WINTERSVILLE — A youth movement is at hand for the Indian creek wrestling team.

The youthful Redskins feature seven freshmen in their starting lineup, and the seven took a big step forward during Indian Creek’s tri-match against Buckeye 8 rival Buckeye Local and river rival Weir Wednesday night at home on Coach D Court.

When it all said and done, Indian Creek came away with two victories as the Redskins defeated the Panthers, 49-30, before defeating the Red Riders, 48-19.

“The kids did really well tonight,” Indian Creek head coach Brandon Pendleton said. “We have a very young team this season. We have seven freshmen in the lineup, and those freshmen did a good job tonight.”

Buckeye Local opened the tri by defeating Weir, 42-34.

“We did pretty good,” Weir head coach Garrett Railing said. “We won most of our matches. We have a lot of forfeits. We won the majority of our matches. The JV won matches. We got bonus points when we could.”

Buckeye Local and Weir met in the first match of the night.

“We went 6-2 in the matches,” Railing said. “We had five forfeits, so we were down 30-0 straight from the rip, but we were able to make it respectable.”

In the match, Buckeye Local’s Izaiah Hundley (132) pinned Bentley Wells in 1:23 in the first wrestled weight class of the match, and teammate Steven Bolock (138) pinned Samual Quaranta in 1:25.

For Weir, Jonathan Rhodes (157) pinned Geno DelVecchio in 42 seconds, Terrell Jones (165) pinned Sam Saldivar in 57 seconds and Josh DeFelice (175) pinned Greg Eddy in 27 seconds. Also, Benjamin Bryan (190) pinned Tristin Weldon in 41 seconds, Hunter Streng (215) pinned Tucker Winski in 1:09 and Brock Hebb (285) defeated Jorge Alvarez by major decision, 14-0.

The hosts and fellow Jefferson Countians competed in the second match. The Panthers led 24-6 after five weight classes, however, the Redskins turned things around as the Red-and-Gold won eight of the final nine weight classes to win the match by 19 points.

“We were a little nervous about the Buckeye match,” Pendleton said. “Buckeye Local has a strong team. It was back-and-forth. In the end, our freshmen stepped up and won the match for us.”

The Panthers picked up the first two wins in the match as Bristol Crokie (106) won via forfeit, and Shawn Jordan (113) defeated Maddox Thomas by decision, 10-7, in overtime. The Redskins got on the scoreboard when Jackson Scharfenberg (120) won with a forfeit before Hundley won in the same manner to put the Panthers out in front, 18-6. Bolock followed with a pin of Ashland Alexander in 1:34 to give Buckeye Local a 24-6 advantage, however, the tide was about to turn in the Redskins’ favor.

First, Ethan Starr (138) defeated Chase Milton by decision, 8-2, Isiah Thompson-Yost (144) picked up a victory by forfeit before Buckeye Local’s Trey McCoy (150) pinned Jacob Busby in 2:57 to make the score in the match, 30-15.

Trailing by 15, the Redskins recorded wins in the final six weight classes – the first five via fall – to rally and win the match.

Ian Starkey pinned DelVecchio in 38 seconds, Ayvien D’Ambra pinned Saldivar in 3:17 and Nicholas Jameson pinned Eddy in 130 to give Indian Creek a 33-30 lead. Then, Landon Barz pinned Weldon in 3:31 before Kenneth (Tre’) Feist-Winland (215) pinned Winski in 35 seconds. Finally, Luke McMillion defeated Alvarez by major decision, 10-0.

The Redskins and Red Riders battled it out in the nightcap. The victors built a 42-6 lead before the Red-and-Black rallied and closed the gap to 42-19 before Indian Creek recorded a pin in the last match of the night.

“Weir gives up a lot of forfeits, but they have quality wrestlers,” Pendleton said. “We were able to get wins going head-to-head. We did a pretty good job.”

The boys from Hancock County battled in the weight classes they had wrestlers.

“We did well head-to-head,” Railing said. “We were just down from the start.”

There was a double forfeit at 106 before Indian Creek’s Thomas, Scharfenberg and Pierson Fulmer (126) won by forfeit to give the Redskins an 18-0 lead. Alexander defeated Wells by decision, 10-7, in overtime to make the score, 21-0, Starr followed by pinning Quaranta in 37 seconds and Yost-Thompson and Busby won by forfeit to give the victors a 39-0 advantage.

Starkey then defeated Rhodes by decision, 8-2, to put Indian Creek up 42-0 before Weir won the next four matches. Jones started the Red Riders’ run of victories by defeating D’Ambra by major decision, 18-5, before DeFelice pinned Jameson in 1:26 and Bryan pinned Barz in 2:56. Finally, Streng dfeated Feist-Winland by decision, 14-8.

McMillion sent the home fans happy as he pinned Hebb in 2:48.

“So far, not bad,” Pendleton said about how his team’s season is going up to this point. “We are trying to get the guys as much mat time as possible. We want to get ready for the tournaments as the season goes on.”

There were also three JV matches at the end of the night. There was a junior high tri going on at the same time as the varsity one, and the Indian Creek youth wrestlers were recognized following the Buckeye Local-Weir varsity match.

“Things are going good,” Railing said. “Things could be better. We have gotten off to a slow start, but we are looking to finish strong. We have some good wrestlers.”

Buckeye Local is scheduled to wrestle rival Harrison Central Wednesday at home.

Weir is set to wrestle next against East Liverpool.

Indian Creek is slated to compete again Dec. 19 at the Barnesville Tournament.