A year after winning just one match on the state’s biggest stage, last week, Arcadia/ Loup City’s Wyatt Stieb headed home from Loup City with hardware in hand.
On Saturday, on the mats at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Stieb put in some time opposite the state’s best, with the junior placing fifth at 190-pounds with a second period pin against Kreyton Wiese of Wauneta-Palisade.
“It was nice that we got a medal,” said Arcadia/ Loup City Head Coach Jake Hunter following last week’s medal-round match in Omaha. “We ended on a winning note.
“A pin is big in that match.”
Stieb entered the state tournament with a 32-5 record, with the junior winning his first two matches in Omaha.
The Rebel opened the tournament with a late pin against Nate Grilli of Southern Valley. Then, in the quarterfinal round on Thusday, Stieb saw Wiese for the first time, besting the Bronco forty-five seconds into the final frame of the bout.
“Those first two matches were good. Then, that semifinals match when we got Vrbka— that is where we want to be—and we fell a little short.”
After winning both matches on the tournament’s opening day, Stieb had a chance to wrestle on the sport’s biggest night, when the junior met up with Coy Vrbka of Shelby-Rising City. The Husky toted an undefeated record into the match, and, despite being taken the distance by the Loup City High School student, ended up advancing to the finals with a 7-2 win.
“I think we were just looking to be solid and wrestle our offense, our match,” Hunter said of the gameplan going into Friday’s semifinal. “I don’t know if nerves got the best of us there, or exactly what it was.
“That is a tough draw in the semifinals, but I think we are pretty lucky that we didn’t have him in the quarterfinals.”
After falling to the backside of the bracket with Friday night’s loss, Stieb got tripped up against Chase Thomas of Neligh-Oakdale in the consolation semifinals. Despite having beaten the Warrior at the Rebels’ home invitational earlier in the month, Stieb lost the match 8-2.
“In the consolation bracket, we beat that Thomas at Loup City at the end of the season, and just didn’t get him here,” Hunter said. “It would have been nice to get into the third and fourth-place match, at least, but I think, overall, we did pretty well.”
In the final match, Stieb got the quick pin, to cap off his junior season with a 35-7 record.
“That was good,” said the head coach. “We didn’t hang our heads after those two losses and came back and took fifth. That is a good deal.”
One benefit of Stieb having had to battle through the consolation bracket last week was that Stieb, in his junior year, had a chance to put in work on the mats at the CHI Health Center. Outside of his final match against the Bronco, Stieb’s shortest bout of the season was his quarterfinal match that lasted 4:45.
“Last year he made state and went 1-2,” noted the head coach. “He didn’t really have much mat time experience— state is just a different environment. At state, there are going to be those tight matches, those close matches, those long matches. You just have to find a way to pull it out in the end.
“Luckily, Wyatt is only a junior, so we have next year and this offseason to put in more work. Hopefully we find ourselves in the finals next year.”
