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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield wrestling team has been looking for a confidence boost and it got one Thursday.
The Tigers earned five pins, including four straight late in the match, and went on to defeat Wausau East 46-16 for their first Wisconsin Valley Conference dual victory of the season.
Tyler Manthe pinned Dylan Rivera in 3:36 of the 132-pound match, and Brandon Baltus (152), Josh Lang (160), Brett Hasbrouck (170) and Kane Seubert (189) also earned pins for Marshfield (1-4 WVC).
“It’s definitely a good moral boost considering the type of year we’ve had,” Marshfield coach Don Lang said. “It’s been very up and down with all of our injuries and unfortunate circumstances that have happened throughout the season, but it’s definitely a moral boost going into tournament time and we can take a lot of positives out of this.”
Cesar Ortega started the match with a 7-5 win at 220 pounds for Marshfield and Devon Klement beat Patrick Witz 4-0 at 120 to put the Tigers up 12-4.
After Manthe’s pin, Wausau East rebounded with a key win.
Brook Whitehead, who is an honorable mention in this week’s 138-pound Division 1 state rankings by Wisconsin Wrestling Online (wiwrestling.com), edged Marshfield’s Mitch Hertel, who is ranked 10th, 2-1. Hertel came close to a takedown in the final seconds of the match – Lang was adamant that he got it – but the referee didn’t give him the points.
Marshfield responded with five straight wins to cement the victory.
Carsten Lovstad won a 16-4 major decision over Brendon Kramer at 145, and the Tigers followed with four straight pins.
“In order for use to be successful during tournament time, we have to keep scoring from the bottom,” Lang said. “I’m confident in our riding right now, we’re doing a nice job controlling wrists and covering that ankle, but we’ve got to learn to score and get some combinations together from the bottom if we want to get some guys through to the state tournament.
“We’ve got guys that are working hard. We’re a young group, but we’ve got a good group and we can only go up from here.”
Marshfield wraps up its WVC dual meet season Tuesday at D.C. Everest before the tournament season begins with the Wisconsin Valley Conference Tournament at Wisconsin Rapids on Feb. 2.
Marshfield 46, Wausau East 16
220: Cesar Ortega (MAR) def. Isaac Stuhr 7-5.
285: Tristan Wilson (MAR) won by forfeit.
106: Chang Lor (WE) won major dec. over Noah Gerdes 20-8.
113: Double forfeit.
120: Devon Klement (MAR) def. Patrick Witz 4-0.
126: Nick Diny (WE) def. Luke Mahoney 5-1.
132: Tyler Manthe (MAR) pinned Dylan Rivera in 3:36.
138: Brook Whitehead (WE) def. Mitch Hertel 2-1.
145; Carsten Lovstad (MAR) won major dec. over Brendon Kramer 16-4.
152: Brandon Baltus (MAR) pinned Joey Abreu in 1:09.
160: Josh Lang (MAR) pinned Marcus Joisger in 3:02.
170: Brett Hasbrouck (MAR) pinned Jacob Viehweg in 3:12.
182: Kane Seubert (MAR) pinned Gage Borchardt in 3:12.
195: Alex Stine (WE) pinned Nic Humphrey in 4:56.