Heller Wins Championship At 'Battle On The Bay'

GREEN BAY, Wis.---Escanaba senior Travis Heller won the championship Saturday in the 160-pound weight class at the "Battle on the Bay" tournament in Green Bay, Wis.

Heller won five matches, three of them by pin, against some of Wisconsin's top wrestlers. Eskymo senior Zach Priebe was third in the 126-pound weight class, and sophomore Kaleb Rahoi also medaled in the 145-pound weight class, taking sixth.

Heller, who was pinned in 30 seconds against Coleman, Wis., earlier this week, got his revenge on Saturday by beating some of Wisconsin's top wrestlers.

He started his day with a pin over Cullen Ducat of Luxemburg-Casco in three minutes, 25 seconds. Then, Heller pinned Josh Bartlet of Oshkosh West, in 2:24. In his third match, Heller won by major decision over Jeremy Dedick of East Troy, Wis., 10-1.

In the semifinals, Heller snuck past Brock Benitz if Wisconsin Rapids, 1-0.

"Best match of my day," Heller said. "We had a lot of scrambles that ended up out of bounds. It was a high-paced, well-defended match for both of us. I got an 'escape' in the third (period) for my only point."

And then in the championship match, Heller pinned Tommy Kasinski of Mukuonago in 1:17.

"The kid was ranked seventh in the state (of Wisconsin)," Heller said. "I stuck to my game plan from the whole day, to stay on my offense. And I ended up pinning him midway through the first (period)."

As a team, Escanaba finished 16th out of 23 teams with 227 points. The host Bay Port Pirates won the event with 559 points. Escanaba was the only Michigan team there.

CLICK HERE to see all of the Eskymo boys' results from the tournament.