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Friday, 19 January 2007 |
 Wapakoneta?s Mitchell Beemer pins his man Thursday night during a wrestling match at Kenton. (Staff photo/ Bryan Craft)
By BRYAN CRAFT
Sports Editor
KENTON — The Wapakoneta Redskins varsity grapplers dominated the Kenton Wildcats Thursday night as four wrestlers pinned their opponents in a Western Buckeye League match.
“Up and down the lineup we were aggressive and that’s what we’re working on, being aggressive and going after opponents,” Wapakoneta coach Jason Rostorfer said after his squad bested the Wildcats, 53-21. “We drill in practice and condition hard, so we want to make that our conditioning is an advantage and we want to use that.”
Kenton coach Jason Manns said his team knew what to expect when it faced the Redskins, who dominated the Western Buckeye League during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“Wapak is always a strong team, they’ve got a lot of experience,” Manns said. “That’s what hurts us a lot of times is our lack of experience, because we’ve got freshmen and sophomores wrestling. I’m impressed with our team, just because they went out and wrestled hard against a WBL team. I thought we hung with them.”
Kenton jumped out to a 12-0 lead, after Wapakoneta voided the 189 and 215-pound weight classes.
Next Redskins’ heavyweight Adam Byrne pinned the Wildcats’ Lucas King with 36 seconds left in the first period for the 12-6 score. Wapakoneta’s Tyler Kennedy tied things back up at 12 after winning the 103-pound weight class by void.
The 112-pound weight class was a double-void, so no score changes were made. Wapakoneta’s Tanner Zwiebel lost a 5-2 decision to Kenton’s Josh Sheldon in the 119-pound weight class to give the Wildcats the 15-12 advantage.
“Tanner Zwiebel’s only been wrestling for a week and he lost a match 5-2, but he did some stuff that was good and I’m pretty impressed with a kid that has only wrestled six days,” Rostorfer said. “It was his first varsity match, it was a decision, so he wrestled real well.”
The Redskins’ Brian Bailey won by void in the 125-pound weight class to give Wapakoneta the 18-15 lead. In the 130-pound weight class, the Redskins’ Mitchell Beemer won a 17-2 near fall with 46 seconds left in the second period for a 23-15 lead.
Wapakoneta’s Joel Claybaugh pinned Kenton’s Paul Collins with 1:25 left in the first period of the 135-pound weight class, giving the Redskins a 29-15 lead.
Next, Wapakoneta’s Lucas Poppe came back from a 10-5 deficit to pin Kenton’s Aaron Baldwin with 58 seconds remaining in the match, giving the Redskins a 35-15 lead.
In the 145-pound weight class, the Redskins’ Corey Bailey won by void for a 41-15 score. Wapakoneta’s Jon Carpenter was pinned in the 152-pound weight class by the Wildcats’ Dustin Ray for a 41-21 score.
Wapakoneta’s Justin Vorhees won the 160-pound weight class for a 47-21 score.
Wapakoneta’s Kenneth Long moved up a weight class to wrestle at 160 pounds and pinned Kenton’s Ethan Shepherd with 1:31 left in the first period to conclude the scoring at 53-21.
Wapakoneta will host a 10-team tournament at 10 a.m. Saturday at the high school.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 19 January 2007 )
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