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STEUBENVILLE -- The youthful Catholic Central and Toronto wrestling teams are gaining valuable experience headed into the most important parts of the season.
The Crusaders and Red Knights met in a dual match Thursday as the two teams prepare for the upcoming Ron Mauck OVAC Tournament. Catholic Central collected six points in each of the first six weight classes and did not look back on its way to defeating Toronto, 48-11, Thursday night inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium.
"Our kids wrestled amazing," Catholic Central head coach John Lessner said. "There is no better feeling to see your guys go out and work hard and wrestle tough. They are the most coachable group I have ever had. I am excited. I couldn't ask for a better match."
The Red Knights won two matches on the night.
"We wrestled well," Toronto head coach Jaret Aubiel said. "We have a young team. They are learning the sport. We have no upperclassmen. We are trying to build the program here at Toronto. We want to continue to get better every day. They work hard. They want to learn. They are great workers. They want to learn the sport of wrestling."
The Blue-and-Gold won four matches via pinfall and four via forfeit.
"They wrestled well," Aubiel said. "They were in good position. They are an experienced team. Hats off to Central. They are well coached."
The Red-and-White won one match by tech fall and one by pin.
"They are scrappy," Messner said. "They came out tonight and wrestled. I know there is some tension between the schools, but it is a friendly rivalry.
"We have a young team too. We only have two seniors. The rest are underclassmen. We want to continue to compete."
The match started at the 165-pound weight class.
"The season has gone really well," Messner said. "We are 3-1 in duals. We lost a hard-fought match to Linsly. We beat Weir and Madonna. We are looking forward to OVACs. That is the next thing."
Individually for the hosts, Jeremy Orsay (165), Justin Roe (285), Mikey Hernon (144) and Thad Federoff (150) all won by pin. Orsay pinned his opponent in 2:24, Roe in 20 seconds, Hernon in 55 seconds and Federoff in 1:10. Also for the victors, Meliki Manley (175), Dylan Bucci (106), Chris Hermann (113) and Rafael Lash (132) all won via forfeit.
For the visitors, Caden McGrath (138) won via tech fall by a score of 19-4, while Spencer Board (157) won by pin. Board pinned his opponent in 53 seconds.
"I have really seen a lot of growth so far," Aubiel said. "I see us getting better. The kids are putting in the work. Eventually, that will translate to results on the mat."
Catholic Central is taking part in JV Tournament this weekend.
"That is for our young guys," Messner said. "Our eyes are set on the OVAC Tournament. Hopefully, we can get some guys seeded and get some guys on the podium."
The OVAC Tournament is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Thursday down at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling.
"We are going keep doing the same thing," Messner said. "We are going to keep doing what we are doing. We want to peak at the right time. We want to get healthy. The OVACs are important, but we want to make a run at districts. This will be our best test yet."
The Red Knights are scheduled to return to the meet at the annual conference tournament.
"We are just going to keep working," Aubiel said. "We lost a couple close matches. We are wrestling a little bit better."