Manchester Wrestling Edges Valley In TRC Match

December 13, 2019 at 4:08 a.m.
Manchester Wrestling Edges Valley In TRC Match
Manchester Wrestling Edges Valley In TRC Match

By Mark Howe-

AKRON – In Thursday’s Three Rivers Conference wrestling match, it was the thrill of victory for visiting Manchester and the agony of an extremely narrow defeat for Tippecanoe Valley.

Squire freshman Brock Casper got his first career dual match win at 113 pounds, which propelled his team to a 37-36 win over the host Vikings.

Manchester coach Byron Sweet said he was expecting the match to get down to the nitty-gritty.

“We knew coming into it (they) were a tough team; they’ve been getting better every year. We always try to advance scout and look at results, and we sort of knew what it was going to come down to. We knew which matches were going to be big, and every time you face Tippecanoe Valley, you know they’re going to have a few people they’re going to bump out of position, and we have to be prepared for that.

“I thought that was a big key to the win; they bumped a couple of guys up and we were able to win those matches in unexpected situations. I’m really proud of my team being able to step up to the challenge.”

Sweet said he enjoys it when a student or student-athlete seems to fully understand subject matter; in the case of Casper, it’s why wrestling coaches put such great emphasis on physical conditioning.

“That was actually his first win (in a dual meet). Of course we have a lot of confidence that he’ll be able to win some matches for us,” Sweet said.

“It was great to see not only the win, but the way he wrestled, with such good conditioning. It was a match where he was down in it, and he kept wearing the kid down. He said ‘Coach, I could tell I was wearing him down, and if I could get him to the third (period), I’d be able to get him.

“That’s something we preach with everybody on the team; we really work ‘em hard, and sometimes the guys wonder why we’re running so much and doing so much conditioning. It’s really for nights like this, when you’re going to have to step up and gut out a six-minute match.”

Other winners for Manchester were Elijah Burlingame, Dylan Stroud, Zach France, Ashton Moore, Trevor Dill and Bryce Kamphues.

Among the winners for Valley were Jacob Ehereman and Joel Cisernos.

Tippecanoe Valley coach Kyler Kearby said during his tenure the Vikings had not competed well with Manchester, but felt like his team could have won Thursday.

“This is my fifth year as coach, and we’ve never done a good job of wrestling Manchester since I’ve been here,” he said. “We wrestled them well tonight, but we made more mental mistakes than we needed to.”

Despite falling by just one point, Kearby said he wanted his team to use the bitter defeat to improve as the season wears on.

“We knew going into it was going to be a dogfight, and we knew we’d have to win some tight matches and not give up extra bonus points. We did some of that, but not enough to get the win for us,” he said.

“From here, if we do things right, we win that match. It’s definitely a tough loss, but I believe in these guys and that they’ll respond. We’ll continue to get better and we’ll be a tought team to beat the rest of the way.”

Next up for Manchester is Saturday’s Caston Invitation in Fulton. The Vikings will compete in the John Glenn Super Duals in Walkerton Saturday.







AKRON – In Thursday’s Three Rivers Conference wrestling match, it was the thrill of victory for visiting Manchester and the agony of an extremely narrow defeat for Tippecanoe Valley.

Squire freshman Brock Casper got his first career dual match win at 113 pounds, which propelled his team to a 37-36 win over the host Vikings.

Manchester coach Byron Sweet said he was expecting the match to get down to the nitty-gritty.

“We knew coming into it (they) were a tough team; they’ve been getting better every year. We always try to advance scout and look at results, and we sort of knew what it was going to come down to. We knew which matches were going to be big, and every time you face Tippecanoe Valley, you know they’re going to have a few people they’re going to bump out of position, and we have to be prepared for that.

“I thought that was a big key to the win; they bumped a couple of guys up and we were able to win those matches in unexpected situations. I’m really proud of my team being able to step up to the challenge.”

Sweet said he enjoys it when a student or student-athlete seems to fully understand subject matter; in the case of Casper, it’s why wrestling coaches put such great emphasis on physical conditioning.

“That was actually his first win (in a dual meet). Of course we have a lot of confidence that he’ll be able to win some matches for us,” Sweet said.

“It was great to see not only the win, but the way he wrestled, with such good conditioning. It was a match where he was down in it, and he kept wearing the kid down. He said ‘Coach, I could tell I was wearing him down, and if I could get him to the third (period), I’d be able to get him.

“That’s something we preach with everybody on the team; we really work ‘em hard, and sometimes the guys wonder why we’re running so much and doing so much conditioning. It’s really for nights like this, when you’re going to have to step up and gut out a six-minute match.”

Other winners for Manchester were Elijah Burlingame, Dylan Stroud, Zach France, Ashton Moore, Trevor Dill and Bryce Kamphues.

Among the winners for Valley were Jacob Ehereman and Joel Cisernos.

Tippecanoe Valley coach Kyler Kearby said during his tenure the Vikings had not competed well with Manchester, but felt like his team could have won Thursday.

“This is my fifth year as coach, and we’ve never done a good job of wrestling Manchester since I’ve been here,” he said. “We wrestled them well tonight, but we made more mental mistakes than we needed to.”

Despite falling by just one point, Kearby said he wanted his team to use the bitter defeat to improve as the season wears on.

“We knew going into it was going to be a dogfight, and we knew we’d have to win some tight matches and not give up extra bonus points. We did some of that, but not enough to get the win for us,” he said.

“From here, if we do things right, we win that match. It’s definitely a tough loss, but I believe in these guys and that they’ll respond. We’ll continue to get better and we’ll be a tought team to beat the rest of the way.”

Next up for Manchester is Saturday’s Caston Invitation in Fulton. The Vikings will compete in the John Glenn Super Duals in Walkerton Saturday.







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