By David Paulsen
Correspondent
In their opening Rock Valley Conference action Thursday, the East Troy High School wrestling squad defeated Jefferson 45-30 at Jefferson.
“We had some ups and downs,” head coach Mike Howard said. “We’re improving. We’re trying to find out what we need to work on.”
Probably the best match of the day came at 138 pounds where Zach Lamb defeated Tyler Graf 15-7 in a major decision.
“He wrestled pretty well,” Howard said of Lamb.
Cody Vogel (113 pounds), Brody Kazik (120), Ryan Engel (126), Andy Strey (145), Oscar Donegan (195) and Joey Dedick (220) all scored pins, while Jeremy Dedick (152) won by way of a technical fall (17-2).
Battle On The Bay
On Saturday, the Trojans competed in the Battle on the Bay at Bay Port High School, Green Bay.
Overall, the team finished 17th out of 24 teams, even though Howard took only eight wrestlers to the event.
East Troy tallied 234.5 points, with Bay Port winning their own event with 530.5 points.
Joey Dedick was the only Trojan to win his weight class, accomplishing that at 195 pounds.
“His last two matches were good challenges for him, which is a good thing,” Howard said.
Dedick won his first three matches by pin, won the semifinal by a 5-2 decision over Nick Osowski of Oshkosh West, and then captured the title with a 7-2 decision of Bay Port’s Alec Ingold.
Vogel captured third place, going 4-1 on the day. The only match he lost was in the semifinal to one of the top ranked wrestlers in the state – Ty Pelot of Two Rivers. Vogel lost a 3-0 decision to Pelot.
“He wrestled very well,” Howard noted.
Vogel had one victory by pin, two by decision (including a close 8-7 decision) and one by major decision (9-0).
Strey was fourth at 138 pounds, winning his first three matches, before losing the final two. Howard said Strey still had a solid day, noting that a 3-0 decision over Pewaukee’s Alex Owens was a very good win.
“He ran into some really good kids,” Howard said.
Engel (at 126) and Lamb (at 132) both finished seventh, going 3-2 overall. Both had their first loss in the quarterfinal round.
Howard noted the team was as high as 11th in the standings at one point, but then lost a couple of matches they had held leads in.
One of the things Howard said the Trojans need to learn is how to finish matches.
