Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
Low numbers continued to haunt the Bluejay wrestlers on Thursday night as they fell to Marshfield 45-33. On the brighter side, the Jays pulled off 6 of the 10 matches wrestled with 5 pins. However, they gave up 24 points on four forfeits.
Brad Leiskau (120), Aidan Ball (145), Tanner Pettit (152), Christian Kleinschmidt (220) and Collin Zoellner walked away with pins on the night.
Devon Schultz started the Jays off on the right foot with a 7-6 decision in the 126 class. The Tigers answered with a pair of wins in the 132 and 138 classes as Brandon Leder and Brody Gehrke fell by major decision and technical fall, respectively.
Round 2 of the slugfest kicked off with Ball’s and Pettit’s pins, only to have Marshfield swipe a crucial forfeit in the 160 class then followed up with a pair of pins of their own from Kyle Krizan over Merrill’s Jake Spoehr and Conner Peterson over Merrill’s Brody Zocher.
The Tigers offensive run culiminated with a Merrill forfeit in the 195 pound class.
Following pins from Zoellner and Kleinschmidt, the Jays lost another pair of forfeits in the 106 and 113 class before Brad Leiskau put away Marshfield’s Kevin Cassidy to end the night.
“We knew where we’re at headed into the dual,” comments head coach Brian Suchocki. “When you give up that many forfeits it’s hard to win a dual.
“It was great to win six of the 10 we were able to wrestle and for Brad Leiskau to get a conference win at the end of the dual. That really capped off a night of good competition. It was also great to see Collin Zoellner named ‘Wrestler of the Night’ by WJMT radio.”