An Instant Classic

Ram v Huskies in front of a packed house

As far as high school wrestling matches go, it doesn't get much better than last night's clash between the Southern Rams and the home-standing Northern Huskies.  The match had it all; a packed house, two excellent teams, no forfeits, great wrestling and a 2+ hour barn-burner that came down to the final bout of the evening.

Ram Fans had a lot to cheer about

Just like the old days, the match started at the 106 pound class and ended with the heavyweights.  It didn't take senior Brison Dixon long to get the Rams on the board as he scored a second period fall to remain undefeated (20-0) on the season and give Southern a quick 6-0 lead.  Freshman Joey McComas dropped a decision at 113 to set up a clash at 120 between Northern's undefeated senior Steven Yutzy and Southern's undefeated freshman Jake W Sweitzer.  The Huskies were able to get the 9-1 win at 120 and took the lead 7-6.

The Huskies made a big move in their line-up from 126 to 152 in an attempt to get the upper hand in this tight battle by inserting Jarrett Kelly in at 126 and bumping the rest up one weight class.  The Rams thwarted this move and took back the lead 9-7 at 126 with junior Jake E Sweitzer winning by a 4-3 decision.  The Huskies returned the favor at 132 with a win by decision of their own to bring the match score to 10-9 in favor of Northern.  They stretched their lead to 16-9 with a pin at 138 to set up two tough bouts coming up at 145 and 152.  The match at 145 saw sophomore Jace Guy defeating senior Luke Lowry 5-2.  At 152, the Huskies score a decision of their own and the match score stood at 19-12 in Northern's favor.

Southern can storming back win big pins at 160 by Alec Horner and at 170 by Joe Embleton to give the Rams the lead.  That lead did not last long when Northern scored a fall at 182 to go up 25-24 with only three bouts remaining.  At 195, sophomore Hunter Park picked up a huge win by pin for the Rams to give his team a 30-25 lead going into the final two matches.

At 220, the Northern wrestler dominated but Scotty Tichnell fought hard but ended up losing a 16-8 decision setting up the final, winner-take-all bout to determine the overall match.  Sophomore heavyweight Cole Sweitzer took the mat as both sides of the gym were chanting and cheering for their respective wrestler.  The atmosphere was amazing and in a flurry of action in the second period, Sweitzer put the Husky grappler to his back and scored the epic win by pin.

The Rams move their overall record to 18-4 on the season and will travel to Fort Hill this weekend for the annual Fort Hill Super Duals tournament.

Southern 36 - Northern 29

106 - Brison Dixon (SG) pins Jesse Harman (NG) 2:53
113 - Hunter Wilhelm (NG) dec Joey McComas (SG) 5-0
120 - Steven Yutzy (NG) m dec Jake W Sweitzer (SG) 9-1
126 - Jake E Sweitzer (SG) dec Jarrett Kelly (NG) 4-3
132 - Devin Wilhelm (NG) dec Nate Tasker (SG) 8-4
138 - Tyler Thomas (NG) pins Erik Fike (SG) 2:06
145 - Jace Guy (SG) dec Luke Lowry (NG) 5-2
152 - Jordon Day (NG) dec Jimmy Schwab (SG) 6-4
160 - Alec Horner (SG) pins Randall Ganoe (NG) 3:12
170 - Joe Embleton (SG) pins Tony Walker (NG) 5:20
182 - Sam Beeman (NG) pins Patrick Duggan (SG) 3:12
195 - Hunter Park (SG) pins James Lewis (NG) 2:48
220 - Riley Brick (NG) m dec Scotty Tichnell (SG) 16-8
285 -  Cole Sweitzer (SG) pins Brian Tiermersma (NG) 3:15