Holzem's 100th career win highlights 43-22 GMC dual win for Hamilton over Falls

Sussex Hamilton senior 138-pounder Bobby Holzem scored his 100th career win and that highlighted a solid 43-22 Greater Metro Conference victory for the Chargers over archrival Menomonee Falls on Jan. 12.

"That just shows how much time and dedication Bobby has put into the program," Hamilton assistant coach Shaun Riege said. "Getting to a milestone like 100 is a great achievement."

With the win, the Chargers improved to 3-1 in GMC duals while Falls fell to the same mark.

The young Indians, who were without one of their top wrestlers, 113-pounder Bill Holz, had to forfeit two classes to the upperclassmen-heavy Hamilton squad.

"With that kind of experience in their lineup that just makes them a little bit better than we are right now," Indians coach Jim McMahon said.

The border rivalry dual was contested at Hamilton on a snowy night, which held down the crowd a little bit, but the Charger student section was still quite vocal despite being relatively small in number.

And they did not come away disappointed.

Early matches set tone

Hamilton took the lead for good in the third match of the night as 285-pounder Mike Konvalinka caught the Indians' Matt Aili in a headlock and pinned him in 1:54 to make the score 9-6.

The Chargers followed that with a 10-6 decision by Brett Neverman over Falls' Aaron Daly at 106 and a forfeit claimed by Kevin DuVall at 113 that made the score 18-6 in favor of Hamilton.

Falls got back into the meet with a tough 15-8 decision by 2011 state qualifier Jeff Kleser over Hunter Lau at 120 and a gritty 5-2 decision by Casey Crangle at 126 that cut the deficit to 18-12.

"That was a big win for Jeff, because Hunter's a good wrestler and Casey had to rally and come from behind and that was important for him," McMahon said.

But after that point, Hamilton took control, winning five straight matches to eventually clinch the meet victory. Phil Flegner claimed a 7-1 decision at 132, while Holzem was relentless in building up a 12-2 lead before pinning his man in 4:28 for his 100th career win.

That milestone was followed up a forfeit claimed by Tyler August at 145, a pin in 3:41 by Nick Knoebel at 152 and a 7-1 decision by Ben Hollnagel at 160.

By the time that run was over, the Chargers were thoroughly in control at 43-12.

The Indians made the final score respectable, as top upper-middleweights Bill Steinke at 170 (14-5 major decision) and Ayoola Olapo at 182 (pin 1:19) finished the meet off on a positive note for Falls.

Depth hard to overcome

The meet started when Hamilton's Tyler Hoell beat the Indians' Mike Schwahn, 4-1, at 195, and when Falls' Ben Erachalu gave the Indians their only lead of the night at 220 with a pin in 1:58. The Erachalu match was short in duration but long on excitement with a couple wild flurries before Erachalu put Hamilton's Matt Lussow to his back.

McMahon was philosophical about the defeat.

"They have about seven or eight seniors in their lineup and that makes it a little tough for us to compete," McMahon said. "They wrestled well. We could have gotten a few of the closer ones but it didn't happen and they (the Chargers) were able to keep momentum."

Riege was happy with the effort. "I thought everyone wrestled tough," he said. "We lost a couple of tight ones early but give Falls credit, they made us work for this. It's just that we have such a deep and consistent lineup right now. We don't have many holes."