FINISH 2-1 IN REGULAR-SEASON FINALE: Bulldogs claim outright D-SC wrestling championship following win over Mondovi in Hudson quadrangular
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HUDSON — Dust off the shelves, make room in the display case, the Boyceville wrestling program has just added another conference plaque to its ever-growing collection of championship hardware.
This year’s Boyceville Bulldogs’ wrestling squad laid claim to the program’s 20th Dunn-St. Croix Conference Championship after dismantling its final conference foe of the season – the Buffaloes of Mondovi – in last Thursday’s opening round of a quadrangular meet at Hudson High School.
The 65-6 thrashing of Mondovi allowed Boyceville to claim sole possession of its third D-SC crown in four seasons and its 20th overall title. The win gave the Bulldogs a perfect final conference mark of 4-0 and coupled with their 2-1 finish in the Hudson quad, an 8-2 finish to the 2020-21 regular season.
Boyceville lost a middle-round dual to host, and Big Rivers’ power Hudson, by a count of 49-30 but bounced back to throttle another BRC member, Eau Claire North, in the evening’s finale. In that battle of the dogs, the Bulldogs collared the Huskies 59-12.
“It was another great night of wrestling for the Bulldogs going 2-1 in duals losing to a solid Hudson team,” said veteran Boyceville head coach Jamie Olson.
“We had a chance in the Hudson dual to move a couple of kids around and try to get better match ups, but I wanted to wrestle their best kids against ours,” noted Olson.
In that Hudson dual, by far the Bulldogs most competitive and toughest of the evening, Olson chose to put both Ira Bialzik and Tyler Dormanen up against the Hansen brothers at 160 and 170 pounds respectively.
Despite giving up ten pounds both matches were very competitive according to Olson.
Bialzik lost 13-3 to Peter Hansen at 160 while Dormanen came up a few points short in a 6-2 loss to Jacob Hansen at 170 after almost getting the fall at the end of the match.
“Dormanen needed two more seconds to get a pin with a tight headlock,” stated Olson. “We didn’t even get a reversal, so that match score could have changed fast.”
“I was happy with how those two took on the challenge and those matches will pay dividends down the road,” he added.
Bialzik and Dormanen, both state-ranked juniors, finished the meet with 2-1 marks. Bialzik recorded both wins via pins while Dormanen’s triumphs came on a pair of technical falls.
Four Bulldogs finished the evening’s wrestling unbeaten.
Brice Evenson, Nate Stuart, Trett Joles, and John Klefstad all finished the quad with unblemished 3-0 records.
Brice Evenson continued to shine, winning all three of his matches at 126 pounds by fall.
John Klefstad (220), Nate Stuart (145), and Trett Joles (195) all had two pins among their trio of triumphs.
Picking up a win in what his coach termed, “the dual match of he night”, Klefstad pinned a veteran senior from Hudson as the former basketball player turned wrestler continues to develop as he “gets a feel for the sport”.
Nate Stuart and Trett Joles both remained unbeaten on the season as they dominated their opponents in Hudson. Stuart is currently ranked ninth in the most recent Division 3 coaches state polling while Joles, the two-time defending D3 state champion at 182 pounds, has been ranked atop this year’s 195-pound field from the start.
Besides Bialzik and Dormanen, four other Bulldog wrestlers that competed in Hudson also tallied 2-1 marks. They were Noah Evenson (106), Brady Mast (113), Peyton Ponath (152), and Keegan Plemon (285).
Emma Gruenhagen (126 and 132) and Kyle Lipke (170 and 182) both finished the quad at 1-2.
In all, the Bulldog wrestlers went 26-11 in their collective matches in Hudson.
With the regular season now behind them, the Bulldogs have turned their focus to the WIAA tournament series that gets underway this Saturday, January 30, with the Division 3 regional competition back at Durand High School. Besides Boyceville, other regional teams will include host Durand, Clear Lake, Glenwood City, Mondovi, and Spring Valley/Elmwood. Wrestling begins at 10:30 a.m.
The top two place winners at each weight will advance to the individual sectional meet to be held the following Saturday, February 6, at St. Croix Falls High School.
Unlike previous years, there will be no team sectional this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the team that finishes with the most points in the individual sectional tournament will earn a berth in the team state meet to be held Saturday, February 20 at Wausau East High School.
The Division 3 state individual championships will be held Saturday, February 13, at Wausau East High School. Only the top two individual sectional finishers will move on to state this year.
“We look forward to a great week of practice and getting after it at the regionals,” concluded Olson.
Bulldogs Batter Buffaloes
Boyceville opened the January 21 Hudson quad meet with a dominating 65-6 performance against Mondovi.
The Bulldogs registered four pins – Noah Evenson (106), Brice Evenson (120), Ira Bialzik (160), and Kyle Lipke (170), a 15-0 technical fall shut-out by Tyler Dormanen at 182, and received six forfeits in the win over Mondovi.
The Buffaloes only victory came on Ashton Crawford’s pin of Emma Gruenhagen at 132 pounds.
The teams both forfeited at 120 and 138 pounds.
Boyceville 65, Mondovi 6
106-Noah Evenson (B) pinned Kaden Miller (M), 1:07; 113-Brady Mast (B) received a forfeit; 120-Double Forfeit; 126-Brice Evenson (B) pinned Koby Vollmer (M), 3:04; 132-Ashton Crawford (M) pinned Emma Gruenhagen (B); 138-Double Forfeit; 145-Nate Stuart (B) received a forfeit; 152-Peyton Ponath (B) received a forfeit; 160-Ira Bialzik (B) pinned Alan George (M), 2:40; 170-Kyle Lipke (B) pinned Tristen Teigen (M), 1:42; 182-Tyler Dormanen (B) tech falled Mitchell Fedie (M), 15-0; 195-Trett Joles received a forfeit; 220-John Klefstad (B) received a forfeit; 285-Keegan Plemon (B) received a forfeit.
Host Raiders Win Battle
If the aforementioned matches of Ira Bialzik and Tyler Dormanen had swung in Boyceville’s favor, the Bulldogs may have left Hudson undefeated.
But key wins by the host’s Hansen brothers over Bialzik and Dormanen coupled with four other pin falls and a pair of forfeits gave the Raiders a 49-30 victory.
Brice Evenson (120), Nate Stuart (145), Trett Joles (195), John Klefstad (220), and Keegan Plemon (285) each won by fall to account for all 30 of Boyceville’s points.
Hudson 49, Boyceville 30
113-AJ Henn (H) pinned Brady Mast (B), 0:48; 120-Brice Evenson (B) pinned Ethan Anderson (H), 1:05; 126-Riley Steltzner (H) pinned Emma Gruenhagen (B), 2:30; 132-Matthew Feia (H) received a forfeit; 138-Cameron Beck (H) received a forfeit; 145-Nate Stuart (B) pinned Zander Hoff (H), 3:05; 152-Ethan Winkleman (H) pinned Peyton Ponath (B), 2:52; 160-Peter Hansen (H) majored Ira Bialzik (B), 13-3; 170-Jacob Hansen (H) dec. Tyler Dormanen (B), 6-2; 182-Hank Gierke (H) pinned Kyle Lipke (B), 2:39; 195-Trett Joles (B) pinned Ben Steltzner (H), 4:20; 220-John Klefstad (B) pinned Brady Pronschinske (H), 0:50; 285: Keegan Plemon (B) pinned Ethan Jensen (H), 1:38; 106-Nick Fish (H) pinned Noah Evenson (B), 1:02.
Bulldogs bite Huskies
Boyceville won nine matches of the 14 matches against the Huskies in last Thursday’s quad finale including five by falls and another four via forfeits to triumph 59-12.
Brice Evenson (126), Nate Stuart (145), Ira Bialzik (160), Trett Joles (195), and John Klefstad (220) had pin fall victories.
Tyler Dormanen also added a 16-1 technical fall win over ECN’s Davin Xiong at 182 pounds.
North won just three matches.
There were double forfeits at 120 and 138 pounds.
Boyceville 59, Eau Claire North 12
132-Emma Gruenhagen (B) received a forfeit; 138-Michael Halvorsen (ECN) received a forfeit; 145-Nate Stuart pinned Cody Danen (ECN), 3:18; 152-Peyton Ponath (B) received a forfeit; 160-Ira Bialzik (B) pinned Nate Schindler (ECN), 4:25; 170-Camran Baum (ECN) dec. Kyle Lipke (B), 3-2; 182-Tyler Dormanen (B) tech falled Davin Xiong (ECN), 16-1; 195-Trett Joles (B) pinned Jin Yang (ECN), 2:49; 220-John Klefstad (B) pinned Xavion Biesterveld (ECN), 1:37; 285-Riley Mercer (ECN) majored Keegan Plemon (B), 13-5; 106-Noah Evenson (B) received a forfeit; 113-Brady Mast (B) received a forfeit; 120-Double Forfeit; 126-Brice Evenson (B) pinned Carson Duerkop (ECN), :55.