Three Bulldogs win sectional championships, five headed to state wrestling tournament

INDEPENDENCE — Tournament time always seems to bring out the best in Boyceville’s wrestlers.

And this year’s sectional tournament was no different.

Five of the Bulldogs’ six sectional participants qualified for the state tournament while three -Brock Schlough, James Palmer and Garrett Joles – pocketed gold medals at the 2017 WIAA Division 3 Individual Wrestling Sectional held at Independence High School last Saturday, February 18.

“Our goal was to advance all six and we were very close in doing that,” stated veteran Boyceville head coach Jamie Olson.

“We had an outstanding day and I’m very proud of these kids and their hard work paid off for them today.”

Junior Garrett Joles and sophomore Brock Schlough repeated as sectional champions while senior James Palmer secured his second sectional title after finishing second the previous two years.

 Those three state-tournament veterans will be joined by first-time participants and juniors Justin Malean and Noah Novotney at the 2017 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Championship, set for this Thursday through Saturday at the Kohl Center in Madison.

The Bulldogs sixth and final sectional combatant, senior Sam Retz, went 1-2 at 152 pounds and did not place. Only the top three place winners in all 14 weight classes earn state tournament berths.

All three of Boyceville’s sectional champions made their title runs look relatively easy as each hit or eclipsed the 40-win plateau for the season.

Two-time state runner-up Garrett Joles, ranked first in the state’s  Division 3, 195-pound  field, improved to 41-1 on the season as he registered three, first-period pins all over state-ranked competition to garner his third straight sectional crown in as many tournaments.

James Palmer, who also upped his season mark to 41-1 with three falls and is the top rated wrestler in the state’s Division 3, 182-pound weight bracket, earned his fourth state berth and second sectional (first since his freshman season) championship last Saturday.

Defending state titlist Brock Schlough,  40-1, powered his way to a second sectional crown at 160 pounds with three technical falls including a semifinal win over a previously unbeaten opponent. Schlough, who spent much of the season ranked first in his D3 weight class currently is seated second behind Riverdale senior Bradon Roen, another returning state champion.

After finishing fourth and  failing to qualify for state a year ago,  Justin Malean made it through to the finals to secure a state berth. But loses in the finals and the wrestleback, Malean had to settle for third. Noah Novotney also made it to the finals at 285 pounds and lost but unlike Malean, Novotney was able to hold on to the silver medal with a thrilling 5-2 tie-breaker win.

Individual successes helped the Bulldogs finish atop the sectional team standings for the second time in three years. Boyceville garnered 103.5 points to best runner-up Clear Lake with 87 and conference rival Spring Valley/Elmwood, last year’s winner, with 84.5 points. Cadott finished fourth with 68.5 points and St. Croix Falls rounded out the top five at the 24-school tourney with a score of 57. The top three teams all finished with five individual state qualifiers.

“We had an outstanding day and I’m very proud of these kids and their hard work paid off for them today,” said Olson adding, “We won the individual sectional scoring by 16.5 points, that’s always a nice honor for our program.”

Brock Schlough kicked-off the Bulldogs parade of champions in the upper weights with a 16-1 technical fall over Durand freshman Dalton Hartung in the 160-pound sectional championship match. 

Schlough path to the title was just as dominating as he registered two more tech falls including an 18-3 win over previously unbeaten James LaPointe of Bayfield-Washburn in the semifinals and a 17-2 triumph over Mondovi’s Wes Price in the quarterfinals.

James Palmer and Garrett Joles continued the Bulldogs’ success as they combined for six first-period pins in as many matches en route to claiming respective sectional gold at 182 and 195 pounds.

Palmer recorded Boyceville’s two fastest pins of the day – a 22 second fall over Phillip’s sophomore Allen Hansen in a 182-pound quarterfinal and an amazing 34 second stick of Spring Valley/Elmwood’s Nick Hofacker in the championship. Palmer had a 53 second pin of Hofacker in the previous week’s regional title match. Palmer’s pin trifecta was completed with a 1:16 fall over Blane Olson of Independence/Gilmanton in the semis.

Joles beat three honorable mention wrestlers, all by pins, to win the 195-pound championship. In order, Joles defeated Mondovi’s Nathan Pelke 1:25 into their quarterfinal’s match, stuck Krishon Williams of Flambeau just 42 ticks into the semifinal’s bout before finishing off his championship opponent – Reed Guenther, a 31-10 junior from Blair-Taylor – in 1:02.

“Palmer, Schlough and Joles are special athletes that are peaking at the right time and I’m excited about what’s in store for them this weekend,” said Olson. “These guys are just plain fun to watch compete. Not a lot of coaching is going on when they hit the mat.”

Noah Novotney (36-9) made his sectional debut one to remember. The junior heavyweight pinned his quarterfinal opponent, Parker Renken of Chequamegon, in 5:28. He then scored a 5-0 shut out over Shell Lake junior Devin Guggenberger. In the finals, Novotney himself was blanked 10-0 by sixth-ranked Tadoka Lee of Cornell/Gilman/Lake Holcombe. Lee had also beaten Novotney a week earlier in the regional championship, winning that one via a 57 second fall.

The loss meant that Novotney would have to battle Unity’s Caleb Gearhart for second in a wrestleback. Gearhart, who lost to Lee in the semis, beat Renken 4-2 in the third-place match.

Novotney was up to the challenge, prevailing 5-2 on tie-breaker criteria in the second overtime to retain the silver.

“Noah Novotney had a big day,” stated Olson. “We had two-time state champion and uncle Chris Wisemiller come in the past few weeks to work out with Noah and it really paid off.  Going 3-1 and only losing to a ranked heavy weight in the state was a very impressive performance. Noah is undersized at 285, so we have to beat guys to the corners and get angles to score and we did that.”

Like Novotney, Justin Malean open his day with a pin at 170 pounds. Malean, ranked seventh in the D3 weight bracket, then edged Mondovi junior Bryce Johnson in the semis on a 7-5 decision. Facing fourth-ranked Luke Clark of St. Croix Falls in the title bout, Malean came up short, losing 10-4.

Malean too would have to battle to keep second. The Boyceville junior was pitted against familiar foe, Carter Merth of Spring Valley/Elmwood, in the wrestleback for second but lost a tight 4-3 decision and had to settle for the bronze.

“Justin won a big match in the semi finals against a tough Mondovi wrestler that we split with this year 7-5,” Olson noted. “We knew that was a key match to get fired up for and Justin responded with a great performance.  We were a little disappointed in the wrestle back match, but we will get a chance to wrestle him again this weekend.” 

Senior Sam Retz’s prep wrestling career came to an end last Saturday. After winning his 152-pound quarterfinal’s match with a pin of Flambeau’s John Schancer, Retz lost to Indy’s Josh Conrad via a pin in the semis and was then eliminated when he lost a 13-5 major decision to Carter Lawrence of Shell Lake in the consolation round.

“Sam Retz had a tight cradle on in the semis and just couldn’t finish,” Olson said. “I thought Sam wrestled really well all day.  He went out with the mindset to win every match, some kids that are considered underdogs go in with the mentality of just surviving matches. Sam went in with the mindset of winning it!   He doesn’t have anything to regret, he gave himself a chance. His effort and hard work in the practice room the past month has been excellent and it showed these last few weeks.”

Both Malean and Novotney will be wrestling in Thursday night’s prelims which get underway at 7:15 p.m. Malean faces Walt Easley, a senior from Marshall while Novotney drew Johnson Creek junior Seth Roberts.

Schlough, Palmer and Joles do not wrestle until Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals.