Third-place finishes at sectional guarantees state play for two
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The road to a state tournament isn’t always a smooth one.
That doesn’t matter, as long as you reach the destination, and last weekend, two Big Foot High School wrestlers did just that.
Senior Will Utesch (220) and sophomore Travis Berryman (106) each punched their tickets for Madison with third-place finishes at the WIAA Division 2 Milwaukee Lutheran Sectional.
“They did a good job,” Big Foot coach Craig Utesch said. “They worked hard, and it’s good for them to get (to state).”
Will Utesch finished his day at 3-1 to improve to 34-6 overall.
Utesch, currently the seventh-ranked 220 pounder in Division 2, opened the day with a 6-3 win over Mayville’s Kody Priesgen.
In the semifinals, he pushed Sheboygan Falls’ Brady Koller, who before last week was the state’s top-ranked wrestler, to the brink before he fell 4-2.
“He was just inches away (from a win),” Craig Utesch said. “That match could have gone either way in the end. But it was one of the more solid matches I’ve seen him wrestle.
“Overall, he had a good day. That was a pretty solid sectional for 220 (pounds).”
The loss to Koller sent Utesch to the consolation semifinal, where he received a forfeit win over Chilton-Hilbert’s Kyle Horst.
Utesch finished the sectional with a 5-2 win over Oostburg’s Garrett Hackl in the third-place matchup to secure his state berth.
Berryman’s day started with a flurry, as he won two straight matches to land in the finals.
In the opening round, Berryman (35-12 overall) blanked Lomira’s Tyler Garoiety 7-0, followed by a pinfall win over Campbellsport’s Dylan Bublitz in the semifinal.
“He wrestled really well the first two matches and beat a couple really good kids,” Utesch said.
A sudden turn of events in the final minute kept Berryman from winning the sectional title.
Grafton’s Arturo Duran picked up five points with a takedown and three-point nearfall that proved to be the difference in an 8-7 victory.
“(Berryman) wrestled really well against that kid,” Utesch said. “At the end, we came up a point short. He was pretty much in control of that match all the way through.
“He got caught in a cradle and just couldn’t overcome that.”
The loss in the finals sent Berryman to a second-place contest against Wisconsin Lutheran’s Tyler Roecker, a match he lost 9-3.
“(Roecker) is a solid kid,” Utesch said. “It was the second time we had to face him the last two weeks. He beat Travis pretty good the week before, but it was a little closer this match.
“It’s tough for a kid to lose like he did in the match he was in (against Duran) and have to come back. Just mentally, it gets to you a little bit.”
