By Murray Gleffe
Correspondent
DE PERE — Spencer Francois, Gyriece Goodman and Thomas Mudd each recorded falls, as the West De Pere wrestling team defeated De Pere 48-27 in a nonconference dual Dec. 19 at De Pere High School.
“The word of the week was intensity,” said Chris Gallegos, West De Pere head coach. “Spencer has put in the work in the offseason with his weight regimen. Gyriece has come back after not wrestling for two years and has done an unreal job. He only needs some fine-tuning with the tools he used to know. Thomas is only a sophomore and is going to do good things for us these next three years.”
De Pere won six of the 9 contested matches but gave up 30 points with five forfeits.
“It’s frustrating as a coach to not wrestle those middle matches,” said Zach Hendzel, De Pere head coach. “It’s one of those things which happens and can’t control, so we move on from it.”
After Francois garnered six points for the Phantoms to open, one of the most entertaining matches of the day occurred at the 220-pound classification between West De Pere’s Connor Hoerth and De Pere’s Deven Tenor.
With the score deadlocked at 2-2 entering the third period, Tenor got three near-fall points in the opening seconds, but Hoerth followed with a takedown to cut his deficit to 5-4.
Toward the end, after an escape by each wrestler, Tenor was able to slam Hoerth down to get the 8-5 victory.
“It was a great match for us,” said Hendzel. “Deven was down in the 182-pound range for us last year, and he’s added muscle and figuring things out at the top.”
With a solid lead in hand, the Phantoms recorded two falls by Mudd and Goodman to pull away.
“The crosstown rivalry always brings out the best of the coaches and the kids,” said Gallegos. “It used to be called the ‘battle of the bridge.’ Everybody knows everybody through summer camps. You want to win the dual each year you wrestle them.”
West De Pere 48, De Pere 27
195: Spencer Francois (WDP) def. Caleb McAvoy (DP) (fall, 3:28).
220: Deven Tenor (DP) def. Connor Hoerth (WDP) (decision, 8-5).
285: Brody Upton (DP) def. Marcus Williams Jr. (WDP) (fall, 3:20).
106: Malachi Oslund (DP) def. Gavin Janquart (WDP) (decision, 9-4).
113: Connor Schenian (DP) def. Lucius Janquart (WDP) (fall, 3:36).
120: Ethan Agnew (WDP) (forfeit)
126: Bella Bolek (WDP) (forfeit)
132: Alec Ukkola (WDP) (forfeit)
138: Jake Hendricks (WDP) (forfeit)
145: Zac Wotruba (WDP) (forfeit)
152: Brennan Kincade (DP) def. Ryker Crooks (WDP) (decision, 6-4).
160: Thomas Mudd (WDP) def. Peyton Cappelle (DP) (fall, 0:41).
170: Daniel Fernandez (DP) def. Nick Milheiser (WDP) (fall, 1:06).
182: Gyriece Goodman (WDP) def. Garrett Sullivan (DP) (fall, 2:26).