Sports

Tosa qualifies for wrestling team sectional

By Tom “Sky” Skibosh

Feb. 18, 2014

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Wauwatosa qualified for the Team Sectional on Tuesday against Menomonee Falls (Feb. 18) and will send 13 wrestlers on to this Saturday's Individual Sectional at Milwaukee Vincent.

Tosa won the Nicolet Sectional, finishing with four champions — Kai Castaneda, Ben Reagan, AJ Minucci and and Marcus Morrow.

"It was an interesting day," Tosa coach Kent Morin said. "We had 12 byes the first round because of our higher seeds. This can be a good thing but only if you have a good semi-final round, which we didn't."

You need to win your next match after a bye to earn the team points that come from the bye round. If you lose the next round you get no team points for the bye. Tosa lost seven of those 12 matches that followed their byes. As a result, after the second round they were losing the tournament to Whitefish Bay.

"We got together and talked about the finals and consolation rounds," Morin said. "We knew we were going to have to really put it together that round to catch Whitefish Bay. We won 13 of 14 matches that round and that sealed the team victory. It was a really nice team effort that everyone contributed to."

The Champions

Castaneda scored 25 points at 120, getting a bye, pinning his Nicolet foe in 40 seconds and then winning the championship match with a 9-1 major decision over Whitefish Bay.

"Kai wrestled really tough yesterday," Morin said. "He has been wrestling with a new confidence that will be necessary for the sectional tournament."

Reagan won at 138, scoring 25 points. After getting a bye, he won the semifinal by pinning Whitefish Bay in 1:24. He won the title by major decision (11-2) over Milwaukee Riverside University/Shorewood.

"Ben continued his domination of his weight class. He has a focus on getting to the state tournament that has really served him well thus far," Morin said. "We expect that to continue for the next couple weeks."

Minucci at 132 placed first and scored 24 points. He opened with a bye, pinned MUHS in 2:58 and won the title match, 4-2, over Pius. He has handed the Pius wrestler two of his three losses.

"AJ just continues to be very focused and unstoppable on his feet," Morin said.

Morrow scored 23.50 points at 152. After receiving a bye, he won by a technical fall over Pius XI (TF-1.5 2:46, 23-6) and beat Milwaukee Riverside University/Shorewood in the title match, 7-5.

"He really was in complete control of the match in the finals even though the final score looks close," Morin said. "He wrested well on his feet yesterday creating some nice movement that his opponents were unable to keep up with."

Second Place

Sean Allen scored 18 points and finished second at 170. He got a bye, won in sudden victory (SV-1, 13-11). He lost the title match to Milwaukee Riverside University/Shorewood) by major decision (20-7), but won the second place match by rule.

"He battled back from a 6-2 deficit to win 13-11 in OT. It was good to see him dig down and get that one," Morin said.

Third Place

Jordan Boettcher, Dylan Christman, Elliott Rogahn, Sean McDuffie, Sam Kratochvil, Lorry Venturi, Norberto Pliego and Adrian Coppage each finished third.

Boettcher at 145 scored 12 points. He won a 7-2 decision in the quarterfinal, lost an 8-3 decision in the semifinal and beat Nicolet with a 10-5 decision in the third-place match. He lost the second-place match by rule.

Christman at 126 scored 12 points. He opened with a bye, got pinned, beat Milwaukee King with a pin (5:36) in the third-place match and lost the second-place match by rule.

At 182 Rogahn scored 12 points. He opened with a bye, lost by a pin, pinned Whitefish Bay in 3:36 in the third-place match and lost the second-place match by rule.

McDuffie scored 12 points at 113. After getting a bye, he lost an 8-2 decision, pinned his Pius XI foe in 1:05 in the third-place match. he lost the second-place match by rule.

Kratochvil at 220 scored 12 points, receiving a bye, getting pinned, pinning Milwaukee Riverside (16 seconds) in the third place match and losing the second-place match by rule.

Venturi at 285 scored 12 points. He received a bye, lost in sudden victory (1, 3-2) in the semis won the third-place match with a pin (3:17) over Milwaukee King and lost the second-place match by rule.

Pliego at 195 scored 11 points, getting a bye, losing a 3-2 decision and winning the third-place match with a major decision (8-0) over Whitefish Bay. He lost a tie-breaker in the second-place match.

Coppage scored nine points at 106, receiving a bye in the quarter final, losing by a technical fall in the semifinal. He received another bye in the third-place match and lost by rule in the second-place match.