Photos by Bryce Ford/Stratford Wrestling

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

LA CROSSE — Stratford won three individual titles and had two others finish in the top three as it rolled to its third-straight Division 3 title at the Bi-State Wrestling Classic on Dec. 29-30 at the La Crosse Civic Center.

A.J. Schoenfuss won the title at 120 pounds with a 6-3 win over Veliko Kochiu of Wausau West, Jeremy Schoenherr took the 126-pound championship with a 5-1 victory over Trenton McManus of Adams-Friendship, and Mason Kauffman beat John Maki of Mauston 5-3 to take the 145-pound title for Stratford.

The Tigers finished with 321 ½ points to win the Division 3 championship by nearly 200 points over second-place New Lisbon (122).

Stratford’s Mason Kauffman, right, battles during a 145-pound match at the
Bi-State Wrestling Classic in La Crosse on Dec. 30. Kauffman won the 145-pound title as Stratford took first in the Division 3 team standings
for the third-straight year.

Hudson won the Division 1 title with 338 ½ points, and Marshfield took 18th out of 21 teams. Ellsworth won the Division 2 team crown. If the three divisions were scored together, Stratford would have finished second only behind Hudson, which is ranked No. 2 in Division 1 by wiwrestling.com. Stratford is ranked first in Division 3.

Stratford’s Jake Drexler lost the 113-pound title match 7-5 to Drew Klabon of Hudson, and Kam Bornbach finished third at 182 pounds for the Tigers.

“We were really pleased on how the kids wrestled,” Stratford coach Joe Schwabe said. “We lost some close matches but sometimes forget about the close matches we won. It was very neat getting a large amount of kids to place, with four in the finals.”

Other top-10 finishes for Stratford came from Macey Kilty, who was fifth at 106 pounds; Derek Marten, seventh at 132; and Tyson Kauffman, seventh at 285.

“We also won our third-, fifth-, and both seventh-place matches, which is a great way to end your tournament,” Schwabe said. “We had a close second and three champs, so obviously we’re very pleased with those guys. Hopefully we can build on this as we enter into the second phase of our season.”

Stratford won a Marawood Conference dual against Edgar on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 70-3, taking six matches by pin and four others by forfeit.

Drexler (113 pounds), Schoenfuss (120), Schoenherr (126), Sam Wenzel (145), Dylan Schoenherr (170), and Kyle Giebel (195) all won by pin for the Tigers.

Stratford had its closest match of the season but was able to prevail on the strength of three pins and two forfeits as it beat Athens 41-31 in a Marawood Conference wrestling dual meet on Thursday at Athens High School.

Manny Drexler (106 pounds), Jeremy Schoenherr (126), and Wenzel (145) won by pin for the Tigers, who improve to 4-0 in the Marawood.

Bornbach added an 18-3 technical fall at 182, and Tyson Kauffman and Mason Kauffman won by decision for Stratford.

Stratford will compete at the D.C. Everest Invitational on Saturday.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)

Stratford 41, Athens 31

106: Manny Drexler (S) pinned Gabe Weiks in 0:53.
113: Jake Drexler (S) won by forfeit.
120: A.J. Schoenfuss (S) won by forfeit.
126: Jeremy Schoenherr (S) pinned Jonathan Alberecht in 2:35.
132: Kevin Alberecht (A) won by disqualification.
138: Klay Ellenbecker (A) def. Jordan Becker 15-7.
145: Sam Wenzel (S) pinned Andy Nowacki in 3:02.
152: Mason Kauffman (S) def. Austin Engel 5-4.
160: Nate Morse (A) def. David Marquardt 6-3.
170: Marshall Westfall (A) pinned Dylan Schoenherr in 1:49.
182: Kam Bornbach (S) won by technical fall over Tannor Frahm 18-3.
195: Jordan Zinkowich (A) pinned Kyle Giebel in 1:53.
220: Dakota Venzke (A) pinned Jon Aguirre in 2:42.
285: Tyson Kauffman (S) def. Tyson Sommer 7-5.