Homestead grapplers stay off their backs to beat Nicolet in NSC dual

Homestead wrestlers were put on their backs several times by Nicolet in the rivals' North Shore dual meet on Dec. 20, but they did not stay there, as the Highlanders fought off several pin attempts and took advantage of four forfeits to pull out a 42-25 win over the Knights.

"Oh my god, in one match, we had a kid on his back (in a nearfall situation) for 1:45," said Homestead coach Ernie Millard. "But we avoided pins and that was big. We were pinned only twice, which is the best that we've done all year. And that's saying something against them (the Knights) because they're aggressive, they're physical and they like to go upper-body.

"We got thrown a few times, but overall we were pretty intelligent, we just continued to circle and shoot."

The poster boy for Millard's praise was 106-pounder Jacob Sanner, who got thrown to his back almost immediately by the Knights' Jack Kalloch. But Sanner fought back and got a reversal and nearfall himself still in the first period to close the gap to 6-5.

Then early in the second period, Sanner turned Kalloch and pinned him in 2:41.

Needless to say, Nicolet coach Gus Kaufmann was appalled at the turn of the events, which gave Homestead a 21-19 lead that it would not relinquish.

"That just killed us," said Kaufmann. "Homestead just knew what to do. They went out there with the idea of not getting pinned. They knew we were going to be giving up 24 points (in forfeits). We just had to finish matches. In three instances, we had them on their backs but didn't finish them off (get pins)."

Following the Sanner win, the Knights forfeited 113 to Homestead's Josh Ference, 120 to Drew Waller and 126 to John Hokeness, to end any drama.

Also earning wins for the Highlanders were Nolan Cohen with a 12-6 decision at 152, Shaquille Cole with a forfeit at 170, Antoine Easterling with a pin in 22 seconds at 195 and Jake Mueller with a 6-3 decision at 138.

"I thought that was an excellent effort by Jake (Mueller) over a good kid (Nicolet's Bryan Dineen)," said Millard.

Winning matches for Nicolet were Jordan Fischer at 145 with a 6-2 decision, Wilhelm Fehlhaber at 160 with a 21-7 major decision, Keondre Walton-Cooper with a 9-5 decision at 182 and Nate Patton at 285 with a pin in 42 seconds.

In another highlight match of the night, the Knights' returning state qualifier Jon McKay beat the Highlanders' highly-regarded Mensah Amuzu, 11-4, at 220. It was Amuzu's first loss since permanently moving down to 220 a few weeks ago.

"I didn't think Mensah wrestled poorly at all," said Millard. "He went toe-to-toe with a great kid."

"It was a good effort by Jon," said Kaufmann. "He picked up the pace well after a slow start. … I was impressed by Homestead. Ernie (Millard) has got a lot of green kids out there, but they came out there to wrestle."

"It was a good dual for us," agreed Millard. "We knew that they would be forfeiting four classes but that they also had a lot of older guys with experience. There were a lot of good matches on both sides."

Homestead will be back in action on Jan. 5 with a North Shore dual at Cedarburg, while Nicolet is at the Mid-States Invitational Wednesday and Thursday at UW-Whitewater.