Calling the Wildcats’ performance “dominant” wouldn’t do it justice.

The River Falls High School wrestling team completely dismantled the Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes in a 67-0 thrashing during the second Big Rivers Conference dual match of the season on Thursday, Dec. 8, in River Falls.

Of the nine matches wrestled on Thursday night, River Falls earned pins in six of them including the 145-pound contest, 160, 170, 195, 220 and the 285-pound heavyweight match. River Falls head coach Kevin Black provided context to the lopsided result in the first dual of the year.

“Memorial had a bunch of guys sick, they have a new coach and they did a really good job to get a whole bunch of new kids out for wrestling,” Black said after the win on Thursday night. “They’re young and I think they’re doing good things over there.”

While Eau Claire Memorial is rebuilding a program that had been tom down to the studs, River Falls is a team on the rise. The Wildcats are coming off of two conference championships in the last four years, 2019 and 2021, the program’s only two such titles since 2006. River Falls continued its recent tradition of success throughout the first dual meet at home against Eau Claire Memorial. The Wildcats’ put some of its most experienced

See RF WRESTLING, Page B-3 wrestlers on display as senior Travis Moelter won the 145-pound match via pin in less than two minutes.

Sophomore Jonas Longsdorf, who had an impressive freshman campaign in the 202122 season, earned a win via an 8-0 decision over Memorial junior Liam Donnelly in the 152-pound match. However, it was junior Jacob Range’s pin of ECM senior Connor Anderson in the second period of the 170-pound match that caught coach Black’s eye.

“We all knew Jacob (Range) was going to be good,” Black said. “His freshman year was a COVID year and as a sophomore, he had to move up two or three weight classes at times just because we had so many good seniors, but when he’s at his competitive weight, he’s really good.”

Coach Black was also impressed by sophomore Vinny Costabilo in the 138-pound match, in which he defeated Memorial sophomore Luke Beeksma in a 14-6 decision. He spoke about Costabilo as an up-and-coming wrestler in the program.

“Last year we were able to get Vinny (Costabilo) in the lineup quite a bit,” Black said. “He spent a lot of hard time (improving) this summer and he’s looked really good so far. I think Vinny Costabilo is going to be a good wrestler for us.”

Given the Wildcats’ success in recent seasons and on the mat on Thursday night, coach Black is already thinking about chasing a Big Rivers Conference championship for the 2022-23 season. He spoke about what the expectations are for the River Falls wrestling program.

“I think the bare minimum for this program is to always be thinking of winning a conference title,” Black said. “We try to accomplish that goal first, but we’re going to have our hands full with Menomonie, Hudson and New Richmond, but that’s our goal. Who knows what happens in the postseason if we figure things out.”

While River Falls will have to go to battle with Hudson, New Richmond and Menomonie for the conference crown, the Wildcats will have to do it without senior Gavin Kohel, who is being shut down with a season-ending knee injury.

Kohel, who was a BRC First-Team All-Conference wrestler last season, has been one of the most productive wrestlers in recent River Falls history. His lone conference match of the season was against Eau Claire Memorial on Thursday night in which he won via technical fall 28-13 in the first period against ECM sophomore Rowan Donnelly.

Kohel’s season-ending injury not only extinguishes his hopes of reaching state at the end of his senior year, but it dramatically alters River Falls’ ability to chase a conference title. Coach Black spoke about losing Kohel for the year.

“For Gavin (Kohel) he has a knee injury and this was it. He’s done for the year after this,” Black said. “It was bittersweet because we knew it was going to be his last, but we got him to be in the final match of the night. We’re going to be down a horse without Gavin (Kohel) and that changes things. Hopefully, our guys can compete and do good things.”

With the 67-0 victory over Memorial, River Falls improved to 2-0 in Big Rivers Conference duals for the 2022-23 season. The first was a 48-31 win on the road against Chippewa Falls on Thursday, Dec. 1.

The Wildcats continue their BRC slate of duals when they host New Richmond on Thursday, Dec. 15. That dual is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

River Falls senior Travis Moelter flips Eau Claire Memorial freshman Xander Hebert on his back moments before pinning him to secure a victory in the 145-pound match on Thursday, Dec. 8, in River Falls. Photo by Reagan Hoverman