Rebels win with opens, Knights hang tough on road

By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

PARK HILLS — The Central Rebels wrestling team filled every spot in their 14-man lineup with every wrestler making weight for Tuesday’s meet. The full line-up card gave the Rebels a distinct advantage over the Hancock Tigers which had six spots open in their lineup.

Wrestlers for the Rebels who made weight and received open matches to give the Central team six points each time (36 total) were Richard House - 103, Chris DeClue - 125, Levi Flieg - 140, Chris Streckfuss - 152, Jake Carr - 160, and Ed Cruz - 215.

Tyler Beavers won the first wrestled match for the Rebels as he pinned Sean Stevens in the second period with a time of 3:27 in the 119 match. Beavers had made five takedowns and was leading 13-5 before he finally was able to get Stevens on his back for the fall.

Mike King also recorded a fall for Central in the 130 match, finishing off Ricky LaPlant in 1:41. King made two takedowns before finding the hold he needed to turn LaPlant to his back.

Chris Mullins picked up steam in the third period to make a run at Hancock’s Tyler Woods in the 135 match. Trailing 7-1, Mullins made an escape and then as time was running out he forced a takedown and pushed it through to get two back points at the buzzer, losing the decision by a score of 7-6.

The 135 match was the only match that ended in a decision. Hancock won five matches by falls. Dustin Barton bested Kye Jackson in 1:53 in the 112 match. James Blaney pinned Jarred Stewart in 1:23 in the 145 match. Alex Eddings led 13-4 before finally pinning Ricky McCullough at 1:41 in the 171 match.

Adam Stewart made only one takedown of Central’s Kenny Moritz in the 189 match, but was able to record a fall just six seconds before the end of the first period.

The 275 match pitted two state qualifiers against each other as Central’s Tyler Friend took on Hancock’s Kory Zimmerman. Neither wrestler was able to score on the other in the first period. Taking the down position to start the second period, Zimmerman was finally able to make a reversal and in the process put Friend on his back for the pin at 3:21.

Central will wrestle in the Ritenour Tournament this Saturday. Their next home match will be on January 10 in their own Invitational Tournament.

Francis Howell Central 32, Farmington 28

ST. CHARLES — The Farmington Knights won half of the matches, but came up on the short end of the team points losing to the Francis Howell Central Hawks 32-28. The host team received three falls by their lower weight wrestlers, and the Knights had only one by Les Thilking in the 275 weight class.

Dakota Mapoli (103), Todd Brackett (112) and Brian Harmon (119) all lost by fall, spotting the Hawks to 18 points. Matt Evans (125) was edged out 7-5 in his match, before Bradley Wisdom got the Knights on the board with a 21-6 tech fall in the 130 match, starting a run of three straight wins for Farmington.

Paden Sparks (135) scored a major decision with a score of 12-3, and Josh Kelleher (140) found himself in a very evenly matched contest which he won 3-1.

Branden McDowell (145) and Connor Kellogg (152) both lost by major decision, and Greg Bonnell (160) kept his loss to just a decision by a score of 11-4, making the team score 32-12 with four matches still to be wrestled.

Farmington won all four to close the gap. Kyle Sullivan (171) won a 7-5 decision, Jon Gurule won 14-7 in the 189 match, and Justin Heberlie won a 12-4 major decision at 215.

Thilking (275) recorded his fall just barely into the second period with a time of 2:15.

Farmington will host Hillsboro this Friday, and they will host the Papa John’s Duals tournament on Saturday.