Hawk Wrestlers place in Forsyth

Broadus Hawk Wrestling competed in their second tournament of the year in Forsyth, last Friday and Saturday.

The Forsyth Tournament began on Friday with a round robin format, which meant all wrestlers would compete in several matches, and the winners would be seated for the Saturday tournament. Broadus Head Wrestling Coach Frankie Schoonover noted that the team went 12-22 on Friday, and the Friday tournament also gave the guys a chance to see what they were up against on Saturday.

As the day began Saturday morning, it was clear to the Hawks that the competition had upped their intensity levels over Friday – none of the Broadus wrestlers won their first match. Schoonover brought the team together for a “pep talk”, and made some adjustments to try and get the wrestler’s heads into the game.

Whatever Frankie said must have worked, as five wrestlers placed in the meet – a nice accomplishment for the young team, many of whom were wrestling in their first or second meet of their careers.

Brian Hopkins, wrestling at 138 pounds in his first meet, placed 6th. Troy Amsden, wrestling at 145, placed 5th. Luke Herzog, wrestling at 152 pounds, placed 6th. Donovan Sturtz, wrestling at 160, placed 6th. Josiah Middle Rider, wrestling as a Heavyweight, placed 3rd.

“This team shows a tremendous work ethic and a lot of intensity, and I’m proud of their performance,” Schoonover commented. “We’ll increase the intensity level in practice this week, to try and get the guys to find their switch, so they can be mentally ready to turn up their intensity when they need it in a match.”

The Hawks will test their mental and physical game this weekend at a dual tournament in Huntley, which Schoonover said would be a tough meet. Broadus has not traveled to Huntley for several years, but with the team numbers up from previous years, Schoonover made the decision to add Huntley to the schedule. At Huntley, there will be no JV matches, and many of the opponents which Broadus will face at Divisionals will be there to compete against.

“I think we can compete, we just need to look at each match individually,” the veteran coach said of the Huntley Meet.

Wrestling action will take place Saturday at Huntley. This will be the final meet of 2018 for the Hawks – the following meet will take place in Hettinger, ND, on January 5th.