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The Spartans hope to emulate this scene from the 2009-10 season when they clinched the MVC championship in Tomah.
The Spartans wrap up their MVC season Thursday evening at Tomah against the Timberwolves. A win by Sparta clinches an outright MVC championship. A loss to Tomah would force the Spartans to share the MVC championship with Holmen, not a pretty thought. There are going to be no shortage of key matches where Sparta needs to pick up bonus points or do their best to not let Tomah earn them. The Timberwolves are lead by 195-pound senior Jordan Reisinger who placed 4th in D1 at the same weight class a year ago and is currently the top-ranked wrestler at his weight class in D1 according to Wisconsin Wrestling Online. Last year, the Spartans defeated Tomah 41-23.
In their most recent tournament, Tomah won the Madison La Follette Multi Dual. The Timberwolves defeated the following teams at that tournament…
- Tomah 34 – Mt. Horeb/Barneveld 30
- Tomah 44 – Madison La Follette 30
- Tomah 49 – Racine Horlick 20
- Tomah 58 – Milton 12
- Tomah 43 – Beaver Dam 30
In other action throughout the year, Tomah defeated La Crosse Central 48-28. The Spartans beat Central 55-20. The Timberwolves lost to Holmen 45-24. The Spartans defeated Holmen 40-19. Rhinelander defeated Tomah 32-27. Sparta defeated Rhinelander 49-30. Let’s look at Tomah from an individual standpoint.
- 106 – Tommy Repka, lost to Holmen’s Drake Kulmaczewski 10-4, Zimmerman lost to Kulmaczewski 4-1,
- 113 – Katen Moser, defeated Baraboo’s Sam Cobb 7-1, Christian Lamon defeated Cobb 16-5, Rhinelander’s Dakota Stone defeated Moser 7-3, Marcellus was pinned by Stone in 3:46 at Stevens Point, was pinned by Dylan Winchel in 57 seconds in last year’s dual,
- 120 – Simon Joseph, pinned by John Roddick in 3:35 in last year’s dual,
- 126 – Hunter Pierce, defeated Rhinelander’s John Fox 10-6, John Roddick defeated Fox 16-6 at Stevens Point, pinned Holmen’s Taylor Goins in 54 seconds, John Roddick pinned Goins in 3:02,
- 132 – Logan Pollack, pinned Rhinelander’s Chris Connors, Jaden Winchel pinned Connors in 1:06 at Stevens Point, defeated Steven Kelly 2-0 in last year’s dual,
- 138 – Luke Dubord or Casey Curran, Curran lost to Holmen’s Ryan Stalsberg by pin in 3:11, Polhamus has defeated Stalsberg twice this year, last year Brock Polhamus defeated Dubord by technical fall,
- 145 – Luke Dubord or Ryan Baldwin, Rhinelander’s Alec bess pinned Baldwin, Dylan Winchel pinned Bess in 3:15 at Stevens Point,
- 152 – Collin Sampson, lost to Rhinelander’s Alex Rees 26-6, Rees pinned Haydn Bernett at Stevens Point,
- 160 – Ben Linzmeier, pinned Holmen’s Zack Back in 2:50, Walker Polhamus defeated Back 5-1, defeated Walker Polhamus 3-2 in last year’s dual,
- 170 – Seth Fryett,
- 182 – Gerald Pemberton or Josh Peardot,
- 195 – Jordan Reisinger, currently ranked #1 in the state according to Wisconsin Wrestling Online, lost 8-4 to Kyle Burkhalter in last year’s dual,
- 220 – FORFEIT or late addition Gavin Brand,
- 285 – Ryan Sutherland, lost to Chase Bernett 5-4 in last year’s dual,
It should be clear that this will be a close dual. With the exception of a few duals with a lot of forfeits handed to Sparta, the 2013-14 version of the Spartans have not been ones to crush their opponents. They have won six duals that would have swung the other way had they lost one more match, but that also speaks to the strength of this squad. These guys do not wilt under pressure and that bodes well for a dual like the one in Tomah Thursday evening. Expect Coach VonHaden to pull out all the tricks in his bag for this one. Go Spartans!!
(Just a reminder that we will be live streaming the match for anyone unable to make it)
