Boyceville dominates dual with Glenwood City
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GLENWOOD CITY junior Tucker Lagerstrom (right) lifted the left leg of Boyceville senior Brock Schlough high into the air in an attempt to score a takedown in a match at 170 pounds. In the best match of the dual between the Hilltoppers and Bulldogs last Thursday evening, Schlough, a three-time defending state champion, had to wrestle hard to defeat Lagerstrom 13-8 and earn his school-record 166th career victory. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
BOYCEVILLE — It was the antithesis of a typical Boyceville-Glenwood City wrestling dual.
When it comes to their annual meeting on the mat, the Bulldogs’ and Hilltoppers’ head-to-head battle is usually a heated and highly competitive competition regardless of the teams’ respective records.
But unlike some many past clashes, last Thursday’s renewal was not.
Boyceville, spearheaded by its rapidly developing freshmen wrestlers, won 11 matches – four by fall, five via forfeits and two on decisions – to thoroughly dominate rival Glenwood City 60-6 in the Dunn-St. Croix conference dual held January 24 in the Bulldogs’ Gymnatorium.
The Hilltoppers, who had just six varsity wrestlers compete in the dual, won just one match – a forfeit to senior Bryce Fayerweather at 220 pounds.
“Our kids wrestled well,” said Jamie Olson, Boyceville’s head wrestling coach. “Josiah Berg, Ira Bialzik and Nick Hillman who are wrestling with a lot of confidence and Josh Marzofka at heavyweight is really looking good.”
Berg, Bialzik and Hillman, all freshmen along with Marzofka, a junior in just his second week of varsity wrestling, all scored key wins for the Bulldogs. Bialzik, Hillman and Marzofka had pins while Berg came up with a big decision over Toppers’ sophomore Andy Grant in a battle at 120 pounds.
The victory pushed Boyceville’s conference mark to a perfect 3-0 and guaranteed the Bulldogs at least a share of their second straight Dunn-St. Croix wrestling championship and 19th overall title in the program’s storied history.
It also gave the Bulldogs a winning overall mark at 10-9 in duals this season.
The Bulldogs still have one remaining conference dual which was scheduled to be wrestled in Durand last evening until sub-zero temperatures forced a postponement.
Thursday’s dual marked the end of the Hilltoppers regular season as they finished 1-3 in conference and 3-10 overall.
The best match of the entire dual just happened to come at the very end of the evening where Glenwood City junior Tucker Lagerstrom and Boyceville senior Brock Schlough both bumped up a weight class or two to knock heads – literally.
You might be hard pressed to find another wrestler that “wanted” to take on the three-time defending state champion but that is exactly what Lagerstrom was hoping for and he got his wish.
The pair tangled in the evening’s finale at 170 pounds and Lagerstrom proved equal to the task.
As he has done to so many of his opponents, Schlough quickly took Lagerstrom to the mat for a 2-0 advantage. Lagerstrom escaped only to be taken back down.
LEAPING OUT OF TROUBLE — Boyceville sophomore Tretten Joles jumped up to avoid the takedown attempt of Glenwood City senior Dakota Dean-Immerman during the pair’s match at 195 pounds last Thursday evening. Boyceville hosted Glenwood City January 24 in the annual Dunn-St. Croix dual between the two rivals. Joles earned a late first-period pin to help the Bulldogs win the dual 60-6. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
But then Lagerstrom did what few can or rarely do, pull a reversal on Schlough. The move tightened the match score to 4-3 after one period.
In the second period, Schlough scored a reversal, another takedown and two near-fall points to lead 10-4. But Lagerstrom not only escaped Schlough’s grip but took the Bulldog senior down, something that had happened just ten other times in Schlough’s three-plus year varsity career, that closed the gap to 10-7.
Schlough escaped to make it 11-7 going into the final period.
In the last stanza, Lagerstrom again cut his deficit to three with an escape but Schlough answered with his third takedown of the match to go ahead 13-8, which is how it ended.
While the effort was a moral victory of sorts for Lagerstrom, the win for Schlough was record-setting. It gave the Bulldogs’ senior his 166th career win eclipsing the previous high water mark of 165 set in 2017 by James Palmer in his state championship win.
The victory also kept Schlough, the state’s top ranked wrestler at 152 pounds in Division 3, unbeaten.
It was a fitting way for the dual to end after the Bulldogs had dominated much of the competitive wrestling from the first match on.
Following a double forfeit at 182 pounds to open the dual, sophomore Tretten Joles, who is also unbeaten this season, gave Boyceville a quick 6-0 lead with a first-period pin of Glenwood City senior Dakota Dean-Immerman at 195 pounds.
Toppers’ senior Bryce Fayerweather accepted a forfeit at 220 pounds that knotted the contest.
But it would not remain so for long.
With the exception of another double forfeit at 113 pounds, the Bulldogs won the next ten consecutive bouts.
Newcomer Josh Marzofka kicked off the Boyceville run with a 22-second pin fall of GC junior Andrew Berends.
A forfeit to Boyceville’s Brice Evenson at 106 pounds was followed by another outstanding match at 120 pounds, where freshman Josiah Berg gave the Bulldogs an additional three team points with a 9-3 win over Hilltopper sophomore Andy Grant.
IN A BATTLE of freshmen wrestlers, Boyceville’s Ira Bialzik (right) held Glenwood City’s Thomas Moede to the mat to score some back points at 132 pounds. Bialzik went on to score a fall at 3:03. The Bulldogs prevailed 60-6 in the annual Dunn-St. Croix dual between the rivals. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
The home team’s lead quickly grew to 57-6 as Nathan Stuart (126), Tanner Anderson (138), Tyler Dormanen (145) and Nick Goodell (152) accepted forfeits while Ira Bialzik pinned Topper Thomas Moede in an all-freshmen battle at 132 and Boyceville freshman Nick Hillman stuck Glenwood City senior Nicholas Melendrez at 160 pounds.
Those matches led into the final showdown between Lagerstrom and Schlough which ultimately gave Boyceville the 60-6 win.
“I give a lot of credit to the Glenwood kids for wrestling hard, especially Tucker Lagerstrom for battling Brock,” stated Olson. “Tucker has put his time in and its showing.”
The Tribune Press Reporter also reached out to Glenwood City coach Shane Strong for comment but did not receive a reply.
While Glenwood City is off until the regional competition on February 9, Boyceville has a dual at Eau Claire North this Friday, February 1 and a dual-style tournament in North Branch, MN the following day.
As of Tuesday’s press time, no date or time for a make-up of the Durand-Boyceville dual had been set.
Boyceville 60, Glenwood City 6
182– Double Forfeit; 195-Tretten Joles (BV) pinned Dakota Dean-Immerman (GC), 1:55; 220-Bryce Fayerweather (GC) received forfeit; 285-Josh Marzofka (BV) pinned Andrew Berends (GC), 0:22; 106-Brice Evenson (BV) received forfeit; 113-Double Forfeit; 120-Josiah Berg (BV) dec. Andrew Grant (GC), 9-3; 126-Nathan Stuart (BV) received forfeit; 132-Ira Bialzik (BV) pinned Thomas Moede (GC), 3:03; 138-Tanner Anderson received forfeit; 145-Tyler Dormanen (BV) received forfeit; 152-Nick Goodell (BV) received forfeit; 160-Nick Hillman (BV) pinned Nicholas Melendrez (GC), 2:43; 170-Brock Schlough (BV) dec. Tucker Lagerstrom (GC), 13-8.