By David Paulsen
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
The Burlington High School wrestling squad was handed its first dual loss of the season Saturday, after two days earlier capturing a huge Southern Lakes Conference dual win over Elkhorn.
The loss came to No. 4-ranked Mineral Point (Division 3) in the BHS Invitational Saturday. In the third dual of the day for the Demons, Mineral Point scored a 33-26 win over the Demons.
Head coach Jade Gribble noted that Kyle Crayton, who wrestles at 170 pounds, tweaked his shoulder in the second dual of the day versus Jefferson and was given a break the rest of the day.
“I think it would have definitely made a difference in the Mineral Point dual,” Gribble said.
The Demon boys defeated South Milwaukee 53-15 in the opening dual, and Fort Atkinson 54-24 in the second dual.
After falling to Mineral Point, Burlington came back to defeat a solid Mukwonago squad 39-30 and then routed Oak Creek 72-6. The only loss to Oak Creek was a forfeit at 170 pounds.
Tyler Kirkeeng, at 285 pounds, and Josh Bird, at 126, were 5-0 on the day.
Gribble noted a win by Hegeman Tiedt over Tom Mitchell of South Milwaukee. Mitchell was ranked No. 5 in the state in Division 1 and Tiedt scored a 4-2 overtime win with a takedown.
A 34-27 win over the Elks improved Burlington’s SLC mark to 4-0.
Before a huge crowd on T-Shirt Night, the 11th-ranked Demons scored the big win over the 10th-ranked Elks.
“That was a pretty big win for us,” Gribble said. “It was definitely an exciting dual.”
Gribble moved Wes Gavin and Brody Fitzpatrick up one weight class each (to 138 and 145 respectively), and both produced victories.
“It’s not always the easiest thing to do for kids,” Gribble said. “They both kind of stepped up.”
Gavin started the dual with a 4-0 decision, and Fitzpatrick gave the Demons a 6-0 lead with a 4-1 win.
Cody Elsbury made it 9-0 with a 10-4 decision at 152 before Elkhorn got on the board.
The Elks followed with five consecutive wins to take a 21-9 lead, but Kirkeeng scored a 13-3 major decision at 285 and Robert Elsbury followed with a 6-2 win at 106.
Gribble noted that Kirkeeng’s win was big for the team, as was Elsbury’s.
After getting a pin at 113, Elkhorn led 27-16 going into the final three matches. Burlington knew they had a forfeit at 132, so just needed to score wins at 120 and 126.
Ben Hornickle got a pin in 2:29 at 120.
“It sealed it off with the big pin at 120,” Gribble said, adding that he had a lot of confidence in Josh Bird getting a win at 126.
Bird got a pin in 2:27 at 126 to bring home the victory for the Demon boys.
Burlington will travel to Paddock Lake for a dual with SLC foe Westosha Central on today at 7 p.m.
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