The season is definitely falling into place for the Ellsworth wrestling team. In this unusual season, the Panthers lost in their opening match when COVID-19 was taking a toll on its lineup. As the …
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The season is definitely falling into place for the Ellsworth wrestling team.
In this unusual season, the Panthers lost in their opening match when COVID-19 was taking a toll on its lineup.
As the season has progressed, Ellsworth is gaining steam. It had a four-team meet scrapped last week, not from COVID-19 for a change, but by Mother Nature. Ellsworth was going to wrestle Prescott for their Middle Border meeting at that competition, but it’s not to be rescheduled.
This Saturday is still looming large for Ellsworth, which still just has that one loss in Middle Border Conference action. Saturday, they will compete with Amery, undefeated in the conference in what is sure to be a great tune-up for post-season play, especially when you throw in a couple bigger schools like River Falls and Menomonie as well. The meet will be held at 10 a.m. at River Falls High School.
“It’s going to be a really nice competition heading into Regionals the week after,” said Ellsworth Coach Mark Matzek. “It’s been nice to ramp up as the season progresses. Having Amery as one of our last duals, that’s going to give us a nice gauge of where we’re at and what time of improvements we need to make.”
Despite missing out on that cancelled match, it’s been a great week for the Panthers and all wrestling teams as they got news of the WIAA’s tournament plans. Ellsworth will wrestle Jan. 30 in Regionals at Arcadia (see related story).
“I tell you, it kind of feels almost like normal,” said Matzek. “The kids are excited. We’re back in school now. Last week was the first week of our season that we had actual school and practice after. You want to talk about mental health of our kids, I was wondering if they were going to be tired. I wasn’t sure how practice would go. The atmosphere in the room was so positive. The kids were in such great moods after being in school all day with their peers.
“Last week was a great week of practice. We continue to improve week after week. I’m looking at our team, and they are a much-improved team from a couple months ago.”
