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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Marshfield had three first-period pins and a pair of big come-from-behind victories to down Antigo 55-21 in the final match of a nonconference wrestling triangular meet on Thursday at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield also defeated Sparta at the meet. This story will be updated when results are available.
Against Antigo, freshman Gabe Pugh (113 pounds), Simon Baity (120) and Caden Dennee (126) each earned victories to put Marshfield up 18-0 and the Tigers never looked back.
Pugh earned a pin early in the second period, Baity won by injury default, and Dennee need just 1:12 to pin Logan Edwards to give the Tigers the early advantage.
Antigo won the next two matches to cut the Tigers’ lead in half, but from there it was all Marshfield.
Caden Pearce trailed 6-3 after two period before using a move to earn an escape, takedown and nearfall to grab an 8-6 lead and held on from there to win the 145-pound match for Marshfield.
Nolan Hertel followed with a pin in 1:22 at 152, Payton Young had a pin late in his match at 160, and Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann won by major decision 12-1 at 170 to put the Tigers in control.
Young also trailed for most of his match, falling behind 7-5 after a nearfall midway through the third period by his opponent Korbin Krueger. Young earned an escape and a takedown with about 1 minute left in the match and ended up pinning Krueger with 29 seconds to go for the win.
“I always tell our guys that the harder you train, the more opportunities you are going to have like that when you’re winning in the third period,” Marshfield coach Jackson Hein said of the wins from Pearce and Young. “To me, that’s what wrestling is, it’s going to be a dogfight. Pound for pound, both guys are really strong and good athletes, and it’s fun. It’s fun to be on the winning side of those, but they’re fun to watch. I was glad to see them come out on the top end.”
Sam Mitchel earned a pin in just 14 seconds at 195 pounds, Alex Brost won the injury default at 220, and Conner Berry won by forfeit at 285 to close out the win for Marshfield.
The Tigers will compete at the Neenah Invitational on Saturday before opening defense of their Wisconsin Valley Conference title from a year ago when they host Stevens Point on Dec. 14.
“We take it day-by-day and making sure we’re taking advantage of the opportunity we have,” Hein said. “We’re really excited to get back into the (Wisconsin) Valley Conference and get in those scrambles in the dual meets. When Thursday comes for Point, we’ll be ready.”
Marshfield 55, Antigo 21
113: Gabe Pugh (MAR) pinned Conner Dettman, 2:32.
120: Simon Baity (MAR) won by injury default over Nathan Dykstra.
126: Caden Dennee (MAR) pinned Logan Edwards, 1:12.
132: Ben Stimac (A) def. Tanner Kanable, 2-1.
138: Billy Hull (A) pinned Spencer Wirthlin, 4:33.
145: Caden Pearce (MAR) def. Brandon Lucht, 8-6.
152: Nolan Hertel (MAR) pinned Royce Bauer, 1:22.
160: Payton Young (MAR) pinned Korbin Krueger, 5:31.
170: Bentley Schwanebeck-Ostermann (MAR) won by major dec. over John Schlieve, 12-1.
182: Collinn Eldridge (A) pinned Ben Gust, 0:48.
195: Sam Mitchell (MAR) pinned Jessip Williams, 0:14.
220: Alex Brost (MAR) won by injury default over Nick Roller.
285: Conner Berry (MAR) won by forfeit.
103: Ben Brown (A) won by forfeit.