Broncos 2nd, Rewolinski, Sackman place first
By Tim Wester
Sports Correspondent
Any trip outside of the Southern Lakes Conference is a good trip.
That’s the attitude of a young Union Grove wrestling team that finished second at the nine-team Panther Brawl at Palmyra-Eagle High School Saturday, Jan. 7.
Junior Alex “Bubba” Rewolinski and freshman Jon Sackman won their classes at 160 and 113 respectively, while Zach Myers (106), Jake Kies (182), Baron Masi (195), and Clayton Esch (220) each finished second.
The Panthers finished just behind Whitewater, who won the event.
“We wrestled well, even though we gave up a couple of weight classes,” Union Grove coach Andy Weis said. “Our kids gained good experience and racked up some important wins.”
Rewolinski, who won four of his five matches, finished off Drew Malicki of Waukesha North in the championship.
“Bubba’s biggest match was in the last round where he was able to pin Drew of Waukesha North,” Weis said. “Drew finished fourth at Mid States, just ahead of Bubba, so we were excited to see Bubba finished him off in just 1:19. He was in control the entire match.”
Sackman also was impressive at 113, with three pins.
“Jon started the season wrestling at 120, but we decided to move him down to 113 and its just suited him much better,” Weis said. “He was a bit undersized at 120, so at 113, he’s been able to compete much better and had successful day at the Brawl.”
While Rewolinski and Sackman continued their solid seasons, newcomer Barron Masi took advantage of his opportunity with a second-place effort at 195.
“Barron has been knocking on the door this year,” Weis said. “He has been itching and clawing to get an opportunity to be a consistent player in our lineup, and finally got his chance and made the most of it.”
Esch, meanwhile, continued his solid season with another second-place effort at 220.
“Clayton just keeps plugging along for us,” Weis said. “He just ran into a tough kid from Lake Mills in the first place match, otherwise he had a strong day.”
“Overall, it was to see our younger kids starting to believe. This was a good tournament for them to gain confidence.”
The Broncos need all the confidence-boosting they could get after running into a buzz saw against Elkhorn Thursday, Jan. 5. The Elks didn’t drop a match against the Broncos and rolled to a 68-0 victory.
“We knew going in it was would be a tough dual meet against Elkhorn, who is easily a top 5 or 10 team in the state,” Weis said. “Although we didn’t win a match against the Elks, we were in many of the matches until the very end.”
The Broncos near misses came 160 when Rewolinski battled Bryce Jacobson to 6-4 dec. At 220, Esch battled state-ranked Ritchie Heidemann to a close 6-4 loss, and Sackman narrowly fell 5-3 at 113.
The challenge doesn’t get any easier this weekend when the Broncos travel to Lake Geneva for the Badger Invite. Lakes foes Badger and Waterford will be part of the tournament, along with talented non-conference teams West Allis Central, Kenosha Indian Trail, and Middleton.
“One thing we did well at Palmyra was enter the tournament with confidence,” Weis said. “We need to have that same confidence in all our competitions, including this weekend’s tough event.”
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