By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
The Badger High School wrestling program has made two consecutive trips to the state tournament and finished 20-5 last season.
The Badgers were co-champions of the Southern Lakes Conference, were regional and sectional champions and lost in the state quarterfinals to eventual state runner-up Kaukauna.
Evidence of the respect the rest of the state has for Badger comes in its No. 10 ranking to begin the season. Coach Shane Koehl thinks his team has some work to do to live up to that ranking.
“I believe that is a bit high for us,” he said. “We are still unproven with so many new faces in the line-up.”
That being said, Koehl likes what he has seen so far.
“We have the potential to be worthy of that,” he said. “However we have a lot of work to do to get to that point.”
Koehl said just winning the Southern Lakes Conference will not be a given with ninth-ranked Burlington, a tough Elkhorn team, and a much improved Waterford team to contend with.
“I believe by the end of the season, we could be anywhere from first to third,” Koehl said. “We have some very talented returners and some young guys eager to step up and make their mark on this varsity line-up.”
Key graduation losses include brothers Randy and Rory Shine. Randy is now wrestling for North Carolina State. Also lost to graduation were Tayler Hildebrandt, who now wrestles at UW-Whitewater, Robert Johnson, Carlos Garcia, Connor Ruff and Chris Oberholtzer. The team also lost juniors Edgar and Adan Ortiz to a family move.
“The team will miss their leadership,” Koehl said. “A team can only go as far as its leadership. That group of guys was a bunch of mat rats. They were always in the room wanting to wrestle and get better.”
Koehl said the returners learned a lot form their experience at state last year.
“I think the biggest thing they learned from state is that they are seeing we can compete with the best in the state,” Koehl said. “You hope they have that fire to want to be there again.”
Koehl said the team goal is to make it back to state for a third time and this time make it past the first round.
Returning varsity letter winners who will try to make that goal happen include returning state qualifier Michael Peter, Andy Cychner, Andrew Allen, Bryan Nugent, Tristan Steiner, Alex Martinez, Tony Howard and Zach Leonard.
Koehl said Sam Carmona, Robbie Mutimer, George Sommerville, Chase Craig, Trevor Steiner, Ruben Garcia, Andrew Nugent, Nick Halpin, Logan Mitchell, Nick Kretch, Michael Jones, Reggie Kelly and Danny Weiner are all new faces to varsity who need to grow up in a hurry.
“I expect the new faces to the line-up to step in and contribute immediately,” Koehl said. “Most of them have put in a lot of time in the offseason and I believe they are ready for the next step in their maturity.”
Koehl said he and his coaching staff are going to have to make sure they are ready and prepared. He said the experience from last year should give them confidence and experience, but the focus of the coaching staff will be to get them to outwork the opponent every match.
“We have a very good mix of young and old,” Koehl said. “Our depth with the young kids is good from the light to middle weights.”
Koehl said the group is not so deep at the upper weights and that has him concerned.
The Badgers open their season tonight at Elkhorn and then compete at the Watertown Invitational on Saturday. The Badgers will square off against Koehl’s alma mater, Delavan-Darien, next Tuesday on the road. The Badgers do not wrestle at home until Jan. 9 against Burlington.
Girls win opener
The Badger girls’ basketball team won their opener at Kenosha Bradford 56-31 on Nov. 26.
The game was even at 10 at the end of one, but Badger pulled away in the second quarter and led 28-14 at the half. By the end of the third quarter, Badger led by 20 at 43-23 and coasted from there.
Coach David Jooss said the team did a great job of forcing Bradford turnovers and then converting those turnovers into points in transition. He was not as happy with the team’s rebounding at times but said the effort was good.
Foreign exchange student Maria Mieres Rey led the Badgers with 14 points. Kortlyn Freeman added 12.
The Badgers hosted Milton on Tuesday night and play at SLC favorite Wilmot tomorrow night.
Boys lose to Waterford
The Badger boys lost 60-58 at home to Waterford on Nov. 26.
Coach Darin Lottig said his team came out flat, was out-rebounded on both ends of the floor, out-hustled on both ends of the floor, turned it over way too much and did not have a good shooting night.
“We were dominated in every area of the game,” Lottig said.
All things considered, the Badgers still had a chance to win.
Lottig said the Badgers came out and played with no energy, leading to a 15-10 Waterford lead at the end of one. Badger cut the lead to 27-25 at the half but then Waterford outscored them 20-11 in the third quarter to take a 47-36 lead into the final frame.
Derrick Buntrock hit two three-pointers that Lottig said gave his team some life late in the fourth quarter and the Badgers got close, but turnovers down the stretch cost them the chance to pull one out.
Buntrock led the Badgers with 17 points. Lincoln Wieseman added 13. Ross Gunderson went off for 25 for Waterford. Greyson Wolf-Dixon added 14 and Collin Chart had 12.
The Badgers traveled to Brookfield East on Tuesday night. They host Delavan-Darien tonight and host Slinger at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Next Tuesday the Badger travel to Westosha Central.
