Heading into the always difficult Northern Exposure tournament at Merrill, Oconto Falls tri-head coach Marc Kinziger knew his team would have an uphill climb after sustaining a couple of injuries in the previous week.
The Panthers cruised in the first four rounds of the tourney before running into three solid teams and ended up placing eighth out of 24 teams during the two-day event Friday and Saturday.
“Eighth was about the best I thought we could have done,” Kinziger said.
Oconto Falls had two open weight classes – 182 and 195 – the entire tournament.
“During the holiday break we couldn’t get two guys to the right weight classes, so we were giving up 12 points off the bat, and with an inexperienced team, that hurts,” Kinziger said. “I’ve been coaching at Oconto Falls for 15 years and I don’t know how much longer before that, but I don’t remember ever forfeiting a weight class.”
On Friday, Oconto Falls downed Eau Claire North, 41-36, in the opening round and followed up with a 42-36 victory over Edgar. The Panthers beat host school Merrill’s No. 2 team, 62-18, and then defeated Marquette, 56-21.
“There were no walks in the park,” Kinziger said. “They were all tough and heavily contested.”
Against Menomonee Falls, with the winner advancing to the championship bracket, Oconto Falls could only manage victories by Brett Ash (138) and Dewey Krueger (152) and fell 64-9.
In the fifth- through eighth-place bracket on Saturday, Oconto Falls lost to West Allis Central 58-12 and Lodi 54-22 to take eighth.
Ash finished the tournament as the lone undefeated wrestler for the Panthers, finishing 7-0 with three pins, a major decision and two decisions.
“Brett looked really strong,” Kinziger said. “He got some confidence back, and we needed that out of him.”
Krueger (145/152) also had a solid tournament, going 6-1 with four pins and one technical fall. Krueger’s most memorable match of the event happened to be his only loss.
With Oconto Falls already knowing its match was in hand against Edgar, the Wildcats coach approached Kinziger and said Devin Lemanski wanted to wrestle Krueger. Krueger, the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 145 in Division 2, moved up to take on Lemanski, ranked No. 1 at 152 in Division 3.
“We started out the day saying, ‘Hey, we’re looking for leadership’ and leaders aren’t always your vocal ones, it’s kind of by the actions that they do,” Kinziger said. “That was a classic leader move by Dewey. It was good for the sport. Everyone in the building wanted to see that match, and it did not disappoint. It was very, very, very exciting.”
Krueger trailed 9-2 but made it 9-7 in the last minute of regulation; then with time winding down, Krueger got a near fall to send the match into overtime. In the extra session, Lemanski got the only two points and escaped with an 11-9 victory.
“Taking a loss early in the season to the No. 1-ranked kid in a different division, those are learning points – you get that bull’s-eye off your back,” Kinziger said. “You get that loss out of the way, and you no longer have to worry about that perfect record and you just go out and wrestle.”
Nate Trepanier (132) also rounded out his tournament with a 6-1 mark. He had two pins, one technical fall and two decisions.
“He’s one of those freshmen that are coming on,” Kinziger said. “For a freshman, he was wrestling a lot of seniors, and he shined.”
Evan Konitzer (106) and Austin Stanek (113) were the only other Oconto Falls wrestlers who finished with winning records, each going 4-3.
“I think Evan Konitzer had a nice day on the first day, going 4-1,” Kinziger said. “He ran into two little tough guys (on Saturday), so he had a disappointing ending to the full trip, but he had a nice couple of days.”
Bryce Ash (120), Mike Friedman (145/152), who just returned from an injury sustained in cross-country, and Garrett Cole (160) all won three matches in the tournament.
Oconto Falls will next hit the mat Jan. 10 when it hosts Shawano at 6:30 p.m.
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