BLANCHESTER — Blanchester defeated East Clinton and Clinton-Massie Tuesday night to win the Clinton County dual wrestling tournament in an event overshadowed by a severe injury in the finals.
Blanchester’s Troy Hedstrom was injured as he was pinned by Nathan Allgeyer of Clinton-Massie in the second period of their 145-pound weight class bout. When Hedstrom hit the mat, he was out.
With just two bouts remaining, the championship dual was delayed 15 minutes while Hedstrom was treated. He was transported by Air Care. He was conscious as he left on a stretcher. No update on his condition was available at press time.
Blanchester won the dual over the Falcons 51-30. However, there was little in the way of celebration for BHS head coach Scott Nicely, who had tears in his eyes when talking about Hedstrom.
“When it’s you personally, it’s something different,” Nicely said. “When it’s one of your kids, it’s emotional. I saw his lights go out. You feel helpless. I just hope everything is all right. I firmly believe that he’s going to be OK. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Coaches from both Blanchester and Clinton-Massie rushed to the mat to Hedstrom’s aid, including CM head coach Spencer Running.
“It’s not every day that you run into a bad injury like that, something that’s as scary as that,” Running said. “It’s the nice thing about the wrestling community. Everyone comes together, and they make sure that everything that needs to be taken care of is done.
“We’re hoping that he’s all right and there are no serious injuries.”
After the lengthy delay, there were still two bouts to be wrestled with Blanchester holding on to a 39-30 lead. Clayton Schirmer was first to go for Blanchester, and he pinned Robby Frederick in 36 seconds to clinch the dual.
“Then you go back to wrestling after that … it’s kind of a downer,” Nicely said. “It helped Clayton being the first one out. If it was one of my younger kids, it might have been an issue.”
Nicely was pleased with his team, especially Hedstrom, who filled in the lineup, and Zane Panetta, who wrestled the opening bout against the Falcons for the injured Ramiro Torres. Panetta earned a pinfall victory which Nicely believed set the tone for his squad.
As for the Falcons, it was a strong performance in the team’s first tournament of the season. A 55-20 win over Wilmington in the semifinals preceded a close loss to an in-form Blanchester team.
“I thought that we wrestled pretty well for our first tournament,” Running said. “We definitely need to get in shape. That’s something we can work on. We’ll make sure we’re better prepared going forward, especially against an incredibly tough Blanchester team.”
After losing to the Falcons in the semifinals, Wilmington rallied for a 50-4 win over East Clinton in the consolation final.
East Clinton’s John Cline had the lone win for the Astros, winning a major decision at 170 against Kile Holand.
In the other semifinal, Blanchester defeated East Clinton 72-6.
East Clinton forfeited half of the 14 weight classes, while Blanchester forfeited just one. The Astros’ lone victory came at 170 pounds where Cline pinned Ramiro Torres in 3:11.
“In the first match, the guys just weren’t ready,” EC head coach Doug Stehlin said. “In the second match, against Wilmington, we came out a little bit more prepared and fought a little bit harder.”
In addition to Cline, Stehlin was pleased with Gavin Denniston for his effort in a narrow loss to Lee Lynch of Wilmington, and Zachary Vest who had a strong effort despite losing by technical fall.
Clinton-Massie picked up four forfeit victories against the Hurricane. Still, WHS head coach Kelly Tolliver was pleased with the way his squad wrestled, especially wrestlers filling in from the reserve team.
“I was really impressed with the guys we brought up from reserve to fill some holes of some injured people,” Tolliver said. “Jevon Bays-King at 182 did a nice job. The 170 pounder, Kile Holland, also did a nice job.
“Next week, we’ve just got to keep working on our conditioning. I could see where other teams didn’t have lungs, and we do.”
SUMMARY
CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
Blanchester 51, Clinton-Massie 30
170: Zane Panetta (B) pinned Brock Speaks (CM) 3:43
182: Steven Latchford (B) dec. Braxton Greene (CM) 10-4
195: Joe Baughman (CM) pinned Christian Stubbs (B) 1:51
220: James Peters (B) pinned Colton Doyle (CM) 3:55
285: Bryant Pinkerton (CM) won by forfeit
106: Grant Moorman (CM) pinned Jacob Hamm (B) 2:37
113: Levi St. John (B) pinned Ethan Johnson (CM) 4:46
120: Adam Frump (B) pinned Reuben Mobley (CM) 3:39
126: Blake Seaman (CM) pinned Gage Berwanger (B) 5:44
132: Andrew Frump (B) pinned Garrett Newkirk (CM) 2:24
138: Johnny Schirmer (B) pinned Jason Martin (CM) 1:23
145: Nathan Allgeyer (CM) pinned Troy Hedstrom (B) 2:49
152: Clayton Schirmer (B) pinned Robby Frederick (CM) 0:36
160: Colt Conover (B) pinned Brice Seaman (CM) 3:19
CONSOLATION FINAL
Wilmington 50, East Clinton 4
170: John Cline (EC) maj dec. Kile Holland (W) 12-0
182: Jevon Bays-King (W) pinned Nathan Vest (EC) 2:18
195: Truestin Barnes (W) won by forfeit
220: Jayden Doyle (W) pinned Jayson Edison (EC) 0:43
285: Elijah Rockhold (W) won by forfeit
106: Double forfeit
113: Double forfeit
120: Double forfeit
126: Double forfeit
132: Lee Lynch (W) dec. Gavin Denniston (EC) 11-8
138: Sam Eastes (W) pinned Michael Horn (EC) 0:50
145: Brayden Smith (W) pinned Matt Horn (EC) 3:12
152: Trent Holliday (W) tech falled Zachary Vest (EC) 16-1
160: Dalton Garrison (W) won by forfeit
SEMIFINALS
Blanchester 72, East Clinton 6
160: Colt Conover (B) won by forfeit
170: John Cline (EC) pinned Ramiro Torres (B) 3:11
182: Steven Latchford (B) pinned Nathan Vest (EC) 0:39
195: Christian Stubbs (B) won by forfeit
220: James Peters (B) pinned Jayson Edison (EC) 0:46
285: Double forfeit
106: Jacob Hamm (B) won by forfeit
113: Levi St. John (B) won by forfeit
120: Adam Frump (B) won by forfeit
126: Gage Berwanger (B) won by forfeit
132: Andrew Frump (B) pinned Gavin Denniston (EC) 2:42
138: Johnny Schirmer (B) pinned Michael Horn (EC) 1:11
145: Troy Hedstrom (B) pinned Matt Horn (EC) 2:52
152: Clayton Schirmer (B) pinned Zachary Vest (EC) 1:01
Clinton-Massie 55, Wilmington 20
160: Dalton Garrison (W) dec. Brice Seaman (CM) 11-7
170: Kile Holland (W) pinned Brock Speaks (CM) 4:55
182: Braxton Greene (CM) dec. Jevon Bays-King (W) 9-5
195: Joe Baughman (CM) pinned Truestin Barnes (W) 2:50
220: Colton Doyle (CM) pinned Jayden Doyle (W) 1:12
285: Elijah Rockhold (W) pinned Bryant Pinkerton (CM) 0:40
106: Grant Moorman (CM) won by forfeit
113: Ethan Johnson (CM) won by forfeit
120: Reuben Mobley (CM) won by forfeit
126: Blake Seaman (CM) pinned Lee Lynch (W) 0:35
132: Garrett Newkirk (CM) won by forfeit
138: Sam Eastes (W) tech falled Jason Martin (CM) 20-5
145: Nathan Allgeyer (CM) pinned Brayden Smith (W) 3:53
152: Robby Frederick (CM) maj dec. Trent Holliday (W) 22-13
