WORKING FOR A TAKEDOWN — Big Red’s Brody Saccoccia works for a takedown of Buckeye Local’s Trey McCoy in a 157-pound match during Wednesday’s dual in Connorville. Saccoccia won by pin in the first round. - Andrew Grimm

Steubenville’s mat men won nine of the ten matches contested on the mats, seven by pin, on the way to a 66-9 victory over the Panthers inside the newly renovated gym at Buckeye Local. It was the first dual of the season for Big Red.

“Buckeye always has a strong team and scrappy kids, this was a good, early season dual for our guys,” Big Red head coach Lucas Huffman said. “We showed up and wanted to take care of business and we did that. It was good wrestling, there were some good matches and we’re going to have those all season. Getting used to them now is only going to help.”

Cole Harvey (113), Dorian Haddad (126), Karson Simmons (150), Brody Saccoccia (157), Ethan Llewellyn (165), Landyn Babel (175) and Nolan Blackburn (190) all recorded pins of their Panther counterparts, all but one coming in the first round.

Big Red heavyweight Beau Hudson decisioned his way to a victory on points, 8-2, Landon Drazic (138) won a 10-8 decision, while Kasyn Berkey (120), Julius Mullins (132) and Cooper Smith (144) received forfeit wins.

IN THE CENTER OF ThE RING — Big Red’s Beau Hudson and Buckeye Local’s Jorge Alvarez square off at the start of a heavyweight match during Wednesday’s dual. Hudson won by decision, 8-2. - Andrew Grimm

“We didn’t want to rush (the football guys) back, we wanted to ease them back in, but a lot of them wanted to come back, they were ready to be on the mats,” Huffman said. “They were chomping at the bit to get out there, it shows how competitive they are.”

The Panthers’ Nathan Dentz (106) pulled out a hard-fought 12-9 decision win early in the match and 215-pounder Marek Hickman won by forfeit to provide Buckeye Local’s points.

“It’s a testing block for where our kids are and where we want to be,” Buckeye Local head coach Guy Nestor said of facing a team like Big Red early in the season. “I told our kids coming into it that we were facing one of the top teams in the Valley and if you win your match, you’re in a good spot.

“We’ve got some work to do. We’re very young, we only have six upperclassmen, but I like where we’re headed. Being back in Division III, we feel good about that and I’ve liked what I’ve seen last week against Creek and in the room … our guys will keep grinding.”

For the youthful Panthers lineup, it was an early measuring stick as they look to be at their best by the end of the season.

“We’re just starting out slow, getting some experience under our belt, but the future is very bright here,” Nestor said. “We’re trying to build the program. Tonight, the score got a little lopsided, but I liked a lot of what I saw from our guys. There were a couple good matches. (Dentz) wrestled a really good match last week against Creek and had really good match tonight, he’s going to be one to watch.

“As we get into the next part of the schedule and into January, I think we’ll start showing our growl a little bit. It’s going to take some work, but we’ll get there.”

Harding Middle School also picked up a victory earlier in the evening over Buckeye Local Junior High, 47-11.

Big Red 66, Buckeye Local 9

106: Nathen Dentz (BL) dec. Monte Guntrum (BR), 12-9

113: Cole Harvey (BR) pin Shawn Jordan (BL) :40

120: Kasyn Berkey (BR) forfeit

126: Dorian Haddad (BR) pin Isabella Hendricks (BL) :29

132: Julius Mullins (BR) forfeit

138: Landon Drazic (BR) dec. Aiden Dentz (BL), 10-8

144: Cooper Smith (BR) forfeit

150: Karson Simmons (BR) pin Braxton Proctor (BL) 1:31

157: Brody Saccoccia (BR) pin Trey McCoy (BL) 1:29

165: Ethan Llewellyn (BR) pin Gavin Edgell (BL) 1:09

175: Landyn Babel (BR) pin Tristan Weldon (BL) 2:22

190: Nolan Blackburn (BR) pin Landon Durbin (BL) 1:45

215: Marek Hickman (BL) forfeit

285: Beau Hudson (BR) dec. Jorge Alvarez (BL), 8-2