By Joe Shinners Franklin – Sometimes the buildup doesn’t match the reality when it comes to a highly anticipated dual meet. Normally, it’s a blowout one way or the other. That was not the case when the Franklin Sabers hosted the Kenosha Tremper Trojans Wednesday night before a packed fieldhouse in a snow-delayed showdown between two of the top teams in Southeast Wisconsin. The dual was delayed by several weeks due to a snow storm, and it was well worth the wait. Franklin senior JT Turnbough, the former basketball player turned wrestler with only two years of experience on the mat, will go down as the hero of the dual as his hard-fought 7-2 victory over Temper junior Dan Nieves at 171 pounds proved to be the difference in Franklin’s 24-22 come-from-behind victory. Tremper entered the dual ranked No. 3 in the area and Franklin entered ranked No. 9 in the area. Both teams had already lost to Muskego prior to Muskego’s injury woes, leaving the winner as a clear contender for the Southeast Conference Tournament title Saturday at Racine Horlick. Turnbough made sure that Franklin will be mentioned as a team to watch when his takedown in the second period and escape in the third gave him a 3-2 lead. Nieves tried to repeatedly shot in on Turnbough, but Nieves couldn’t break through the Franklin senior’s defense in the final period. In the final seconds of the third, Nieves went for a late throw to win the match and dual, but Turnbough countered and put Nieves to his back for a takedown and two-point nearfall to clinch the victory for the Sabers, who came back from a 22-12 victory by winning the final three matches. Both teams forfeited at 103 pounds, and Kenosha Tremper was without senior 285-pounder Najee Parker. Tremper coach Joel Dutton said Parker’s absence was due to personal reasons. Franklin improved its record to 15-4; Tremper fell to 32-5. Still, Franklin fans were jubilant after the upset victory. “It came down to the last three weights, but we knew we had a chance,” said Franklin coach Louis Brown. “JT epitomizes what we are all about. He is a tough, great kid. He came out for the team as a junior. What a way for him to go out. He wins in his final match at home. I’m really happy for him.” Turnbough wouldn’t have had a shot at the clinching victory, however, if it wasn’t for the performance of freshman Kyle Smith at 152 and senior Adam Langowski at 160. Smith pinned Tremper senior Ricky Oberg in 56 seconds at 152. Langowski used a third-period takedown after an escape to pull out a 7-2 victory over Tremper junior Ty Symoens at 160. “This was a total team effort,” said Brown. “I told the kids coming in, ‘Do it for someone who doubts you. I don’t care who it is – a teacher, a student, anyone. Show them.’” Extra points were hard to come by in this dual. Tremper won seven of the 13 matches wrestled, but Franklin came away with the only two pins. Smith was equaled by junior David Cabral, who pinned Tremper senior Matt Freeman in 3:58. Those four extra points from the pins were the difference as Tremper was able to earn only one extra point in the match. Tremper sophomore Dominic Garcia defeated Franklin junior Sam Kortes by a 13-5 major decision in the biggest showdown o f the day. Garcia is ranked No. 2 at 119 by the Crossface; Kortes is ranked No. 4 at 119 by the Crossface. Kortes will be at 112 at conference. Dutton was disappointed with the result, but not the quality of the dual. “As a former wrestler and a coach, that is what you want to see – two guys scrapping it out in the end. I love watching this kind of wrestling. Of course, I would have like a different result. It was a battle the whole time. Everyone was looking for bonus points, and we gave up two pins. We needed this loss to get ready for Saturday (at Conference). We lost, and I’m happy about it. We needed a match like this. Saturday, all the big boys are coming.” Franklin 24, Kenosha Tremper 22 189 – Doug Carlson, KT, def. Matt Grabowski, F, 11-5; 215 – Brian Steinbrink, KT, def. Jordan Hermann, F, 6-4; 285 – Brendan Butler, F, def. Chris DeRose, KT, 7-4; 103 – both teams forfeited; 112 – Sam Tyczkowski, F, def. Jared Nichols, KT, 8-5; 119 – Dominic Garcia, KT, def. Sam Kortes, F, 13-5; 125 – David Cabral, F, pinned Matt Freeman, 3:58; 130 – Trevor Mongeau, KT, def. Cory Clapper, F, 4-2; 135; David Hood, KT, def. Adam Stelloh, F, 11-4; 140 – Levi Horton, KT, def. Lee Smith, F, 4-3; 145 – Justin Shepherd, KT, def. Steve Anderson, F, 12-7; 152 – Kyle Smith, F, pinned Ricky Oberg, KT, :56; 160 – Adam Langowski, F, def. Ty Symoens, KT, 7-2; 171 – JT Turnbough, F, def. Dan Nieves, KT, 7-2. Go Back to the Home Page Read More Articles by Joe../../../Archive.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1
Franklin Comeback Stops Tremper