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| Dalton Cooper got the Rams on the board with a quick pin |
When the Southern Rams entered the gym at Allegany High School on Saturday evening to face the Campers in the opening match of the season, we knew it would not be a repeat of last season's dominating shut out performance. With two forfeits in our lineup and 8 wrestlers who had never wrestled a varsity match, it was apparent this would be a much more tightly contested match. Allegany had not beaten the Rams in recent memory, but they looked like, and wrestled like, a team on a mission to change that course.
The match started at 170 with first year wrestler Matt Jones taking on one of Allegany's experienced co-captains. Jones did a nice job in the first period and it ended with a 2-0 lead for the Camper grappler. In the second, Jones was on bottom and fought off numerous pinning attempts, but finally was turned and stuck to give Allegany a 6-0 lead. The 182 pound class featured another first year Ram wrestler against a more experienced Allegany foe (and coach's son). Bernie Sislo fought hard and in the end dropped a 7-0 decision to extend the Campers lead to 9-0.
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| Devan Hamrick with the pin |
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| Jimmy Schwab with a dominating win |
Dalton Cooper got the Rams on the board at 195 with a first period pin, but he was followed with two more young Rams, David Lewis and Jake Zimmerman, losing by pin to two more Allegany wrestlers and suddenly, the Rams were in a pretty big hole, trailing 21-6 heading into the lower weights.
At 106, Allegany received a forfeit to stretch their lead to 27-6. After a double forfeit at 113, Southern started the comeback with four straight wins. Jake Sweitzer was awarded a forfeit at 120 and state runner-up Devan Hamrick picked up a big pin at 126 to close the gap. Alec Horner won by forfeit at 132 and Jimmy Schwab scored a dominating major decision at 138, and suddenly, the Rams had a 28-27 lead with three bouts remaining.
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| Max Bittinger pins and his teammates celebrate |
The bout at 145 featured another of our wrestlers competing in his first varsity match against one of Allegany's seasoned veterans. Freshman Joey Embleton wrestled very well against his senior opponent, but lost a 6-2 decision to give the Campers a 30-28 lead. Next up, Ethan Bittinger lost an 8-0 major decision and the team score was 34-28 with one bout remaining. It would all come down to this. If Corey Horner could score a pin, the team score would be tied and the winner would be decided by criteria.
Horner wrestled well and was in control of the entire match, but in the end, he was not able to turn his opponent and came away with a 3-1 decision, bringing the final team score to 34-31 in Allegany's favor.
The Allegany Campers are a much improved squad and wrestled tough and with a lot of heart. Our inexperience showed and the two forfeits played a big part in our loss. This is just the first match of the season and we will work hard in practice to get better every day and we now look forward to our rematch with the Allegany Campers at Southern in January and our chance to avenge this tough loss.
On a positive note, our JV wrestlers dominated the mats last evening. Trenten Friend, John Mayne, Luke O'Brien, Max Bittinger, Michael Duggan and Zach Burgess all picked up wins in their JV matches al Allegany.
170 - Caleb Cornwell (A) pins Matt Jones (SG) 2:40
182 - Aaron Lancaster (A) dec Bernie Sislo (SG) 7-0
195 - Dalton Cooper (SG) pins Caleb Wilt (A) :39
220 - Diego Thompson (A) pins David Lewis (SG) 1:52
285 - Cody Lynn (A) pins Jake Zimmerman (SG)
106 - Damian Sudac (A) via Forfeit
113 - Double Forfeit
120 - Jake Sweitzer (SG) via Forfeit
126 - Devan Hamrick (SG) pins Brennan Ives (A) 2:30
132 - Alec Horner (SG) via Forfeit
138 - Jimmy Schwab (SG) m dec Matt Murphy (A) 10-2
145 - Christopher Stosick (A) dec Joey Embleton (SG) 6-2
152 - Karson Robinette (A) m dec Ethan Bittinger (SG) 8-0
160 - Corey Horner (SG) dec Jordan Pattrerson (A) 3-1
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