Cade Willis falls in finals to close friend, looking to postseason
By Mike Ramczyk
Correspondent
Cade Willis and Jake Stritesky go way back.
Sparring partners for years, the two state-ranked wrestlers are best of buddies off the mat.
On the mat, it’s a strong competition, and the two friendly rivals battled on the biggest stage Saturday at the Southern Lakes Conference tournament at Badger High School.
Cade Willis, a Union Grove star who recently enjoyed his 100th career victory, battled but fell, 7-4, to Badger’s Stritesky in the 132-pound championship match.
Stritesky is ranked fifth, and Willis is sixth in the latest Wisconsin Wrestling Online state rankings.
For Cade Willis, who was one of three Broncos that took second at the SLC meet, it was special to face a close friend.
“I wrestled good, it was a good tournament overall,” Cade Willis said. “It came down to me and Jake. We’ve been practice partners for years and years. I’ve known him for so long.”
“We wrestled in the beginning of the year, it was a good match. I knew I’d have to wrestle hard. We’re going to keep training together, nothing is going to change and we’ll see each other at the end again. It’s going to go back and forth, no matter what.”
Team-wise, the Broncos placed third at the SLC meet, behind champion Burlington and second-place Waterford.
Along with Willis, Gianni Scacco (182) and Gavin Hood (195) placed second.
Cooper Willis, who is ranked fourth at 120 pounds, suffered his first conference loss to Burlington’s Grant Koenen before pinning Waterford’s Jeremy Cherba in the finals to take third place.
For Cade Willis, winning his 100th match was nice, but he’s looking to the future.
“It’s cool, but I have way bigger goals,” Cade Willis said. “I have to keep working and thriving for what I want to do.”
Team showing improvement
As for the team score Saturday, head coach Andy Weis felt good about his squad.
“The boys wrestled hard and wrestled well,” Weis said. “We’ve got some things to improve on, but it wasn’t for lack of effort, and that’s awesome.”
“Gianni and Gavin both took second, and they were kind of surprises. They ran into some tough Burlington kids. They wrestled well.”
Weis said the postseason will be a grind.
“We must improve to make it out of regionals and sectionals,” Weis said. “It’s going to be a grind the next two weeks. I hope the kids are ready for it, because it’s going to be good. It’s going to be really good.”
Other Broncos that finished third were Thomas Cook at 126 pounds, Travis Moore at 145, Trae Ford at 220 and Connor Esch at 285.
At 152 pounds, Jon Sackman placed fourth. Dylan Scacco also took fourth at 160 pounds.
Cade Willis said the team is improving, especially in practice.
“Everyone is going hard and scrapping at practice,” Cade Willis said. “Everybody’s ready. We just have to keep practicing hard, getting cardio in, and everything will just come together.”
Union Grove will compete in WIAA regionals Saturday at Westosha Central.
-
-
-
-
-