ORIGINALLY WRITTEN DON RATZLAFF
The Hillsboro wrestling team went 2-2 at the Southeast of Saline Invitational tournament on Saturday. The tournament format has the five competing teams square off in separate duals.
Hillsboro defeated Marion, 38-31, and St. John’s Military, 61-4, but dropped duals to Remington, 40-26, and the home-team Trojans, 57-18.
Against Marion, Hillsboro actually went 3-5 in matches decided on the mat. Registering wins for the Trojans were: Ric Johnson, who pinned Hank Collett (125 pounds); Sean Leihy, who defeated John Barr 11-8 (135); and Eric Cress, who defeated Ben Leppke 16-0 (140).
Winning for Marion were Chelsea Arnhold, who defeated Frankie Martin 11-2 (112); Charlie Holub, who defeated Grady Stultz 8-7 (130); Casey Nelson, who pinned Matt Brown (152); Chris Freeby, who pinned Daniel Roble (171); and Adam Depler, who pinned CJ Shaw (215).
The Trojans won the dual on the strength of a 24-6 advantage in forfeit points. Zach Magnuson (103), Andrew Bina (145), Josh Kenney (189) and Kurtis Shaw (275) registered forfeit wins for Hillsboro while Riley Ross (119) was awarded Marion’s only win.
The Trojans registered seven wins and 42 points by forfeit against an undermanned St. John’s team. Johnson, Stultz, Leihy, Brown, Kenney, CJ Shaw and Kurtis Shaw all picked up easy points on forfeits.
Winning on the mat were: Zach Magnuson (103), 17-9 over Kevin Broelis; Cress, who pinned Nathan Dixon; Bina, who pinned Nathan Taylor; and Roble, who defeated Andres Elizondo, 6-2.
Martin suffered Hillsboro’s only defeat, losing to Victor Adams, 12-2.
In the loss to Remington, three Trojans recorded wins on the mat: Johnson, who defeated William Ritter, 14-13; Cress, who pinned Jason Lane; Bina, who defeated Tim Carter 18-1; and Brown who pinned Travis Weddle.
Kurtis Shaw won by forfeit.
Losing matches to the Broncos were: Magnuson, who was pinned by Cameron Motter; Alex Jost (112), who lost to Shawn Carter 7-4; Martin (125), who lost to Ryan Strunk 9-6; Stultz, who was pinned by Wayne Bennett; Leihy, who lost to Josh Abrahams, 12-3; Roble, who was pinned by Cody Austin; Kenney, who was pinned by Tyler Whiteside; and CJ Shaw, who was pinned by Jordan Nolan.
Against the host team, Cress was the only Trojan to win on the mat, pinning Zach Tanner. Magnuson and Kurtis Shaw registered wins by forfeit.
Losing their matches to Southeast were: Martin (112), who lost to Kody Lynn 6-2; Johnson, who was pinned by Adam Spaeny; Stultz, who was pinned by Chris Weller; Leihy, who was pinned by Coy Cox; Bina, who lost to Austin Barnes 4-0; Brown, who lost to William Ballou 4-2; Kenney, who was pinned by Michael Lacy; Roble, who was pinned by Britten O’Bannan; and CJ Shaw, who was pinned by Andy Weber.
“This was not quite the way we wanted to finish our duals season,” coach Scott O’Hare said. “We had high hopes of going into this tournament with an opportunity to win it.
“Unfortunately, we were not able to go into the tournament at full team strength, and therefore we lost our opening dual to Remington. That was a dual I really thought we had a chance to win.
“Then we finished off the afternoon against a tough Southeast of Saline team. We just didn’t match up with them very well, and we lost a couple of close matches that I knew would be pivotal toward the outcome.”
Hillsboro double dual-Hillsboro used a combination of superior numbers and talent to overwhelm Haven and Smoky Valley in a pair of wrestling duals Thursday in Hillsboro.
The Trojans defeated Haven 54-15 in the first match and then dominated Smoky Valley, 75-6, in the second one.
Against Haven, the Trojans edged the Wildcats 18-15 in points earned though competition, but had a 36-0 advantage in forfeit points.
Winning on the mat were: Grady Stultz, who pinned Isaiah Reece at 130 pounds; Eric Cress, who pinned Dwayne Blackwood at 140; Matt Brown, who defeated Jed Reece 4-0; and Kurtis Shaw, who came from behind to post a 4-3 decision in the final seconds of his match against Sean Moore at 275.
Trojans awarded forfeit points because Haven could not fill each weight class were Zach Magnuson at 103, Zach Jost at 119, Sean Leihy at 135, Ben Schaefer at 160, Josh Kenney at 171 and Daniel Roble at 189.
Losing their matches on the mat were: Frankie Martin, 12-6 to Keith Nelson at 112; Ric Johnson, 12-9 to Kevin Montisano at 125; Andrew Bina, 6-0 to Ross Ballard at 145; and CJ Shaw, pinned by Ryan Ruane at 215.
Against Smoky Valley, the Trojans were 4-1 on the mat. Martin defeated Jake Coney 12-5, Cress pinned Nick Lackey, Brown pinned Evan Talbot and Schaefer pinned Kyle Logue.
The Trojans’ only loss came when Stultz was pinned by Adam Lackey.
Scoring Hillsboro’s 54 points through forfeit were Magnuson, Jost, Johnson, Leihy, Bina, Kenney, CJ Shaw and Kurtis Shaw.
Coming-The Trojans will compete at the Mid-Central Activities Association league meet in Hoisington on Saturday. Matches begin at 10 a.m.
