Warsaw Wrestlers Pin Rival Wawasee
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Starting at the 130-pound weight class, Wawasee won seven of the first 10 matches, but dropped the last four between 103 and 125 to lose 33-27 to the Tigers.[[In-content Ad]]"It came down to falls, which is something we've talked about all year," Wawasee coach Scott DeHart said. "You have to get the pins when you can get them and you can't get pinned. You have to find a way."
Of Wawasee's seven wins only two were by pins, with those coming from Raul Rodriguez (145) and Dimitris Kaplanis (HWT).
By only getting a combined 15 points in their other five wins, the Warriors (5-13, 0-4 NLC) left the door open, and Warsaw (7-6, 2-1 NLC) kicked it in by winning three of the last four matches with pins, reeling off a 23-0 run to close the match.
"We knew their upper weights were going to be tough," Warsaw coach Justin Smith said. "We also knew we had the more veteran squad in the lower weights."
Warsaw got the lower weight classes started with stud sophomore Jarred Brooks, who earned a technical fall by racking up a 20-3 lead on Wawasee freshman Greg Newman only 1:57 into the match.
Despite getting the five points for the technical fall, Brooks would have preferred a six-point pin, but tallied up too many points too fast.
"Jarred always gives us a boost, especially when he comes in during the middle of a rotation," Smith said about Brooks taking the mat with Warsaw down 27-10. "He was upset he didn't get a pin. Luckily it didn't come down to one point. He got a technical fall, but we're always looking for a pin from him."
With the deficit cut to 27-15, Warsaw sophomore Rusty Carlson may have saved the day for Warsaw at 112.
Trailing 10-5 with a minute to go in the third period, Carlson reversed Doug Corl and got the pin, inching Warsaw to within 27-21 with two matches remaining.
Even though Warsaw was cutting its lead fast Wawasee still had a chance to get a team victory with a win at 119 pounds, and that almost happened.
Leading 5-4 with only 10 seconds remaining in the match, Wawasee freshman Garrett Freel gave up two points to Warsaw freshman Anthony Munoz, but picked up another point in the final five seconds to force overtime.
Only seven seconds remained in the overtime period when Munoz pinned Freel, tying the match at 27-27.
"The kids are taught they need to wrestle the entire time," Smith said of Munoz's resiliency. "You need to wrestle six minutes or seven minutes, whatever it is. We had a freshman stepping up getting a pin in overtime, which tied us. Then you have a veteran wrestler like Kyle (Duzan), who comes in and knows what he has to do."
What Duzan did was come in and pin Josh Gohlke in 47 seconds, handing the Tigers the victory.
"For a while, it looked pretty grim, but the boys kept wrestling," Smith said. "I have to hand it to them. These are the ones you really like to win."
Stacking the deck against the Warriors was the fact they had three freshmen and a sophomore wrestling in the final four matches, making DeHart wish his upperclassmen had picked up more points in the higher weight classes.
"You can't rely on your freshmen to come down here and win the match at 119," he said. "The one I was real disappointed in was our 112-pounder, who was up five points but lost. It's a young group. We can't keep relying on that. Sooner or later, they all need to break through because we've had enough mat time."
Both teams are very young, with only one varsity wrestler competing between the two teams in Warsaw's Paul Manbu at 140 pounds.
And it was Manbu's match against Wawasee junior Bobby Marcuccilli that was the most anticipated of the night, as Manbu entered it with a 12-1 record, while Marcuccilli was 16-1.
Once it was all said and done, it was Marcuccilli that came out on top with a 7-6 decision.
"When you have two elite wrestlers like that, and you're talking about two guys that went to semistate last year, it's going to come down to a point or two," Smith said. "It's going to come down to one takedown or one mistake. I know Paul's going to get better. He's going to use that to motivate himself. He's going to see Bobby again, and it's going to be a battle again."
Other big matches on the night were at 171 pounds where Wawasee junior Joey Melendez defeated Warsaw junior Zac Erba 3-1, and at 189 where Warsaw junior Ross Hoover got the best of junior Lance Wright, winning 2-0.
"If you look at us now compared to last year, we're competitive," DeHart said. "It's coming. The biggest thing is we're not giving away points now. Now, we're forcing people to take points. Unfortunately, we had a few more points taken away tonight."
As the season progresses, DeHart's not the only one who thinks Wawasee will be getting better and better.
"I think we're going to see more Wawasee wrestlers down the tournament," Smith said. "They're always going to be tough."
WARSAW 33, WAWASEE 27
103 - Jarred Brooks (War) tech. fall Greg Newman, 20-3; 112 - Rusty Carlson (War) pin. Doug Corl, 5:02; 119 - Luis Munoz (War) pin. Garrett Freel, 6:53; 125 - Kyle Duzan (War) pin. Josh Gohlke, 0:47; 130 - Kyle Clevener (Waw) dec. Jordan Horney, 7-2; 135 - Donald Stage (War) maj. dec. Nick Rozow, 17-6; 140 - Bobby Marcuccilli (Waw) dec. Paul Manbu, 7-6; 145 - Raul Rodriguez (Waw) pin. Landon Slone, 1:48; 152 - Ryan Lindsey (Waw) dec. Demarcus Gibson, 10-5; 160 - Brian Clark (Waw) dec. Everado Ahuatl, 5-3; 171 - Joey Melendez (Waw) dec. Zac Erba, 3-1; 189 - Ross Hoover (War) dec. Lance Wright, 2-0; 215 - Jeff Perkey (War) dec. Jake Jones, 9-7; HWT - Dimitris Kaplanis (Waw) pin. Jackson Wagner, 1:32
Records: Warsaw 7-6 (2-1 NLC), Wawasee 5-13 (0-4 NLC)
JV - Warsaw 24, Wawasee 18
103 - Josh Frantz (War) pin. Dylan deSomer, 1:19; 125 - Braxton Hanft (War) pin. Bruno Williams, 3:57; 145 - Anthony Ferguson (War) dec. Brandon Bartman, 9-5; 152 - Lucas Katz (War) dec. Geoff Cavender, 10-6; 160 - Cory Piper (Waw) pin. Adam Becker, 3:16, Jacob Rhodes (Waw) pin. Wyatt Evans, 1:33; 171 - Matt Hoy (Waw) dec. Richard Hernandez, 12-10; 215 - Chad Eppley (Waw) dec. Lorenzo Degaetann, 9-2
Starting at the 130-pound weight class, Wawasee won seven of the first 10 matches, but dropped the last four between 103 and 125 to lose 33-27 to the Tigers.[[In-content Ad]]"It came down to falls, which is something we've talked about all year," Wawasee coach Scott DeHart said. "You have to get the pins when you can get them and you can't get pinned. You have to find a way."
Of Wawasee's seven wins only two were by pins, with those coming from Raul Rodriguez (145) and Dimitris Kaplanis (HWT).
By only getting a combined 15 points in their other five wins, the Warriors (5-13, 0-4 NLC) left the door open, and Warsaw (7-6, 2-1 NLC) kicked it in by winning three of the last four matches with pins, reeling off a 23-0 run to close the match.
"We knew their upper weights were going to be tough," Warsaw coach Justin Smith said. "We also knew we had the more veteran squad in the lower weights."
Warsaw got the lower weight classes started with stud sophomore Jarred Brooks, who earned a technical fall by racking up a 20-3 lead on Wawasee freshman Greg Newman only 1:57 into the match.
Despite getting the five points for the technical fall, Brooks would have preferred a six-point pin, but tallied up too many points too fast.
"Jarred always gives us a boost, especially when he comes in during the middle of a rotation," Smith said about Brooks taking the mat with Warsaw down 27-10. "He was upset he didn't get a pin. Luckily it didn't come down to one point. He got a technical fall, but we're always looking for a pin from him."
With the deficit cut to 27-15, Warsaw sophomore Rusty Carlson may have saved the day for Warsaw at 112.
Trailing 10-5 with a minute to go in the third period, Carlson reversed Doug Corl and got the pin, inching Warsaw to within 27-21 with two matches remaining.
Even though Warsaw was cutting its lead fast Wawasee still had a chance to get a team victory with a win at 119 pounds, and that almost happened.
Leading 5-4 with only 10 seconds remaining in the match, Wawasee freshman Garrett Freel gave up two points to Warsaw freshman Anthony Munoz, but picked up another point in the final five seconds to force overtime.
Only seven seconds remained in the overtime period when Munoz pinned Freel, tying the match at 27-27.
"The kids are taught they need to wrestle the entire time," Smith said of Munoz's resiliency. "You need to wrestle six minutes or seven minutes, whatever it is. We had a freshman stepping up getting a pin in overtime, which tied us. Then you have a veteran wrestler like Kyle (Duzan), who comes in and knows what he has to do."
What Duzan did was come in and pin Josh Gohlke in 47 seconds, handing the Tigers the victory.
"For a while, it looked pretty grim, but the boys kept wrestling," Smith said. "I have to hand it to them. These are the ones you really like to win."
Stacking the deck against the Warriors was the fact they had three freshmen and a sophomore wrestling in the final four matches, making DeHart wish his upperclassmen had picked up more points in the higher weight classes.
"You can't rely on your freshmen to come down here and win the match at 119," he said. "The one I was real disappointed in was our 112-pounder, who was up five points but lost. It's a young group. We can't keep relying on that. Sooner or later, they all need to break through because we've had enough mat time."
Both teams are very young, with only one varsity wrestler competing between the two teams in Warsaw's Paul Manbu at 140 pounds.
And it was Manbu's match against Wawasee junior Bobby Marcuccilli that was the most anticipated of the night, as Manbu entered it with a 12-1 record, while Marcuccilli was 16-1.
Once it was all said and done, it was Marcuccilli that came out on top with a 7-6 decision.
"When you have two elite wrestlers like that, and you're talking about two guys that went to semistate last year, it's going to come down to a point or two," Smith said. "It's going to come down to one takedown or one mistake. I know Paul's going to get better. He's going to use that to motivate himself. He's going to see Bobby again, and it's going to be a battle again."
Other big matches on the night were at 171 pounds where Wawasee junior Joey Melendez defeated Warsaw junior Zac Erba 3-1, and at 189 where Warsaw junior Ross Hoover got the best of junior Lance Wright, winning 2-0.
"If you look at us now compared to last year, we're competitive," DeHart said. "It's coming. The biggest thing is we're not giving away points now. Now, we're forcing people to take points. Unfortunately, we had a few more points taken away tonight."
As the season progresses, DeHart's not the only one who thinks Wawasee will be getting better and better.
"I think we're going to see more Wawasee wrestlers down the tournament," Smith said. "They're always going to be tough."
WARSAW 33, WAWASEE 27
103 - Jarred Brooks (War) tech. fall Greg Newman, 20-3; 112 - Rusty Carlson (War) pin. Doug Corl, 5:02; 119 - Luis Munoz (War) pin. Garrett Freel, 6:53; 125 - Kyle Duzan (War) pin. Josh Gohlke, 0:47; 130 - Kyle Clevener (Waw) dec. Jordan Horney, 7-2; 135 - Donald Stage (War) maj. dec. Nick Rozow, 17-6; 140 - Bobby Marcuccilli (Waw) dec. Paul Manbu, 7-6; 145 - Raul Rodriguez (Waw) pin. Landon Slone, 1:48; 152 - Ryan Lindsey (Waw) dec. Demarcus Gibson, 10-5; 160 - Brian Clark (Waw) dec. Everado Ahuatl, 5-3; 171 - Joey Melendez (Waw) dec. Zac Erba, 3-1; 189 - Ross Hoover (War) dec. Lance Wright, 2-0; 215 - Jeff Perkey (War) dec. Jake Jones, 9-7; HWT - Dimitris Kaplanis (Waw) pin. Jackson Wagner, 1:32
Records: Warsaw 7-6 (2-1 NLC), Wawasee 5-13 (0-4 NLC)
JV - Warsaw 24, Wawasee 18
103 - Josh Frantz (War) pin. Dylan deSomer, 1:19; 125 - Braxton Hanft (War) pin. Bruno Williams, 3:57; 145 - Anthony Ferguson (War) dec. Brandon Bartman, 9-5; 152 - Lucas Katz (War) dec. Geoff Cavender, 10-6; 160 - Cory Piper (Waw) pin. Adam Becker, 3:16, Jacob Rhodes (Waw) pin. Wyatt Evans, 1:33; 171 - Matt Hoy (Waw) dec. Richard Hernandez, 12-10; 215 - Chad Eppley (Waw) dec. Lorenzo Degaetann, 9-2
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