Friendly rivals Nicolet and Bay grapple hard in Knight Scramble

When you work as hard to become respectable as the ever-striving Nicolet and Whitefish Bay wrestling programs do, you need to help each other out from time to time.

That's why Knights coach Gus Kaufmann wanted to take note of Blue Dukes coach Dale Loebel's contribution in greasing the wheels of the Knights' second annual 18-team scramble invitational Saturday.

"Dale came through big time with two mats and a scale," Kaufmann said. "We couldn't have done it without that kind of help."

To whit, Loebel said that Kaufmann and his staff did a great job of running the meet.

"Things always go easier in the second year," he said.

The two teams themselves did not have an easy time of it, but were competitive, as Bay was seventh of 18 with 253.5 points and Nicolet 11th with 216.5 as Burlington won with 565.

Kaufmann said that having Track wrestling on hand to help with the organization and scoring of the event, especially with scramble brackets that could have up to 22 athletes each, was a major help.

"We started out a little late but even with that, we were still out of there by 6:30 p.m.," he said.

The meet was a good start for the Knights, who are a little lower on numbers this year (around 20) than they'd like, but will still manage to fill the majority of the 14 weight classes available.

McKay leads Knights

Leading the way will be returning senior state qualifier Jon McKay at 220, who won more than 40 matches last year and went 5-0 Saturday.

"He was a little rusty today, but I think that'll help him pick up the pace in practice," Kaufmann said.

Others who will help the Knights include sophomore Jake Kalloch at 106 (2-3 on the day, seventh); senior Dan Isaacson at 132 (4-1, ninth); junior Bryan Dineen at 145 (3-2, third); senior Lamonte Brown at 152 (2-3, 14th); senior Wilhelm Fehlhaber at 160 (3-2, sixth); Keondre Walton-Cooper at 182 (1-4, eighth due to a badly cut lip); senior Jalen Holliman at 220 (1-3, 11th) and junior Nate Patton at 285 (3-2, sixth).

Kaufmann said that Fehlhaber has turned into an excellent leader on the team and noted that Patton is extremely fit for a heavyweight.

"We're still looking for more guys," Kaufmann said, "but everyday has been sharp (in practice). I'm very pleased with their work ethic. It's good that we got a couple of matches under our belts. Now we're ready to get rolling."

Blue Dukes lack size

Loebel has some of the best numbers that he has had in years (32-35) but unfortunately, none of them are very big as his largest wrestler weighs no more than 195 pounds. His team had opened with an intense 49-24 North Shore loss to visiting Germantown on Dec. 1 during which the Blue Dukes had to forfeit five weight classes.

An intensely watched match in the dual came at 160 as returning state qualifiers Rashadeem Gray and Danny Krause, butted heads quite literally, as the bout was stopped twice for injury delays to Krause.

"That was just a great match (at 160)," Loebel said. "There was no way Rash (Gray) was trying to hurt Danny, but we're going to go toe to toe with people this winter and we're not going to apologize for it. We love matches like that. The only way we're going to get better is by wrestling the Danny Krauses of the world."

In that match, Krause got the upper hand with a second period nearfall, but after the first injury delay, Gray came back hard and closed the gap to 6-4 with a pair of takedowns. A move came a short time later and after a four-minute delay, where Krause was treated for an apparent back injury.

Gray got the score to 8-6 in the third period but Krause was able to get a late takedown to pull out the victory.

"By far the match of the night," Loebel said. "We'll learn from it."

Bay picked up victories from junior Max Carlin at 106 (pin 1:49), junior Joey Davey at 120 (10-6 decision), junior Joe Mahler at 132 (pin 1:42), sophomore Ben Lehrmann at 138 (pin 0:40), and by senior Zach Richards at 152 (6-5 decision).

Searching for big bodies

Loebel said that he has a "great wrestling room right now" for practice but notes that his team is hampered by the fact that he doesn't have a person out who weighs more than 195 pounds.

"And I've been looking for them," he said, noting that returning 220-pounder Kelly Jackson will be out for the year with a shoulder injury suffered in the football season. He was pleased with the effort of Richards who is in his first full campaign on the varsity.

"By the end of the season, I'm hoping that we'll be able to fill every class except the top two (220 and 285)," Loebel said. "But this was fun tonight. I thought we wrestled well and we always seem to have exciting matches with Germantown."

In the Nicolet tournament, the Blue Dukes got seconds from Davey, Lehrmann, Carlin and Gray. Also helping out were freshman Jack Ludke at 126 (1-4) and senior Andrew Reidy at 152 (3-2, sixth).

Richards went 5-0 in a nonscoring scramble bracket.

"We felt pretty good about things," Loebel said. "Our guys competed pretty well and won matches that they should have. We just need to be a little more sudden offensively. Be ready to score points."

But it was a day everyone seemed to ready to go, Kaufmann said, as Nicolet raised the level of competition in this tournament, receiving praise for its organization and intensity.

Kaufmann gave huge praise to his assistant coach and meet organizer Tim Schermetzler for keeping things going smoothly all day.

"He and his staff put in a lot of work," Kaufmann said. "It was a real team effort by all of them. They couldn't have done a better job."