By LIONEL TIPTON
TOWANDA – The addition of Rose Hill to a dual Thursday night between Augusta and Circle was supposed to add a competitive element.
But someone forgot to tell the top-ranked (Class 4A) Orioles.
After shutting out an undermanned circle squad in the first dual of the night, Augusta recorded seven victories by pinfall on the sixth-ranked Rockets and cruised to a 55-17 victory. And the Orioles achieved this despite missing juniors Marcus Terry and Cannon Carey, who are out because of injuries.
In the final dual of the night, Rose Hill capitalized on Circle’s low numbers – only three weight classes had matchups – and took a 60-24 decision.
The Thunderbirds managed to find a silver lining in their Senior Night’s final match at 285 pounds, when senior Isaiah King pinned Rockets freshman Milan Colvin – Circle’s lone victory in a contested match. King, ranked sixth in 4A, scored a victory over Colvin, who is ranked one spot ahead of him, after falling to Augusta’s fourth-ranked Willie Joe Morales. Both Colvin and Morales are freshmen.
“He’s a tough kid,” Rose Hill coach Chris Saferite said of King. “We’re going to have to battle him again at regionals.”
Even though Augusta reinforced its No. 1 status, each of the teams benefited from the competition ahead of the three competing in the Andale regional Feb 19.
“It’s going to be tough, especially at heavyweight,” Saferite said of the regional. “Augusta has beaten us twice now; we’ve beaten them once.”
For King, it could be another shot at both Morales and Colvin.
The teams’ girls wrestlers will have their regional Saturday at Remington (Class 4-1A).
The Augusta-Rose Hill dual gave the Orioles a chance to not only show their depth but also reinforce their claim to the top spot in 4A.
On the night, junior Gabe Kant (170), senior Garrett Davis (195), Holt Williams (220) and Morales each won two contested matches. Davis, ranked second in his class, pinned the Rockets’ Cade Evans (ranked No. 5), in a matchup of ranked wrestlers.
Afterward, Orioles coach Brandon Terry was pleased with his team’s performance, especially in light of not having top-ranked Marcus Terry (coach Terry’s son) at 120 and Carey (ranked third) at 132. He brought up sophomore Tristin Burgess and junior Duncan to fill in
He also praised Morales for getting two pinfall victories.
“He’s split with that kid (Colvin),” Terry said. “He has beaten us once, and we’ve beaten him twice. He (Morales) is just a hard worker, a good kid.”
Terry said he was most impressed by the matches against Rose Hill that were tightly contested that Augusta pulled out.
“Those ‘gut’ matches that could have gone either way,” he said.
Getting seven pinfall victories certainly helped as well.
“We kind of ‘gassed’ them and got the best of them,” Terry said. “The dual (against Rose Hill) was probably closer than the score showed at times early on (Rose Hill took an early 12-3 lead in the lower weight classes, but Augusta eventually tied it on Duncan’s pinfall victory).”
Terry said that some of Circle’s wrestlers showed promise, including freshman Westin Rose, who dropped a 4-2 decision to Kant. But getting 42 points on defaults in the lower classes didn’t give the Thunderbirds much of a shot.
Terry said his wrestlers were determined to make a statement in the matches.
“We really wanted to have a good night because we didn’t feel like we wrestled well last week,” he said. “We got second at the Rose Hill Invitational, tied with Chanute. Derby (Class 6A) won it – and we had beaten Derby in a triangular earlier in the year – but we didn’t feel like we had wrestled well.
“I think we kind of needed that going into regions.”
Saferite echoed Terry’s thoughts, and he said that was why his team was eager to take part on Thursday’s matches.
“That’s what we were looking for,” he said. “We threw everything we had at them (Augusta), and we just weren’t tough enough.
“There was a good handful of matches that could have gone either way, and we didn’t win any of them. If you don’t win those matches, you’re not going to win the dual.”
Freshman Adam Bilby scored a pinfall victory for the Rockets at 120 over Burgess, who was filling in for Marcus Terry. He said his strategy was to shuffle some of his wrestlers around because of that, and it paid off for Bilby.
“We put in our backup at 106, bumped our 106 up to 113, bumped our 113 up to 120 (Bilby), and we felt like that gave us the best shot,” Saferite said. “It worked out kind of as we had planned. Johnny Leck (normally at 106), he stepped up and battled (LaPlant) at 113 (dropping a 6-1 decision). He (LaPlant) is No. 2 in the state, and Johnny stepped up and he wrestled well.
“That part of it was OK.”
Senior Keegan Beavers was a bright spot for the Rockets, scoring a technical fall at 152 over Augusta junior Roman Coldwell.
Circle coach Edmon Schrader, fully aware of the numbers game that put his squad behind the 8-ball before the dual even started, noted that when he could provide a wrestler in a weight class, those showed considerable progress. He noted that Colvin was ranked one spot ahead of King and King might move up because of this victory.
“He has a chance to move up a couple of rungs,” Schrader said.
The upcoming regions could be one way the T-Birds might be able to exact a little revenge, he said.
“I think we have three, maybe four, that can make it to state,” Schrader said. “And then my 143(-pound) girl (junior Katelyn Schmidt, fifth in the class at state last year). She’ll be a state placer again this year.”
Augusta 78, Circle 0
106 – Foy , A, won by default. 113 – LaPlant, A, won by default. 120 – Burgess , A, won by default. 126 – Lin, A, won by default. 132 – Duncan, A, won by default. 138 – Fox, A, won by default. 145 – Hennessey, A, won by default. 152 – Coldwell, A, pinned Money, 3:22. 160 – Bratton, A, won by default. 170 – Kant, A, def. W.Rose, 4-2. 182 – Johnson, A, won by default. 195 – Davis, A, pinned R. Rose, 1:10. 220 – Williams, A, dec. Milbradt, 7-1. 285 – Morales, A, pinned King.
Augusta 55, Rose Hill 17
106 – S. Whitted, RH, pinned Foy, 0:34. 113 – LaPlant, A, dec. Leak, 6-1. 120 – Bilby, RH, pinned Burgess, 3:58. 126 – Lin, A, dec. B. Whitted, 9-8. 132 – Duncan, A, pinned Emberson, 2:35. 138 – Fox, A, maj. December I. O’Shea, 11-2. 145 – Hennessey, A, dec. P. O’Shea, 7-5. 152 – Beavers, RH, Tech. case Coldwell, 5:22. 160 – Bratton, A, pinned Probasco, 3:15. 170 – Kant, A, pinned Rogers, 3:40. 182 – Johnson, A, pinned Lemasters, 2:38. 195 – Davis, A, pinned Evans, 2:29. 220 – Williams, A, pinned Montemayor, 3:03. 285 – Morales, A, pinned Colvin, 5:51.
Rose Hill 60, Circle 24
106 – Richwine, RH, won by default. 113 – S. Whitted, RH, won by default. 120 – Moore, RH, won by default. 126 – B. Whitted, RH, won by default. 132 – Schrader, C, won by default. 138 – I. O’Shea, RH, won by default. 145 – P. O’Shea, RH, won by default. 152 – Culbertson, RH, pinned Money, 0:26. 160 – Roberts, RH, won by default. 170 – Probasco, RH, pinned W. Rose, 0:19. 182 – Lemasters, RH, won by default. 195 – R. Rose, C, won by default. 220 – Milbradt, C, won by default. 285 –King, C, pinned Colvin, 3:35.
