Tosa wrestlers nip Greenfield

Rally from huge deficit, finally win on a ninth tiebreaker

Jordan Boettcher defeated his 145-pound opponent, 10-6, to help Wauwatosa edge Greenfield, 35-34, last week.

Jordan Boettcher defeated his 145-pound opponent, 10-6, to help Wauwatosa edge Greenfield, 35-34, last week. Photo By Jill Morin

Feb. 4, 2014

The Wauwatosa wrestling team rallied from a 30-0 deficit to defeat Greenfield, 35-34, last week at Tosa West and give their seniors a night to remember during their final home dual.

Tosa trailed by 30 points, only to rally to win on the ninth tiebreaker.

"It was a crazy dual meet," Tosa coach Kent Morin said. "The ninth tiebreaker criteria was most near fall points."

Trailing by 30 points, Morin gathered the remaining wrestlers together — Sean McDuffie, Kai Castaneda, Dylan Christman, AJ Minucci, Ben Reagan, Jordan Boettcher and Marcus Morrow.

"At that point, I went behind my bench, got them together and told them that we now know what we need — six pins. They responded with four of them and three other decisions."

McDuffie pinned his opponent at 113 in 2 minutes, 56 seconds to get Tosa on the board.

"McDuffie's pin was a key one because it got us started and set the tone for the other guys that it could happen," Morin said.

Then at 120, Castaneda pinned his foe at the 2:56 mark and then Christman at 126 defeated his opponent, 5-1, to cut the score in half, 30-15.

Tosa pinned two straight Hustlin' Hawks: Minucci at 132 pinned his foe in 1:48, and Reagan at 138 pinned his opponent in 3:34 to come within three points, 30-27.

Boettcher at 145 then tied the match with a 10-6 decision and Morrow at 154 won a major decision, 14-6, to take a 34-30 lead.

The meet came down to Matt Miller, who was wrestling Greenfield's best wrestler, Thomas Friedbacher.

If he lost by a regular decision, Tosa would win the meet outright.

If he gave up a major decision, it would go to criteria. If he lost by a technical fall or was pinned, Tosa would lose.

"This really wasn't fair of the team to put Matt in this position against their best wrestler but he was up to the challenge," Morin said. "He battled off his back in the first period and then only gave up four points in the last two periods."

He lost by a major decision (9-0) to tie the match, 34-34, but Tosa won the tiebreaker with the ninth criteria to earn the one-point win.

It also was Senior Night as Tosa honored Castaneda, Minucci, Miller, Mason Startz, Elliot Rogahn and Sean Allen. Also recognized were senior managers Gloria Nieskes and Caitlin Mahan.

Those six wrestlers have won 386 matches to date and still have a month left.

"We expect them to finish the year strong and will sure miss them next year," Morin said. "It sure was an exciting way for them to finish up their career in their home gym."

Tosa finished the conference dual season with a 6-3 record and is 20-7 overall.

Tosa is in the Woodland Conference Tournament at 9 a.m. Saturday at Pius XI.

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