BLANCHESTER – Led by the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler James Peters, Blanchester bounced back from a fourth-place finish a season ago to claim the Blanchester Holiday Duals tournament championship Saturday at the BHS gym.
“We have four juniors, three of them start,” BHS coach Scott Nicely said. “The rest are freshmen and sophomores. It’s a fun group but they know when we (the coaches) get serious. They work hard; they get after it.”
The highlight of the tournament for the Wildcats was a 39-36 win over Clinton-Massie. The ‘Cats won three matches by forfeit. The Falcons won one match by forfeit.
“A lot of our guys are just getting off football,” CM coach Spencer Running said. “But we can talk about injuries or not making weight all we want. At the end of the day you have to go out on the mat and make it work.”
And Blanchester made it work knocking off one of the best wrestling programs in the area in a head to head match, even though it was mid-December.
“It matters to the kids,” Nicely said of the win. “It’s a Clinton County thing.”
Peters won five of his seven matches by pin. He also had a forfeit victory and a 5-4 decision.
The Wildcats ultimately won the tournament title with a 40-39 heart-wrenching victory over arch rival Reading. The Blue Devils were just 3-4 in the tournamet but Nicely knew they’d push the Wildcats to the brink.
“The Blan-Reading thing has been going on a while,” he said of the two Division III powers. “I told the kids don’t even worry about the results of previous rounds. They are going to come out here and give us everything they’ve got.”
The outcome came down to the 138-pound match with Kadin Berwanger of BHS losing 12-3 but avoiding a pin or tech fall allowed the Wildcats to win the overall championship.
Clinton-Massie won the championship in 2016 and finished as runnersup this year.
“We really have to work to keep improving,” Running said. “We have to work on getting our lungs in wrestling shape. A lot of our kids got some good matches. There were a lot of tough individuals here and we learned a lot about where we are and where we need to be. We know what we need to work on.”
SUMMARY
December 16 2017
Blanchester Holiday Duals Tournament
@Blanchester High School
Team standings
Blanchester 7-0 Clinton-Massie 6-1 New Richmond 4-3 London 3-4 Clermont Northeastern 3-4 Reading 3-4 Sycamore B 2-5 Batavia 0-7
Blanchester Individuals
106: Daniel Davenport won by forfeit vs London; won by forfeit vs CNE; won by forfeit vs New Richmond; won by forfeit vs Clinton-Massie; was pinned by Killgore (Sy) 5:32; won by forfeit vs Batavia; won by forfeit vs Reading
113: Cameron Gibson was pinned by Kennedy (Lo) 3:06; pinned Ross (CNE) 3:31; was tech fall by Asbury (NR) 5:27; won by forfeit vs Clinton-Massie; won by forfeit vs Sycamore; was pinned by Brown (Ba) 1:33; was pinned by Compress (R) 0:25
120: Gage Berwanger was pinned by Davis (Lo) 5:04; pinned Tearey (CNE) 0:31; won by forfeit over New Richmond; won by forfeit vs Clinton-Massie; was pinned by Chudoff (Sy) 3:14; was tech fall by Sauter (Ba) 3:47; was pinned by Sands (R) 0:49
126: Blanchester forfeited to London; forfeited to CNE; forfeited to New Richmond; forfeited to Clinton-Massie; forfeited to Sycamore; forfeited to Batavia; forfeited to Reading
132: Johnny Schirmer pinned Davis (Lo) 1:29; pinned Patterson (CNE) 7:45 pinned Elliot (NR) 3:41 ; pinned Martin (CM) 0:58; pinned Sung (Sy) 1:22; pinned Waters (Ba) 3:21; pinned Robins (R) 3:58; was dec by Robins (R) 12-3
138: Kadin Berwanger pinned Burns (Lo) 1:10; pinned Williams (CNE) 3:36; was pinned by Wolf (NR) 1:43; was dec by Gibbs (CM) 11-7; was tech fall by Gast (Sy) 5:30; won by forfeit vs Batavia;
145: Gage Huston was pinned by Colvin (Lo) 2:54; was dec by Conley (CNE) 10-6; dec Prescott (NR) 15-6; was pinned by Mills (CM) 1:24; won by forfeit vs Sycamore; pinned Draise (Ba) 3:33; was tech fall by Johnson (R)
152: Clayton Schirmer won by forfeit vs London; pinned Corey (CNE) 1:10; won by forfeit vs New Richmond; pinned Frederick (CM) 0:33; pinned Wead (Sy) 1:15; won by forfeit vs Batavia; won by forfeit vs Reading
160: Colt Conover won by forfeit vs London; pinned Rayburn (CNE) 3:40; pinned Clank (NR) 3:37; was pinned by Lennon (CM) 2:30; pinned Bailey (Sy) 1:50; pinned Mosley (Ba) 1:43; pinned Conner (R) 3:51
170: Ramiro Torres won by forfeit vs London; won by forfeit vs CNE; was dec by Noble (NR) 12-10; was dec by Doyle (CM) 5-3; pinned Reynolds (Sy) 3:33; won by forfeit vs Batavia; decissioned Scott (R) 13-3
182: Steven Latchford pinned Minner (Lo) 2:34; won by forfeit vs CNE; pinned Troxell (NR) 5:55; decisioned Baughman (CM) 6-5; won by forfeit vs Sycamore; won by forfeit vs Batavia; won by forfeit vs Reading
195: James Peters pinned Weldon (Lo) 1:56; pinned Hartley (CNE) 1:11; dec Felts (NR) 5-4; pinned Greene (CM) 0:49; pinned Tyler (Sy) 1:23; pinned Hatter (Ba) 2:26; won by forfeit vs Reading
220: Christian Stubbs pinned Plunkett (Lo) 1:10; pinned Mattes (CNE) 0:44; pinned Griffey (NR) 1:55; was pinned by Brothers (CM) 0:54; won by forfeit vs Sycamore; pinned Walters (Ba) 0:50; pinned Mystery (R) 0:52
285: Seth Caldwell was pinned by Cleaver (L0) 1:45; was pinned by Groeber (CNE) 5:44; was pinned by Isbell (NR) 1:56; was pinned by Hamilton (CM) 1:18; won by forfeit vs Sycamore; won by forfeit vs Batavia; was pinned by Sanders (R) 0:27
