By Joe Shinners Jason Stromberg hasn’t been to the state team wrestling tournament since it moved from West Allis Central to the Fieldhouse in Madison. Well, Stromberg and the West Allis Central Bulldogs should get ready to reacquaint themselves with the tournament the school hosted for 11 years before the WIAA moved it to Madison in 2005. Central, ranked No. 5 in the area, used three key pins and outlasted the No. 1-ranked Arrowhead Warhawks, 34-27, at the Division 1 Homestead Sectional in a dual that began at 160 pounds to secure a berth in the state team tournament for the first time since 2001 and only the second time overall. “Since we stopped hosting it, I haven’t been back,” said Stromberg with a smile. “I’m going now.” Stromberg and the Bulldogs can thank their class of seven seniors, who came up with four of Central’s eight victories. The most important of which was a pin by senior Joey Immekus over Arrowhead senior Spencer Thompson in 1 minute in 57 seconds that sealed Central’s victory. “We’ve been right there the last eight years,” said Stromberg. “But we’ve always been missing one or two kids. This year, we’re not missing that kid. We have seven seniors and they stepped it up absolutely. ” Central, which improved to 26-5 this year, will face Frankin in the Division 1 quarterfinals Friday, March 5. Arrowhead finished at 10-3 with its only state losses to Wisconsin Rapids and Central. It was a physical dual that Arrowhead (10-3) owned early, but Central took over late. Both teams made shifts in their lineups, but Central prevailed. Arrowhead jumped out to a 14-0 lead by winning three of the first three matches, one of which was a pin by senior Aaron Pomeroy over Central sophomore Nick Truog in 55 seconds. Also included was a 6-5 victory by junior Shane Hughes over Central senior Dan Diebitz at 171 in a matchup of two top-ranked wrestlers in the state. Central, however, used two come-from-behind pins to get back in the match and take control. At 112 pounds, Central sophomore Nate Keaton trailed, 5-4, to open the second period but rebounded to post a pin in 3:45 over Arrowhead sophomore Mark Landsgaard. At 125, Central senior Jake Sargent was trailing Arrowhead junior Matt Hoffman by 7-4 but pulled out a pin at 3:57. Sargent remained alive in the match only because he escaped a near pin at the end of the first period. Those two matches swung the match in Central’s favor even though Arrowhead still led 21-18. “We’re winning two matches, and we get pinned,” said Arrowhead coach John Mesenbrink. “That’s a nine-point swing in both matches. You can’t do that. I blew it at 125. I told (Hoffman) to roll that way and he got pinned. It’s my fault. That took away all our momentum.” Central took advantage of the mistakes by winning five of the final six matches to pull out the victory. Central sophomore Eric Vis’ 12-2 major decision over Arrowhead sophomore Jake Nelson at 145 finally gave Central a 28-27 lead and Immekus sealed the deal with the pin. “My coaching staff did a great job of scouting,” said Stromberg. “We weren’t surprised by anything they did. My staff did a great job.” Go Back to the Home Page Read More Articles by Joe../../../Archive.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1