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Grapplers third at conference meet
by Matthew Dickinson, sports editor · Sports · February 05, 2025


The West Branch boys’ wrestling team had a trio of first-time conference champions and several high placings to capture third with 168 points at Saturday’s River Valley Conference tournament held at West Liberty.
“I told them I don’t really care about conference, but if you go out and compete at a high level and give it everything you’ve got, I won’t be mad,” Bears Head Coach Jake Slocum said. “As long as we’re working to get better. And they showed up and wrestled great. Do I tell them that? No. I don’t want them to know any of that yet.

“And the five finalists, they came in and they were ready. And they did great.

Ethan Humphrey, Cash Hatfield, and Cooper Gates were the champions for West Branch.

Humphrey (106, 16-2) breezed to a title after missing nearly a month of competition due to injury.

He began wrestling in the quarterfinal, where he defeated Anamosa’s Rylan Dietiker (28-19) by 15-0 tech fall. In the semifinal, Humphrey gained more mat time before a 15-0 tech fall of West Liberty’s Marcus Cardona before facing Maquoketa’s Tayden Howell (33-12) in the final. He pinned the Cardinal in 1:53 to claim his first RVC title after a runner-up finish last season.

“It’s alright,” Humphrey said of the win. “That’s not really what I’m focused on, I’m focused on bigger and better things.

Of his recovery, Humphrey said that he worked on conditioning while working a little bit on wrestling technique. The sophomore added that he “really tried to stay locked in and focus” when he returned to live action.

“Ethan has always been a competitor,” Slocum said of the sophomore. “Hurt or not hurt, injured or bumps and bruises. He’s not going to tell you anything and he’s not going to let anybody take anything off him, and obviously he had a dominant tournament run. And that’s kind of how his wrestling has been and always will be.”

Hatfield (144, 18-2) won in his first RVC tournament with the Bears after finishing second in his class last season at Regina.

The junior opened with a pair of technical falls, beginning in the quarterfinal with a 21-5 triumph over Monticello’s Mace Schnoor (20-14) in the quarterfinal and against Anamosa’s Andrew Tjaden (25-15) by a score of 19-5 in the semifinal. In the title match, he cruised past Wilton’s Jordan Dusenberry (22-3) by 15-6 major decision.

Hatfield said the win felt “good,” adding that “being on the team has definitely helped with my progress throughout the season.” The junior also said that his convincing title run “gives me a lot of confidence, especially going to districts.”

Hatfield also took the title after missing a large chunk of the season with an injury suffered during his first competition with the Bears. The junior said that “nutrition” was a big factor in his successful recovery as well as getting conditioning on an exercise bike while “doing the little things right.”

“Cash, he’s the kind of guy when he’s locked in, then he’s a man on a mission,” Slocum said of Hatfield. “He was locked in and did great.”

The champion has also found plenty of help from his new teammates and coaching staff with the Bears.

“It’s definitely helped my progress as a wrestler,” he said. “The practice partners, I feel like have made me a lot better. Definitely the coaching as well.”

Cooper Gates (28-4), who took second as well a season ago, won his first RVC crown with a convincing effort.

The junior began his run in the quarterfinal, where he pinned Beckman’s Andrew Roling (24-23) in just 21 seconds. He then worked a 19-4 tech fall against Camanche’s Olyver Fuller (31-12) before taking an 11-4 decision over a quality opponent in West Liberty’s Ryker Dengler (34-4).

“It just feels good,” Cooper Gates said of the win. “My freshman year I couldn’t wrestle at the conference tournament because I was sick and last year I had a tough loss in the finals. But this year I just came back and wanted to win it, so I just did.”

Slocum was pleased that the junior took care of business.

“His bracket could have been a lot harder but the Wilton kid didn’t end up weighing in,” he said. “If he did, it didn’t matter because we already beat him. He wrestled that Dengler kid again and handled him pretty easily. He’s held to a high standard to compete at a high level and looked really clean and crisp on everything he did.”

Keaton Gates (150, 29-14) and Tate Frantz (190, 30-8) added second-place finishes.

Keaton Gates opened with a quarterfinal pin of Durant’s Wyatt Cole (18-17) in 3:41 before winning a 12-4 major decision against West Liberty’s Briggs Collins (38-9). In the title match, he dropped an 8-3 decision to Anamosa’s Hudson Scranton (36-3).

“Keaton, he lost to Briggs Collins from West Liberty two times this year in the last period,” Slocum said. “And finally took a match off of him and kind of dominated, majored him. As Keaton was walking off the mat he said, ‘Finally. I finally beat him.’”

Frantz took on a quality field as well after advancing to the semifinal by medical forfeit against Monticello’s Parker Johnson (19-10). He dropped a 10-5 decision against Wilton’s Gatlin Rogers (31-5) before falling to defending Class 2A state champion Austin Scranton (45-2) in 2:38.

“Take the final match away and you look at Tate’s avenging a loss to Gatlin Rogers,” the coach said. “I believe he’s No. 2 right now. He wrestled a smart match and then wrestled a defending state champion, Scranton, and lost to him. You’re going to have some ups and downs in a tournament with that many good guys.”

Logan Christoffel (132, 28-11) and Teague Thomas (113, 23-13) added third-place finishes apiece.

Christoffel began wrestling with a pin in 3:26 of West Liberty’s Tully Griffith (26-15) before dropping a 10-0 major decision to Owen Adlfinger (29-4) of Wilton. He rebounded with a quality win over Durant’s Trey Ramer (31-6) by 7-1 decision to win the placing match.

“Christoffel, he avenged a loss to that Durant kid,” Slocum said. “That kid’s in his district and that’s probably who he’s going to have to go through to get to state. He kind of turned over a new leaf and found a new Christoffel, I’ll say. He definitely looked different.”

The junior also hit a major milestone with his win over Griffith, pocketing his 100th career victory with the Bears to join Cooper Gates in the 100 win club this season.

“That’s a big milestone for any wrestler, especially a guy that’s a junior,” the coach said. “And you’ve got all these guys that are getting it as a junior and it just shows that they’ve been dominant all three years and they’re going to continue to be dominant.”

The coach added that the all-time wins record is “doable” by one of the current wrestlers as long as they keep producing at this level.

Thomas rested until the semifinal, where he dropped a 12-2 major decision to Aamosa’s Hunter Campion (37-10). He then defeated Tipton’s Wesley Fogg by 18-0 tech fall to end his tournament with a win.

The coach said Thomas “is coming along” and added that placing third in a conference of this caliber as a freshman is impressive. Slocum added that he hopes the freshman will have to elevate his wrestling to advance past the district meet.

Jerricho Hobbs (215, 9-22), Gabe Depoorter (126, 14-18), and Maddux Rushton (157, 16-14) also placed. Hobbs finished fifth and collected a win by fall, Depoorter placed sixth and had a win by fall, and Rushton added a sixth-place effort with a win by fall as well.

The Bears would have a quick return to action with their second straight appearance in the Class 1A regional duals as one of the top 24 ranked teams in the state. West Branch, which slotted in at No. 20, would take on No. 22 Iowa Valley–Marengo Feb. 4 in Alburnett. If the Bears won their first dual they would take on the host Pirates, ranked No. 1.

Slocum said that the team won’t “worry about the team score,” as he would prefer them to just focus on their individual matches and what they need to work on before the Feb. 15 district meet at Wilton.

Team scores: 1. Wilton 223.5 2. Anamosa 181 3. West Branch 168 4. West Liberty 141 5. Regina 104 6. Tipton 99.5 7. Cascade 70 8. Durant 63.5 9. Beckman 53 10. Camanche 49 11. Monticello 48.5 12. Bellevue 41 13. Mid-Prairie 33 14. Maquoketa 32.5 15. Northeast 16.

106: Champ. Round 1- Ethan Humphrey (WB) received a bye; Quarterfinal- Ethan Humphrey (WB) over Rylan Dietiker (ANA) (TF-1.5 1:31 (15-0)); Semifinal- Ethan Humphrey (WB) over Marcus Cardona (WL) (TF-1.5 1:16 (15-0)); 1st Place Match- Ethan Humphrey (WB) over Tayden Howell (MAQ) (Fall 1:53)

113: Champ. Round 1- Teague Thomas (WB) received a bye; Quarterfinal- Teague Thomas (WB) received a bye; Semifinal- Hunter Campion (ANA) over Teague Thomas (WB) (MD 12-2); 3rd Place Match- Teague Thomas (WB) over Wesley Fogg (TIP) (TF01.5 3:23 (18-0))

126: Champ. Round 1- Gabe Depoorter (WB) received a bye; Quarterfinal- Jayson Johnson (TIP) over Gabe Depoorter (WB) (Fall 0:59); Cons. Round 2- Gabe Depoorter (WB) received a bye; Cons. Semi- Gabe Depoorter (WB) over Jack Kluesner (BECK) (Fall 4:38); 5th Place Match- Noah Garcia (WL) over Gabe Depoorter (WB) (Fall 3:40)

132: Champ. Round 1- Logan Christoffel (WB) received a bye; Quarterfinal- Logan Christoffel (WB) over Tully Griffith (WL) (Fall 3:26); Semifinal- Owen Adlfinger (WILT) over Logan Christoffel (WB) (MD 10-0); 3rd Place Match- Logan Christoffel (WB) over Trey Ramer (DUR) (Dec 7-1)

138: Champ. Round 1- Travis Paul (TIP) over Clay Gates (WB) (TF-1.5 2:55 (17-1)); Cons. Round 1- Clay Gates (WB) received a bye; Cons. Round 2- Luke Hamilton (REG) over Clay Gates (WB) (Fall 0:24)

144: Champ. Round 1- Cash Hatfield (WB) received a bye; Quarterfinal- Cash Hatfield (WB) over Mace Schnoor (MONT) (TF-1.5 5:18 (21-5)); Semifinal- Cash Hatfield (WB) over Andrew Tjaden (ANA) (TF-1.5 4:47 (19-3)); 1st Place match- Cash Hatfield (WB) over Jordan Dusenberry (WILT) (MD 15-6)

150: Champ. Round 1- Keaton Gates (WB) received a bye; Quarterfinal- Keaton Gates (WB) over Wyatt Cole (DUR) (Fall 3:41); Semifinal- Keaton Gates (WB) over Briggs Collins (WL) (MD 12-4); 1st Place Match- Hudson Scranton (ANA) over Keaton Gates (WB) (Dec 8-3)

157: Champ. Round 1- Maddux Rushton (WB) received a bye; Quarterfinal- Kendrick Heffernan (TIP) over Maddux Rushton (WB) (Dec 5-4); Cons. Round 2- Maddux Rushton (WB) received a bye; Cons. Semi- Maddux Rushton (WB) over Preston Rumler (CAM) (Fall 1:58); 5th Place Match- Miken Wheeler (ANA) over Maddux Rushton (WB) (Dec 11-4)

165: Champ. Round 1- Cooper Gates (WB) received a bye; Quarterfinal- Cooper Gates (WB) over Andrew Roling (BECK) (Fall 0:21); Semifinal- Cooper Gates (WB) over Olyver Fuller (CAM) (TF-1.5 4:33 (19-4)); 1st Place Match- Cooper Gates (WB) over Ryker Dengler (WL) (Dec 11-4)

190: Champ. Round 1- Tate Frantz (WB) received a bye; Quarterfinal- Tate Frantz (WB) over Parker Johnson (MONT) (M. For.); Semifinal- Tate Frantz (WB) over Gatlin Rogers (WILT) (Dec 10-5); 1st Place Match- Austin Scranton (ANA) over Tate Frantz (WB) (Fall 2:38)

215: Champ. Round 1- Jerricho Hobbs (WB) received a bye; Quarterfinal- Porter Shetler (REG) over Jerricho Hobbs (WB) (Fall 1:00); Cons. Round 2- Jerricho Hobbs (WB) received a bye; Cons. Semi- Jerricho Hobbs (WB) received a bye; 5th Place Match- Jerricho Hobbs (WB) over Koy Smith (WILT) (Fall 2:21)



Lisbon 51,

West Branch 18

West Branch lost to the Lions at Lisbon on Jan. 30.

150: Tiernan Boots (LISB) over Keaton Gates (WEBR) (Fall 1:05) 157: Maddux Rushton (WEBR) over Ian Kelsey (LISB) (Dec 4-2) 165: Cooper Gates (WEBR) over Gage Holub (LISB) (Dec 7-0) 175: Caleb Brown (LISB) over (WEBR) (For.) 190: Tate Frantz (WEBR) over Gavin Carmer (LISB) (MD 11-2) 215: Jacob Walerius (LISB) over Jerricho Hobbs (WEBR) (Fall 1:12) 285: Hudson Herboldsheimer (LISB) over (WEBR) (For.) 106: Jack Gogel (LISB) over Elliot Montgomery (WEBR) (Fall 1:43) 113: Cael Stricker (LISB) over Teague Thomas (WEBR) (Dec 5-2) 120: Wesley Sadler (LISB) over (WEBR) (For.) 126: Cade Happel (LISB) over Gabe Depoorter (WEBR) (Fall 2:47) 132: Logan Christoffel (WEBR) over Carter Gadberry (LISB) (Dec 4-0) 138: Jackson Knapp (LISB) over Clay Gates (WEBR) (Fall 0:59) 144: Cash Hatfield (WEBR) over Luke Robinson (LISB) (TF 20-4 5:07)