East stuns sixth-ranked Bulldogs

The Brookfield East wrestling team continued to stay hot last week, as the Spartans won their third consecutive Greater Metro Conference match Jan. 26, beating the state's sixth-ranked Division 1 team at West Allis Central, 33-32.

East sophomore Zech Copeland at 145 came into the final match, knowing his team needed a six-point pin to win the match and give the Spartans an upset victory.

The Bulldog wrestler took a 7-2 lead, but Copeland was faster and was beginning to tire out his opponent toward the end of the second period.

Copeland then showed poise and patience in the match executing an inside cradle and earning a pin at 4 minutes, 25 seconds in the third period, giving the Spartans a stunning 33-32 win.

"This was a great win for our team and our program," East coach John Veal said. "We have really been working hard in practice. I'm proud of the guys."

The anticipation of exciting wrestling quickly turned into harsh reality as another top-10 state ranked team started out fast winning the first three matches, taking a 15-0 lead.

But then two Spartans juniors got the scoring going with pins.

Sam Brunker at 182 wrestled a tight match through the first period and then scored a takedown and pin seven seconds into the second period. John LeClaire at 195 then pinned his man with precision technique and speed for the fastest pin of the night in 1 minute, 10 seconds.

Freshman PJ LeClaire at 220 gutted out a tough 3-1 win against an older opponent to bring the tense match to a 15-15 tie.

Senior Andrew Sobczak at 285 helped spark the team with his biggest pin of the year knowing his team needed six points and getting a third-period pin at 5:04 bringing the East fans to their feet and giving the Spartans a six-point lead at 21-15.

But the Spartans forfeited the next match at 106 and then the Bulldogs won a technical fall at the 113-pound weight class putting the Bulldogs ahead 26-21.

Freshman Carston Balke wrestled up a weight at 120, filling in for a sick teammate, and won a 12-6 decision, to cut the deficit to 26-24, but the Central won the 126 pound match to extend the lead to 29-24.

The 132-pound match, featuring East's Casey Dentino, again had two senior titans going head-to-head in one of the toughest weight classes in the state.

Wisconsin Wrestling has moved Dentino up to the seventh-ranked wrestler in Division 1. He was locked in a close match trailing, 5-4, in the third period before winning the match, 8-5, with both sides of the bleachers on their feet.

The Dentino win brought East, with two, at 29-27.

The next match featuring sophomore Sam Behling at 138 had both sides of the bleachers on their feet and yelling for each takedown and escape as the two evenly-matched wrestlers went back and forth, finally ending regulation tied at 6-6.

Behling went into sudden death overtime and lost a thriller 8-6 giving West Allis Central a five-point team lead heading into the final match of the night and setting up Copeland's heroics.

Afterward Dentino talked about why his team has been on a roll.

"This was the best week of practice all year," he said. "Our team is getting better and peaking at the right time before conference, regionals, sectionals and then state."

East has four wrestlers on their team that qualified for sectionals last year.