Brookfield Central Boys Wrestling took on reigning GMC champion Germantown at home on Thursday, January 9th. The Junior Varsity squad opened at 6:30 with several exciting matches before varsity took the floor around 7:20.
Despite the pressure of facing an intimidating Germantown team, BC Head Coach Keith Day expressed his eagerness to test his athletes’ execution: “[Germantown is] an experienced squad. They have nine upperclassmen and some ranked wrestlers. We just have to go out and set the tone and wrestle aggressive, and I will be happy regardless of the outcome”.
One of Coach Day’s athletes, freshman Nate ‘Gecko’ Goeckermann, did indeed set the tone in a dominating victory over Germantown’s Colton Schnieder in the final JV match of the night. For Goeckermann, a freshman wrestling in the 190 lb weight class, it was his first ever meet. Nevertheless, his preparation was on full display as he aggressively collar-tied his opponent at the blow of the referee’s whistle. The tie-up continued for half a minute as both athletes shuffled around the perimeter of the circle until Goeckermann managed to force Schnieder to the ground. Another shrill whistle paused the action to bring both wrestlers back to the center circle where they assumed referee position (where one wrestler starts kneeling while the other kneels behind them and grasps their arm and chest) to continue. Goeckermann, who started behind, wasted no time bullying Schnieder down to the floor and using a half-nelson to pin him with 47 seconds remaining in the round.
The performance was met with roars of approval from fellow BC wrestlers outside of the mat, as well as proud words from Coach Day: “You know, it was his first match, but he wrestled aggressively and stuck to our stuff and it ended up working for him.”
Similarly to Goeckermann’s energetic close, freshman Connor Bluhm (150 lb weight class) rounded out the varsity matches with a solid win over Germantown’s Jack Stecker. Off the bat, Bluhm collar-tied Stecker and pushed him to the edge of the mat, losing his head-gear in the process. The match was paused with 90 seconds remaining in the round so that Bluhm could recollect it. Both wrestlers started in standing position in the center circle, and upon the whistle immediately went to the collar-tie again. A single-leg takedown attempt by Stecker sent both wrestlers spiraling to the floor, where Bluhm eventually gained the upper hand to position himself on top of his opponent. Stecker attempted to escape twice, and succeeded on the second try. With both wrestlers standing opposite each other again, Bluhm slid to his knees to seize Stecker’s legs only for Stecker to collapse on him. After some struggle, Bluhm managed to throw Stecker to the ground as the referee called time.
The second round saw Bluhm starting behind Stecker in referee position. At the referee’s signal, and recommencement of thunderous cheering from the home section, Bluhm grabbed Stecker’s leg and used the imbalance to break his opponent down. Stecker eventually battled his way back up to a kneeling position and gained a reversal, but Bluhm countered with his own and forced Stecker back to the mat. Bluhm then used an armbar to pin Stecker with 11 seconds remaining.
The wrestling squad hopes to continue their streak of strong underclassmen performances to the GMC championship on February 7th.
