Bellaire spoils Creek’s, Buckeye’s chances in tri
WINTERSVILLE — The Indian Creek wrestling team earned a split in Wednesday’s home opening tri-match, falling by a slim margin to the Bellaire Big Reds in a contest that went back and forth and came down to the final match before rebounding with a dominate performance over a young Buckeye Local squad.
“We knew Bellaire was going to be pretty tough,” Indian Creek coach Brandon Pendleton said. “They have a great coach and work hard, so we knew we were in for a battle with them. We’re not a full strength right now. We’ve had seven guys miss practice with the flu, and two of them were out of the lineup today, so that hurt us. Overall, we rebounded pretty well and bounced back in that second match.”
The top performer for the Redskins was senior Devin Eakle, who recorded a pair of pins in the 160-pound division.
“He’s one of our seniors,” Pendelton said. “He is one of our five solid seniors that have been with our program since they were in second or third grade. It is nice to see these guys make it to the top and see all the work they have put in pay off.”
Bellaire won both of its matches on the night in what was its season-opening match.
Bellaire topped Buckeye Local, 43-28, to open the match before the fierce battle with the Redskins came down to a 285-pound clash between Joseph Hoepfner and Indian Creek’s Nathan Zink. Hoepfner earned the pin to lift the Big Reds after they saw an early lead evaporate thanks to back-to-back wins by Eakle and twin brother Devon by decision at 170 pounds. It put the Redskins on top at that moment.
“It was a real good match,” Bellaire coach Chick Lemotte said of the battle with Indian Creek. “My heavyweights pulled it out at the end. They are technically sound at everything they do. We just worked hard and tried to counter their moves and tried to go as hard as we possibly could and were able to pull it out. We’re definitely happy to kick off the year that way.”
It was a learning experience for the Panthers and coach Willie Sexton, with a lot of his wrestlers being young or new to the sport.
“Our team is really young. We’ve got a lot of freshman and sophomores,” he said. “We are in a rebuilding stage with a lot of first-year guys. We are going to take our lumps, but these kids have a lot of heart and they fight really hard. We’ve got to rebuild from somewhere, so right now this is what it is.
“Indian Creek and Bellaire are both tough. I threw a lot of my first-year guys out there today to get experience. We’re just getting in the groove of getting all the basics down. Of all of the weight classes, only maybe five have wrestled for a while. I’m proud of how they came out here tonight. In time we will be back to where Buckeye Local used to be.”
Bellaire and Buckeye Local are back in action Saturday in the Barnesville Invitational, while Indian Creek travels to Columbiana.
Bellaire 43, Buckeye Local 28
106: James Spears pin Caleb Boner
120: Joseph Bonfini decison Brian Palmer 9-3
132: Clay Moore win by forfeit
138: Hobert Baker pin Lance Evans
145: Griffen Heatherington pin Seth Richardson
152: Nick Beckett pin Matteo Viola
160: Cody Albaugh decison Tyler Donahue 13-6
170: Logan Charnock decision Timothy Bell 8-4
182: Shayne Christian pin Drew Tingler
195: Vince Patrone pin Zac Cesario
220: Alexio Morales pin Kodi Rines
285: Joseph Hoepfner win by forfeit
Bellaire 36, Indian Creek 32
113: James Spears win by forfeit
120: Joseph Bonfini pin Zach Ross
126: Daniel Ross win by forfeit
132: Clay Moore pin Jeremy Brown
138: Hobert Baker pin Johnathan Giusto
145: Mitch Wukelic decison Griffen Heatherington 15-2
152: Brayden Starkey pin Nick Beckett
160: Devin Eakle pin Cody Albaugh
170: Devon Eakle decision Timothy Bell 13-2
182: Shawn Allen pin Drew Tingler
195: Vince Patrone decison Brandon Hiles
220: Kodi Rines decision Ben Kennedy 6-2
285: Joseph Hoepfner pin Nathan Zink
Indian Creek 54, Buckeye Local 28
106: Caleb Boner win by forfeit
113: Jordyn Spencer win by forfeit
120: Brian Palmer decision Jake Finogle 14-1
126: Daniel Ross pin Travis Light
132: Jeremy Brown win by forfeit
138: Johnathan Giusto pin Lance Evans
145: Mitch Wukelic pin Seth Richardson
152: Brayden Starkey pin Matteo Viola
160: Devin Eakle pin Skyler Hatten
170: Logan Charnock win by forfeit
182: Shawn Allen pin Shayne Christian
195: Brandon Hiles pin Zac Cesario
220: Alexio Morales pin Evan Merryman
285: Nathan Zink win by forfeit