Stratford wrestling heading back to the state tourney
By Casey Krautkramer
Stratford High School normally plays the song “All I Do is Win” by DJ Khaled on the loudspeaker in the gym after the varsity basketball or wrestling teams win. This song is certainly fitting for the Tigers varsity wrestling squad that won its fourth straight WIAA Division 3 regional championship on Saturday and then captured the sectional title on Tuesday in Clear Lake. Stratford will now make its 11th state team tournament appearance in school history on Saturday, March 8 at the UW Fieldhouse in Madison.
The Tigers beat the Glenwood City Hilltoppers both at the regional and in the team sectional championship. On Saturday, Stratford scored a team-high 274.5 points in the regional. Glenwood City only beat Auburndale by half a point, 223 to 222.5, for second place to advance to team sectionals. Marathon placed fourth with 193.5 points. Stratford has won regional titles in 11 of the past 12 years.
Ten Stratford wrestlers including sophomore Kolton Haupt in the 106-pound weight class, senior Trenton Cournoyer at 120 pounds, junior Colin Cournoyer at 126, sophomore Aaron Knetter at 132, junior Lucas Forrest at 138, junior Mathias Kaiser at 150, senior Brandon Knetter at 157, senior Jack Tubbs at 175, senior Carter Lueck at 190 and junior Drew Gage at 285 advanced from regionals to individual sectionals at 10 a.m. this Saturday, Feb. 22. The top three wrestlers in each sectional weight class will qualify for the individual state tournament on Feb. 27-28 and March 1 at the Kohl Center in Madison.
Stratford head wrestling coach Adam Davison was proud of his team’s tremendous effort at the regional.
“We had a great day,” he said. “The Edgar regional was super competitive and had some really strong teams. We came out firing and really didn’t lose many matches that we were expected to win and we had plenty of kids come out and beat their seeds. I’m so proud of this team from top to bottom, scoring points and apparently pulling away as the day went on. I told the team at the start of the meet that I wasn’t going to look at the team score until the end. I believed we had the best team there and if we wrestled well that things would take care of themselves. I couldn’t help but hear the buzz from our fans as it became clear that we were going to win, but honestly I still never looked at the exact score.”
On Tuesday, Stratford began the team sectional in Clear Lake by beating Turtle Lake/Clayton, 64-15, in the semifinal match. The draw weight was 285 pounds and Gage pinned Cain Casarez in 26 seconds. Tigers freshman Joey Cable was pinned by Luke Moon at 106 pounds. Freshman Jayden DeFoe received a forfeit at 113 pounds and senior Trenton Cournoyer received a forfeit at 120. Junior
See STATEBOUND/ page 15
TAKEDOWN AND PIN - Stratford junior Colin Cournoyer goes into the process of taking down Camren Loverude of Durand-Arkansaw and then pinning him in the 126-pound WIAA Division 3 regional quarterfinal match on Saturday in Edgar. Cournoyer also pinned his team sectional opponents from Turtle Lake/Clayton and Glenwood City on Tuesday night in Clear Lake to help Stratford win the sectional championship to qualify for the team state tournament on March 8 at the UW Fieldhouse in Madison.
STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER
THAT’S HOW WE DO IT! - Stratford head varsity wrestling coach Adam Davison points to senior wrestler Brandon Knetter’s father, Troy Knetter sitting in the bleachers, after Brandon’s 4-2 decision win against Marathon junior Tate Sonnentag in the WIAA Division 3 regional 157-pound quarterfinal match on Saturday in Edgar.
STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER
ADVANCING TO SECTIONALS -
Stratford sophomore wrestler Kolton Haupt has his arm raised by the official to signify his WIAA Division 3 regional 106-pound quarterfinal match win against Ryker Moskiewicz of Cadott on Saturday. Haupt ended up taking third place in his weight class to qualify for individual sectionals this Saturday, Feb. 22, in Ladysmith.
STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER
EXECUTING A TAKEDOWN - Stratford sophomore wrestler Aaron Knetter works on taking down Brennen Welch of Auburndale before his technical fall win in the WIAA Division 3 regional 132-pound quarterfinal match on Saturday. Knetter finished as champion in his weight class to move on to sectionals. He not only helped the Tigers win their fourth straight regional championship but he also won both of his sectional matches against Turtle/Lake Clayton and Glenwood City to help the team return to the state tournament for the first time since 2023.
STAFF PHOTO/ CASEY KRAUTKRAMER Statebound
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Colin Cournoyer pinned Luke Poppenhagen at 126 pounds and Aaron Knetter pinned Lincoln Grosskreutz at 132. Forrest received a forfeit at 138 pounds.
Also, Stratford senior Cayden Leonhardt lost a 4-1 decision to Owen Anderson at 144 pounds. Kaiser received a forfeit at 150 pounds. Brandon Knetter pinned Carter Daugherty at 157 pounds. Sophomore John Mews was pinned by Brandon Wright at 165 pounds. Tubbs pinned Wyatt Nelson at 175 pounds, Lueck received a forfeit at 190 and senior Matt Kolb won a 17-4 major decision against Ryan Shortess at 215.
Glenwood City beat Cumberland, 3724, in the other Division 3 team sectional semifinal match in Clear Lake. Stratford needed to defeat Glenwood City for the second time in a few days. The Tigers were able to topple the Hilltoppers, 41-29, in the sectional championship to qualify for team state.
Stratford didn’t get off to a good start in the lowest weights against Glenwood City when Haupt was pinned by Will Obermueller at 106 pounds and DeFoe lost a 19-4 technical fall to Preston Arvey at 113. The Tigers started rolling when they got pins from the Cournoyer brothers, Trenton against Landon Standaert at 120 pounds and Colin against Logan McVeigh at 126. Aaron Knetter won an 11-1 major decision against Landon Obermueller at 132 pounds. Glenwood City’s Wyatt Unser received a forfeit at 138 pounds.
Also, Forrest won a 4-1 decision against Andrew Blaser at 144 pounds and Kaiser pinned Zeb Holden at 150. Brandon Knetter lost a 13-1 major decision to Brock Wood at 157 pounds and junior Jaeger Ormond lost a 16-1 technical fall to Mitchell McGee at 165. Tubbs pinned Javier Vilar-Alvarez in 33 seconds at 175 pounds senior Walker Weis won a 17-5 major decision against Dylan Laberee at 190 and Lueck pinned Jackson Logghe at 215. Stratford sophomore Owen Lueck lost a 62 decision against Blake Fayerweather at 285.
Coach Davison is elated that his team won the sectional championship to return to the state team tournament after a oneyear layoff.
“We are so excited and I’m so proud of this team,” he said. “They battled. We started off a little bit slow in the sectional championship by losing two in a row but once we got rolling it was awesome. Everyone did great at doing their jobs. Kids that were clearly better than their opponents got pins, kids who were close won their matches and kids who were getting beat didn’t give up pins. I’m so happy for this team, our seniors and the Stratford community. We have worked hard this season because they remembered how much it stung last year to lose in the team sectional championship and not get to state again. They earned the right to compete at team state this season. Going to team state never gets old!”
Stratford will be joined at the WIAA Division 3 state team tournament on March 8 by wrestling squads from Mineral Point, Oostburg and Weyauwega-Fremont which is making its second straight state appearance. The WIAA will seed these four teams to determine the semifinal matches at 10 a.m. at the UW Fieldhouse. The winners of the semifinals will face each other in the state championship at 3 p.m. the same day.
