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Bellaire spoils Creek’s, Buckeye’s chances in tri

PINNING PREDICAMENT — Buckeye Local’s Shayne Christian and Indian Creek’s Logan Wilson wrestle in a 182-pound match on Wednesday. Wilson won by pinfall. -- Andrew Grimm

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

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