By David Paulsen
Correspondent
With a solid day of wrestling, and minus a grappler at 106 pounds, the East Troy High School wrestling squad finished second at the Rock Valley Conference Tournament held at Beloit Turner Saturday. The Trojans tallied 298 points to finish behind Brodhead/Juda which had 337 points. The boys edged Evansville/Albany, which had 286 points.
“We would have had to wrestle perfect to win it,” head coach Mike Howard noted.
The Trojans crowned four conference champions, and also had one second-place finish and a third place.
Cody Vogel won the 113-pound weight class, defeating Sonny Schieldt of Edgerton 8-4 in the finals.
“He opened up his offense a little (in the final),” Howard said. “He went a little more on his feet.”
Vogel, who is ranked No. 4 in the state in Division 2 at 113, is now 35-3 on the season.
Ryan Engel took the crown at 120. He defeated Brandon Robinson of Evansville/Albany 14-9 in the final.
“He used a lot of takedowns,” Howard said.
Engel is now 28-6 on the season.
At 138, Zach Lamb captured the title, besting Alex Lange of Evansville/Albany 5-3 in the finals. He had lost to Lange one year ago in the RVC final.
“It was a good win for him,” Howard said.
Lamb is 25-7 on the year.
The final Trojan to capture a title was Joey Dedick at 195 pounds. Dedick, who is ranked No. 1 in the state in Division 2 and is undefeated in 36 matches, had no trouble in this tournament. He had two byes to start the tournament and then pinned his only two opponents.
“He wasn’t really challenged much,” Howard said.
The Trojans almost got another title from Andy Strey at 132. Strey lost in the finals 7-2 to Alex Hauri of Orfordville Parkview. The match was much closer than the final score.
“It was 2-2 with about 20 seconds to go and we were riding,” Howard said, adding that Strey hoped to ride out the third period and then get a takedown in overtime.
Hauri, though, reversed Strey and then put Strey on his back for the win.
“It was a tough loss,” Howard said.
East Troy got a third-place finish at 145 from Jeremy Dedick.
“Jeremy wrestled really well,” Howard said. “He lost in overtime in the semifinals to the eventual champion.”
Vs. Beloit Turner
East Troy had little trouble in a 55-15 win over Beloit Turner on Jan. 29 at home in an RVC dual meet.
The Trojans got three wins by forfeit, and also got pins from Engel at 126, Strey at 132, Csaba Petyko at 170, Oscar Donegan at 182, and Joey Dedick at 195.
Gary Zoellner had an 11-0 major decision win at 152, and Jeremy Dedick an 8-2 decision at 145.
Schedule
Postseason action begins Saturday, Feb. 9, when East Troy hosts the WIAA Division 2 regionals starting at 10:15 a.m.
“We’re hoping to win the regionals,” Howard said.
If that would happen, East Troy would then compete in the team sectionals to be held Tuesday, Feb. 12, at Pewaukee High School. Individual sectionals are Saturday, Feb. 16, at Brown Deer.
