State Runner-up Cougars Fall in Final 33-32

After winning the Division III State Wrestling title by the ninth tiebreaker last year against Fennimore, Coleman coach Kevin Casper and his team would've been hoping for a less stressful team state final in 2021.

The Cougars didn't get that closer match, with Coleman losing to a solid Mineral Point team by a 33-32 score.

Mineral Point started off on the right foot with a 14-0 lead, as Reid Spurley beat John Nowak by 17-2 tech fall at 120, Tarrin Riley pinned Brady Gross in 44 seconds at 126 and Chance Gruber dropped a close 4-2 decision at 132 to Mineral Point's Trapper Nafzger.

Coleman stormed back, however, with three pins in the next four matches among four straight wins, taking a 21-14 lead, as Will Bieber (138) pinned Ross Lindsey in 4:09, Karson Casper pinned Jimmy Tibbits in 5:25 at 145 and Peter Kuchta (160) pinned Bo Hanson in 2:43. Owen Kinziger (152) added three points with a 7-3 decision win over Hayden Bakken.

It was a match of several winning streaks, as Mineral Point then took the next three matches and regained its lead, 29-21.

Nolan Springer (170) pinned Cole Klimek in 1:16, Mason Hughes (182) pinned Tyler Blanchard in 1:52 and Mitch Aurit defeated Coby DenRuyter by a 2-1 decision at 195.

Coleman had the lead going into the final match of the day, with Brody Zahn (220) beating Daniel Nordstrom by 6-2 decision, Spencer Karban (285) topping Will Straka by 11-1 major decision and Cameron Kimmell (106) defeating Joey Robinson by 10-2 major decision.

In the final match to decide the state championship, Lucas Sullivan of Mineral Point defeated Coleman individual state qualifier Ray LeMieux by 15-5 major decision to win the state championship by just a point, 33-32.

With any tight loss of this magnitude, there are always things you can look back on and wonder "what if,' such as a 2-1 loss like DenRuyter's, or any of the five non-pin matches that finished the match.

"As you know in a one-point match, there's a lot of would've could've should've"s that we can all look back at," Casper said. "We knew going into that match that bonus points, meaning pins, tech falls and majors, were going to be the difference makers. We had some wrestlers that had some unbelievably great performances on Saturday."

For teams like Coleman, they don't go through rebuilding years, they just retool for the next year and go at it again, with high expectations, good coaching and lots of new hard-working wrestlers. Next year will be no different.

"The good news is we have a relatively young team that this loss will burn in their belly a little bit and hopefully motivates them to get back next year and bring back the gold instead of silver," Casper said. "In the end, I believe this team made their parents, fans, coaches and community very proud of what they accomplished."

Coleman got to the championship with a dominant win in the semifinal over Cadott, 46-18.

Cadott had a 6-3 lead after Brayden Sonnentag (120) pinned Nowak in 1:25, with LeMieux beating Logan Harel for Coleman, 8-3.

Then, it was all Coleman, with Gross pinning Ashton Bremness in 2:27, Gruber beating Nick Fasbender in a 6-4 sudden victory, Bieber (138) beating Kaleb Sonnentag in 7-1 decision, Karson Casper (145) beating Ristan Drier in a 5-1 decision, and Owen Kinzinger (152) topping Cole Pfeiffer by a 13-8 score.

Kuchta beat Nelson Wahl by 17-8 major decision at 160. Coach Casper said Kuchta's day was the most impressive on the team.

"Most notable was Peter Kuchta, who majored the boy from Cadott who was state runner-up a year ago and state qualifier this year and then in the finals pinning Hanson from Mineral Point who was fourth in the state this year," Casper said.

Kuchta's win gave Coleman a 28-6 lead. After Klimek (170) pinned Peter Weir in four minutes, Blanchard (182) beat Dawson Webster 8-4 and DenRuyter (195) pinned Axel Tegels in 3:29, it was all but over.

Cadott would get 12 points when Gavin Tegels (220) pinned Sawyer Seefeldt in 1:46 and Lukas Simenson pinned Lexus Baars in 4:13 at 106, but with a Karban 36-second pin over Kane Mengel at 285, Coleman won by a wide margin.



D3 Semi-Finals

Coleman defeated Cadott 46-18

113 - Raymond LeMieux (Coleman) over Logan Harel (Cadott) Dec 8-3

120 - Brayden Sonnentag (Cadott) over John Nowak (Coleman) Fall 1:25

126 - Brady Gross (Coleman) over Ashton Bremness (Cadott) Fall 2:27

132 - Chance Gruber (Coleman) over Nick Fasbender (Cadott) SV-1 6-4

138 - Will Bieber (Coleman) over Kaleb Sonnentag (Cadott) Dec 7-1

145 - Karson Casper (Coleman) over Tristan Drier (Cadott) Dec 5-1

152 - Owen Kinziger (Coleman) over Cole Pfeiffer (Cadott) Dec 13-8

160 - Peter Kuchta (Coleman) over Nelson Wahl (Cadott) Maj 17-8

170 - Cole Klimek (Coleman) over Peter Weir (Cadott) Fall 4:00

182 - Tyler Blanchard (Coleman) over Dawson Webster (Cadott) Dec 8-4

195 - Coby DenRuyter (Coleman) over Axel Tegels (Cadott) Fall 3:29

220 - Gavin Tegels (Cadott) over Sawyer Seefeldt (Coleman) Fall 1:46

285 - Spencer Karban (Coleman) over Kane Mengel (Cadott) Fall 0:36

106 - Lukas Simenson (Cadott) over Lexus Baars (Coleman) Fall 4:13



D3 Championship

Mineral Point defeated Coleman 33-32

120 - Reid Spurley (Mineral Point) over John Nowak (Coleman) TF 17-2

126 - Tarrin Riley (Mineral Point) over Brady Gross (Coleman) Fall 0:44

132 - Trapper Nafzger (Mineral Point) over Chance Gruber (Coleman) Dec 4-2

138 - Will Bieber (Coleman) over Ross Lindsey (Mineral Point) Fall 4:09

145 - Karson Casper (Coleman) over Jimmy Tibbits (Mineral Point) Fall 5:25

152 - Owen Kinziger (Coleman) over Hayden Bakken (Mineral Point) Dec 7-3

160 - Peter Kuchta (Coleman) over Bo Hanson (Mineral Point) Fall 2:43

170 - Nolan Springer (Mineral Point) over Cole Klimek (Coleman) Fall 1:16

182 - Mason Hughes (Mineral Point) over Tyler Blanchard (Coleman) Fall 1:52

195 - Mitch Aurit (Mineral Point) over Coby DenRuyter (Coleman) Dec 2-1

220 - Brody Zahn (Coleman) over Daniel Nordstrom (Mineral Point) Dec 6-2

285 - Spencer Karban (Coleman) over Will Straka (Mineral Point) Maj 11-1

106 - Cameron Kimmell (Coleman) over Joey Robinson (Mineral Point) Maj 10-2

113 - Lucas Sullivan (Mineral Point) over Raymond LeMieux (Coleman) Maj 15-5



Kaukauna, Amery & Mineral Point

Earn State Team Wrestling Titles

Kaukauna, Amery and Mineral Point were crowned of the 2021 State Team Wrestling Tournaments held at three different locations Saturday. 

The top-seeded Galloping Ghosts (13-0) defeated former three-time defending champion Stoughton (6-2) 38-26 in the championship match in Division 1 held at Kaukauna High School.

Kaukauna won seven bouts, including five pins in the match. Lucas Peter recorded a fall at 4:28 at 106; Greyson Clark posted a fall 25 seconds into the match at 126; Logan Stumpf notched a pin at 2:46 at the 138-pound weight class; Titus Hammen had a fall in 25 seconds at 152; and Drew Wendzecki recorded a fall in 47 seconds at 170. Griffin Bekish added a technical fall at 182.

Brooks Empey won by disqualification at 285, and Luke Mechler added a technical fall at 160 to lead the Vikings.

Kaukauna advanced to the championship match following a 59-16 win over Brookfield East in the quarterfinals and a 60-18 win over Waunakee in the semifinals. Stoughton advanced to the title bout with wins over Waterford, 51-30, in the quarterfinals and Slinger, 39-34, in the semifinals.

The Galloping Ghosts add their fifth gold trophy in their 19th State appearance. The Vikings finish runner-up in their 15th experience in the State Team Wrestling Tournament.

Amery (14-0) is the champion in Division 2 with a 40-31 win over Prairie du Chien (10-4) title match held at Adams-Friendship High School.

The top-seeded Warriors were ignited by pins from Wyatt Ingham at 126 in 3:24, Jordan Penard at 138 in 1:54, and Koy Hopke at 220 in 21 seconds. Walker Ingram won by disqualification at 160, and Kale Hopke won by forfeit at 195. Brendan Burke won his match by major decision at 106 to contribute to Amery's eight bouts won in the match.

The Blackhawks were led by falls from Drake Ingham in 1:37 at 113, Rhett Koenig in 1:23 at 120, Matt Rogge in 1:07 at 152 and Bradyn Saint in 3:18 at 182.

The Warriors advanced to the championship match with a 40-31 win over Kiel in the semifinals, and the Blackhawks downed Winneconne 45-27 to earn their berth in the final.

Amery captures the gold trophy in its first-ever appearance in the State team tourney, and Prairie du Chien is runner-up in its second appearance.

Second-seeded Mineral Point (8-0) won the Division 3 championship by edging top-seeded Coleman (9-2) 33-32 in the championship match held at Wausau West High School.

Each team won seven bouts, including three falls and two decisions. The difference came with a major decision and a technical fall by the Pointers compared to two major decisions for the Cougars.

The three pins for the Pointers were by Tarrin Riley in 44 seconds at 126, Nolan Springer in 1:16 at 170 and Mason Hughes in 1:52 at 182. Reid Spurley was the difference in the match with a technical fall at 120. Lucas Sullivan added a major decision at 113.

The Cougars' falls came from Will Bieber in 4:09 at 138, Karson Casper in 5:25 at 145 and Peter Kuchta in 2:43 at 160. Cameron Kimmell and Spencer Karban each posted major decisions in their matches at 285 and 106, respectively.

The Pointers defeated Random Lake 36-17 in their semifinal matchup, and Coleman beat Cadott 46-18 to earn its berth in the championship match.

Mineral Point wins its 12th State team championship in its 11th team tourney appearance. Six of the Pointers titles came prior to the advent of the team tournament format. The Cougars finished runner-up in their 15th State experience.

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