ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
The Hillsboro wrestling team went 3-2 and Marion finished 2-3 at the six-team Southeast of Saline Round Robin Dual Team Invitational Saturday.
The unique format of the SES tournament has the six teams squaring off against each other in a series of dual matches.
The pivotal dual in the tournament for both the Trojans and the Warriors turned out to be the one when they faced each other in the second round of action.
And that outcome came down to a dramatic finish in the final match between Hillsboro’s Kurtis Shaw and Marion’s Drew Looper in the 275-pound weight class.
Hillsboro led 38-33 going in to the final matchup. A pin or decisive win by Looper would have given Marion the team victory.
The match appeared to be heading that way as Looper established a 6-2 lead through two periods. But in the final period, Shaw scored 0 points on a reversal, then finished with the pin for the victory.
“I was very pleased to have Kurtis come through in that match,” said Trojan coach Scott O’Hare. “He was down on points, but it was close. Kurtis can make some good things happen when he moves well on bottom, and he did that in that match. He had lost to Looper early in the season, so that was a big win for him.”
Although the score was close at the end, Hillsboro had a clear edge over the Warriors on the mat, winning five of seven matches. But several of those matches were close. The Warriors had a 24-18 advantage in forfeit points.
After Marion’s Riley Ross started the dual by picking up six forfeit points at 103 pounds, Chelsea Arnhold boosted the lead to 9-0 when she outscored Ricky Johnson, 4-3, at 112 pounds for three more Warrior points.
The Trojans didn’t lose on the mat again until Marion’s Chris Freeby pinned Caleb Barkman at 189 pounds in the first period of their match.
In between, Hillsboro’s Jess Boucher defeated John Barr, 14-5, at 119 pounds, Eric Cress pinned Ben Leppke in the third period at 130 pounds, Daniel Yoder pinned Casey Nelson in the first period at 145 pounds, and Adam Dirks outscored Luke Bowers, 9-1, at 160 pounds.
“We lost some tough matches,” said Marion coach Chad Adkins. “We have to learn from our mistakes.”
Hillsboro’s Darcy Unrau (125 pounds), Andrew Bina (140) and Ryan Kaiser (152) won by forfeit, as did Marion’s Ross, Gavin Moore (135) and Steven Boone (171).
Both teams met similar fates during the rest of the tournament-losing badly to Minneapolis, losing a tight dual to Southeast of Saline and then beating undermanned teams from Remington and St. John’s Military.
Against Minneapolis, the Trojans didn’t win even one match on the mat, and finished on the short end of a 65-6 score. Hillsboro’s only points came on a forfeit win by Cress.
“Minneapolis is just a solid team,” O’Hare said. “They have a number of kids with a lot of experience and a full squad of individuals that just go hard. They were certainly the dominate team from top to bottom this weekend.
“We had about three matches that could have gone either way,” he added. “I would have liked to have wrestled them later in the day, because as a team we did have a slow start. The outcome of those matches could have very well been reversed had we wrestled them later on.”
Marion, meanwhile, fared a little better, with Arnhold picking up three points with a big 4-2 win over Garrett Breen, and Boone chipping in six points by pinning John Schmidt.
Still, the final team score was 55-15 in favor of Minneapolis.
Against Southeast, the Trojans lost 51-22. Winning on the mat for Hillsboro were Cress, who pinned Chris Weller in the second period, and Yoder, who outscored William Ballou, 10-1.
Picking up forfeit wins were Johnson, Tim Glahn (189) and Shaw.
Marion lost a tight match to the SES Trojans, 42-37. Winning on the mat were Moore, who outscored Zach Tanner, 17-6, Nelson, who outscored Ballou, 5-2, and Boone, who pinned Michael Lacy in the second period.
Remington posed a bigger challenge for Hillsboro than it did for Marion. The Trojans won, 42-30, while Marion posted a lopsided 54-9 win over the Broncos.
Winning on the mat for Hillsboro were Johnson, who pinned Clint McFadden in the third period, and Cress, who pinned Jason Lane in the second period. Winning by forfeit were Boucher, Bina, Josh Jost (145), Yoder (152) and Glahn.
Three Warriors won on the mat against Remington by recording first-period falls. Arnhold pinned Clint McFadden, Leppke pinned Josh Abrahams and Boone pinned Tyler Whiteside. Winning by forfeit were Ross, Barr, Moore, Nelson, Bowers and Chris Freeby (189).
The Trojans whitewashed St. John’s, 66-0, in a dual that featured only four contested matches. Johnson pinned Garrett Cote in the first period, Bina pinned Hunter Lobertini in the second period, Yoder pinned Chris Hoobler in the second period and Shaw pinned Alonzo Doss.
Picking up forfeit wins were Boucher, Cress, Unrau, Kaiser, Dirks, Glahn and Barkman.
Marion had similar results, winning 55-3. Posting wins on the mat were Arnhold, who outscored Coty 4-2, Nelson, who outscored Hoobler 19-3, and Looper, who won by fall over Doss in the first period.
Picking up forfeit wins were Ross, Barr, Leppke, Bowers, Boone, Freeby and Wells.
St. John’s only points came on a 10-9 win by Lobertini over Moore.
O’Hare liked his team’s performance after the shaly start against Minneapolis.
“Danny Yoder had a pretty good day going 4-1-his only loss was a 1-0 match to start the day,” O’Hare said. “Andrew Bina lost two close heart-breaking matches, but competed well. Some of the other young kids performed very well as the day went on. They started showing some aggressive, get-after-it mentality.
“I certainly think the experience the young wrestlers gained this weekend is very valuable,” O’Hare added. “The more matches they can get, the more they will improve, as long as they can recognize there is as much to be learned from lost matches as there is from winning.”
Coming-Both teams will close out their regular-season schedule at Haven, where they will compete in the Mid Central Activities Association league meet.
Trojans, Warriors wrestle for advantage at SES tourney
