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
