Davis give Black Hawks a state medalist

The three Grafton Black Hawks who qualified for state all wrestled hard, coach Mike Dodge said, but only junior Alec Davis was able to come home with any hardware.

Davis (42-10) at 195 pounds in Division 2 took sixth place and exacted some revenge along the way.

After beating Gabe Wertel (28-12) of Denmark in his opening match, Davis lost an 8-0 major decision to Bryce Burns (35-9) of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro.

In the consolation round, Davis faced off with an old foe, Lomira’s Matt Hanke (43-8), who beat him by one point in the sectional.

Not this time.

“We got into the match and he took us down and we battled back to tie it up, 3-3, in the second period,” Dodge said. “The guy chose down to try to get the escape. Alec did a great job of riding. The kid put his head to his knee and Alec cradled him up for three points.”

On Saturday, Davis lost an 11-4 decision to Ty Sanford (37-5) of Prescott and then in the fifth-place match lost again to Burns, this time only by a 6-4 decision.

“It was a great tournament for Alec to get that medal,” Dodge said.

“He’s a junior coming back and to get that experience in the medal round is big.”

Grafton senior Nick Rapp (42-8) at 160 pounds won his first match with a 15-9 decision over Thomas Peters (36-8) of Seymour before losing his next two.

William Waldofski (30-7) of Barron won a 10-3 decision and Reece Worachek (39-15) of Luxembourg-Casco won a 4-0 decision. Waldofski went on to take fifth.

“Nick ran into a couple of tough kids,” Dodge said.

“He ended his senior season with a nice record. 42-8 is an nice accomplishment there. He’s a great kid in the room. It was fun to get to coach him the last four years and see how he’s developed.”

Ellis Pfleger (37-8) at 132 pounds lost an 8-7 decision to Colton Nicolay (34-16) of Lodi.

“It was a back-and-forth match. With under a minute to go he got a takedown and we’re up by one,” Dodge said.

“He was battling and we gave up a reversal there with little time left and we just couldn’t get out.”

His second experience at state should serve Pfleger well going into his junior year. 

“Ellis wrestled really well. He’s a great kid and works hard. I know this is going to be his motivation for next year,” Dodge said.

Regardless of the results of the state meet, Grafton reached a couple of milestones this season. The Hawks sent the most wrestlers to sectionals — nine — since Dodge began coaching in 2000, and the three qualifying for state is the most he has ever had.

“I’m extremely proud of all three guys and our entire team in general getting nine guys to the sectional,” he said.

“I think it has been a great season. It ended at the Kohl Center battling for medals.”

Dodge said he planned to meet with Davis and Pfleger to discuss offseason plans.

“I’m looking for Ellis and Alec to lead freshmen who will be sophomores. Those guys look up to those guys. We’re going to lean on those two to set the example in the offseason for wrestling,” he said.

CG-Belgium’s three wrestlers leave early

Three Rockets lost their first-round matches on Thursday in the Division 2 tournament.

But the experience was especially sweet for Josh TeStroete, who took fourth in the sectional and didn’t qualify. Coach Trevor Peterson got a call on Wednesday night asking if TeStroete could wrestle since the third-place qualifier was injured.

TeStroete (33-10) at 145 pounds ended up getting pinned by Tristan Massie (34-9) of Barron.

Senior Bryce Morgan (34-11) at 152 pounds lost a 14-6 major decision to Jarrett Dolata (44-5) of Mauston, who ended up taking fourth in the tournament.

Junior Brett Feind (34-12) at 220 pounds lost a 7-1 decision to Justis Knutson (30-10) of Chetek-Weyerhaeuser/Prairie Farm, who took sixth.

“We had a couple of tough draws, and I guess the guys were pretty tough. We kind of had a rough go of it Thursday night,” Peterson said.

But just making it to Madison is an accomplishment.

“It’s obviously a very good experience, just being out on the floor, a little taste of it,” Peterson said.

The positives outweigh the first-round exits. TeStroete came off of a 15-17 record last season and Feind a 19-19 mark.

“Both of them coming back from their seasons last year to this year is unbelievable,” Peterson said.

“We had a real good season. We ended up bringing home three trophies this year as a team. It didn’t end like we wanted to. Hopefully, we can work hard in the offseason and get where we want to be.”