Wrestling: Spartans fourth at Rocket Scramble

Brookfield East finished fourth (521 points) out of 16 teams at the Rocket Scramble at Cedar Grove/Belgium on Saturday.

The Spartans had opened the week by dropping a Greater Metro Conference dual meet to West Allis Hale, 43-28, Jan. 5 at East.

Last year the Spartans beat the Huskies by three points, so Hale was looking for revenge - and got it.

East freshman Micah Childs started out the scoring with an impressive pin in the second period at 170 to get the ball rolling and bring the crowd to their feet.

Junior John LeClaire at 195 showed his takedown and leg ride skills while scoring a technical fall (20-5) in the third period.

Senior Andrew Sobczak at 285, coming off a breakout performance in Merrill the previous week, won a thriller with a last-second, 5-4 overtime victory that really got the crowd into the match.

Junior Ben Lingeman at 120 won by 15-8 decision, and freshman Josh Dempsey at 126 dominated his opponent with a 17-1 technical fall, ending the match in the third period.

Finally senior Casey Dentino at 132 put on a wrestling clinic, pinning his opponent in the second period and giving the fans an opportunity to appreciate the skills of the eighth-ranked Wisconsin Division 1 Wrestler in his weight class.

East had opportunities to take the lead, but ran into two experienced seniors who closed out the match for the Huskies.

At Saturday's Rocket Invitational, the Spartans finished behind Oostburg (817), Shiocton (613) and Marshall (588).

East had three third-place finishes, each accounting for 60 points: Casey Dentino at 132, John LeClaire at 195 and P.J. LeClaire at 220.

Dempsey at 126 was fourth (48), while Lingeman at 120 (54), Sobczak at 285 (54) and Childs at 170 (48) finished fifth.

Sixth-place performances went to Carston Balke at 113 (46) and Sam Behling at 138 (43).

Drew Hepperla at 160 finished 10th (32), and Zech Copeland at 145 was 12th (16).