West's Rettler ignites team, crowd

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 24, 2014

West’s Rettler ignites team, crowd

Spartans freshman a popular teammate

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News Sports Editor

West Bend West’s Max Rettler was starting to miss wrestling, but only a little bit. It still wasn’t enough to go out for the Spartans’ wrestling team when the season started.

That changed two weeks into this season. On Thursday night, Rettler and the Spartans reaped the benefit.

Rettler, a freshman 113-pound wrestler for West, defeated Slinger’s Erik Uhmhoefer, 10-5, in what was a dominating performance by West. The Spartans were the victors in 12 of the 14 bouts, including five pins and two forfeits.

But the excitement for West surrounded Rettler’s triumph at 113. It was Rettler’s first varsity victory. His only other victory was a forfeit, which he said doesn’t count in his mind.

“It was pretty exciting,” Rettler said. “Just being out there and winning for the first time in front of the big crowd.”

Rettler, whose brother Drew is also on the team, wrestled from when he was 4 until he was in fifth grade. It was at that point Max Rettler had enough of wrestling.

As the start of the wrestling season approached, Rettler had his focus on the track and field season this spring. However, there was just a little itch that he might be interested in rejoining wrestling.

The situation had to be right for him, however.

Rettler looked at his brother and told him that if the Spartans ever needed a 113-pound wrestler, let him know and he’ll do it.

Well, the day after he said that, West’s 113-pound wrestler left the team, leaving a vacancy in the team’s lineup.

And guess who filled it, staying true to his word?

“I thought it’d be later in the season,” Rettler said with a smile.

“But I figured why not give it another try?”

Because it had been so long, Rettler was rusty with his technique. All season, Rettler has been trying to get back up to speed and has often paid the price for it on the mat, losing most of his matches by pin.

He works hard, though, and that’s why his teammates, his coaches and the fans were hooting and hollering for Rettler.

He’s been a saving grace for the Spartans.

“We needed somebody there,” West captain Justin Wagner said.

“He works hard in practice and it was good to see him get a win,” Wagner added. “He’s a great guy; fun character.”

After his arm was raised by the official declaring him the winner, Rettler’s teammates were waiting with open arms to greet the victor. “That was fun,” he said with a smile.

“This is a huge boost for him,” West coach Mike Bauer said.

“It was a huge, huge win,” he added. “It feels good as a coach to see things like that work out.”

The dual started at 160 and Wagner got it going for West with a pin in 1:30.

Slinger’s John Beine defeated Dante Gonzalez, 6-2, to make the score 6-3 in favor of West. From there, the Spartans won 11 straight bouts, including Rettler’s at 113.

Also picking up pins for the Spartans was Jake Fischer (182), Isaiah Muckerheide (126), CJ Werner (132) and Daemon Randall (145).

Fischer was also recognized at the dual for recently winning his 100th high school varsity match.

“They did a real nice job,” Bauer said of his team’s performance.

Slinger’s other victory, which was the final bout of the dual, was by Adam Beine, a 2-1 decision at 152.

“I thought West Bend West wrestled well and I thought we wrestled poorly,” Slinger coach Chris Graziano said. “I knew we were underdogs; I knew that coming in.

“You want the kids to give their best effort and I don’t think we gave our best effort.”

Search for varsity coaches at different phases

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 23, 2014

Search for varsity coaches at different phases

East hopes to have new hire in place in a couple of weeks

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News Sports Editor

West Bend West’s search for a varsity football coach is ongoing, while West Bend East’s search could be nearing completion.

At West, Athletic Director Scott Stier said the school is still accepting applications for the position. He wants a “deep pool of candidates” to choose from. There is no timetable for when Stier will stop taking applications and move the process along to interviews and eventually hiring. He said that’ll likely happen when he is comfortable with the group of applicants, which is right now at about 20.

At East, Athletic Director Jeff Rondorf couldn’t disclose the details of the search, but said the search committee hopes to have a coach in place in the next couple of weeks.

He said the School Board may discuss the position at Monday’s board meeting. However, it would likely be in closed session.

West’s vacancy came about when Aaron Paulin resigned after five seasons at the helm. After leading the Spartans to back-toback playoff appearances in his first two seasons, Paulin was only able to lead the team to a 6-20 record the next three seasons with no playoff appearances and a winless 2011 season.

Overall, Paulin went 15-31 in his five seasons.

East’s vacancy came up after Scott Mindel resigned after two winless seasons (0-17). Mindel spent more than 20 years in the program in a variety of roles.

The next hire for East will be the school’s third football coach in four seasons.

Since the resignations, East and West hosted focus group discussions in how to improve the overall quality of sports with the city’s high schools. During those discussions, the football vacancies were heavily discussed.

“I really think we have to establish consistency and longevity,” Stier said in December after West’s focus group meeting. “When you turn over coaches, when coaches decide not to coach, things like that, you start over in a lot of senses. You need to have those coaches who are invested for a lengthy period of time and establish their program.”

Rondorf said patience is growing thin because of the lack of success each program has had in the last five years.

East and West are a combined 20-71, with four winless seasons in that span.

“It’s going to be a tall task for anyone who’s coming in because there’s not a lot of patience left,” he said.

 

Getting into swing of it

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 22, 2014

Getting into swing of it

West’s Wanie returns from injury

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News Sports Editor

Amanda Wanie is already in mid-season form. Well, sort of.

The West Bend West junior scored an 8.6 on uneven bars in her first varsity competition of the season. It was good for second place in West’s victory over West Bend East on Tuesday night, 135.1-127.45.

It was a season-high score for the Spartans.

Wanie has been slowed by a stress fracture in her right leg so far this season.

Last week against Hartford, she competed on uneven bars in the junior varsity meet.

“(It’s) good having Amanda back and getting her back in and doing something,” West coach Jackie Vorpahl said.

Wanie also competed on balance beam, where she scored an 8.375, but in a routine that was scaled back as she continues to ease back into full competition mode.

“It feels good,” Wanie said of her leg.

“I just don’t want to push it too hard the first time,” she added.

West’s Bailey Wagner swept the meet, winning each of the four individual events and the allaround.

Wagner scored a 9.2 on vault, 8.625 on bars, 9.05 on beam and 9.025 on floor exercise.

East’s Paige Bintz had a personal- best score on floor to take second in that event (8.55). Also for East, Zoey Roberts was second on beam (8.45) and tied for second on vault with teammate Storey Forster (8.5).

“That was amazing,” East coach Haley Neja said of Bintz’s floor routine. “I was very happy with it.”

Roberts was third in the allaround with a 32.2, behind Wagner (35.9) and West’s Katelyn Butters (32.3).

“Zoey was great tonight,” Neja said. “She was solid on every event she did. It was so nice to have solid routines on all four events tonight.

“Taking third place in the allaround, we needed that out of her. It was nice to see her step up.”

East’s team score was its second- highest tally of the season, trailing Saturday’s score at the Homestead Invitational where the Suns took ninth place out of 13 teams with a 127.725.

“They are getting better,” Neja said.

“It seems like it’s halfway through the season, but we haven’t gotten started,” she added. “I still have huge goals; still have high expectations.”

Not being able to compete was starting to frustrate Wanie, the reigning Wisconsin Little Ten Conference Gymnast of the Year.

It wasn’t until about three weeks ago when Wanie was able to start practicing. She admitted she was a bit rusty, but it felt good knowing she was getting closer to being able to help her teammates.

That was the most excruciating part about waiting for the injury to heal.

She had a big smile after Tuesday’s meet as it was a load lifted off her shoulders.

“I didn’t know I was doing varsity coming into this meet,” Wanie said. “Maybe that was a good thing because I didn’t feel like I had much time to get nervous.”

“At this point, I just really want to help my team as much as I can,” she added. “That’s my goal right now. I’ve had to watch everyone do what I want to do.”

Last week against Hartford, Wanie scored just a 6.45 on bars.

Wanie’s 8.6 on the bars Tuesday came on her first varsity event of the season. It was an impressive score, especially when it’s compared to a healthy Wanie at this time last year.

In last year’s East-West meet, Wanie scored an 8.2 on the bars. And one year ago against Waupun, she scored an 8.55. At state, she scored an 8.9 in the individual competition and 9.0 at team state.

With Wanie back in the lineup, which she and her coach hopes will be in the all-around in a week or two, the Spartans got a boost, Vorpahl said.

The plan is to hopefully add floor to Wanie’s regimen next week and then vault the next week.

Like Wanie, Vorpahl was tired of waiting, and Vorpahl challenged one of her captains.

“I decided we’re done. We’re done holding back,” Vorpahl said. “Be a leader like you’re supposed to be; you’re a captain. Step up there and do what you need to do. That’s what I told her and that’s what she did.”

And for Wanie to be ahead of last year in her first time out was a big plus.

“That’s a positive for her,” Vorpahl said. “She now knows she can do it.”

Nick's Notes: G'town still the favorite

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 18, 2014

G’town still the favorite

Well, the streak is finally over. Probably much sooner than most expected. Nonetheless, the streak is over. On Tuesday night, Brookfield Central sent a shockwave through Wisconsin high school boys basketball by beating Germantown, ending the Warhawks’ 69-game winning streak.

Brookfield Central went into the game as the state’s second-ranked team in the Division 1 coaches poll. Obviously, Germantown was No. 1. After Tuesday night, Brookfield Central will likely assume the top spot in next week’s state rankings.

Germantown started the 2011-12 season No. 1 and has been there ever since.

The 69 games in a row led the nation and broke a state record that stood for more than 30 years.

Germantown won in a variety of ways. In most of the games, the Warhawks crushed their opponents. They also showed it can win the close games, the high-scoring games and the low-scoring games.

In last year’s state championship game, they beat Mukwonago without scoring 60 points, but allowed less than 30.

Germantown has four college prospects on its team, including three headed to Division I schools next season.

While the Warhawks may not have much satisfaction for what they accomplished right now, it’s an accomplishment worth celebrating. But we’re not going to overlook what Brookfield Central did, either. It took a special kind of team to beat a special kind of record and that’s what happened.

Brookfield Central is indeed a special team with a ton of talent and deserved to win the game by all accounts. Now we’ll get to see how good Brookfield Central can be. Come March, Germantown will re-emerge as the top team in the state and win a third straight state championship.

Which team is the best is still up in the air. Best and top are different from each other. Top just means a team is at the top of its game or, in this case, the state polls.

What needs to be kept in mind here is the game was at Brookfield Central, which automatically gives the edge to the Lancers. If the game was at Germantown or on a neutral floor, Germantown would’ve won.

A big victory like this could be the turning point of both teams’ seasons. Can Brookfield Central maintain the momentum it has built? How will Germantown respond?

Germantown has balance and toughness. The Warhawks have one more thing in their favor and it is the most important: experience.

Germantown knows how to win the big games. Brookfield Central hasn’t done that just yet. This was a big victory in a big game. It’s just one, though. Next time around, you can almost be assured that Germantown will have revenge on its mind and have that chip on its shoulder. Last time that happened, a lot of teams in this state found out how relentless the team can be. The pressure is now off of Germantown. In the season the Warhawks won the first of their back-to-back state championships, even though they spent the whole season ranked No. 1 in the state coaches poll, they weren’t the favorites.

Madison Memorial was the favorite and with good reason. The Spartans had been to state nine straight years.

What did Germantown do to Madison Memorial? Blew them out, winning 81-43 in the state semifinal. That was the first time Germantown was thrust into the spotlight. And it was brilliant in the twoplus years with it on it.

Now it’s Brookfield Central’s turn. Germantown won’t be too far out of the spotlight, though.

Comeback Bears

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 16, 2014

Comeback Bears

Germantown rallies from 3-goal deficit in 3rd period

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News Sports Editor

All they needed was one. One goal to sneak past the big and talented Tommy Laken, goaltender for the Kenosha Thunder.

When the one goal came for the Germantown Ice Bears, the rally was on.

The Ice Bears pulled off a stunning comeback Wednesday night at the Kettle Moraine Ice Center, beating the visiting Thunder, 4-3, in overtime.

The Ice Bears (9-9) trailed 3-0 with 7:49 left in the third period.

“Truthfully? No,” Ice Bears coach Russ Wanta said when asked if he believed his team could make a comeback.

“The reason why is (Kenosha’s) goaltender is one of the best in southeastern Wisconsin,” he added. “He’s a big kid and covers a lot of the net.”

The Ice Bears miraculously found a way, a sign of the hopefully changing times with the Ice Bears, who are now one victory away from reaching double figures in the wins column for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

This one will be hard to forget.

Peter Schmidt scored the gamewinning goal with 1:19 left in the overtime, but not before Alec Fieldhack tied the game with one second left in regulation.

“We knew we could score on him,” Schmidt said. “We just had to get one and we did.”

Asked if he and his teammates were trying to figure out how they won the game, Schmidt said yes.

“It’s kind of a shock,” he added.

Going into the game, Laken had just a 4-8 record, but had a 2.72 goalsagainst- average, a 93.8 save percentage and three shutouts.

It looked like he was going to get a fourth shutout. Then it went bad for the Thunder (3-12), who were averaging just 2.6 goals per game, in a hurry.

Nate Breckenridge scored at the 9:11 mark of the third period to make it 3-1. Breckenridge scored on a rebound from the initial shot by Mitch Kinnunen.

The Ice Bears finally had the confidence they could score on Laken. From there, the Ice Bears picked up the pressure and continued to apply it relentlessly.

In the third period, the Ice Bears outshot the Thunder, 23-2.

“We got outworked; bottom line,” Kenosha coach JR Litkey said.

The Thunder got on the board with a pair of goals in 4:56 during the first period. Both goals came off turnovers by the Ice Bears in their own zone.

Kenosha got the third goal when the Ice Bears couldn’t clear the puck during a power play. That goal came with one second left on the power play.

“I was frustrated,” Wanta said. “I was frustrated by the little things we were doing. We had double-digit number of icings, which just means our guys are not moving correctly through the neutral zone.”

Down 3-0, Wanta had to make a decision.

“‘Do I readjust and play this one out?’” Wanta recalled thinking after the Thunder’s third goal. “I don’t know how we come to those decisions, but for whatever reason I said no. I’m going to try to let these seniors try to fight back into this thing.

“They rose to the occasion.”

Jake Tweten drew the deficit to one goal with a power-play goal with 27 seconds left in regulation.

Still, the odds were against the Ice Bears. But Wanta said he has a group of players that don’t like to quit.

Joe Kandel shot the puck on goal with the seconds winding down. Laken turned aside the shot. The puck bounced onto Schmidt’s stick who quickly shot the puck at point-blank range to just beat the buzzer. In the overtime, the Ice Bears outshot the Thunder, 6-0. The Ice Bears outshot the Thunder, 49-12, for the game. “I feel terrible,” Litkey said about Laken. “He had a shutout going. With under eight minutes left, we just couldn’t do it. We got outworked.”

The Ice Bears have won five of their last seven games. They are also 4-0 in overtime games this season.

“All year long, win or lose, our kids refuse to quit,” Wanta said. “That is one characteristic of this team that I’m so proud of.”

“All I’ve got to say is, ‘Don’t take the Ice Bears to overtime,’” he added with a smile.