14 team championships. 127 individual champions, including 26 two-time champions, nine three-time champions, and three four-time champions.
Since 1971, no wrestling team has dominated the Olympian Conference Tournament like the Wrightstown Tigers.
That domination continued in 2012.
Getting all 14 wrestlers in the conference semi-finals, eight into the finals, and crowning three conference champions, the Tigers bullied its way to its 15th Olympian Conference title, outscoring second place Valders 229 to 208.5.
“One of our primary goals every year is to win conference. We not only want to win it, but win it outright,” said Wrightstown Co-Head Coach Matt Verbeten. “That means winning both the dual season and the tournament. We have struggled at the tournament the last two years but the guys wanted to win both the duals and the tournament.”
Other teams probably wish they could struggle so well. Every Wrightstown wrestler made the semi-finals in their weight class, and eight Tigers battled their way into the conference finals. Typical Verbeten, however, as he was not satisfied with his teams’ showing in the finals.
“I am not real happy with the championship round, only 3-8 in the championship round. We didn’t come to wrestle in the finals, the kind you need to win a conference title, even though we did win,” he said with a frown. “Overall, though, we are pleased that we won all our duals and the tournament. To me it shows the overall team depth. Only three champions, but a team title; we wrestled well and dominated the tournament.”
While the Tigers pretty much had the team title wrapped up going into the semi-finals, there was a great battle for second place between Valders and Reedsville. Going into the semi-finals, Valders held a 168 – 162.5 advantage over Reedsville, but the Panthers’ head coach was still confident.
“I expect to finish second place. I told the team last night at practice,” said Panthers Head Coach Bob Ebert before the start of the semis. “I think we have enough quality wrestlers on this team. I thought first was a long shot, we would have to wrestle out of our heads and Wrightstown would have to not show up. “
The Panthers (third place, with 172 points) were able to put four wrestlers in the finals, but only Elliott Ebert was able to bring home a championship, a 9-3 decision over Luke Wiese of Wrightstown at 145 pounds.
Valders was able to hold on for a that second place finish by not only getting four champions, which was the most for any team in the tournament, but was able to bring a full squad to a tournament for the first time in a long while, a very impressive feat for the Vikings.
“We had an excellent day. This was the first time Valders has had 14 guys compete in a tournament in over two years. It was nice to have a full lineup and everybody healthy,” said Viking Head Coach Andrew Miller. “We were able to get seven of them to the conference finals, and were able to get four champions. We are pretty proud and happy about that.”
Those three champions for Wrightstown are all repeat champions at the conference tournament. Sam Wall won his second consecutive conference title, and in his second weight class, with a 6-4 overtime decision victory over Jordan Ebert of Reedsville. Wall enjoys hearing his name in the same sentence as ‘conference champion’.
“It is a good thing to hear. I did it last year and it feels really good to do it again this year,” the senior said. “I did well here, but I have to keep improving going into regionals and sectionals. “
Wall’s match was probably the most exciting of the night. Down 4-2 with less than a minute left, Wall was able to score a crucial two point takedown to tie the score at 4. Just seconds into the overtime, Wall scored the decisive takedown.
“Sam is just a hard working kid. He didn’t get frustrated with the score, he just kept wrestling and wrestled the whole match,” Verbeten said. “We always talk about wrestling the whole six minutes and that is the kind of kid Sam is.”
For Brett Buechler, not only was it his third consecutive conference title, but it was in his third different weight class. Adding to his stash of the 103 pound title in 2010, and the 119 pound title last year, the defending state champion at 119 garnered the 126 pound title with a 6-1 decision victory over Brandon Trost of Mishicot.
“What else can I say? Brett is a three-time champ. He dominated the competition during the entire tourney,” Verbeten said. “That other kid, (Trost) wasn’t even close to scoring, maybe once or twice. That is why he one of the best wrestlers in the state.”
The 160 pound champion, Jackson Fox, was just happy to wrestle. Avoided by both Mishicot and Valders in the last two dual meets of the season, Fox hadn’t wrestled in a competitive match in over two weeks coming into the Conference tourney. He showed no signs of rust, though, as he polished off Tanner Duchow of Valders by a score of 14-4.
“Fox hasn’t wrestled in over two weeks, so he had been chomping at the bit at practice. It’s been hard for him to hold back,” Verbeten said. “He really came through today. Duchow is good, and Jackson went right at him and scored as many points as he could.”
Fox was just happy to get on the mat and be mistake free.
“I didn’t make any mistakes, so that was good. I was kinda unsure because I haven’t had a match in two weeks,” the senior said. “He is a tough kid; he is hard to score on and hard to defend.”
With the Olympian Conference title securely in hand, the Tigers travel to Southern Door February 10th and 11th for the WIAA Division II Regional IV Tourney. The regional promises to be a tough one, with three conference champions competing. Along with Wrightstown, Bay Conference champs Luxemburg Casco, the #1 team in that state in Division II, and Eastern Conference Champs and #5 ranked Two Rivers will be a part of the regional, along with Denmark, Kewaunee, Sturgeon Bay, and host Southern Door.
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