Luther Prep Wrestlers avoid pins

Luther Prep Wrestlers avoid pins, rally past Lakeside Lutheran

Watertown Daily Times Thursday, February 5, 2004

By Kevin Wilson of the Daily Times staff
There was some concern in the Luther Prep camp that Lakeside Lutheran might run away with Wednesday night's nonconference
wrestling dual meet at LPS. Lakeside Lutheran's coaches knew better. "With the injuries we've had
(to Jake Stewart at 112 and Ryan Draeger at 125), we're not as strong as we were when we started out the season,"
Lakeside Lutheran co-wrestling coach Jerry Ewings said. "We said we needed pins out there. There were matches where we had to
have six points where we came away with five or four." Luther Prep's refusal to give up pins in three weight classes turned out
to be the difference, as the Phoenix rallied from a 21-3 deficit for a 36-29 victory over their rivals from Lake Mills.

Lakeside Lutheran (10-6 overall) flexed its muscles as expected in the upper weights, but missed out on pin
points that could have changed the complexion of the meet. Dan Koester gave Luther Prep (2-3) an early 3-0 lead with a
10-7 decision over Mike Hartwig in the opening match at 152 pounds. Both wrestlers scored back points in the
first of many fish-flopping battles on the night. Lakeside's senior standouts took center stage from there. Justin Koller
scored a 19-3 technical fall over senior Jesse Hieb at 160, but Hieb saved the Phoenix a team point by
refusing to give up the fall. At 171, John Rhodes racked up a 13-2 lead on Luther Prep senior Stephen Kamps before pinning
him in 3 minutes, 35 seconds. At 189, Mark Heyn improved to 25-0 on the season with a 13-2 major decision over Luther Prep
senior Ray Peplinski. Heyn is unbeaten in the last two seasons against Peplinski, but that didn't stop Peplinski from
coming out and scoring the first takedown on a single leg move. Heyn quickly shed Peplinski's attempt to turn him and
dominated the rest of the match. Heyn worked to turn Peplinski for the rest of the match, but had to settle for the major
decision which gave the Warriors a 15-3 lead. At 215, Marc Liecthy received a forfeit to put Lakeside up 21-3.
"We've got a good core of seniors in the upper weights that have been carrying us all season," Lakeside
Lutheran co-wrestling coach Nickels said. Ewings tried to bump Liechty up to take on Luther Prep sophomore
heavyweight Black Sorcic, but the official ruled that out, so Liechty took his forfeit and Sorcic pinned freshman
Travis Zimmerman in 37 seconds to begin Luther Prep's come-back. At 103, Luther Prep freshman Joe Beibert beat
Lakeside sophomore Matt Borck 14-8. Phil Williams (112) and Jon Scharrer (119) received forfeits to give Luther Prep
the lead again at 24-21. In another key match between
young wrestlers at 125, Luther Prep sophomore Mike Ottesen pinned Lakeside freshman Brian Schleicher in 1:17 to push
the Phoenix lead to 30-21. Lakeside still had a chance to win with four matches remaining, but came up short.
At 130, junior Eric Schilling scored a 13-3 major decision over Luther Prep sophomore Kyle Edelhube - but again,
the Warriors were denied the pin points they so desperately needed to overcome the forfeits at 112 and 119.
"When we wrestled them at Wisconsin Lutheran Invitational earlier in the year, we beat them 44-31 in
unofficial dual scoring)," Nickels said. "We're not as strong at this point(due to the injuries)."

With Luther Prep leading 30-25, Phoenix senior Logan Scheele pulled out a wild 14-13 win over Lakeside
freshman Alex Schilling.

Scheele came in with a 7-9 record while Schilling has enjoyed a strongfirst season with the Warriors.
Schilling led 4-1 after one period then Scheele scored a reversal in the second period to pull within a point.
Schilling answered with a reversal and had Scheele stacked up dead to rights on his back, only to be deinied
the fall by the second period buzzer.

Scheele made the most of his new life, and the two wrestlers spent the third period reversing each other all
over the mat. Schilling had spent the match going for the pin, but in the end found himself fighting just for the
decision. He led Scheele 13-12 and was set to ride this one out with 18 seconds left, but was hit for locked hands six
seconds after the whistle. That tied the match with 12 seconds left, and Scheele completed the comeback with an escape
with two seconds left. "Logan Scheele came through big," Luther Prep wrestling coach Tom Lindloff said. "That sealed
everything."

Not without some more intrigue. Luther Prep senior Phil Scharrer only needed a decision against Lakeside sophomore
Jon Wilson at 140 to clinch the meet for the Phoenix, but Wilson kept things interesting all the way to the end.
Scharrer (12-2) led 2-1 after the first period, but gave up a reversal to start the second. He escaped and took Wilson
down with 15 seconds left in the period for a 5-3 lead, then scored a reversal late in the third period after narrowly
avoiding Wilson's attempts to turn him and tie the match.

"Honestly, I was most proud of a number of our younger kids who lost tonight," Nickels said. "Hartwig, Wilson,
Alex Schilling ... those are young guys wrestling experienced wrestlers, but they gave it everything they had.
It's going to show up in the future."

Fittingly, the meet ended with another Luther Prep wrestler denying Lakeside the fall. Junior Tim Norstrem dominated
Luther Prep junior Jeff Grundemeier, but he had to settle for a 21-8 major decision.

"They wrestled real tough," Nickels said of the Phoenix. "The places we counted on for pins, their guys were unwilling
to concede. That was some tough work on their part." Lindloff agreed. "Tonight, we just didn't give up on things,"
Lindloff said. "The ones we wanted to win, we won. The questionable ones, we didn't give up pins. We're looking for big
things at. conference now."

On Saturday, Lakeside Lutheran competes at the Capitol Conference tournament in Cambridge while Luther Prep competes at
the Parkland Conference tournament at Pewaukee.

Luther Prep 36, Lakeside Lutheran 29
103 - Biebert (LP) dec. Borck (LL) 14-8.
112 — Williams (LP) received forfeit.
119 — J. Scharrer (LP) received forfeit.
125- Ottesen (LP) pinned Schleicher (LL) at 1:17,
130 - E. Schilling (LL) major dec. Edelhuber (LP) 13-3
135 - Scheele (LP) dec. A. Schilling (LL) 14-13.
140 - P. Scharrer (LP) dec. Wilson (LL) 7-3.
145 — Norstrem (LL) major dec. Grundmeier (LP); 21-8.
152 - Koester (LP) dec. Hartwig (LL) 10-7.
160 - Koller (LL) tech. fall Hieb (LP) 19-3.
171 — Rhodes (LL) pinned Kamps (LP) at 3:35.
189 - Heyn (LL) major dec. Peplinski (LP) 13-2.
215 — Liechty (LL) received forfeit.
275 — Sorcic (LP) pinned Zimmerman (LL) at :37.