CG-B falls short of regional crown

Less than 14 points and a Big East Conference rival separated the Cedar Grove-Belgium High School wrestling team from a sectional berth at last Saturday’s Division 3 regional at Reedsville.

The Rockets scored 217.5 points, which was just behind the host’s 230.5. Kewaunee was third of six teams with 168 points.

“It was all right. It could have been a little better,” Cedar Grove-Belgium coach Trevor Peterson said.

The Rockets had four champions and two second-place finishers who are headed to the individual sectional meet Saturday at Dodgeland.

Defending state champion Cael Erickson (45-0) remained undefeated by beating Blake Delsman (29-3) of Reedsville in a 13-5 major decision in the final at 145 pounds. It was Erickson’s only match of the day.

“He just keeps working hard. He did a ton of work in the offseason,” Peterson said, adding his star wrestler remains motivated to finish his prep career strong before he competes in college.

The Rockets got a boost with the return of Mason Hoopman, who recovered from a back injury. In his first action in weeks, Hoopman (17-2) won a 10-4 decision over Thane Harrington (27-18) of Valders and won an 8-1 decision over Max Severin (39-10) of Kewaunee in the final at 138 pounds.

“He wrestled very well. He had a little bit of rust in the first match but he wrestled a great match against Severin in the finals — he’s a pretty good kid,” Peterson said.

Diego Morales, a state qualifier last season, won the 285-pound weight class. Morales (42-3) pinned Harrison Sauer (16-20) of Mishicot in 56 seconds and Darren Wagner (28-14) of Reedsville in 5:43 in the final.

Jesse Burg (34-3) at 113 pounds pinned Neveah Krepline (1-2) of Reedsville in 14 seconds and in the final won a 9-2 decision over Jack Wendling (26-12) of Valders.

Deven Soeren (23-16) at 195 pounds beat Jade Busse (11-7) of Reedsville, 4-3, in an ultimate tiebreaker before being pinned by Ezra Ducat (23-8) of Kewaunee in 4:30 in the final.

At 160 pounds, Owen Morgan (25-19) pinned Nico Desotelle (11-14) in 3:32 and Wyatt Verbeten (23-12) of Reedsville in 2:15 before losing a 9-4 decision to Luke Zutz (30-16) of Valders in the final.

Six Rockets took third and missed qualifying by one place: Charbel Salameh (16-19) at 106 pounds, Owen Race (24-18), 126; Gavin Davies (20-16), 132; Winston Reichle (32-15), 152; Justin Anzia (26-16), 182; and Jordan Platner (10-13), 220.

In the sectional, the top three finishers advance to the state meet in Madison.

“Anything can happen at sectionals,” Peterson said, adding his wrestlers got tough draws via the matrix system but they still have good shots to advance.

Ozaukee rings in one sectional champ

Zach Bell at 285 pounds was Ozaukee’s lone champion at the Division 3 Random Lake sectional last Saturday, and he needed barely 30 seconds to bring home gold.

The Warriors had three second-place finishers advance: Phil McLarty at 138 pounds, Jonny Melendez at 160 and Blake Cocanower at 182.

Bell (18-19) pinned Diego Brandt (10-15) of Random Lake in the first-place match in 36 seconds in his only bout of the day.

“He took advantage of the opportunity in front of him. He’s been working hard wrestling his whole career, and it’s good to see that pay off,” coach Cole Large said.

McLarty (21-17) pinned Gavin Peterman (2-15) of Hustisford in 1:16, lost a technical fall to Stone Pomeroy (36-10) of Random Lake, beat Noah Schumacher (11-9) of Winnebago Lutheran Academy in a 6-1 decision and won a 4-2 decision over Ethan Johnson (19-11) of Horicon for second place.

“Phil had some highlights on his way back to second,” Large said.

Melendez (12-22) pinned Kevin Wenninger (19-17) of Horicon in 3:25 and lost a 16-2 major decision to Jack Karst (21-9) of Winnebago Lutheran Academy.

“Jonny scrapped in both his matches,” Large said.

Cocanower (21-20) was pinned by Samuel Schwabe (43-2) of Random Lake in 53 seconds before he pinned Gage Kratz (20-18)  of Winnebago Lutheran Academy in 3:04 and Noah Holzman (23-15) of Oakfield in 4:25 for second.

“Blake is wrestling as well as he ever has, dominating in his wins,” Large said.

Efrain Altamirano (15-9) at 126 pounds, Grady Klas (7-17) at 195 and Skyler Mills (5-6) at 220 each took third place.

“It was tough to see our other wrestlers’ seasons finish when it felt like most of them are just getting started,” Large said.

“Efrain came up short in a tough semifinals match, not wrestling as well as he has this season. We were proud of how he finished the tournament though — after knowing he couldn’t advance, he had a rematch with a prior loss this season. He won his final match and made the most of his last chance to compete in high school.”

Altamirano beat Braxton Kohn (17-7) of Dodgeland in a 12-9 decision for third.

Ozaukee’s four sectional qualifiers wrestle at Dodgeland on Saturday.