By Joe Shinners Sussex – Arrowhead Warhawks wrestling coach John Mesenbrink continues to be amazed by the growth of his young team. The Warhawks, ranked No. 1 in the area by the Journal Sentinel, held off the Hartford Orioles by the narrowest of margins Saturday to win the eight-team Division 1 Sussex Hamilton Regional team title and move one step closer to a berth in the state team tournament. It was a regional that will be remembered by the performance of Arrowhead senior Brad Fisher, who clinched the Warhawks’ team title in the final wrestleback of the day, the controversy surrounding Hartford junior Casey Kenealy and the first loss of the year for Milwaukee Custer senior Davion Willis. Fisher came through in the clutch for Arrowhead, which battled No. 6-ranked Hartford all day but could never take the lead. That was until Fisher (13-16) pinned Sussex Hamilton junior Kurt Shernell (20-21) in 1 minute 24 seconds in the fourth-place wrestleback at 285 pounds to lift Arrowhead to the team title with 232 points. Hartford, in its second heartbreaking regional loss in xx years, finished second with 230.5 points. Sussex Hamilton finished third with 185 points. The top four individuals in each weight class advanced to the Harford Sectional at 10:15 a.m. Saturday. Hartford, which lead by as many as 14.5 points throughout the tournament, held a 1.5-point lead heading into the Fisher’s match, and his pin gave the Warhawks just enough points to win the team title. Arrowhead will face No. 5-ranked West Allis Central, the winner of the West Allis Hale Regional, in the team sectional final at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Homestead. “It was a battle,” said Arrowhead coach John Mesenbrink. “Our guys wrestled hard. We showed a lot of heart. We had a lot of pins. I’m surprised. This is a young team with seven underclassmen. They have exceeded my expectations.” Fisher racked up three of pins as he helped lead Arrowhead to 21 pins in the regional and important bonus scoring points. Hartford finished with 14 pins. All 14 of Arrowhead’s wrestlers registered at least one pin. “What can I say?” said Harford coach Steve Best. “I’m proud of our kids. They wrestled really well. (Arrowhead’s) heavyweight gets that pin after he was on his back. And he had two other pins. There are a lot of things you can look to when you lose by 1.5 points. Regardless, it’s all about scoring bonus points.” Arrowhead went 4-1 in the wrestlebacks, winning with three pins and a major decision. Hartford went 1-2 in the wrestlebacks. Arrowhead finished with 11 sectional qualifiers and three champions. Harford sent 10 wrestlers to the sectional and crowned six champions. In the finals, Hartford defeated Arrowhead four of five times in the head-to-head showdowns and seemed well on the way to a title. The wrestlebacks, however, were the difference as Arrowhead trimmed its losses in the finals with gains in the placement matches. “We always knew we would need the wrestlebacks,” said Mesenbrink. “(Hartford) beat us all seven times head-to-head at the Cheesehead, so I knew it would be tough.” The drama surrounding Kenealy (36-10), however, was a protracted mess after an improper call during his 140 final with Germantown sophomore Danny Krause (22-5) with 1 minute left in the second period. The referee called two misconduct calls on Kenealy, leading 4-2 at the time, for something he said in back-to-back instances. The referee disqualified Kenealy and removed him from the tournament. Hartford’s coaches poured over the rule book and appealed the ruling for nearly an hour and eventually it was determined Kenealy should not have been kicked out of the tournament because he had not committed a flagrant misconduct penalty. Hartford would have lost the tournament immediately had Kenealy’s points been forfeited due to the removal. Those penalties did come back to haunt Kenealy, however. The 140 final was resumed with 1:00 to go. Kenealy, however, picked up a stalling call penalty. Later, while trying to preserve a 9-8 victory over Krause, Kenealy was called for locked hands with 5 seconds to go in the match. Kenealy was disqualified from the match, but not the tournament, for too many penalties (4) in the match, and Krause emerged the regional champion after a match that lasted well over an hour. “I’m not saying anything about it,” said Best immediately after the incident. “I know how hard it is to be a ref.” The biggest upset of the tournament was turned in by Arrowhead junior Shane Hughes (28-11). Hughes knocked off Milwaukee Custer senior Davion Willis (47-1) by a 13-12 decision in the 171 final. It was Willis’ first loss of the year, and twice he had to fight off his back to even stay in the match after Hughes caught him for takedowns and nearfall points. “(Hughes) is a dangerous individual,” Mesenbrink said. “He’s got a lot of losses due to the tough schedule we wrestled. But he’s ready at the right time.” The other top draws at the tournament – Hartford freshman Bobby Nachreiner, Harford sophomore Nick Becker, Arrowhead senior Al Yde, Germantown junior Jesse Thielke and Arrowhead junior Jake Sueflohn – finished first, though some had stronger challenges than expected. Thiekle and Sueflohn, however, had no such difficulties. Thielke, a two-time D1 state champion, came out on fire in his 125-pound final against Homestead junior Spencer Bold (29-11). Thielke, another victim of an unusual unsportsmanlike conduct call in the final round, cruised to a 19-5 lead with a variety of takedowns and tiles before pinning Bold in 2:41. Sueflohn (40-1) defeated Harford Hartford senior Jarid Baumgartner (38-6) by a 17-5 major deciaion in th e135 final, giving up only five escapes. Nachriener (39-5) tech falled Sussex Hamilton freshman Hunter Lau (29-12) by a 17-0 technical fall in 4:27 to win the 103 title. Becker and Yde struggled, however. Becker (39-5) used a solid ride in the second period to preserve a 2-1 lead over Arrowhead Mitch Berenz (31-13) and used a third-period takedown after an escape to preserve a 5-1 victory in the 130 final. Yde (39-6) led 5-3 with 18 seconds remaining in his match against Hamilton senior Aaron Fiss (36-5) and had to hold on for a 5-4 victory in the 160 final. Go Back to the Home Page Read More Articles by Joe../../../Archive.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1