Dedick captures East Troy’s first wrestling crown in 25 years
By David Paulsen
Correspondent
For the first time in 25 years, East Troy High School has a state wrestling champion. Senior Joey Dedick earned the 195-pound Division 2 crown at the WIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships Saturday.
Dedick defeated Austin Hephner of Chilton/Hilbert by a 6-3 decision.
Hephner actually led Dedick 1-0 going into the third period, but Dedick got an escape and takedown to take a 3-1 lead. Hephner came back with a reversal to tie the match at 3-3, but Dedick closed out the match with an escape and takedown for the title.
“It was a close match right to the end,” head coach Mike Howard said. “It was very exciting.”
After finishing third last year at 195, Dedick’s goal all season had been to win the state title.
After a first-round bye, Dedick won a 4-1 decision over Jake Reiter of Clintonville in the quarterfinal.
In the semifinal, Dedick earned a 7-2 victory over Dan Dorner of Luxemburg-Casco.
That pitted Dedick against Hephner, whom he had defeated 9-5 in the sectional final one week earlier. Dedick finished the season undefeated at 46-0.
“The thing about Joey is he’s a great kid besides being a great wrestler,” Howard added.
East Troy High School hasn’t had a state champion since 1988 when Tom Larson captured the crown at 112 pounds.
The Trojans had three other grapplers also at state, but none of them got past their initial matches.
Cody Vogel, at 113 pounds, lost a 6-0 decision to Gunnar Leisner of Oconto Falls in the opening round.
Ryan Engel, at 120 pounds, was edged 7-6 by James Klassen of St. Croix Falls.
In both Vogel and Engel’s case, the wrestlers they lost to went on to be placewinners in those weight classes.
Andy Strey encountered Alex Maes of Wrightstown and lost 7-4. Maes went all the way to the title match and took second. Strey and Maes were tied 4-4 going into the third period.
Engel and Strey each opened their matches with takedowns and 2-0 leads but could not maintain it.
“They had some tough draws,” Howard said of Vogel, Engel and Strey. “They wrestled well for the most part.”
Vogel finished 43-5 overall, Engel 35-8, and Strey 33-12.
Summary
Overall, Howard said the team had a good season, and grew as a team.
“We took a small step,” Howard said. “We have a few more steps to go.”
Besides Dedick, the team will lose seniors Jake Mudlaff (who was injured and did not wrestle this year), Csaba Petyko (a foreign exchange student), Oscar Donegan and Gary Zoellner.
Congratulations!