Final home wrestling match ends with a loss to Cocalico


On Wednesday, the L-S wrestling team had their final home match against Cocalico, beginning with the 170 pound weight class. Johnny Franklin was matched up against Trevor Seiders. Trevor quickly tackled Johnny, entangling him like a pretzel. As Trevor tried to use his hip to get the point, Johnny struggled to defend. In the second round, Johnny began on the mat. He continued to remain defenseless as Trevor powered over him. In the third set, Johnny had the advantage of Trevor being on the mat, but Johnny, tired from the first and second sets, struggled as Trevor again tackled him. A timeout was called as there was a blood sighting on the mat; Johnny went to check in with the trainer as the blood is cleaned up. When the blood splatter is cleared, the match continues with Johnny in a tackle. Trevor held up Johnny by his arms until Johnny flipped over him, allowing Trevor to win the match. The score was now 0-4, Cocalico.

            The second match was between Jake Kelly and Devon S. from Cocalico. Jake’s size towered over Devon as both of them flailed their arms at one another for a grab. Devon finally grabbed Jake’s leg, but Jake untwisted from Devon's grab and put him in a headlock. With the end of the first set, they began the second set with flailing arms again. Jake grabbed Devon’s foot while he was standing, lifted it into the air, then with one motion spun him onto the mat in a lock. In the third set, Jake began on the ground, in a bind induced by Devon. Jake rose to hold his opponent for five seconds, meaning that his next option for points would be to pin him. Jake held him for another five seconds, leading into his win, gaining five points for L-S.

            For the weight class of 195 pounds, Zeke Schaefer won due to a forfeit, making the score 11-4. The next match was another forfeit with Owen Hess, in the 220 weight class, giving L-S six more points. The remaining of the matches would not turn out to be as promising for L-S as the first few, but the Pioneers put up a long fight. For the 285 weight class, Connor Feister went up against Brady Maxwell from Cocalico. The first move from both wrestlers was attempting a headlock. In the twenty seconds left in the first set, they were called for being out of bounds, the most action thus far in the match. Connor dropped to the ground, in attempts for a strategic move, but Brady pounced on him, putting him in a headlock. In the third set, Connor began on the mat. Brady took advantage of this and dropped Connor to the mat, on top of him as Connor laid parallel to the ground. As Connor tried to squirm away, Brady was declared the winner by fall, increasing the score to 17-7, with L-S still in the lead. After L-S gaining points from forfeits, Cocalico finally did too; Trevor Hill in the 160 weight class gained six points for the forfeit.

            The next match was between two notably smaller 113 pounders, Ezra Mellinger from L-S, and Josiah Herr from Cocalico. Josiah fought against Ezra until Ezra jumped on top, but then Josiah stood up, immediately putting Ezra in a hold. As the buzzer rang, Ezra did a backwards somersault onto his feet to escape the hold. The second set began and ended with Josiah pinning Ezra in a total time of three and a half minutes in the match, making the score 17-19, putting Cocalico in the lead. Collin Guilder from L-S went up against Adam from Cocalico next. Adam began with the lead by staying on top of Collin. As Collin tried to work his grip, Adam strived for the pin. Collin crawled to the outer circle, forcing a restart. Although the restart did not benefit Collin, he began to bleed. Another blood time-out is called and Collin saw the trainer while Adam received a pump-up speech from his coaches. Once the blood was cleaned up, the match continued and Adam went for the kill, pinning Collin in a total match time of three minutes and eight seconds. After this match, the score was 17-24.

            Moving along with the smaller weight classes was Ramon Estevez versus Nate Fritz from Cocalico, also known as “Fritzy.” The spastic duo flew out of bounds within the first fifteen seconds of the match. Ramon made no moves as “Fritzy” went for the big moves, but he struggled to pin him. As the second set began, Ramon was on the mat, still defenseless. Nate held Ramon off for a few seconds before losing control, and Ramon made his move. He pounced and put Nate in a headlock. Nate dove for Ramon’s foot, but Ramon quickly jumped away, leading into the third set with Nate on the mat. Ramon held him in the last minute of the match. The match ended with Nate on top of Ramon, struggling to make a move, and Nate was rewarded with four points.

            Mason Patterson went up against Ben from L-S for 132 pounds. Mason kept Ben’s head down as Ben kept spinning him. Mason turned Ben, which lead into the second round when Ben worked the shots Mason was making as he put Ben in a hold. Mason ended the match by pinning him in a total match time of two minutes and thirty-five seconds, increasing Cocalico’s score to 34.

            The next match was Michael Kuhns versus Devon from Cocalico. Both wrestlers had a hold of each other's lower legs, both attempting to put a hold on the other, all with no avail. Michael moved out of Devon’s final successful hold and entangled him, until Devon pushed him out of bounds. Beginning the second set, Michael was on the mat, and Devon quickly pinned him, declaring him the winner by fall, making the score 17-40.

            To continue Cocalico’s winning streak, they won two consecutive forfeits increasing their abundant score to 52. The final match was between Keith Littler and masked Max O’Harvery. Although Max’s mask headpiece was unusual, it did not inhibit his wrestling ability. Max was tackled by Keith, who overpowered him while he struggled to get an anchor. The second set commenced with Max on the mat, but he sprang up, now face to face with Keith. After pushing Keith out of bounds, Max became enraged and threw his mask off the mat, demanding a normal headpiece. After receiving a normal headpiece, Max continued the match and held Keith in a bind and pinned him, declaring the masked Max the winner by fall, ending the entire match with a score of 17-58.

            The victory for Cocalico was definitely not celebrated the same way on the Pioneers side of the gym, as many of the wrestlers sulked. Owen Hess commented on the poor quality of the match, “[It was] not a good way to end our last home match.” The loss was tough for the wrestlers, but not Jake Kelly, who celebrated his victory by playing with his younger sister. As the team finished their last home match, the coaches said goodbye to their beloved scorekeeper, Mr. Albanese. “Shout out to Mr. Albanese for his last match score keeping; he’s been scorekeeping for thirty-two years,” commented Coach Heeter. Although the team faced a large loss, their hopes for the section are still high as their season continues. 

--Maggie Johnson, LSNews.org Assistant Sports Editor

Edited: BE

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