It was a rough day for DeForest wrestlers at the West Salem WIAA Division 1 sectional.
Only one win was recorded by the Norskie boys, as freshman Michael Pertzborn decisioned Reedsburg’s Hudson Jablonski 4-1 at 132 pounds. He also came close to upending Middleton’s Alborz Dehnabi, before succumbing 6-4. No DeForest wrestlers advanced to state.
Pertzborn settled for fourth after losing the third-place match to Baraboo’s Peyton Oberg by major decision 14-5.
“We talked last week that he’s been wrestling really well,” said Norski head coach Tyler Rauls. “He had a tough first-round match, but we knew if he wrestled well, he could do it. He came out and punished him. Then, he wrestled the No. 1 seed at regionals, and he came out aggressive.”
In fact, Rauls thought Pertzborn had the upper hand. There was a moment where Pertzborn could have gotten some back points after throwing his opponent, but he didn’t get them and lost 6-4.
Two seniors, Lucas Evans and Tucker Schmidt, capped off their careers at West Salem, with Evans dropping a 5-2 decision to Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln’s Aiden Armogost at 138 and Schmidt getting pinned by Reedsburg’s Braxton Walter at 157.
“I think both would agree that they didn’t wrestle their best,” said Rauls. “They had tough first-round opponents, and the matches just didn’t go the way we wanted.”
Schmidt had a 1-1 record going in against Walter, but Walter got the best of him this time.
“I told them both that although the matches didn’t go the way they wanted, they shouldn’t let one match take away from the great seasons and careers they had here,” said Rauls. “I think they had a lot of fun this year, and they showed great leadership.”
Younger wrestlers like Owen Voeck (175), Cooper Feiner (120), Alex Busch (113), Braylon Lee (144), Owen Kelm (150), Bryer Herring (190) and Dane Schmidtknecht (285) all lost their opening matches at sectionals.
“We knew going in they had tough matches,” said Rauls, “but even though they didn’t go our way, they got great experience.”
Girls
Abigail Harris and Hannah Mathews almost punched their tickets to the state meet with the most thrilling matches of the day for DeForest.
At 126, Harris, a freshman, pinned Sparta’s Veda Lepley in 57 seconds and Tomah’s Emma Pickering 1:35.
However, only the champion in each weight class moves on to state, and Harris lost a tight 4-3 match to Holmen’s Anna Stasser in the finals.
“Abigail came within one or two seconds of moving on,” said Rauls. “She holds herself to high standards.”
Mathews also had a real shot at state at 145, after receiving two byes and pinning Tylar Tillotson in 5:22. She lost by pin to Holmen’s Alexa Szak in the first-place match, but with one move, she could have wriggled out of it and kept going. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
“Hannah had a good season,” said Rauls. “Girls’ wrestling is going to be big. They did their best.”
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