Dombeck: Kiel boys and Oostburg girls basketball teams among top area winter storylines
Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, the winter high school sports season is in full swing.
There’s plenty of storylines to keep an eye on as the calendar turns from 2023 to 2024.
Here are the top athletes and teams to pay attention to across Manitowoc and Sheboygan counties in the winter months.
Kiel boys basketball looks to take next leap behind Pierce Arenz and Grant Manz
The Kiel Raiders boys basketball team went 21-5 last season with three of those losses coming against the eventual WIAA Division 3 state champion Brillion Lions.
Much like Brillion last season, Kiel will be an experienced team with several impact seniors but none more important than point guard Pierce Arenz and forward Grant Manz.
Arenz is the program leader in career assists and steals while Manz is the Kiel leader in career rebounds.
The duo is a bit like Kiel’s version of Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman, although Manz has the rebounding abilities of Rodman without the flashy wardrobe.
Ranked No. 4 in the D3 preseason poll by WisSports.Net, the Raiders are hoping to make their third-ever state appearance and first since 2010.
Boys basketball players to watch: Here are the top 14 boys basketball players to watch in Manitowoc/Sheboygan areas
Oostburg girls basketball state title hopes buoyed by twins Ady and Riley Ketterhagen
Much like the Kiel boys, the Oostburg Flying Dutchmen girls basketball team’s season last year was ended by eventual D3 state champion Kewaskum.
Oostburg is powered by the dynamic duo of sophomore twins Riley and Ady Ketterhagen, who each have several NCAA Division I offers.
Their father, Isaiah Ketterhagen, is the Flying Dutchmen coach so the team certainly has a family flair to it.
After reaching the sectional semifinals last season, Oostburg is ranked No. 3 in the WisSports.Net D3 preseason poll.
One player not in the Ketterhagen household who could be a key to helping the Flying Dutchmen try and seek a fourth state championship is senior forward Brynn Wisse.
Oostburg last reached the state tournament in 2012 and the last title coming in 2008.
Girls basktball players to watch: Here are the top 14 girls basketball players to watch in Manitowoc/Sheboygan areas
Plymouth wrestler Silas Dailey hunting second-straight title
When Plymouth Panthers wrestler Silas Dailey takes the mat, he doesn’t so much try to win the match than he does mentally wear down his opponent.
He prefers to win matches by tech fall as opposed to pins so he has the maximum time allowable to work on his craft.
Dailey, who recently signed his National Letter of Intent to compete at the college level for Minnesota, won the WIAA Division 2 championship at 170 pounds last season.
It was nearly 20 years between Plymouth wrestlers winning a state title but Dailey hopes to make the wait much, much shorter this time around come February and the state tournament.
Two Rivers turning attention from football to wrestling
The Two Rivers Raiders had plenty of success on the football field in the fall and a lot of those standouts will look to keep it rolling on the wrestling mat.
Senior Chase Matthias, who was first team all-state at both running back and linebacker, is a serious contender to win state in Division 2.
He lost a narrow 3-2 decision in the 195 championship match last season so he’ll be motivated to finish it out his high school career in style.
Matthias’s younger brother, all-state defensive lineman Max Matthias, was third at 182 as a freshman so he too will try to complete the mission in Madison.
Finally, all-state quarterback Justin Klinkner is also a returning state medal winner, having finished fourth at 160.
Wrestlers to watch: Here are the top 30 wrestlers to watch in Manitowoc/Sheboygan areas
Female wrestlers looking to make history
This season will be the third-ever WIAA girls state wrestling tournament with several area wrestlers looking to become the first to win state titles.
While nobody has earned gold in the past two seasons, there are several who have silver medals at home.
Ozaukee senior Mya Delleree took second at 114 as a sophomore while last season Two Rivers’s Angie Bianchi (114) and Manitowoc Lincoln’s Emjay Neumann (120) did so as freshmen.
Bianchi’s three older brothers have won eight state titles between them, including four-time winner Matty Bianchi, so it would continue the family tradition in Madison.
Plymouth boys diver Zeb Schermacher seeks school’s first championship
Plymouth’s Zeb Schermacher finished comfortably in second place at last season’s WIAA Division 2 swimming and diving championship in the latter portion.
His score of 383.35 had him more than 50 points clear of the third-place finisher but he was still over 70 points shy of a championship.
Last year’s winner, Dylan Norby of Menomonie, has since graduated so the now-senior Schermacher has a great opportunity to trade in his silver medal for gold this time around.
If he does so, he would become the first boys swimmer or diver to win a state title in school history.
Contact Tom Dombeck at 920-686-2965 or tdombeck@htrnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Tom_Dombeck.
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Basketball, wrestling highlight Manitowoc/Sheboygan winter storylines
