Overtime Pays
McDonald's OT victory
highlights Butler's 51-27 home wrestling triumph over Knoch
January 9, 2020 High School Wrestling
Butler's
Nate McDonald attempts an escape from Knoch's Kyle Lauster during their
overtime match at 170 pounds Wednesday night. McDonald won the match on a
reversal with six seconds left.
SEB FOLTZ/BUTLER EAGLE
BUTLER TWP — Four pins and four forfeitures
keyed Butler's 51-27 wrestling victory over Knoch Wednesday night in the Butler
Intermediate gym.
One overtime match highlighted the evening.
Golden Tornado senior Nate McDonald (10-5)
scored a reversal on Kyle Lauster with six seconds left in the final overtime
period for a 4-2 decision.
“If I don't score there, the match probably
goes to criterion and I didn't want that,” McDonald said.
McDonald had a 2-1 lead after the first
period before a Lauster escape knotted the match in the second. Neither
wrestler scored in the third perior or took down the other in a one-minute
overtime. Lauster could not escape from the down position in his 30-second OT
period. McDonald then scored the escape in the waning seconds of his 30 seconds
in the down position.
“That was a gutty win for Nate,” Butler
coach Scott Stoner said. “He's been battling an elbow injury and hasn't
wrestled in a couple of weeks. We just got him back two days ago. He had been
doing light drills.”
McDonald said he was “just trying to stand
up, then I saw that reversal was there, so I took it.
“I could hear the crowd. They were loud and
cheering for me. I drew some energy from that,” McDonald added.
Knoch coach Grayson Hixon admired the effort
of both wrestlers.
“Match of the night,” he said. “I give that
Butler kid credit. He busted his butt to get up and get the win. Kyle's effort
was strong, too.”
The Golden Tornado (4-1) got pins from Nick
Schaukowitsh at 120 pounds, Nate McMaster at 145, Steven Green at 152 and
Cooper Baxter at 182. Schaukowitsch (9-6) scored his fall just 1:06 into the
match.
“We did well there, but I thought we looked
stale and flat overall,” Stoner said. “It's a long season and you're gonna hit
a lull at some point.
“Maybe we picked the right time for that to
happen.”
Baxter improved to 12-2 with his seventh pin
of the season. Only freshman Levi Donnel — who won by forfeit at 113 — has more
falls (eight) for Butler this season.
“Coop's only two losses are to the kid from
Freedom who placed second at the state meet last year,” Stoner said. “He's been
very consistent.
“He's actually a very light 182-pounder. He
can weigh in at 170 and that's probably where we'll have him at the Virginia
Duals.”
Butler will compete at the Virginia Duals —
a collegiate and high school event — Friday and Saturday at the Hampton
Coliseum.
“It's the largest dual match tournament
nationally,” Stoner enthused. “I'm looking forward to seeing how we do in that
atmosphere.”
Knoch (0-3) picked up pins from Kameron
Grassi at 138 and undefeated Guy DeLeonardis at 160. The Knights' Matthew Frank
won by technical fall at 106.
“I thought we held our own tonight and had
some good matches,” Hixon said. “Kam and Guy are seniors and they're our
captains.
“They've got a lot of experience on the mat
and they're good leaders for us.”
Knoch has eight wrestlers at the junior high
level and approximately 35 kids in the elementary program “which is a good
number for us.” Hixon said.
“Eight to 10 of those kids are in their
final year (of elementary), so our junior high team will get a boost next
year.”
Butler honored its own elementary wrestling
program Wednesday night.
Knoch travels to Armstrong for a dual match
next Wednesday.
“They took it to us in a couple of those
matches tonight,” Stoner said of Knoch.
Wednesday's win was the 365th dual victory
of Stoner's 27-year career.
Butler 51, Knoch 27
(Match started at 106 pounds)
106-Matthew Frank (K) tech. fall over Aiden
Plopi, 4:49 (17-2); 113-Levi Donnel (B) by forfeit; 120-Nick Schaukowitsch (B)
pinned Nick Golab, 1:06; 126-Clayton Dressler (B) by forfeit; 132-Ty Misitis
(K) dec. Colton Spohn, 15-5; 138-Kameron Grassi (K) pinned Dom Vivirito, 1:57;
145-Nate McMaster (B) pinned Gavin McGowan, 1:53; 152-Steven Green (B) pinned
Adam Stobert, 3:27; 160-Guy DeLeonardis (K) pinned Hunter Neff, 5:38; 170-Nate
McDonald (B) dec. Kyle Lausater, 4-2 in OT; 182-Cooper Baxter (B) pinned Sam
Freyermuthy, 5:04; 195-Caleb Hartung (B) by forfeit; 220-Jake Pomykata (B) by
forfeit; Hwt.-Eli Reese (K) by forfeit