Norse stung by Hornets in WIAA team sectional
Whitehall’s Alex Katzman attempted to turn Cadott’s Kaleb Sonnentag during their match at the team sectional last week Tuesday. (Times photograph by Andrew Dannehy)
The Whitehall wrestling team fell against one of the top small school programs in the state in the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Team Sectional at Cadott last week Tuesday.
The Norse squared off against the host school and looked to have a chance early on, but they ended up with just two wins in the 69-9 loss.
Cadott started the dual with two pins as Levi Lindsay (195) pinned Adam Kleinhans in 1:34 and Gavin Tegels (220) took down Taevyon Saintfort in 51 seconds.
Whitehall got on the board when Wylie Dunn (285) pinned Kane Mengel. Cadott got the points back in the next match as Kaleb Lodahl (106) pinned Nolan Thompson in 1:54, making the score 18-6.
The Norse got a win in the next match however as Brock Johnson (113) took a 5-2 lead in the first period after getting Lukas Simenson to his back. The lead was still three points entering the third period before the Whitehall wrestler scored a reversal to clinch the 9-4 win with 25 seconds left.
It was mostly downhill from there for the Norse.
Logan Harel (120) pinned Markus Petersen in 1:20 and Logan Gurske (126) received a forfeit. Matthew Poulos (132) was pinned by Kaleb Sonnentag, perhaps the favorite to win the individual state title.
The Norse looked to have a chance to steal a win in the next match as Alex Katzman (138) had Kaleb Sonnentag on his back in the first period, but an unnecessary roughness penalty against the Whitehall wrestler reset the wrestlers to the center of the mat with Katzman leading 5-1.
Katzman took a 7-3 lead into the second period, but Sonnentag scored five points with a reversal and a nearfall in that period and then finished the match by pinning Katzman with one minute left in the third.
Ethan Duck (145) went on to pin Brian Flores in 1:08, Tristan Drier (152) topped Broc Coburn in 42 seconds, David Lallemont (160) stuck Lukas Paske in 2:31 and Cole Pfeiffer (170) pinned Brekken Kulig in 2:58.
The last match was a close one, but Cadott’s Dawson Webster (182) defeated Eric Kleinhans, 8-5.
The Hornets, a 2021 state qualifier, went on to lose to Saint Croix Falls, 35-31, in the sectional final.
