Dakota rolls to 11th consecutive district championship
It didn’t take long for Dakota to take the first step towards its ultimate team goal.
The Cougars rolled to a 73-3 win over host Chippewa Valley in the Division 1 team district championship match Wednesday night, staking claim to their 11th straight team district crown.
“This is what we were working for and that’s the postseason,” Dakota coach Ed Skowneski said. “We will use the momentum from here to feed us for individual districts this weekend.”
The Cougars were dominant, winning 13 of the 14 matches, including five by void.
“Dakota sets the standard for everyone in the state,” Chippewa Valley coach Nick Bowers said. “It’s tough that they are in our district, but if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. They’re the number 4 team in the state and we knew what we were coming into.”
Earning wins by pin for the Cougars were Ozia Wilson (120 pounds), Dom deMesa (144), Aiden Criteser (175), Logan Criteser (190), Anthony Coleman (215) and Brad Haver (285).
“They met the expectations,” Skowneski said. “We had good Monday and Tuesday practices, and everyone came in underweight, so we were good there. They were ready to go.”
Winning by decision
were Jake Ferguson (150) and Troy Weiand (165). Earning void victories for the Cougars were Caleb Weiand (126), Drew Astroga (132), Conner Palazollo (138), Carl Nirhanz (106) and Vinnie deMesa (113).
“Troy came back into the lineup and showed some good conditioning,” Skowneski said. “He will help us out going forward. Each kid did something individually that I liked seeing at this point of the season. I’m happy with the whole team effort.”
Chippewa Valley’s lone win came from Dayne Gaskell, who won by decision at 158 pounds.
“Dayne lost to (Dakota’) Brady (Miller) earlier in the year and we needed this one for seeding for Saturday,” Bowers said. “It was one of those that we hoped would come out on top. He’s one of our seniors and one of our captains. He’s fun to watch.”
The win improved Dakota’s record to 23-2 overall
and moved the Cougars into next week’s team regional.
Date and site have yet to be determined.
“We have to stay focused going forward,” Skowneski said. “We have to make sure we’re focused on our goal and what we’re working towards, and what we need to do to achieve it.”
The loss ended Chippewa Valley’s team portion of the season at 11-18 overall. Bowers, who is in his second year as Big Reds coach, said he was proud of the progress his team made this season.
“This is my second year here and we tried to build up the schedule more this year,” said Bowers, whose team defeated L’Anse Creuse North 45-30 in the semifinal match. “We wrestled a lot of hard teams and that’s what we wanted. The harder competition pushed us more to excel. We fell short of our expectations for this year, but we will regroup and look forward to next year.”