Travis Houslet / Daily Register
Westfield's Nick Fisher, back, grapples with Mosinee's Justin Tranetzke.

WESTFIELD - Thursday's season-opening dual meet paired a very young Westfield team that has zero seniors on its roster against a Mosinee squad that is loaded with talent, including four wrestlers who placed at the WIAA Individual State Tournament last season. On paper it was a mismatch, and the mat it was too, as Mosinee left town with a 64-15 victory over the host Pioneers.

Mosinee's strength is in the middle weights where it had individuals that placed at the state meet last season a 140, 145, 160 and 189 pounds. It was at those middle weights where the Indians ran away with the contest, taking seven straight matches from 130 to 189 pounds.

While the night belonged to the Indians, all was not lost for the Pioneers. At 103 pounds, Westfield's Patrick Manning got the first win of the night for the Pioneers, pinning Kolton Kern in 1 minute, 4 seconds to tie the match a 6-6. Westfield head coach Sam Rugg said Manning has established himself as one of the team's hardest workers in practice.

"Patrick Manning at 103 had been working really hard," Rugg said. "He's got his head on straight. We expect good things from him."

After Manning's victory, Westfield forfeited matches at 112 and 119 pounds to give the Indians an 18-6 lead. The Pioneers closed that gap at 125 pounds when junior Daniel Beane dominated Mosinee senior Dustin Johnson. Beane, who finished second at the South Central Conference meet last year as a freshman, held a 14-1 lead over Johnson in the third period before pinning him in 5:15 to cut Mosinee's lead down to 18-12.

After Beane's victory, Mosinee went on its run of seven straight victories, which included five pins and two technical falls.

In the final match of the night, Westfield junior Nick Fisher ended Mosinee's run with a hard-fought 9-4 victory over junior Justin Tranetzke. Fisher took a 6-4 lead into the final period before getting an escape and a takedown to seal the victory.

"Nick Fisher is going to be a leader, one of the captains here. He came through when we needed him to step up in the third period," Rugg said.

With a team filled with green wrestlers, Rugg said he liked what he saw from his kids on Thursday and realizes that they must focus on the fundamentals if they are going to get better as the season progresses.

"The kids were fighting. That's what we asked. All I want is them to work hard," Rugg said. "(We need to) stay positive and the biggest thing is to go back to the drawing board, go back to the basics. If we keep doing that to start out and keep doing the basics, they will get those good habits."

MOSINEE 64, WESTFIELD 15

103 - P. Manning (W) pinned Kern, 3:14. 112 - Schraufnagel (M) won by forfeit. 119 - Doll (M) won by forfeit. 125 - Beane (W) pinned Johnson, 5:15. 130 - Ehster (M) pinned D. Manning 2:44. 135 - J. Roosa (M) pinned Schwersenska, 2:23. 140 - Mullins (M) pinned McCartney, 0:59. 145 - Gorman (M) won by forfeit. 152 - Lawson (M) pinned Krombach, 0:41. 160 - Schulte (M) tech falled Potter, 16-1, 2:04. 171 - D. Roosa (M) tech falled Woitula, 16-0, 5:27. 189 - Iczkowski (M) pinned Kuhl, 2:39. 215 - Fisher (W) def. Tranetzke, 9-4. *285 - Brehmer (M) pinned Jungenberg, 3:14.

thouslet@capitalnewspapers.com

745-3518