Sports

The Shawano Lightning Bantam hockey team took to the Crawford Center ice over the weekend, taking part in the Bantam Invitational Tournament.

Shawano finished with a 2-2 record to finish third in the five-team, round robin tournament.

The Lightning, comprised of players ages 13-14, opened the tournament up with a 7-4 victory over the West Salem Wild on Friday before edging the Ozaukee Ice Dogs 3-2 in the team’s only game on Saturday.

Shawano opened Sunday with a clash against the Marquette Wildcats, falling 4-1. The Lightning then capped the tournament against the Sauk Prairie Flyers, dropping a 6-3 final.

Isaiah Gueths, Louis Hrabik and Jack Marsh each scored for Shawano in the loss to Sauk Prairie, while Lee Davids was credited with an assist.

Lightning goalie Lincoln Simons stopped 21 shots, as Shawano was outshot 27-20.

In its first Sunday game against Marquette, the Lightning were outshot 46-17.

WRESTLING

Four Hawks go 5-0

The Shawano wrestling team had a strong day at the Laconia Tournament on Saturday. The Hawks dropped just one dual to place second as a team.

Keith Tourtillott, Sam Tourtillott, Gage Timm and Wyatt Brandt all finished with 5-0 marks for Shawano on the day.

Colten Herm, Austin Schmidt and Ben Carroll all posted 4-1 records on the day for the Hawks.

Peters takes fifth in Sturgeon Bay

Leone Peters finished fifth in the 182-pound weight class to lead Menominee Indian at the Dirk Sorenson Door County Classic on Saturday.

Peters needed to win just his final match of the day to take fifth after earning three byes on the day. He pinned his opponent in the third period of the fifth place match.

Menominee Indian scored 27 points to finish 18th at the 20-team invite.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Bonduel 51

Wey-Fre 50

After placing fifth as a team at the Herb Tyler Invitational on Saturday, the Shawano wrestling team came into Thursday’s Bay Conference dual against Menasha a little short-handed because of some injuries.

Despite that fact, Shawano was still able to control most of the duals on the night and pick up a 57-18 victory during parent’s night at Shawano Community High School.

“I think our guys showed that they could come out and stick to a plan tonight,” Shawano coach Mike Homan said. “They stayed with their offense and worked on some things we’ve been harping on them about and really just continuing to get better. It was more about going out and doing what we could do and sticking to that.”

With the win, Shawano moved a step closer to claiming the Bay Conference title. The Hawks will take their 5-0 conference mark to Xavier next Thursday, and with a win, would capture the crown.

Athlete: Justice Paiser

Sport: Boys basketball

Position: Forward

School: Gresham Community High School

Year: Senior

It was a tough start to the season for the Gresham boys basketball team, which opened the year 2-8. Since then, the Wildcats are 3-2 and starting to play more competitive basketball, with senior Justice Paiser helping lead the way.

Paiser, who battled an injury during the fall sports season, helped Gresham to a win over Tigerton on Thursday, scoring 14 points. He tallied 10 points and eight rebounds in a battle with Crandon back on Jan. 15 and recorded 13 points and 13 rebounds in a win over Northland Lutheran on Jan. 11.

Q: When did your interest in basketball begin?

A: My dad was the high school basketball coach when I was in elementary school. I was the waterboy so I was at all the practices and games. That’s where my love began.

Going into its Great Northern Conference dual meet against an undermanned Antigo squad, the Shawano boys swim team knew victory would be a given.

With conference and regionals right around the corner, head coach Jeff Easter and the rest of Shawano coaching staff stressed leaving it all in the pool and not letting up.

Shawano handled business on Thursday, earning 10 first-place finishes in a 107-39 win over Antigo at Shawano Community High School.

The Hawks 200-yard medley relay team of Collin Buerman, Karson Rades, Camden Kroll and Josh Bergmann got the night off to a strong start for the hosts, finishing with a time of 1 minute, 57.48 seconds to place first.

Peter Fuller then eased to a win in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:06.73, nearly 35 seconds faster than any other competitor.

Luke Brewster’s deer makes the legendary turdy point buck of song fame look like a spike buck.

The Virginia hunter’s 2018 Illinois buck kill is believed to be the largest buck ever killed with a bow and the largest buck ever killed by a hunter.

With 38 scorable points, the nightmarish non-typical rack has an official net record book entry score of 320 5/8 inches, surpassing the current world record Boone and Crockett Club score of 312 inches and the Pope & Young Club record score of 294 inches. Pope & Young Club records archery kills only and Boone and Crockett Club records both gun and archery kills.

The Nov. 2 kill in Edgar County was measured after the mandated 60-day drying time. The jaw-dropping rack was revealed Jan. 10 at the first day of the Archery Trade Association (ATA) show in Kentucky.

With the weather this week throwing a wrench in the schedule, the Shawano reserve boys hockey team was only able to practice once.

That lack of on-ice work was evident in the first period of Shawano’s game against Green Bay United on Thursday.

After a slow first 15 minutes, the Hawks kicked it into another gear. Shawano scored five goals in the final two periods en route to a 5-2 victory at the Crawford Center.

“It took a little time to get fired up after that snow break,” Shawano coach Garret Smith said. “We were working together as a team and making our passes connect and then we started having some success. The goalie for the other team is pretty fast in movement and I think a pretty skilled player, so it took either a really well-placed shot or some scramble in front to get a goal. We got a lot of opportunities.”

WRESTLING

Amherst 40

Witt-Birn 39

The Chargers lost a Central Wisconsin Conference dual to the Falcons on a tiebreaker on Thursday.

Austin Worzalla (113), Bryce Zoromski (138) and Jeremy Landowski (170) all earned wins by pin for Wittenberg-Birnamwood on the night.

Allen Uttecht (285) earned an 8-2 decision win for the Chargers while Will Urquhart (145), Pierson Potrykus (120) and Bedani Sierra (106) all picked up forfeit wins.

Menominee Indian 42

Tri-County 25

The Eagles won a forfeit-filled CWC dual over the Penguins on Thursday.

Morgun Fish (152) earned the lone win by pin for Menominee Indian, taking down his opponent in 1 minute, 26 seconds.

Alex Waukau (285), Joe Komanekin (138), Gregory Turney (160), Alex Peters (170), Leone Peters (182) and Darius Wayka (195) all won by forfeit for the Eagles.

Bonduel 45

Rosholt 21

Here is a look at some of the top performances in the area over the past week:

Ben Carroll — Shawano wrestling

The junior finished off a strong week on the mat by taking first in the 145-pound weight class at the Herb Tyler Invitational on Saturday. Carroll posted a 4-0 mark, earning a 7-1 decision in his first matchup before pinning his second opponent. He then won in an ultimate tie breaker to reach the first place match, where he won by major decision. In Shawano’s dual loss to Tomahawk on Jan. 15, he pinned his opponent in the final period.

Isaac Banker — Bonduel wrestling

It didn’t take the most empathetic person in the world to feel for the New Orleans Saints last Sunday.

Considered the strongest team in the NFL for most of their 13-3 season, the Saints suffered a gutting playoff loss for the second straight year.

Last season, they were denied a spot in the NFC championship game when their defensive back disappeared into another dimension and whiffed on an easy tackle.

In their overtime loss to the Rams last Sunday, the Saints were victims of a horrendous non-call of an obvious pass interference penalty.

There, a sense of déjà vu crept in for Green Bay Packers fans, all of who had seen enough game-turning bad calls this past season for one lifetime.