Berg was not going to let that happen again.

He was even more dominant in Friday night’s main event than he had been a few hours earlier.

Before Manawa junior Colten Klemm, who entered the tournament ranked fifth in the pre-state poll, knew what had hit him he trailed Berg 7-1 after just one period of wrestling. Berg had scored a pair of takedowns and a three-point near fall for the six-point advantage which slowly grew over the next four minutes.

Opting to start in neutral position after Klemm had deferred his choice until the third period, Berg patiently moved around the circle for much of the middle period until he found an opening and struck for his third takedown of the bout with just 17 seconds left in the period.

Berg added to his 9-1 lead in the final stanza with a late reversal of Klemm, who had chosen the top position and remained in control for much of the period. The two-point flip came just nine seconds before the final horn and gave the Bulldog sophomore an 11-1 triumph, his second of the day and a berth in a coveted state championship match.

“Then in the semis, that kid (Klemm) came back and took third today so he beat the number one ranked kid, Weyauwega-Fremont senior Carter Greening, in the state for third and fourth, so he is no slouch and to major him 11-1, WOW. Jo is here to wrestle,”  stated Olson prior to Saturday’s championship matches.

“You worry about those young guys, but Josiah is on top of his game and he has had some adversity the last two weeks with tooth and jaw and not being able to eat very well and the flu on top that. He has sucked it up and gotten tough for us at the end.”

“This is kind of what his dream is, to be in the state finals and for him to do it as a sophomore has been an outstanding achievement,” added Olson of Berg. “We knew going into the season that Josiah had a chance to be at this level, we thought with a lot of hard work and he’s here now and it’s exciting.”

“We need to finish, you get to this point, you need to finish it,” continued Olson. “State runner-up is a good thing, it is a great achievement, but you might as well win it. You have six minutes, let’s give it everything we got, let’s do it right and he has. I feel good about tonight and Jo does too. It’s going to be a battle, the kid’s really good but so are we. It will be exciting.”

The championship match certainly was and for much of it, it appeared that Berg would be the first Bulldog to grab a title that evening.

Stewart and Berg battled to a scoreless tie after the first period of their 120-pound state championship. Neither would let the other gain any offensive advantage.

Stewart broke on to the scoreboard first with an escape to start the second period. But Berg took a 2-1 lead when he scored a takedown with 48 seconds gone off the clock.

The score remained that way until the third period. That is when Berg, who took the down position at the start of the period, scored an escape with 55 ticks left in regulation to extend his lead to 3-1.

That is where it remained until Stewart struck with a throw that sent both him and Berg sprawling outside the circle. Stewart landed on top of Berg, who momentarily found himself on his back. The referee whistled a stop to the action with just two second left and awarded two takedown points to the Poynette wrestler but, fortunately, waved off any back points.

Suddenly it was three all and Division 3’s 120-pound state title match was bound for overtime.

After surviving Berg’s late takedown attempt in the first overtime period, thanks largely to an expired clock, Cash Stewart proved to be money in the tiebreaker as he escaped in the second, 30-second period to gain the win and the state gold with a 4-3 victory over Berg.

“Obviously, the opportunity was there for us to win and we didn’t and that hurts but we need to let it go as soon as we can and get ready for next year,” said Olson. “It will make him a better wrestler for next year.”

“But I would rather lose 15-0 in those matches and not the way he did,” admitted Olson.

“Two seconds in regulation and then two seconds in overtime our way of getting a takedown and it didn’t work out,” added Olson. “That’s the sport of wrestling.”

“Unfortunately, the last match of the year you lose like that and now you have to wait until next year to get your hands on someone and recover from that loss. You do it through hard work and you train and you make it be a motivator and that is what we need to do.

“Jo had a great a season under some adversity. He hasn’t been able to eat solid food the last couple of weeks and to do what he did this weekend was with heart, toughness and grit. That is who he is,” concluded Olson.

Berg finished this season 36-5 and is 80-12 in his first two season of varsity wrestling with a pair of state medals and a bright future.