Hoesing earns second straight MidState title

BATTLE CREEK — Eric Hoesing found himself in a familiar spot Thursday.

For the second year in a row, the Cedar Catholic senior walked away from the Mid-State Conference wrestling tourney with the gold medal.

He then went on to win another title Saturday at the Norfolk Catholic Invitational

Hoesing is now at 37-4 for the year, and has only lost twice since Dec. 14.

Hoesing said that being the aggressor and not sitting back and waiting for mistakes has been the key to his success.

“I have a chance at taking it all – you have to have that mindset that you have that ability,” Hoesing said. “I am enjoying it as the season is winding down. There are only two more weeks in my high school season.”

Cedar Catholic head coach Justin Bartling said Hoesing now has to get through a very tough District, but believes he will be able to advance from this week’s District Tourney to next week’s State wrestling tournament in Omaha.

“He is in a tough district, but he is going to be one of the top guys in his bracket,” Bartling said. “I believe he has a great chance of going to state and getting on the podium.

In Thursday’s Conference meet, Hoesing started out with a first-period pin over West Point Guardian Angels Cale Schwer.

He then earned another first-period pin in the semifinal round, by putting Battle Creek’s Kase Thompson on his back with just 16 seconds left in the first period.

Hoesing had to go the distance in the title match, earning a 17-6 major decision over Pierce’s Brett Tinker to earn the title

Hoesing started out Saturday with a quick secondperiod pin over Alex Montenegro of West Point-Beemer He then made quick work over Cale Schwer of West Point Guardian Angels, pinning him in :47. His semifinal match lasted longer — but not much. Hoesing pinned Jackson Koehn of Clarkson/Leigh in 1:08 to advance to the title match.

Hoesing caught Wahoo Neumann’s Colby Osmera by surprise in the title match, flipping him on his back to earn the pin in just 30 seconds.

Kerby Hochstein also medaled at the MidState Conference meet.

Hochstein dropped a tough 7-0 decision to Tyson Sauser of Crofton-Bloomfield in his opening match in the 138-pound division.

Hochstein bounced back to earn a second-period pin over Dylan Ahlman of Battle Creek. He then went on to earn a hard-fought 8-5 win over Allan Olander of Norfolk Catholic to advance to the third-place match.

Hochstein and Sauser again met up in that match. This time Sauser was able to earn a second-period pin over Hochstein.

Other Cedar wrestlers at the MidState meet were:

106: Keegan Carl. Carl fell by pin to both Hudson Barger of Crofton-Bloomfield and Battle Creek’s Jaxson Hassler.

132: Nash Albers fell to Jaxon Schafer of Boone Central in 3:31. Albers then pinned Raul Palma of Wayne in 2:00. Albers’s day ended with a loss to Lio Dominguez of O`Neill.

145: Cole Steffensen lost by pin to Kobe Thompson of Battle Creek in 1:17. He was then pinned by Boone Central’s William Karmann.

152: Conner Hochstein defeated Kaden Warneke of Battle Creek in a 6-5 decision in his first match. He then lost to GACC’s Damon Crawford by a firstperiod pin. Levi Drueke of O`Neill ended Hochstein’s day when he earned a 6-2 decision over the Cedar wrestler.

195: Taylor Weber of Boone Central pinned Jacob Keiser at the firstperiod buzzer. Keiser then bounced back with a takedown and 14 second pin of Hunter Butts of O`Neill. The Eagles’ Korbyn Grenier ended Keiser’s day with a 13-3 major decision.

Mid State Conference

MidState Conf. Team Standings

Pierce 188.5, O’Neill 157.5, Boone Central/Newman Grove 144, Battle Creek 138.5, Crofton/Bloomfield 109, Guardian Angels CC 84, Wayne 83, Norfolk Catholic 66, Cedar Catholic, 44.

In the 106-pound class, Joseph Yates of O`Neill pinned Keegan Carl in 1:18 in Carl’s first match of the day. Carl then dropped a hard-fought 10-8 decision to Edward Pena of West Point-Beemer to end his day early.

In his first match in the 132-pound division, Nash Albers was pinned in the second period by Logan Jaixen of Columbus Lakeview. Eli Barner of Wayne earned an 11-2 major decision over Albers in his next match.

In the 138-pound division, Kerby Hochstein earned a 4-2 decision over Allan Olander of Norfolk Catholic, then fell in a second-period pin to O’Neill’s Brady Thompson.

Hochstein put himself in the medal round with a second-period pin over Joshua Jansen of West Point Guardian Angels. He met up with Olander again in the third-place match. This time Olander caught Hochstein in a move and earned a pin with just 15 seconds left in the first period to relegate Hochstein to fourth place on the medal stand.

Cole Steffensen ended up with two losses on the day. He fell to Gavin Lampman of Wisner-Pilger in his first match and Conner Specht of Bishop Neumann pinned Steffensen in his next match.

Conner Hochstein had a great day, finishing 3-1 and earning a third-place medal.

He lost 11-4 to Levi Drueke of O`Neill in his first match, but then pinned James Dorcey of Wayne in:47 and Thomas Vrana of Bishop Neumann in 4:26.; In the third-place match, Hochstein earned a 5-2 decision over Norfolk Catholic’s Noah Wattier.

In the 195-pound division, Jacob Keiser ended up on the short end of a thirdperiod pin to Caden Arens of Norfolk Catholic. Keiser bounced back to defeat Carsten Knobbe of West Point Guardian Angels , pinning him in 1:49. Keiser’s final match of the day was against Cooper Colson of West Point -Beemer, who pinned him in 1:58

Norfolk Catholic Invitational

1. O`Neill, 171.5; 2. Columbus Lakeview, 159.5;3.Bishop Neumann,134;4.Wayne, 106; 5. West Point-Beemer, 103; 6. Guardian Angels, 68; 7. Norfolk Catholic, 61.5; 8. Cedar Catholic, 54; 9. Wisner-Pilger, 43;

10. Lutheran High NE, 26.0; 11. Clarkson/ Leigh, 25.0; 12. Scribner-Snyder, 0.