Sports Section — Barron News-Shield — Wednesday, February 26, 2020 Sports Peltier wins state berth in thrilling 14-13 decision Barron senior Chase Peltier, who a good chance that the loser of the Stephens said. “Chase had a lead won his 100th career match while ad- Peltier/Friemoth bout wouldn’t get a at the end of the rst period. In the vancing through the Feb. 15 region- chance to wrestle again. second, Jaden came back with a ven- al, nished third in the 160-pound “Chase and Friemoth had wrestled geance and had Chase on his back. I bracket at the Div. 2 WIAA Osceola at the Badger (in December),” Ste- don’t know how Chase got out, but Sectional held Saturday, Feb. 22, en- phens said. “It was close then, as it he did, and just like that, it was 5-4. suring that he’ll close out his high was on Saturday. Tommy is a strong, This back and forth went the rest of school wrestling career at the state young wrestler. Chase had his hands the match tournament. full, but he won the match by the “With less than a minute in the The highlight of the day was a score 9-5. match, Chase was behind by three thrilling 14-13 decision won over “In the semi nals Chase went points and made a comeback. With Jaden Anderson of Gale-Ettrick- against Devin Wasley. With a 42-1 less than 10 seconds left, Chase took Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro for a record, it was going to be a tough the lead, 14-13, and had to hold An- berth into the state tourney. road. It was close after the rst period derson down for two seconds. That Peltier, now 34-9 on the season, but opened up in the second period. was a long two seconds; this was will next wrestle Thursday evening In the third period, Chase mounted some match.” in the preliminary round of the WIAA a comeback. He got one takedown With a ticket to the state tourna- Individual Wrestling State Tourna- and was working on more. He cut ment already in hand, Peltier got a ment against 48-3 Prairie du Chien the lead to 11-7 and then gave up a chance to wrestle back for second senior Traeton Saint. The winner will takedown late to lose 13-7. This gave place against 25-6 senior Preston Po- go on to face 37-1 senior Adam Kil- Chase some con dence for the rest of taczek of Stanley-Boyd/Owen-With- gas of Little Chute in the Friday quar- the day.” ee. Potaczek had lost the sectional ter nals, while the loser will have his After losing to Wasley – who went title match to Wasley by a technical season end. on to win the sectional title in relative fall. Peltier had his work cut out at ease – Peltier needed to win his next “Chase took an early lead with a Osceola in order to earn his way to two matches to earn a state tourna- takedown, but Preston reached back Madison’s Kohl Center oor. ment berth. for a head lock,” Stephens said. “The Osceola Sectional was a “In the consultation semi nals, “Chase tried to roll through and it did day full of work for Chase,” Barron Chase won a 9-4 match over Eli not work.” Jim Bell photo coach Darryl Stephens said. “Every Rohl from Ellsworth (13-23). Chase Peltier was pinned in 1:15, but Nail-biter match was a battle that could’ve gone had some nice takedowns to win the Barron senior Chase Peltier went toe-to-toe with Jaden Anderson of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro in (See Peltier page 3) the 160-pound third place match at the Div. 2 Osceola Sectional. Peltier pulled out a 14-13 decision to claim a spot in either way.” match, and get in position for a third this week’s state wrestling tournament. Peltier rst wrestled Tommy place match and a berth to state.” Friemoth of Neillsville, a 27-12 ju- Up next was the big showdown nior. With Devin Wasley, a 42-1 with Jaden Anderson, a 37-13 senior. sophomore from St. Croix Central “This match that had a lot of turns lurking in the next round, there was and it was stressful as all get-out,” Gerber wrestles to sectional title! Cameron sophomore Tanner Ger- ber will be one of just 20 former state champions to take part in the 77th annual WIAA Individual State Wrestling Tournament this week in SPORTS SCENE Madison. Gerber is part of that select group By Mark Bell after yet another superb weekend of It’s not often that the sports world is focused on hockey, but that hap- wrestling led to a 113-pound champi- pened after 43-year-old David Ayres made his NHL goaltending debut. This onship Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Div. happens every so often. There is an emergency goalie at every NHL game, 3 Edgar Sectional. although he’s usually a bit younger. He’s there in case either team has both Gerber, who is now 45-1 on of their goalies exit the game. These backups aren’t exactly beer league his sophomore season, won the slouches. In Ayres case, he has worked as a practice goalie for the Toronto 106-pound, Div. 3 state title last year. Maple Leafs and their AHL af liate, the Toronto Marlies. To make this sto- Unlike last season, when he n- ry all the better, Ayres works as a Zamboni driver for the Marlies. ished second at the local sectional Fast-forward to Saturday night, when both of the Carolina Hurricanes’ and then faced the state’s top-ranked goalies went down to injury. Ayres left his spot in the stands after the rst wrestler in the state nals, Gerber injury and began putting on his pads. He was shocked after Carolina’s sec- will have a target on his back at the ond goaltender was hurt in a collision at the net. Ayres was pressed into ser- 2020 state meet. He enters the three- vice, and after allowing goals on the rst two shots he faced, he stopped the day tournament as the state’s top- last eight and was perfect in the third period of Carolina’s 6-3 victory. Other ranked Div. 3, 113-pound grappler. than a lifetime memory, a celebratory beer shower by his new Carolina Gerber’s sectional title gives him teammates and a standing ovation from the Toronto crowd – even though he a bye through Thursday night’s (Feb. beat the hometown club, Ayre’s pay consisted of $500 and the game jersey 27) preliminary round at Madison’s he wore. If only professional sports could always be so pure. Kohl Center. He’ll wrestle a quar- ************************** ter nal match at approximately Boxing was the other big story on Saturday. For those of us who never got 11:15 a.m. Friday against Jayden too interested in mixed martial arts and grew up at a time when boxing was Glasbrenner of Fennimore (34-10) or still considered a major sport in this country, we’ve longed for a big time Tanner Birenbaum of Random Lake heavyweight feud that could bring some juice (and hopefully, credibility) (26-12). back to the sport. We seemed to get that with Saturday’s title bout between At Edger, Gerber used a second England’s Tyson Fury and Alabama native Deontay Wilder. The two fought round pin, a clean 5-0 victory and in 2018, but after a split draw, both came into last week’s Las Vegas pay- then an impressive technical fall Jacob Maes Photography per-view showdown undefeated. I didn’t pony up to watch the ght, but to win his rst sectional title. His Championship bout rout news stories that followed explained that Wilder lost his legs early in the rst match was a 2:28 pin of Wyatt Cameron sophomore Tanner Gerber rolled over Clear Lake’s Dominic Leintz during a dominating 21-6 technical fall win in the 113-pound championship bout Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Div. 3 Edgar Sectional. Pictured in the background match – long before his corner threw in towel during the seventh round. (See Gerber page 3) Losing your legs is crippling for any ghter, but even more so for a ghter is the Cameron coaching staff, including Tanner’s father, David Gerber (left). like Wilder, who is known as the best power puncher in the sport. He almost never wins by decision (41 of his 42 wins came by knockout). Fury, meanwhile, has a redemption story worthy of a movie. He had early boxing titles stripped due to a number of reasons, including depression, drug use and a drinking problem – 20 pints a day, four of ve days a week Bears run to fourth place nish – that saw him gain an incredible amount of weight. He also created PR Barron’s girls fell at Northwest- points. Several seniors played extra problems with his mouth but managed to rebound from his demons. ern to the Heart O’North basketball minutes in front of a cheering bench After Fury dismantled Wilder on Saturday, a rematch was in the works champions but bounced back for a of underclassmen. just days later. Then came news of why, supposedly, Wilder’s legs left him convincing Senior Night victory over “I was happy with our efforts,” early in his loss. He wore a costume to the ring that weighed in the neighbor- Cumberland to close out the regular Hover said.