River Falls waited until Jan. 7 to finally get in a match amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Wildcats made the most of it with a 52-15 duel win over Rice Lake and look to do more with a few weeks left in the season. Postseason wrestling begins Jan. 30 in Eau Claire with the Division 1 regional.

“It was quite refreshing for everyone to finally be on the mat together in River Falls gear,” Wildcats coach Kevin Black said. “Our team had put in a lot of work in the off season in spite of the COVID restrictions and we have a very nice group of young men with a lot of great team cohesion.”

Wildcats junior 180-pounder Vito Massa secured his 100th career win in his lone chance so far this season as he pinned Rice Lake’s Easton Stone in 54 seconds. Jacob Range won his first varsity match for River Falls at 138 pounds as he beat Rice Lake’s Traevon Wyckhoff with a 19-6 major decision.

Owen Larson won for River Falls at 152 pounds with a pin in 1:05 against Rice Lake’s Brenden Nordeng. Wildcats 160-pounder Miles Longsdorf pinned Rice Lake’s Aidan Drost in 1:50 for a win.

Amid Rice Lake’s three individual match wins, River Falls freshman Lucas Johnson lost his first varsity match against Nathanael Windorski in a pin at 2:53. Travis Moelter moved up from 106 pounds to 113 for River Falls and fell 4-0 to Rice Lake’s Carter Schulz. Wildcats 132-pounder Robbie Anderson got pinned by Rice Lake’s Jacob Sirek in one minute.

River Falls garnered another five wins by forfeit as Rice Lake had limited numbers, which led to wrestling exhibition matches after the varsity duel. Wildcats seniors Ethan Cernhous, Elliot Hampton, Marcus Cudd and Nathan Ottum all notched wins in exhibition action.

“It's unfortunate that the season is much different than everyone had hoped for, however, everyone seems to be making the most out of the situation that we're in,” Black said.

River Falls has two more regular season events, a duel match against Menomonie on Thursday and a quadrangular on Saturday, at home.

“We're trying to get as many matches in as we can over these three weeks and hope that we'll be able to participate in a postseason,” Black said.

Girls hoops sweeps Chippewa Falls

River Falls won its first road game and completed a season sweep of Chippewa Falls on Jan. 15.

Wildcats senior guard Rachel Randleman led the team with 12 points and five assists in the 51-47 victory. Freshman Jordan Schwantz added 11 points for the Wildcats.

River Falls beat Chippewa Falls 42-33 earlier in the season at home Dec. 17.

The Wildcats bounced back on Jan. 15 after losing to Ellsworth by a basket, 48-46, on Jan. 12. Wildcats sophomore guard Ella Peters scored a team-high 12 points and led in rebounds with eight.

Boys Hoops wins two straight

River Falls beat Chippewa Falls and Monona Grove for a pair of wins over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

The Wildcats downed Chippewa Falls 75-59 on Jan. 15 behind 21 points apiece from Zach Johnson and Liam Dougherty. JT Dougherty added 18 points.

Johnson then posted a double double with 32 points and 10 rebounds in a 67-54 win over Monona Grove on Jan. 16. Liam Dougherty chipped in 12 points.

Fusion goes 2-2 in grueling week

St. Croix Valley split its games among highly-ranked girls hockey teams Jan. 12-16.

The sixth-ranked Fusion, a River Fallsbased co-op, split two games with fifthranked Chippewa Falls-Menomonie and capped the week with a 6-2 win over Eau Claire Area.

Third-ranked Western Wisconsin shut out the Fusion 3-0 on Jan. 11, but the Fusion rebounded with a 5-3 win over the Chippewa Falls-Menomonie Sabers on Jan. 12. Jaden Woiwode scored twice for the Fusion in the win.

St. Croix Valley couldn’t beat the Sabers twice in a 6-2 loss on Jan. 15. Trinity Mittl and Jenna Bergmanis scored goals for the Fusion.

Mittl and Bergmanis netted goals again in the Fusion’s 6-2 win against Eau Claire Area. Juneau Paulsen led the Fusion with two goals, and Tyann Mittl and Bella Rasmuson each added a goal.