Thursday, Feb. 15, the PEM wrestling team played host for the final time this season to the Byron Bears in the Team Section 1AA quarterfinal round. The Bulldogs earned the #3 seed in the tournament earning the home site over the #6 seeded Bears.
Behind the strength of highly ranked brothers Maxwell and Mitchell Peterson, the Bears got off to a fast start in the dual meet winning all four of the first four weight classes, 2 by fall and 2 by decision to take an 18-0 lead in the dual. The Bulldogs would get started at 132 when freshman Cael Marx would get a first period pin cutting the 18 point team lead down to 12. At 138, freshman Cooper Hofschulte would finish a 2nd period pin, bringing the dual meet to a 6 point deficit at 18-12.
Sophomore Joe Stucky would follow at 145 needing just 1:38 to score 2 takedowns and 2 sets of nearfall points before getting the pin which tied the dual at 18-18. At 152, junior Carter Marx would give the Bulldogs their first lead of the night with a 2nd period pin. Freshman Alex Rahman would follow at 160 with perhaps the biggest win of the night for the Bulldogs. Hanging onto a thin 4-3 lead in the 3rd period, Rahman was able to grind in an arm-bar and turn his junior opponent to get the fall with only :13 left in the match. Rahman’s pin would give the Bulldogs a critical 12 point lead going into the 170 lb wt. Class.
At 170 and 182, the Bears would claw their way back into the dual with a pin and a decision, making the team score 30-27 with only 3 weights remaining. Senior Austin Rother, bumped up 2 weight classes to 195, for the 2nd time in two weeks, would earn a major decision behind the strength of 4 takedowns, in his last ever match in the PEM gymnasium. Rother’s win would put the Bulldogs up 34-27, and the Bulldogs would need just 1 more win the mathematically clinch the dual meet.
At 220, normal 182 lb junior Dustin Dittrich, stepped up to clinch the dual for the Bulldogs, needing just 1:52 to get a pin. At 285, with the team victory already assured, Logan Wingert put icing on the cake with another first period pin extending the Bulldog’s lead to the largest of the night at 19 points.
Coaches Comments: “I was quite satisfied with how our team performed this evening. I was especially proud of how our team responded to Byron’s early lead and didn’t let the early momentum continue.”
Pictures of the Event can be located here!
PEM 46 BYRON 27
106: Maxwell Petersen #5 (BYRON) over Carter Meyers (PEM) (Fall 0:31)
113: Talon Freerksen (BYRON) over Garrett Olson (PEM) (Dec 7-3)
120: Parker Kline (BYRON) over Kael Lamb (PEM) (SV-1 6-4)
126: Mitchel Petersen #2 (BYRON) over Dereck Boyum (PEM) (Fall 1:00)
132: Cael Marx (PEM) over William Wharton (BYRON) (Fall 1:14)
138: Cooper Hofschulte (PEM) over Tyson Dean (BYRON) (Fall 3:10)
145: Joe Stucky (PEM) over Wyatt Nemechek (BYRON) (Fall 1:38)
152: Carter Marx #5(PEM) over Kyle Cloutier (BYRON) (Fall 2:13)
160: Alex Rahman (PEM) over Donald French (BYRON) (Fall 5:47)
170: Kyle Stahler (BYRON) over Connor Jones (PEM) (Fall 2:45)
182: Vicente Deleon (BYRON) over Martin Preito (PEM) (Dec 10-8)
195: Austin Rother (PEM) over Lucas Birch (BYRON) (MD 13-2)
220: Dustin Dittrich (PEM) over Luke Lampat (BYRON) (Fall 1:52)
285: Logan Wingert (PEM) over John Nieman (BYRON) (Fall 1:41)
# denotes state ranking