Central Boys Wrestling Preview: Partnership with Ed-Co raises expectations

By Willis Patenaude | Times-Register

The Central boys wrestling team is returning to the mat, coming off a season best described as a learning year for a talented, but young, group that didn’t have a senior on the roster and was small in numbers, ultimately limiting dual. 

Entering this season, coach Joe Koehn believes those problems have been solved. Koehn highlighted the fact that the core group of wrestlers was able to get significant one-on-one time in practice as well as mat time and wrestling between 30 to 40 matches during the season. 

“They get that experience early, and they can bring that into this year. Definitely having a lot of varsity experience, a lot of wrestling experience and a lot of matches they were able to be in. So, definitely positive there,” Koehn said.

Among Central’s returners are several upperclassmen, including state qualifier, junior Braxton Bormann, who finished last season with a 48-5 record at 126 pounds. Collin Jaster went 20-23 at 132 pounds and Preston Kulper finished 19-21 at 150. Another familiar name is sophomore Jamison Feickert, who wrestled at 113 pounds as a freshman, compiling a record of 21-26. 

The youth is still there, though, as the Warriors add three freshmen to the roster, including Derek Deitchler, a fifth place finisher at AAU districts, and Zane Embretson and Parker Funke, who both had solid junior high years, according to Koehn.  

While that appears to solve the youth issue, the second half of the problem was solved when Central partnered with Edgewood-Colesburg for the upcoming season. That conversation started when Ed-Co reached out to area schools after being unable to find a coach for the season. One of those schools was Central, and “we said we’d take them,” Koehn said. 

The partnership brings the benefit of adding more depth to the roster, allowing the team to be more competitive in duals. It also adds more practice partners and  improves the quality of practices, which will now be split, with two-thirds at Central and one-third at Ed-Co’s training facility. 

Among the benefits was familiarity, since Koehn already knew a majority of wrestlers and their families, having coached against them for a few. This includes a pair of seniors, Adam Kloser, who went 24-16 last season at 113 pounds, and Connor Davis, who will fill out the heavyweight division. 

A group of sophomores includes Cooper Brown at 138 pounds, Nolan Gaul at 144 and Mack Perrinjaquet at 157. Combined, the trio went 52-80 as freshmen. They will be joined by a pair of freshmen, Colton Hoisington, who was an AAU state qualifier last year, and Kinnick Robbins.  

Sometimes, combining programs can create challenges, but according to Koehn, none have arisen. “They’re pretty good kids. Very similar to ours here at Central. So, you know, they’re high school boys, goofballs,” Koehn joked. 

To ease the transition, Koehn has held open rooms for the last nine Sundays, giving both groups the chance to get to know each other.

“There’s already some good relationships. They’re already getting to know each other and getting some camaraderie going there,” Koehn said.

With the added size, the Warriors will be able to fill 10 to 11 of the 14 weight classes, instead of the three to six from last year, which left them on the losing side of many duals even when they won a majority of matches. 

This depth also comes with added expectations. After taking an early look at the schedule, Koehn believes the team can win over half its duals, if not more, by simply filling out weights. 

One expectation that hasn’t changed, though, is Koehn’s overall outlook on the season. 

“I don’t want to have to change anything just because we got another school coming. We still have the same expectations and same goals. I want to build a good team aspect, make sure every single kid has some sort of success and just make sure the kids love the sport and learn from what there is to offer,” Koehn said. 

The National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) had other plans and made several rule changes for Iowa high school wrestling that will take effect for the 2024-2025 season. The most impactful has to do with scoring. This year, takedowns are now worth three points instead of two, and near-fall points are awarded based on how long the wrestler is held in the near-fall position. For example, near-fall points will be awarded as such: two points for two seconds, three points for three seconds and four points for four seconds, and so on. 

The biggest impact this could have on the Warriors is the pressure it puts on wrestlers to avoid being on the bottom, which has been a cause of concern the past few seasons. Koehn has had the team drilling in a lot of neutral positions, as well as from top position, and working on pinning combinations. 

He is optimistic, however, and doesn’t believe the change will have “any kind of effect” on the program, declaring, “it just is what it is.”

“I didn’t want to change how I was, but at the same time, you have to adapt to these rule changes. So it’s kind of, either you’re gonna move with it, you’re gonna progress with it or you’re gonna get stuck behind,” he continued.

Koehn anticipates the team will be more aggressive, which should coincide with another strength: improvements being made from the bottom position by moving better, fighting more and learning how to counter. In addition, the Warriors are working on improving their position on shot attempts, clearing arms, clearing hands, getting to the legs and finishing. 

Even as talk about more aggression and improvement was taking place, Koehn was mindful of the team’s struggles with being on the bottom, stating, “bottom, it seems like it’s always been a thing. I mean, we improved last year on it, but we’re still not where I’d like us to be at.” 

Where Koehn would like Central to be is making regional duals as a team at the end of the season, something he believes neither program has ever achieved.  

“It’d be really cool to make regional duals. I’m not saying that we’d be the best or we’d win it, but if we can make it to regional duals, that’d be pretty cool,” Koehn said. 

Alongside that lofty goal is to have multiple wrestlers qualify for state, something Koehn believes is a realistic expectation.  

“I think, if they can wrestle to their potential, I would like to think we could have three or four kids in the running to qualify for the state tournament,” he said.

The Warriors start their season on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at South Winneshiek.