Rocket wrestlers roll in their home scramble

By MITCH MAERSCH

Ozaukee Press staff

Four champions ­— including No. 6 seed Winston Reichle — and four third-place finishers helped lead the Cedar Grove-Belgium High School wrestling team to victory in their home Rocket Scramble on Saturday.

The Rockets scored 729 points in the 15-team tournament. Campbellsport had 614, Oostburg had 494, defending champ Brillion had 483 and Lomira had 428.

“It was a great day to be a Rocket wrestling fan,” coach Trevor Peterson said.

Reichle at 152 pounds, Mason Hoopman at 145, Owen Morgan at 160 and Diego Morales at 285 each won their weight class. Reichle was the highlight.

“Winston was actually a No. 6 seed. He beat the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 seeds on Saturday,” Peterson said.

“Because of that gold division it can be pretty tough, but he ended up beating them all.”

Reichle (22-8) pinned Mitchell Zutz of Valders in 44 seconds and Marek Lisiecki (18-6) of Lomira in 2 minutes, 44 seconds. He beat Aiden Sperle (16-7) of Cambridge in a 17-2 technical fall, won an 11-9 decision over Larry Norrington (14-3) of Brown Deer/Messmer/Shorewood and in the finals beat J.J. Ksioszk (19-8) in a 21-5 technical fall.

“Winston had a really nice tournament,” Peterson said.

Morales (25-3) pinned his way through his five-man bracket, beating Timothy Ackley of Sheboygan South in 1:49, Liam Johnson of Valders in 30 seconds, Kyle Murphy of Campbellsport in 3:47 and in the finals pinned Earl Gardner of Brown Deer/Messmer/Shorewood in 3:35.

“Diego wrestled well again,” Peterson said.

Morgan (24-7) pinned Hunter Holz of Wauwatosa in 1:55, then beat Luke Zutz of Valders in overtime, 5-0. He won a 10-4 decision over Hector Rosalez of Sheboygan Falls and in the finals won a 10-6 decision over Easton Newman of Lomira.

Hoopman’s matches got tougher as the tourney went on, but he dominated every one. Hoopman (26-4) pinned Ethan Strieff of Horicon in 2:43 and Brody Nolan of Campbellsport in 3:18. He beat Evan Casper of Lomira in a 15-0 technical fall and in the finals beat Connor Mentink (18-1) of Oostburg in a 15-2 major decision.

“Mason had a big win over Connor Mentink,” Peterson said.

Jesse Burg (26-4) at 126 pounds was third in a challenging bracket. He pined Aidan Miller of Sheboygan Falls in 3:34, lost a 6-2 decision to Ostin Blanchard (24-1) of Campbellsport, lost a 7-3 decision to Bob Huntley (26-2) of Brillion and beat Tucker Cobb of Marshall by injury default.

“Jesse’s bracket was very tough. We knew that,” Peterson said.

Blanchard, who was co-most valuable player with Rocket star Cael Erickson at last year’s Rocket Scramble, was the solo MVP this time.

Owen Race at 132 pounds, Joe Schoeder at 182 and Jordan Platner at 195 also finished third.

Platner (11-8) pinned Brian Wagner of Horicon in 26 seconds, was pinned by Makhi Rodgers of Brown Deer/Messmer/Shorewood (16-7) in 4:58 and by Warrn Sauer (16-3) of Lomira in 2:30. In his final match of the day, he pinned Carson Dekker of Oostburg in 1:52.

Schoeder (23-7) pinned Tim Yeager of Valders in 3:44, lost a 7-4 decision to Alaric Muckerheider (20-7) of Sheboygan Falls, pinned Devan Laganowski of Oostburg in 4:34 and was pinned by Damon Schmidt (20-1) of Brillion in 4:51.

Race (20-10) pinned Joe Duwell of Sheboygan South, lost a 14-4 major decision to Trenton Nicklaus (16-7) of Brillion and was pinned by Drew Johnson (16-5) of Marshall in 3:11 and Sam Koth (20-7) of Cambellsport in 2:23.

Carsen Voskuil (19-8) went 1-3 and finished fourth at 106 pounds.

Seth Race (10-8) at 113 pounds went 4-1 and finished fifth. Gavin Davies (18-12) at 138 went 3-2 and was fifth. Deven Soerens (7-3) at 220 went 4-1 and was fifth.

Jackson Foster (8-7) at 170 pounds went 2-2 and was sixth, and  Seth Kessen (11-14) at 120 pounds went 2-3 and was seventh.

On Jan. 5, the Rockets beat Reedsville, 63-15, at home.

Voskuil, Seth and Owen Race, Burg, Davies, Hoopman, Reichle and Morales each pinned their opponents. Schoeder won in a 6-4 decision over Casey Braun.

The Rockets wrestle Mishicot and Ozaukee at Mishicot on Thursday, Jan. 12, and wrestle at Random Lake on Thursday, Jan. 19, in a match that may help decide the Big East Conference title.