The Tomahawk wrestling team wasn’t at full strength in Saturday’s six-team round-robin Oconto Invite, but it was full go for the title.
The Hatchets tipped Spencer 351-332 for first place behind championship runs from Kevin Zurfluh (106), Turner Wegener (113), Austin Bellile (195) and Payton DuPlayee (220) and a plethora of high finishes from others. Brandon Larkin (152), Justice Stadler (160) and Dalvin Sanders (182) ranked 2nd, while Nate Flohr (126), Larry Hendzel (132) and Peter Pintens (145) finished 3rd.
“We’ll take a championship any time we can get it,” THS coach Bob Garrou said. “We had a couple of starters out of the line-up, but JV kids stepped in and stepped up, so you’ve got to be happy with that.
“Spencer was a nice-looking team, but it just came down to we pinned more kids. My champions pinned almost everyone they wrestled.”
Extra points were picked up by: Zurfluh (4 pins), DuPlayee (4 p), Larkin (4 p), Pintens (3 p), Wegener (2 p, 1 TF), Flohr (2 p), Hendzel (2 p) and Bellile (1 p, 3 byes).
Henry Helland (170) and Mitchell Schauer (285) filled in for Kris Cole and Adam Fau­Fau and each ranked 4th. Ryan Kuehn was 6th.
Chequamegon come-along
The Hatchets actually wished Tuesday’s meet with Chequamegon would have been more difficult. They won a 57-12 dual that featured only 7 bouts.
Cole (5:16), Flohr (1:27) and Stadler (5:10) pulled pins, and DuPlayee won 8-4. THS picked up 6 forfeits. Losses came from: Hendzel (8-4); Pintens (10-8) and Kuehn (1:33).
“Only seven kids got matches,” Garrou said. “It is what it is. Hopefully, we never go through that. Last year they had 30 kids, but their program is at a low point.”