Web posted
Friday, February 8, 2008
Middle weights carry Ark City to dual win
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Photo by David Wolman
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By DAVID WOLMAN
Traveler Sports Editor
sports@arkcity.net
NEWTON -- With next Saturday's Class 5A regional on the horizon, Arkansas City's final test of the regular season didn't exactly start the way coach Shawn Silvis had hoped.
Newton won two of the dual's first three matches on Thursday evening -- Clint Stahl by forfeit at 103 pounds and Seth Klein rallied to defeat Kash Biddle 6-4 at 119 pounds -- for an early 9-6 lead.
But by the time Trevor Chaparro stepped to the mat for his 215-pound match against Joel Barker, the Bulldogs had already clinched the dual win. Even with Chaparro and Victor Ibarra being pinned in the final two matches at 215 and 285 pounds, respectively, Ark City had already received strong efforts from its middle weights en route to a 41-31 win over the Railers.
"We didn't get off to a very good start," Silvis said. "Some of our weight (classes) didn't pull through like they should've. We started slow and we ended up strong. The guys did good at the end."
Ark City finished the season 2-5 in duals, with its other win coming on Dec. 13 against Campus.
After trailing early in the dual, the Bulldogs rallied to win seven of the dual's next nine matches to clinch their first dual win in nearly two months.
Parker Cameron got the streak started, winning by forfeit at 125 pounds because of an open weight class for the Railers for a 12-9 Ark City lead -- a lead it would not relinquish.
Thursday truly felt like the first time all season the Bulldogs came into a dual not at a disadvantage, in regards to having open weight classes. Ark City had two open weight classes (103 and 145 pounds), while Newton had one (125).
The Bulldogs had entered many of their previous duals with three or four open weight classes.
After Nathan Murphy brought the Railers to within 24-19 in last night's dual with his win by forfeit at 145 pounds, the Bulldogs won the next four matches to clinch the dual. Clint Bruce capped the win with an easy 15-7 majority decision over Nathaniel Martens at 189 pounds.
The final score was not indicative of how much Bruce dominated the match.
Bruce purposely allowed Martens to record seven escapes, but that set up several takedowns for Bruce. Martens tried to prevent Bruce's attempt at recording a majority decision by scoring a takedown with 33 seconds remaining. But Bruce, the state's second-ranked wrestler in Class 5A at 189 pounds, scored a reverse 12 seconds later and held on for the eight-point win.
Fellow seniors Trison Graham (130 pounds) and Scott Elliott (171) passed their final tests of the regular season with flying colors. Graham pinned Rilee Skeen with 29 seconds remaining in the first period, while Elliott pinned Garrett Garcia with 37 seconds left in the second period.
"I wish regionals were today because they were ready to go," Silvis said.
Bryce Marr wrestled, perhaps, his best match of the season.
Marr jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on George Casanova in their 152-pound match, recording two takedowns and a three-point near fall.
Marr appeared to lose it for a moment after Casanova recorded a takedown and a near fall, in succession, in the second period. Marr rallied to score the last nine points, including a three-point near fall with no time remaining to earn a 16-7 major decision.
In the most entertaining match of the dual, freshman Sterling Terry and Joel Gouvion went through a back-and-forth match.
Late in the first period, Terry was close to pinning Gouvion, but had to settle for a 7-2 lead after earning a three-point near fall. Gouvion gained his chance to pin Terry late in the second period, but had to settle for a three-point near fall. That cut Terry's lead to 9-8.
"He (Terry) kept letting the kid back in the match," Silvis said. "Every time he (Terry) did something good, he would follow it up with something bad...Luckily, he found a way to win that match."
Terry dominated the third period, scoring a reverse, a two-point near fall before spinning Gouvion for a pin with 41 seconds remaining.
TJ Gilliland capped off the evening with his first win of the season. With the Ark City bench buzzing and encouraging on the freshman, Gilliland broke a 4-4 tie in his junior varsity match by scoring three straight points in the third period before pinning Kyle Javier with 32 seconds remaining.
"Getting that win for TJ was huge," Silvis said. "That kind of pumped everybody else up."
Gilliland lost his other junior varsity match earlier in the evening, as he was pinned by Willie Howell with one second remaining in the first period.
In other junior varsity matches, Trevor Chaparro held on for a 10-8 decision over Carlos Hernandez in the opening match on the night. Victor Ibarra was pinned by Cole Inghram with 33 seconds remaining in the first period.
Varsity results:
103: Stahl, Newton, won by forfeit; 112: Jones, Ark City, pinned Manring, 1:15; 119: Klein, Newton, Dec Biddle, 6-4; 125: Cameron, Ark City, won by forfeit; 130: Graham, Ark City, pinned Skeen, 1:31; 135: Terry, Ark City, pinned Gouvion, 5:19; 140: Ahlstedt, Newton, MajDec Martin, 12-4; 145: N. Murphy, Newton, won by forfeit; 152: Marr, Ark City, MajDec Casanova, 16-4; 160: Riojas, Ark City, Dec Rogers, 6-0; 171: Elliott, Ark City, pinned Garcia, 3:23; 189: Bruce, Ark City, MajDec Martens, 15-7; 215: Barker, Newton, pinned Chaparro, 1:22; 285: J. Murphy, Newton, pinned Ibarra, 1:06.
Above: Arkansas City wrestler Trevor Chaparro, left, drags Newton's Carlos Hernandez during their junior varsity match Thursday evening at Newton. Chaparro hung on for a 10-8 decision over Hernandez.
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