Whitewater, WI – Our Mukwonago Wrestling Club headed to Whitewater Sunday morning to compete in the 2013 Warhawk Scuffle Duals. This tournament is conducted like a High school dual meet with weight classes and team points. Our Grizzlies were represented by 19 club wrestlers filling 15 weight classes. We started the day competing against the Arrowhead club. The kids clearly brought their A-game from the get go… Braden Schreiber, Luke Garvens, Lucas Benn, Jake Garvens, Aaron Schulist staked the team to a 21-0 advantage. After a minor bump, Jacob Stachowski, Brandon Wozny, Dennis Mahoney, and Tyler Jacobi continued the roll to 42-12 lead, at that point Arrowhead ran out of wrestlers leaving the final score at Grizzlys – 66 Arrowhead – 12.
In our 2nd dual, we were opposite Franklin, who 2 weeks ago had won the middle school conference tournament. This dual would turn out to be a battle, Luke Garvens started the team out with an 11-1 major decision, Aaron Schmitz and Josh Garvens battled hard but were unable to garner a victory; Aaron Schulist started the tide rolling with major decision, Jacob Stachowski, Brandon Wozny and Michael West reeled off 3straight wins. The Grizzlys battled through the next 3 matches falling just short, losing by decision as Franklin started creeping closer to make the team score 29 -21. CJ Olson and Jake Matson then put the dual out of reach for Franklin with 2 pins sealing the 41-30 victory.
The championship dual was Lincoln Way, IL vs. Mukwonago. We knew they we very talented in the lower weights but thought we had the advantage with our upper weights. The Teams split the first 4 matches, with the Grizzlys suffering 2 pins. We again traded the next 2 matches. Team score Lincoln Way – 18 Grizzlys – 10. 3 more matches, 3 more defeats…. Team score Lincoln Way 34 Grizzlys 10.
The Grizzlys sent Tyler Jacobi to the mat at 135, he was able to secure a pin in the 2nd period, next up Andre` Lirette with major decision win, and CJ Olson gained a victory with a fall. Team score Lincoln Way – 34 Grizzlys – 23. Our team bench was starting to go crazy!!! Suddenly Jake Matson pins his opponent in 29 seconds; score Lincoln Way – 34 Grizzlys – 29.
Nick Beilfuss enters the circle at 190lbs… no score in the 1st; Nick earns an escape in the 2nd, and then continues to push his opponent around the mat to frustrate into a bad shot and a score for a 5-0 victory. Team score Lincoln Way 34 Grizzlys 32. The Lincoln Way did not have a 250lb wrestler giving Arik Bohn a forfeit for 6 points, a final score Grizzlys – 38 Lincoln Way – 34 and the Championship…
Not only did the team earn the team championship, they also gained valuable experience for future battles.