Tigers advance to state!

Team makes return visit to state

By Casey Krautkramer

The wording on the back of Stratford senior wrestler Ryan Becker’s warmup t-shirt on Tuesday in Cadott correctly summed up how the Tigers were able to win the WIAA Division 3 sectional championship to qualify for the state team tournament on Saturday, March 4, at the UW Fieldhouse in Madison.

Becker’s t-shirt read like the following: “Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” Stratford wrestling head coach Adam Davison and his assistant coaches, Joe Schwabe and Kane Krummel, carefully developed a strategy for the team to beat Clear Lake, 53-18, in the sectional team semifinal and then Glenwood City, 42-28, in the sectional team championship.

Many of Stratford’s wrestlers who competed against Glenwood City wrestlers in Saturday’s super regional in Edgar didn’t face the same wrestlers on Tuesday at the team sectional in Cadott. That’s because Stratford’s coaching staff did a masterful job moving its wrestlers either up or down a weight class or two to help the Tigers advance to the state team tournament.

“We used a number of kids in different weight classes last night based on matchups,” Davison said. “Between Joe Schwabe, Kane Krummel, and myself we spent a lot of time looking at records and results for Glenwood City and the other teams wrestling at the team sectional to try and figure out what matchups gave us the best chance to win the dual. You don’t have to win all 14 matches in the dual; our goal as a staff was to get to eight matches and anything over that was a bonus.”

“Our young men wrestled amazingly well, just like when we wrestled against Marathon for the Marawood Conference championship.Whether it was winning the matches they needed to win or finding a way to not get pinned and keep the opposing teams point totals to a minimum, our guys did their jobs. Glenwood City is a pretty tough team in the lower weights, similar to Marathon in some ways, so our goal was to keep things close there and take a couple of matches and then let the middle of our order get it done.” The draw weight was 113 pounds for the sectional team championship between Stratford and Glenwood City in Cadott. Stratford freshman Lucas Forrest, with a 12-12 record going into the match, held his own against Glenwood City sophomore Wyatt Unser, 33-2. Forrest only surrendered a 9-1 major decision loss to Unser, giving the Hilltoppers four team points instead of five for a technical fall or six for a pin. Stratford sophomore Trenton Cournoyer only needed 49 seconds to pin Logan McVeigh of Glenwood City at 120 pounds. His win got Stratford’s bench fired up. Stratford freshman Matthias Kaiser, with a 19-20 record going into the match, was pinned by Glenwood City senior Ian Radintz, 34-3, at 126 pounds. The Tigers were losing, 106, to the Hilltoppers.

Tigers sophomore Cayden Leonhardt, with a 23-17 record going into the match, won a 5-1 decision against the Hilltoppers’ Zeb Holden at 132 pounds. Stratford was still down, 10-9, to Glenwood City.

Stratford sophomore Brandon Knetter, with a 16-20 record going into the match, only lost a 7-1 decision to Glenwood City sophomore Mitchell McGee, 27-13, at 138 pounds. Stratford’s bench was excited that Knetter only surrendered three team points. The Tigers were now losing, 13-9, to the Hilltoppers.

Tigers senior Sawyer Grabow wrestled during his freshman season, before focusing on boxing the past two years, before coming out again for wrestling this season. Grabow only surrendered a 5-0 decision loss to Hilltoppers senior Gabe Knops, 29-8, at 145 pounds. Stratford was losing, 16-9, to Glenwood City yet the Tigers were strongest in the upcoming middle and upper weight classes.

This would be the last time Stratford was losing to Glenwood City in the dual meet, as the Tigers won six straight matches to win the sectional championship. Five of Stratford’s six consecutive wins were pins. Stratford senior Ryan Becker started the team’s match winning streak by pinning Andrew Blaser in only 50 seconds at 152 pounds.

Stratford sophomore Jack Tubbs then pinned Will Standaert in three minutes, 17 seconds at 160 pounds. Tigers junior Kaleb Krummel won a close 6-4 decision against Noah Brite at 170 pounds. Stratford junior Carter Lueck pinned Steve Booth in only 53 seconds at 182 pounds. Tigers senior Alex Mueller then pinned Jackson Logghe in only 30 seconds at 195 pounds.

Tigers senior Jackson Ormond, with only having one loss this season, pinned Connor Gross in 1:22 at 220 pounds. Ormond’s win gave Stratford a 42-16 lead against Glenwood City in the dual match. With the sectional title already in hand, Stratford forfeited its 285 and 106 matches to still win the sectional championship, 42-28, against Glenwood City.

Sectional team semifinal

Stratford’s wrestling squad defeated Clear Lake, 53-18, in the WIAA Division 3 sectional team semifinal match in Cadott. Stratford freshman Jesse Bauer received a forfeit win at 106 pounds and Tigers freshman Colin Cournoyer pinned Caiden Candler in 5:04 at 113 pounds.

Colin’s older brother, sophomore Trenton Cournoyer, pinned Katelyn Roessler in 36 seconds at 120 pounds. Stratford freshman Matthias Kaiser won an 8-4 decision against Steven Wood at 126 pounds to give the Tigers an early 21-0 lead against the Warriors.

Clear Lake won the next three matches to trim Stratford’s lead to only 21-18. Stratford sophomore Cayden Leonhardt was pinned by Mitchell Anderson in 23 seconds at 132 pounds, sophomore Brandon Knetter was pinned by Dominic Leintz in 40 seconds at 138 pounds and senior Sawyer Grabow was pinned by Tyler Sunday at 145 pounds. Stratford won the next four competitive matches to beat Clear Lake. Tigers senior Ryan Becker won a 16-0 technical fall against Blake Harris. Stratford sophomore Jack Tubbs won an upset 10-8 decision against Caden Paulson of Clear Lake at 160 pounds. Coach Davison said Paulson had over 35 wins this season.Tigers junior Kaleb Krummel pinned Dylan Laberee in 1:20 at 170 pounds.

Tiger wrestlers Carter Lueck, Jackson Ormond and junior Mason Oertel received forfeit wins and both teams forfeited at 285 pounds.

Coach Davison, in the midst of his third season as Stratford’s head coach, has led the Tigers to the state team tournament for the first time since 2020.

“The Covid year, which was my first year in Stratford, was a little different with how the tournament series ran and last year we got beat by a really good Coleman team in the sectional finals so to punch through on Tuesday was an amazing experience,” Davison said. “This team hasn’t been ranked by any of the media outlets and even going into last night, few commentators took us to advance to state.”

“This team has gelled together so well. They wrestle hard for each other and they trust that the game plan the staff puts together will work. Having coaches Joe Schwabe and Kane Krummel on the staff gives us a huge advantage. Both of them have led Stratford to team state in the past and they act as sounding boards for any decisions that are made. Even last night, coach Schwabe handled a lot of the ‘in match’ coaching, Coach Krummel made sure our guys were warmed up and stretched, and I was scouting the Cumberland against Glenwood City team sectional semifinal match dual and then working through lineup decisions and matchups based on what we were seeing and the plans we had drawn up all week.”

Coach Davison is proud of Stratford’s wrestlers because they’ve all had an important role in helping the Tigers get back to the state team tournament after few years off.

“At the end of the day, any plan is only as good as the kids that execute it,” Davison said. “It’s the young men on our team that went out and got the job done on Tuesday by sometimes wrestling up a weight class or even two from their normal spots. Even in our first dual with Clear Lake, Jack Tubbs went out and beat a kid who had 35 plus wins. He was down early but battled back and won. Mathias Kaiser got a nice win and the list goes on.”

“Our team really feeds off of one another in duals. Even if it’s understanding a kid didn’t get pinned and still lost, the energy and excitement coming off the bench can be a big deal. I’m super proud of this team and what they’ve accomplished this year. They believed in themselves and have worked so hard to get here. The growth of this team since December is impressive and something the community, school district and the families can be proud of.”

Other wrestling squads joining Stratford at this year’s WIAA Division 3 state team tournament are Cedar Grove-Belgium, Fennimore and Shiocton. The WIAA will determine the team seedings and dual matchups for the Division 3 state team semifinals at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 4, at the UW Fieldhouse in Madison. Winners of the two state semifinals will face off in the Division 3 state championship at 3 p.m. the same day.

BIG WIN AGAINST THE WARRIORS- Stratford sophomore wrestler Jack Tubbs on Tuesday pulls off a 10-8 decision win against Clear Lake’s Cayden Paulson in the 160-pound weight class during the Tigers’ 53-18 win aganst the Warriors.PHOTO BY CATHY SEITZ