Flying High

The match against Winters Mill was on Cole Sweitzer's shoulders and he delivered!

The Southern Rams are flying high, beating the Winters Mill Falcons and the Urbana Hawks in back to back matches on Saturday afternoon and Monday evening last week.  Add in a 60-12 win against Perryville and the Rams had a 30-3 record heading into the final dual meet of the season.  The Mountain Ridge Miners came to town on Thursday evening with the winner earning the distinction of hosting the 1A West Regional Dual meet tournament.

The contest against Winters Mill was a re-match from an early season tournament meeting.  The Falcons came out on top back in December, but that Rams had their sights set on winning the January contest.  The match started at 106 and Winters Mill took an early 6-0 lead.  Southern dropped each of the next three bouts and suddenly, the Rams were down 22-0.  Three pins and a decision later and Southern was back in it, trailing by a single point.

The Falcons scored two more pins at 160 and 170 and took a 34-21 lead with only four bouts remaining.  The Rams came storming back again with big wins by Joe Embleton, Kris Tusing and Hunter Park.  The score was 36-33 in favor of the Southern Rams with only the heavyweight bout remaining.  Our big Cole Sweitzer took advantage of his size difference and quickly threw his opponent to his back and scored the decisive pin.  The final score was Southern 42 - Winters Mill 33.

Southern 42 - Winters Mill 33

106: Garrett Dell (WM) win by FFT
113: Hunter Merson (WM) major-decision Brogan Kealy (SG) 13-4
120: Logan Konold (WM) fall Joey McComas (SG) 1:29
126: Zach Kirby (WM) fall Evan Paugh (SG) 3:03
132: Jake E. Sweitzer (SG) decision Colby Unkart (WM) 6-3
138: Nate Tasker (SG) fall Isaac Ousley (WM) 1:28
145: Jake W. Sweitzer (SG) fall Justin Toney (WM) 2:26
152: Jace Guy (SG) fall Josh Burndley (WM) 5:09
160: Troy Blessing (WM) fall Declan McCann (SG) :27
170: Trevor Fawley (WM) fall Alec Horner (SG) 1:35
182: Joey Embleton (SG) win by FFT
195: Kris Tusing (SG) fall Noah Ocasio (WM) 1:59
220: Hunter Park (SG) decision Alex Miller (WM) 8-3
285: Cole Sweitzer (SG) fall Blake Billings (WM) :50

In the match against Perryville, the Rams won 11 of 14 bouts, cruising to a 60-12 victory.  Winning by pin for the Rams against Perryville were Brogan Kealy, Jace Guy and Hunter Park.

Hunter Park with a pin vs Perryville

Southern 60 - Perryville 12

106 - Josh Barnett (P) via forfeit

113 - Brogan Kealy (SG) pinned Nickolas Weatherington (P) 4:44

120 - Jeff Leonard (P) dec Joey McComas (SG) 7-2

126 - Jake E. Sweitzer (SG) via forfeit

132 - Nate Tasker (SG) via forfeit

138 - Jake W. Sweitzer (SG) dec Hunter Zacerous (P) 4-3

145 - Jace Guy (SG) pinned Adam Campbell (P) :52

152 - Jarrett Hunter (P) dec Brad Davis (SG) 8-5

160 - Alec Horner (SG) via forfeit

170 - Joe Embleton (SG) via forfeit

182 - Kris Tusing (SG) via forfeit

195 - Nathan Sweitzer (SG) via forfeit

220 - Hunter Park (SG) pinned Leslie Patterson (P) 3:08

285 - Cole Sweitzer (SG) dec Steven Thomas (P) 4-2

On Monday, Southern took another long bus ride, this time to Urbana High School to take on the Hawks.  Last season, the Rams won the match in a close battle and this season's event was set up to be the same.  The match started at 138 and Urbana took an early 3-0 lead by winning a decision in the first bout of the evening.  Jake W. Sweitzer and Jace Guy each score pins in the next two bouts to put the Rams on top 12-3 but the Hawks scored pins of their own at 160 and 170 to retake the lead 15-12.

At 182, senior Joe Embleton scored a dominating 8-0 major decision against a state ranked wrestler to put Southern back in front.  That lead would last only 17 seconds as another of Urbana's state ranked wrestlers won by fall to bring the score to 22-21 in the Hawks favor.  At 220, junior Hunter Park took control of the match in the second period, turned his opponent and scored the pin half way through the bout.  Urbana forfeited at 285 and Southern enjoyed a 28-21 lead heading into the final five bouts.

Jace Guy pins again!

Urbana won by decision at 106, Southern won by decision at 113 and Urbana won by decision at 120 in three tightly contested bouts.  The team score stood at 31-27 with two bouts remaining.  Southern would be forfeiting 132, so the match came down to the bout at 126.  Southern's senior co-captain and winner of over 120 career matches took the mat for the Rams, looking to clinch it for his team.  The Urbana wrestler took and early 2-0 lead and then made it a 5-0 lead in the second period.  Suddenly, Sweitzer came out from the bottom, scored a reversal and threw in a half.  He would not be denied and drove that half nelson with all his might until the Urbana wrestler was on his back and all the Southern fans waited for the pin.  At the 3;12 mark of the match, the referee slapped the mat and the Rams came out on top of another epic battle against the Urbana Hawks.

Southern 37 - Urbana 33

138 - Ryan Gilligan (U) dec. Nate Tasker (SG) ; 4-1
145 - Jake W. Sweitzer (SG) pinned Jakob Arneson (U), 3:48
152 - Jace Guy (SG) pinned Parker Liposky (U), 1:33
160 - Shane Acton (U) pinned Alec Horner (SG), 2:53
170 - Jake Nielson (U) pinned Blade Sharpless (SG), 1:51
182 - Joe Embleton (SG) maj. dec. Mason Newton (U) ; 8-0
195 - Kevin Makosy (U) pinned Nathan Sweitzer (SG), 0:17
220 - Hunter Park (SG) pinned Anthony Schifano (U), 3:40
285 - Cole Sweitzer (SG) won by forfeit (U)
106 - Anya Knappenberger (U) dec. Colum McCann (SG) ; 8-4
113 - Brogan Kealy (SG) dec. Collin Acton (U) ; 8-4
120 - Austin Rohn (U) dec. Joey McComas (SG) ; 5-2
126 - Jake E. Sweitzer (SG) pinned Jon Song (U), 3:13
132 - Cody Swigart (U) won by forfeit (SG)