Bulldogs roughed up at West Fork quad

SHEFFIELD – Last year, the Bulldogs had trouble with Nashua-Plainfield and Sumner-Fredericksburg and went on to have a quality season.

After experiencing the same at Sheffield during the quadrangular hosted by West Fork, coach Patrick Hansen is hoping to repeat that.

After winning 54-30 against the hosts, the short-handed Bulldogs got smacked in the mouth by the Huskies, 57-18, and saw the final dual of the night against Sumner-Fredericksburg come down the final match with a pin for a 42-40 loss.

“It’s a make-or-break week for us,” coach Hansen said. “We’ve got six duals, tournament, a tough tournament last Saturday. Last year this time, we lost to Nashua and Sumner up at Sumner, did not wrestle very well and we turned it around from then on and started to win out, so hopefully (we do the same). We’re getting better every day. Getting the kids back will be a big difference for us.”

N-P isn’t ranked as a team, although it has four individually ranked wrestlers via the Predicament, including 113-pounder Jakob Whitinger, who with Jakyb Kapp provided probably the match of the night, a 12-10 final that favored the third-ranked wrestler in Class 1A. The Huskies are ranked via IAWrestle.com with just three ranked wrestlers.

Kapp trailed Whitinger in the second period 9-4 after an escape, then took him down and scored a three-point nearfall as time expired. He fatefully chose down to start the third period and was turned by Whitinger in what was scored a 12-10 loss, although there was some confusion about the scoring at the end of the second period.

“That was a good match,” coach Hansen said. “He (Whitinger) is ranked second in the state (in 1A) at 113, so he bumped up, and Kapp, that was the best I’ve seen him wrestle all year. He just kept fighting, fighting. There were a couple of tough positions he was in that he fought right out of it.

“He didn’t wrestle well Saturday, we kind of talked about it and he came out ready to roll today. He had a pin and a bye and that Whitinger kid is tough, he’s really good. A couple more seconds in the second period, he pins him.”

A 106-pounder last year and ranked early at that weight, Kapp is staying at 120 since his body fat allowance prevents him from going back to that weight class and Jack Showalter has been solid at 113.

Showalter, too, had a tough match against N-P’s Garrett Rinken, a freshman, who is ranked top-five at 106 by both state wrestling outlets. The only wrestlers for the Bulldogs who went 3-0 for the night was 132-pounder Jaycob Martzahn, who improved to 12-3 overall; and Alex Koch, who wrestled one match at 285 and received a forfeit at 220 along with a pin of West Fork’s Cannon Craighton.

“Nashua is a good team, though, they are tough,” coach Hansen said. “They’ve got a lot of good kids. We didn’t have a couple of kids, because of grades, hopefully (back) Thursday, Tomas Cavazos didn’t make weight at 126 and Bryan Flores is back out for a concussion. So, missing three starters against good teams.

“Sumner, just gotta not get pinned against them. They are tough, too. Every kid they have is pretty good.”

And, as for West Fork, the Warhawks are much-improved from the previous two seasons.

“I think they are getting a lot better,” coach Hansen said. “The Petersen kid is going to help out a lot when he can wrestle. He’s tough. And then their ’52- and ’45-pounder are pretty good. The kids he’s got out there are pretty solid. They are getting a lot better, by the end of the year they are going to be a real good team.”

West Fork coach Jared Arbegast agrees.

“It’s coming, it’s just getting off the ground with a bunch of sophomores,” coach Arbegast said. “That’s my big core of the group, when you start out as green as they are, it’s hard to play catch-up in high school sometimes. They are working hard in the room. We have the North Linn tournament on Saturday, which is JV also, hopefully get some matches for the young guys. We’ve got a whole pile of ’45 to ’52 pounders on JV. It’s going all right. It will be nice to get a few more ‘W’s’ on the varsity side, but they’ll come. It’ll take some time.”

Impressing with his pin of Tate Schmitt at 152 while putting up a fight against N-P was Dakota Lau. “So far, he’s really wrestling well,” coach Arbegast said. “Wrestled really well at the JV tournament last night. The best thing is he is actually trying new things and liking some things, that’s really nice to see that he’s not just stuck and scared of trying new things, which happens, because they are afraid they are going to lose if they do it. He’s actually had some success, especially at the JV level. Hopefully, it translates into some ‘W’s’ on the varsity side.”

The Warhawks lost to the Cougars 64-12 and to N-P, 72-12. Winning all three of his matches, two falls and one by forfeit, for West Fork was 285-pounder Levi Janssen.

Coach Arbegast, too, said both N-P and S-F were tall opponents to take on in the early season.

Sumner is stout at the weights we do have. They are two pretty good programs, for the most part. Nashua has done a really nice job the last couple of years of getting kids out and sticking with it. They were down, but they are pretty tough. They are going to be tough to beat at some duals. Our whole conference is tough. We have one of the best conferences in the state right now with a lot of ranked wrestlers.

Like I told the boys, ‘practice every day, get better at work at it. It doesn’t come easy.’

Bulldogs 54

West Fork 30

120– Jakyb Kapp (H-D) won by forfeit; 126– Zayden Johnstone (H-D) won by forfeit; 132– Jaycob Martzahn (H-D) won by forfeit; 138– Carl Barkema (H-D) won by forfeit; 145– Devon Geiger (WF) pinned Chase Spradlin 3:57; 152– Dakota Lau (WF) pinned Tate Schmitt 1:44; 160– Ki Janssen (WF) pinned Braden Hansen 2:46; 170– Carson Nuehring (WF) won by forfeit; 182– Aleks Salinas (H-D) won by forfeit; 195– Logan Walker (H-D) won by forfeit; 220– Alex Koch (H-D) pinned Cannon Craighton 3:31; 285– Levi Janssen (WF) pinned Isaac Heilskov 0:33; 106– Rafe Arbegast (WF) won by forfeit; 113– Jack Showalter (H-D) won by forfeit.

Nashua-Plainfield 57

Bulldogs 18

126– Trey Nelson (N-P) pinned Zayden Johnstone 0:48; 132– Jaycob Martzahn (H-D) pinned Kyler Hackman 1:36; 138– McKade Munn (N-P) dec. Carl Barkema 3-1; 145– Kollyn Lentz (N-P) pinned Chase Spradlin 3:10; 152– Shane Hillesheim (N-P) pinned Tate Schmitt 3:14; 160– Braden Hansen (H-D) pinned Cael Brunner 3:04; 170– Derik Downing (N-P) won by forfeit; 182– Jackson Zwanziger (N-P) pinned Aleks Salinas 1:38; 195– Evan Kalainoff (N-P) dec. Logan Walker 19-12; 220– Dalton Asche (N-P) pinned Isaac Heilskov 0:55; 285– Alex Koch (H-D) pinned Jarrett Petersen 0:22; 106– Kendrick Huck (N-P) won by forfeit; 113– Garrett Rinken (N-P) dec. Jack Showalter 7-0; 120– Jacob Whitinger (N-P) dec. Jakyb Kapp 12-10.

Sumner-Fredericksburg 64

West Fork 12

126– Brady Wilkinson (S-F) won by forfeit; 132– Kaden Meyer (S-F) won by forfeit; 138– Nathan Egan (S-F) won by forfeit; 145– Owen Kime (S-F) major dec. Devon Geiger 19-11; 152– Colten Dralle (S-F) pinned Dakota Lau 1:14; 160– Ki Janssen (WF) pinned Spencer Matt 3:27; 170– Treyce Ensign (S-F) pinned Carson Nuehring 1:49; 182– Colton Yungtum (S-F) won by forfeit; 195– No match; 220– Treyten Steffen (S-F) pinned Cannon Craighton 0:19; 285– Levi Janssen (WF) won by forfeit; 106– Trace Meyer (S-F) pinned Rafe Arbegast 2:24; 113– Cael Judisch (S-F) won by forfeit; 120– Dannon Dillon (S-F) won by forfeit.

Sumner-Fredericksburg 42

Bulldogs 40

132– Jaycob Martzahn (H-D) pinned Kaden Meyer 1:10; 138– Carl Barkema (H-D) won by forfeit; 145– Owen Kime (S-F) pinned Chase Spradlin 5:14; 152– Colten Dralle (S-F) pinned Tate Schmitt 1:25; 160– Braden Hansen (H-D) pinned Spencer Matt 1:36; 170– Treyce Ensign (S-F) won by forfeit; 182– Colton Yungtum (S-F) pinned Aleks Salinas 0:44; 195– Treyten Steffen (S-F) won by forfeit; 220 – Alex Koch (H-D) won by forfeit; 285– Isaac Heilskov (H-D) won by forfeit; 106– Trace Meyer (S-F) won by forfeit; 113– Jack Showalter (H-D) major dec. Cael Judisch 18-6; 120– Jakyb Kapp (H-D) pinned Danny Dillon 0:35; 126– Brady Wilkinson (S-F) pinned Zayden Johnstone 2:09.

Nashua-Plainfield 72

West Fork 12

132– Kyler Hackman (N-P) won by forfeit; 138– McKade Munn (N-P) won by forfeit; 145– Devon Geiger (WF) pinned Michael Stille 4:59; 152– Shane Hillesheim (N-P) pinned Dakota Lau 4:37; 160– Cael Brunner (N-P) pinned Ki Janssen 1:35; 170– Derik Downing (N-P) pinned Carson Nuehring 4:18; 182– Jackson Zwanziger (N-P) won by forfeit; 195– Evan Kalainoff (N-P) won by forfeit; 220– Dalton Asche (N-P) pinned Cannon Craighton 1:03; 285– Levi Janssen (WF) pinned Jarrett Petersen 0:27; 106– Kendrick Huck (N-P) pinned Rafe Arbegast 2:58; 113– Garret Rinken (N-P) won by forfeit; 120– Jacob Whitinger (N-P) won by forfeit; 126– Trey Nelson (N-P) won by forfeit.