DE JA VU: Gladstone Wrestlers Top Eskymos Again
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GLADSTONE---The Escanaba Eskymos and Gladstone Braves met for the second time in five days on the wrestling mat, and the result was the same Monday night in Gladstone.
The Braves beat the Eskymos by an even larger score than last time, 63-12.
Just as it was last week in Escanaba, the marquee match-up was between Gladstone's Drew Hansen (No. 3 in the state in Division 3) against Escanaba's Cade Krueger (No. 10 in the state in Division Two). And this one was a war just like last week when Hansen eeked out a 3-1 decision victory. This time, Hansen got a takedown late in the second period and won, 3-0.
Escanaba managed two wins this time around, on pins by Kaleb Gagne and Eli Gardner. Gardner's pin took a little longer than last week's 37-second pin, but he defeated Gladstone's Logan Ayotte with the mat-tapper early in the second period.
"He gave me the wrists and I stacked it up and just used the mills, and pinned him in the half," Gardner said. "Nothing too special about it. But a win's a win, six (points) is six. Team points is all that matters. It's defintely fun. It's always a rivalry."
The heavyweight battle was a rematch between Escanaba's Tom Benoit and Gladstone's Josh Racine. The two each beat the other in previous match-ups, with Racine winning in Munising and Benoit winning last Thursday in Escanaba. This time, Racine got the pin for the six points.
Racine, who says he was under the weather during last Thursday's loss, says that he worked on a new strategy at practice this time around, and it worked.
"Terry's (Austin Solis) dad, Mr. Solis, was coaching me up after my loss against him," Racine said. "He taught me a couple of new moves, and that one that I had the takedown at the very end is one that he taught me. So, all the props to him. When you're behind someone, you trip him with your feet and pull him to the ground. It seemed to work pretty good. It got me the win."
