HOLMEN — Jagger Jepson and Mason Hinrichs circled each other during a tied 285-pound match that would determine the winner between Jepson’s Holmen High School boys wrestling team and Hinrichs’ Waverly-Shell Lake (Iowa) squad on Thursday night.
When the clock reached 21 seconds remaining, the home crowd made its presence known in what was already a very loud Bernie L. Ferry Fieldhouse.
“Jagger! Jagger! Jagger!” they chanted as the Vikings trailed the dual by one point with less than 50 seconds to go in the tied final bout.
That’s when Jepson shot and gained control of Hinrichs’ right leg and took him to the ground at the 45-second mark. As the crowd grew louder, Jepson rode out the clock for a 4-1 victory that gave the second-ranked Vikings a 36-34 nonconference win over a Class 3A state semifinalist from a year ago.
“It boosted my morale, it boosted my stamina,” Jepson said of the chanting from the response as the tried to set up the winning takedown. “It’s amazing to hear that many people chanting your name as you go.”
Jepson’s victory pushed his season record to 4-0 after winning three matches at the Ellsworth Invitational and gave Holmen a signature victory in its first dual of the season.
Each team won seven matches — Holmen received one forfeit — but the Go-Hawks won by decision at 175 and by pin at 190 and 215 to take a 34-33 after it had trailed 33-19 after sophomore Nolan Knapmiller pulled out an 8-5 decision over Mekyver Hagarty for the Vikings at 165.
Jepson won his match with an escape 16 seconds into the second period and the final takedown.
“Jagger did great job of just sticking to a plan,” Holmen coach Justin Lancaster said. “With a guy who was bigger than him and a good wrestler, he just stayed within himself, capitalized on the one moment he got and did an amazing job.”
Jepson seemed to have a chance to put his math away earlier in the third period when he nearly put Hinrichs on his back at the edge of the mat near Waverly-Shell Rock’s bench. But Hinrichs worked is way free and tied the match at 1 on his escape with 1:20 to go.
“I slipped, I was sweaty, he was sweaty and it was tough to keep him on the ground,” Jepson said. “It happens.
“It stuck in my head a few seconds, but then I heard the fans chanting my name. I knew they had my back, so I had to perform for them.”
Freshman Brendan Henderson (113), junior Brock Needham (132), senior Noah Henderson (150), senior AJ Alesch (157) and sophomore Nathan Henderson (138 forfeit) also won matches for the Vikings, and Brendan Henderson, Needham, Noah Henderson and Alesch finished theirs with pins.
Knapmiller used a takedown with 28 seconds remaining to break a 4-4 tie with Hagarty and propel himself to victory and a 14-point lead the Go-Hawks had to work hard to erase.
“I appreciate Waverly-Shell Rock coming all the way from Iowa because we know what a storied program they are there,” Lancaster said. “We just want to be able to get the right opponents for us to keep getting better and better and learn what we’re doing well and what we can be better at.”
