One of Those Knights

Jake Sweitzer starts us off with a win!

The Southern Rams have worked hard all season with the Regional Duals in their sights.  It took a stretch of 10 wins in a row including a couple huge matches against Northern to qualify for this post-season event.  On the final day of the regular season, the Rams made it in with a win over the Huskies.  Yesterday, we made the trip off the mountain to Middletown High School for this premier event.  The Middletown Knights were the top seeded team and the top ranked 1A/2A school in the state.  They were also heavily favored in our match and to win it all this season.  We took the mat with the intention to knock them off and shock the down-state wrestling world.

 

The fatal cradle, by Jace Guy

The match started at 120 and we took an early lead when Jake Sweitzer picked up a 4-2 decision.  The win was the 50th of Jake's short career for the Rams.  Our lead grew when Jace Guy scored a first period pin at 126 to bring the team score to 9-0 in our favor.  Middletown's 2X defending state champion got the Knights on the board to close the gap to 9-6.

 

At 138, our state champion Devan Hamrick, faced off against the #2 ranked wrestler in the state.  Most people believed this could be the state finals match up in March.  Hamrick scored a takedown but was then reversed and the first period ended with the score tied at 2.  The Middletown wrestler chose bottom to start the second period and Hamrick quickly went to work.  Devan scored near fall points and then turned him again, this time securing the pin to extend Southern's lead.

A battle at the top, won by Devan Hamrick by pin!

 

We lost two close matches at 145 and 152, one in overtime, to bring the team score to 15-12 in our favor heading into the 160 pound class.  Sophomore Luke O'Brien took the mat in place of Patrick Duggan who was injured in practice the night before.  O'Brien wrestled well, holding off his Middletown opponent to save valuable team points.  After the match, Middletown had taken a 16-15 lead.

 



Joey Embleton continues to shine!



Super sophomore Joey Embleton took the mat at 170 on a personal 18 match winning streak.  Joey wrestled tough and came away with a dominating 4-0 victory to keep his win streak alive and give the lead back to the Rams 18-16.  Unfortunately, things quickly went bad as the Knights were able to win the next four bouts, all by pin, to put the match out of our reach at 40-18.

 

Middletown then forfeited the final two bouts to Brison Dixon and Nate Tasker bringing the final team score to 40-30 in Middletown's favor.  It was a well wrestled, exciting match against arguably the best 1A/2A team in the state.  We had our chances but fell short and now our focus is turned to the Bi-County tournament, the Regional tournament and the State tournament.  Photos courtesy of Bev Rasel.

Middletown 40 - Southern 30

106 - Brison Dixon (SG) via forfeit
113 - Nate Tasker (SG) via forfeit
120 - Jake Sweitzer (SG) dec Noah Grossnickle (M) 4-0
126 - Jace Guy (SG) pins Sean Farron (M) 1:46
132 - Danny Bertoni (M) pins Zach Burgess (SG) :39
138 - Devan Hamrick (SG) pins Josh Paige (M) 3:05
145 - Adam Bain (M) dec Jimmy Schwab (SG) 5-1
152 - Can Farrow (M) dec Corey Horner (SG) 8-6 ot
160 - Will Davis (M) m dec Luke O'Brien (SG) 10-2
170 - Joey Embleton (SG) dec Mert Gulen (M) 4-0
182 - Sean Herrmann (M) pins Bernie Sislo (SG) 2:38
195 - Tyler Clemmer (M) pins Hunter Park (SG) 1:13
220 - Sean Mullican (M) pins Scotty Tichnell (SG) 1:59
285 - Ed Guerrero (M) pins Cole Sweitzer (SG) 2:23