Warbirds Champions on Home Mat
Warbirds Champions on Home Mats
Pierce High’s wrestling team hosted the annual Pierce Tournament on Friday, December 28. In addition to Pierce and the Pierce JV, seven teams competed including Laurel-Concord, North Bend Central, Wisner-Pilger, Oakland-Craig, Scribner Snyder-Guardian Angels Central Catholic, Elkhorn Valley, and Hartington Cedar Catholic. The Warbirds gave a strong showing, with the varsity wrestlers taking 1st place in the tournament and the junior varsity wrestlers placing 8th as a group.
Individually, at 106, Garrett Wickett earned 1st place in his weight class. Wickett dominated all of his opponents, pinning Devan Breuer from Pierce JV, Tommy Nelson from Oakland-Craig, Tristin Lowry-Berlin from Wisner-Pilger, and Kenny Baker from Wisner-Pilger.
For the JV at 106, Devan Breuer fell by pin to Garrett Wickett in his first match, but won by major decision over Lowry-Berl, who was unattached, 13-4 in his second. Breuer then fell to Baker of Wisner-Pilger by tech fall and to Nelson, who was unattached, by pin.
At 113, Tyler Hoffman wrestled his way to 1st place by pinning Morgan Bales of Wisner-Pilger in his first match and also pinning Devon Risch of Scribner Snyder-Guardian Angels CC in the title match in only 56 seconds.
Levi Sudbeck, wrestling at 120, added to the Warbirds’ list of champions, winning by major decision over Payton Smutz of Scribner Snyder-Guardian Angels CC 15-2 in his first match. In his title match, Sudbeck met Smutz again, this time winning by pin.
Dylan Degroff, at 132, took 4th place in his weight class. Degroff fell by pin in his first match against Quin Smith of Elkhorn Valley, as well as in his second match against Sam Wortmann of Hartington Cedar Catholic. Degroff lost his final match by tech fall against Bryce Uhing from Oakland-Craig.
Jake Ussery placed 6th in the 145-pound weight class. Ussery was pinned by Brandon French of Scribner Snyder-Guardian Angels CC in his first match, pinned by Mitch Smith of Oakland-Craig in his second match, and pinned by Greg Peterson of Scribner Snyder-Guardian Angels CC in his third match. Ussery was also pinned in his final two matches against Drew Lunz of Laurel-Concord and Noah Rutjens of Elkhorn Valley.
For the JV at 145, Alec Price lost by major decision to Peterson of Elkhorn Valley in his first match. He then lost by tech fall to Arlt from Oakland-Craig but pinned Risch, who was unattached. Price was victorious over Risch once again to take 7th place.
Taking 5th place in the 145-pound weight class was Bradon Dickey. Dickey was pinned in his first two matches by Lucas Weichman of Wisner-Pilger and Bailey Fletcher of Scribner Snyder-Guardian Angels CC. Colby Anderson of North Bend Central won in sudden victory over Dickey in the third round, but Dickey finished his last two matches strongly, beating Alec Price of Pierce JV by decision 3-2 and Colby Anderson from North Bend Central by decision 6-5.
At 152, Johnnie Huff placed 2nd, pinning his first three opponents, Devon Dixon of Wisner-Pilger, Cody Thompson of North Bend Central, and Tyler Jenner of North Bend Central. Huff fell in the title match, losing by decision to Tristen Weitzenkamp of Scribner Snyder-Guardian Angels CC 6-4.
Dillon Dickey earned 2nd place at 160. Dickey pinned Lathan Ohlrich of Laurel-Concord in the first round, but then fell by pin to Chris Heydon of Laurel-Concord in the second round. Dickey came back from this loss, however, winning his next three matches against Tucker Loberg of Hartington Cedar Catholic by pin in 35 seconds, Gus Ussery of Pierce JV by pin in 54 seconds, and Tanner Byrd of North Bend Central by decision 7-0.
For the JV at 160, Gus Ussery took 5th place. He lost by pin to Heydon of Laurel-Concord in the first round and Byrd of North Bend Central in the second. Ussery pinned Ohlrich, who was unattached, in the third round, but he lost by pin to Dickey of Pierce in the fourth. In the fifth round, Ussery lost to Loberg of Hartington Cedar Catholic.
Aaron Hanlin took 1st place in the 170-pound weight class. Hanlin won by tech fall over Billy Barelman of Laurel-Concord in the first round, and he won by pin over Ryan Kreikemeier of North Bend Central in the second. The third round brought another victory for Hanlin, who won by pin over Kody Dunn of Pierce JV. In the championship bracket, Hanlin won by pin over Michael Virka of North Bend Central in 56 seconds and won the championship match by decision over Austin Roach of Laurel-Concord 3-2.
For the JV at 170, Kody Dunn lost to Kreiemeier, who was unattached, by pin in the first round. He was also pinned in the second round by Barelman, unattached. Dunn fell to Hanlin of Pierce in round three by pin, but he was victorious over Austin Koch of Hartington Cedar Catholic in the finals. Dunn received a bye in his final match to take 7th place.
At 182, Ethan Andersen placed 5th, losing to Nolan Casey of Laurel-Concord by decision 7-5 in the first round, Brett Haisch of Laurel-Concord by pin in the second, and Trevor Jenner of North Bend Central by pin in the third. Andersen lost his final match against Michael Liermann of Wisner-Pilger by pin.
Nate Meier, wrestling at 195, took 1st place in his weight class. Meier pinned Ben Barelman of Laurel-Concord in a matter of just 53 seconds. Meier also pinned Nick Hines of North Bend Central to win the bracket.
Charlie Krueger, at 220, placed 2nd in his bracket. Krueger won by pin over Adam Leise of Hartington Cedar Catholic in the first round. In the second round, Krueger fell by pin to Blake Uhing of Oakland-Craig but came back to win by pin over Lucas Kolterman of Pierce JV.
For the JV at 220, Lucas Kolterman lost by pin to Uhing of Oakland-Craig in the first round, won by pin over Leise of Hartington Cedar Catholic in the second, and fell by pin to Krueger of Pierce in his final match, taking 3rd place in his weight class.
Rounding out the varsity Warbirds’ results at 285, Evan Harrod placed 1st in his weight class. Harrod pinned all of his opponents, Ethan Hirschman of Laurel-Concord in just 36 seconds, Tyler Tinker of Pierce JV, Nelson Orellana of North Bend Central, and, in the championship match, Nic Maughn of Elkhorn Valley.
For the JV at 285, Tyler Tinker earned 3rd place. Tinker pinned Hirschman of Laurel-Concord in the first round, as well as Maughn from Elkhorn Valley in the second.
Tinker lost to Harrod in round 3 by pin and to Orellana of North Bend Central by decision 5-3.
The Warbirds’ will hit the mats again on Thursday, January 10 in Plainview.
