Mike Homan knew it wasn’t going to be an easy match Thursday.
The Shawano coach was hoping his wrestlers would put up a fight, and they did. However, the scores didn’t reflect it.
The Hawks gave up seven pins and three forfeits in a 66-9 loss to Oconto Falls in Bay Conference action at Shawano Community High School.
“We talk about this all the time in our wrestling room. We want to be aggressive and we want to wrestle our match, and we’ll let the chips where they are going to,” Homan said. “We did that for the most part. I think we left a few out there, but the kids did wrestle hard.”
Shawano also took on Marinette in a separate dual Thursday and earned a 47-15 victory for the Hawks’ first conference win of the season.
Oconto Falls tri-head coach Marc Kinziger thought his guys wrestled well in winning 12 matches, but he liked what he saw from Shawano.
“They’ve got a younger team, but boy, I was kind of impressed with them,” Kinziger said. “… You can see the fight in some of those younger guys. I think Shawano’s going to have a nice team here in a couple of years, and it’s a nice team right now.”
Giving up 60 points via pins and forfeits really hurt Shawano.
“It’s hard when you’re giving up those falls like that and you’re looking for all the points you can,” Homan said. “We’ve got to learn to battle through that. We’re young and we’ve got some inexperience and we’re going a good job working so far, and we’ve got a lot of work to do yet.”
“Bonus points are always huge, especially when you get down the road and you get into closer matches, it seems to always be the difference,” Kinziger said. “It’s always either 7-7 or 8-6 (match victories) and whoever has the most pins usually wins. You’ve got to get them when you can take them, and tonight we seemed to get them. If a guy got on his back, we seemed to get him.”
Oconto Falls, which is receiving votes in the state poll as one of the top Division 2 schools, led 12-0 before Shawano picked up its first points, but that didn’t come easy for Mason Boogren (182 pounds). The senior held a 4-3 lead when Mac Winkler tied it with eight seconds left in the third period on a reversal. Boogren didn’t get rattled and scored a takedown right before the buzzer sounded to earn a 6-4 win.
“I thought it was a hard-fought match,” Homan said. “(Oconto Falls) is not going to give up anything easy and they’re going to fight you to the last second. Mason was fortunate enough to get a takedown there in the waning seconds of that match to get a victory, so that was nice to see.”
Down 24-3, Shawano had a chance to get a few much-needed points, but Damon Braatz (285) couldn’t quite pull off a victory. Kaleb Westcott led 7-1 on a near fall in the second period, but Braatz kept creeping back in the third. Braatz got within 7-6 and had Westcott on the mat for over one minute, but Westcott held on for a one-point victory.
“Damon fought hard to get back in that match and I was proud of how he fought back in and kept working,” Homan said. “One thing we’re looking for, we like to finish that match off and kind of catch up that last 40 seconds. He fought hard to get back into it and we just need to learn how to finish those off the right way before we can take that next step.”
Wyatt Welch (106) had the best match on the night for the Hawks. He attacked Oconto Falls’ Bryce Peterson right from the start and secured a pin in 51 seconds. That pulled Shawano within 27-9, but Oconto Falls (4-0 Bay) scored the final 39 points of the match.
Homan has been impressed Welch since the start of the season.
“Wyatt’s been such a pleasant surprise for us,” Homan said. “He gives us everything he has, and he’s battling a little bit of a hip flexor right now. But he’s been working in the practice room, and when he turns it on he’s something special. He’s got a bright future.”
Braatz, Daniel Darling (113) and Jarrett Laatsch (145) all earned pins for the Hawks against Marinette. Welch won a 16-0 major decision. Shawano received four forfeits.
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