PREPPING FOR THE HATCHETS

MEDFORD WRESTLING

Raiders crush Orioles ahead of tonight’s GNC opener

The Medford wrestlers bumped their early-season dual-meet record to 3-4 Thursday by recording six pins in a 66-11 win over an undermanned squad from Stanley-Boyd.

Those pins accounted for 36 of Medford’s points. The other 30 came with five forfeit wins.

“It was really good,” head coach Brandon Marcis said. “In the matches that we did have, the kids were hustling, doing all of the things we like to preach. Attitude is everything. Hustle back to the middle, those kinds of things. We have a certain brand of wrestling that we’re trying to sell and they’re buying into it.”

The best matches in the dual came early.

After Matt Gebert got it started with a forfeit win at 120 pounds, Jude Stark got locked up in a good one with Oriole Sasha Nitz at 126. Stark got the first takedown, got reversed and then sprung his own reversal to take a 4-2 lead after one period. The lead grew to 7-2 before Nitz got his own reversal and had a chance going into the third period down 7-4.

But Stark, starting with control, quickly got Nitz turned and pinned him just 15 seconds into the period.

Stanley-Boyd standout sophomore Breckin Burzynski got a 15-0 technical fall over Parker Lissner at 132 pounds, but Lissner made him wrestle the full six minutes before Burzynski got the 15-point lead.

Then, at 138 pounds, freshman Gage Losiewicz took a 6-2 lead over Troy Trevino, gave that up with a reversal and two-point near fall, but responded with a reversal that turned into a pin at 3:49 to put Medford up 18-5.

“It is nice to see when you get in a match where the first period or maybe even the first few minutes are a little bit of a dogfight, but then you keep grinding through,” Marcis said. “Like I always tell kids a wrestler is not the same in the third period as he is in the first. So, take him to deep water and make him drown.”

Stanley-Boyd got its second and final win when Landon Hoel got the leverage he needed to pin Cory Lindahl at 4:27. The match was tied 2-2 going into the third period. Evan Wilkins got a forfeit at 152 pounds, then Medford took off.

At 160 pounds, senior Oscar Hinderliter started the closing run with a pin in 1:24 over freshman Dylan Seichter. Hinderliter got taken down early, but quickly turned things around with an escape, takedown and near fall before he got the pin. Logan Kawa needed just 52 seconds in the 170-pound bout to pin Jared Romero Garcia and Tripp Reamer and Wyatt Johnson took forfeits at 182 and 195 pounds.

“Oscar is one who’s really come around,” Marcis said. “When I first came and started coaching middle school, he was there as a sixth grader, I think. Just to see him come around, not only as a wrestler but as a person and to be the guy that he is on the team is really cool.”

Sophomore Braxton Weissmiller threw Caden Koepl to the mat and finished him off in just 54 seconds in the 220-pound match.

“He’s starting to get more confidence, starting to feel more confident at his weight,” Marcis said. “I think just having that year under his belt makes a difference for him.” After a double forfeit at 285 pounds and Rylan Zoellick forfeit win at 106, Thaddeus Sigmund finished the meet with a 36-second pin of Dale Sayles at 113 pounds.

In exhibition matches, Medford’s Owen Higgins, Itsael Medina, Kayden Dassow and Paxton Rothmeier were winners.

Due to the winter storm Friday night, Medford did not make the trip to Saturday’s Eau Claire North Invitational. The Raiders open Great Northern Conference competition tonight, Thursday, with a tough one, hosting Tomahawk at 7 p.m. at Raider Hall. The Hatchets and Raiders shared last year’s GNC championship with the Raiders going unbeaten in the dual meets and the Hatchets winning the league tournament.

Tomahawk got off to a 2-1 start at the Dec. 3 Cumberland dual invitational and also got snowed out on Saturday as the Hatchets had planned to attend the Wabeno-

Medford’s Thaddeus Sigmund turns Stanley-Boyd’s Dale Sayles to his back and gets a quick pin in 36 seconds during Thursday’s 113-pound match.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS