Fast falls
BUTLER TWP —
Literally.
Six of the seven Golden Tornado pins occurred in the first
period of a 58-10 section dual match victory in the
Blake Caudill at 120 pounds, Jeremiah Bortmas at 145, David
Slomers at 152, Ryan Hannon at 182, Zach Weaver at 195 and Alex White at 220
all had first-period pins for Butler (2-0). Bortmas had the quickest fall at 45
seconds.
Connor Foust pinned his man at 113 pounds just 34 seconds
into the second period.
“It's good to see those guys come out and be all business. There
was no lollygagging around,” Tornado coach Scott Stoner said. “At the same
time, I'd like to see guys demonstrate a few different takedown maneuvers
before putting an opponent away.
“I always look at how many takedowns we had compared to how
many times we were taken down. That's the important aspect that goes beyond the
final score.”
Despite the lopsided loss, Pine-Richland coach Steve Joseph
thought his team wrestled better than it did in a one-point loss to Knoch last
week.
“That's how good a team I think Butler has,” Joseph said. “We
actually had a better showing tonight.
“The kids who gave up the early pins tonight were first or
second-year wrestlers for us. They'll get better with time.”
Two Tornado wrestlers — Foust and Hannon — stayed perfect on
the season at 5-0. Weaver recorded his sixth pin in as many wins this season at
195.
“Zach sat behind Cole Baxter for a year, then came on the mat
last season and recorded 26 pins,” Stoner said. “He has the confidence and
ability to go through people.”
Four newcomers to Butler's lineup this season continue to
shine. Cody Houston improved to 5-2 at 132 pounds by posting a majority
decision. Slomers had his pin at 152 to improve to 4-3 while Zach Raible moved
to 6-2 on the year with a 6-5 decision of Keegan Harris at 170 pounds.
Raible took down Harris with 20 seconds left in the match to
secure the victory.
“Zach does not have natural athleticism, so he has to work
hard for everything he gets,” Stoner said. “Some of his wins may be ugly like
this one, but he scrapped his way through and wound up with one point more than
the other guy.”
Butler's Damian Wheeler lost a 5-3 decision to Patrick Kline
at heavyweight, but is still 5-2 on the year. Wheeler gave up his first two
takedowns of the season.
“I'm very surprised at how well our newcomers are doing so
early in the year,” Stoner said. “A lot of that credit belongs to Coach (Fred)
Powell. He drills these kids and works with them every day to get better.”
One of the Rams' better wrestlers, David Kelly, dropped a 7-0
decision to Korey Caudill at 126 pounds.
“We've only wrestled two matches so far and David's faced two
experienced, high-caliber seniors on those nights,” Joseph said. “I'm sure he's
going to do fine.”
“Korey won every scramble against that kid and Kelly's not a
bad wrestler,” Stoner said.
Butler's Xavier Bennett had a 14-4 lead on Matt Graf at 138
pounds when the latter could not continue due to injury early in the third
period.
The Tornado will compete in the 36-team Southmoreland Tournament
Dec. 28-29.
Butler 58, Pine-Richland 10
(Match started at 106 pounds)
106-Connor Renkey (P-R) dec. Max Stalnaker, 8-0; 113-Connor
Foust (B) pinned Bryce DeLeon, 2:34; 120-Blake Caudill (B) pinned Ryan Baer,
1:40; 126-Korey Caudill (B) dec. David Kelly, 7-0; 132-Cody Houston (B) dec.
Dillon Florentine, 13-2; 138-Xavier Bennett (B) by injury default over Matt
Graf, 4:32; 145-Jeremiah Bortmas (B) pinned Blake Watson, :45; 152-David
Slomers (B) pinned Mike Geyer, 1:33; 160-Brendan Burnham (P-R) dec. Will
Bortmas, 9-2; 170-Zach Raible (B) dec. Keegan Harris, 6-5; 182-Ryan Hannon (B)
pinned Sam Kyle, 1:46; 195-Zach Weaver (B) pinned David Rambacher, :52;
220-Alex White (B) pinned Luke Krebs, 1:00; Hwt.-Patrick Kline (P-R) dec.
Damian Wheeler, 5-3