Harrold Gets Key Pin, Odom Win Main Event As Tigers Defeat Cadets 45-23 In Border War Dual Meet

EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville's 182-pound wrestler Caleb Harrold got a key early win with a second period pin, Blake Moss also won by fall, which triggered a 24-point turnaround, and Luke Odom, wrestling at 160 pounds, won over Missouri champion Vinnie Zerban to run his record to 32-1 on the year as the Tigers won the annual Border War wrestling meet over CBC 45-23 Tuesday evening at the Jon Davis Wrestling Center's Warren "Babe" Stahlhut Arena.

Bonus points earned in wins played a big role in the meet, especially during the 24-point stretch by the Tigers, which made the team score 30-10. The Tigers won nine bouts during the evening, but each one was closely contested in a meet that featured two of the St. Louis area's best teams.

"Yeah, the bonus points kind of played a role both ways, but I think we got a little bit more bonus, and we won a few more matches," said Edwardsville head wrestling coach Jon Wagner. "We won some of the close ones, Caleb Harrold coming back and getting that big pin for us was huge in the momentum, and Drew Gvillo coming out there and wrestling his heart out in the loss, and really getting after it just put a lot of positive things."

And the bout between Odom and Zerban, won by Odom 4-0 on a second-period reversal and third-period takedown, was a high-quality match between two of the best wrestlers in the area.

"Yeah, Vinnie's a great wrestler," Wagner said, "and he's got a state championship under his belt. It was a clash of the titans right there, and Luke's counterattack was beautiful. Really got in his legs, good defense, got in a counterattack, and it's pretty special."

And right from the start, the Tigers showed that they meant business, and although he lost, Drew Gvillo's opening bout helped set the tone for the night.

"From the beginning," Wagner said. "Drew Gvillo battled his tail off in a loss, but showing that we weren't going to roll over for them, we were going to come out there and step on a line, and cross the line each and every time. And like I said, that led up to the next match, with Caleb fighting through and getting the big pin."

Wagner singled out some of the other Tiger wrestlers for good performances as well.

"Good to see Blake Moss back," Wagner said. "Blake's been out of the lineup for awhile; good to see him get his feet wet again. He's got a little rust out there, but went for a pretty long time out there, and proud of his efforts. Dylan Gvillo got a nice win for us at 132. and Austin Bauer, he's been sick all day yesterday, he didn't practice, came here, says 'I'm ready to go,' and went out there and got a nice pin for us."

it's a very special team that the Tigers have, and its senior leadership is definitely a big key to its success.

"Yeah, it's a senior-led team," Wagner said, "a lot of seniors on the team, so they kind of feed off each other a little bit, they love each other, and I think we're going to continue to grind, and see what we can do in the next four weeks."

The meet started with the 170-pound bout, and Drew Gvillo did indeed give a very good accounting, staying with Lucas White all throughout the match, before White eventually came up with a 16-6 win to give CBC an early 4-0 lead. The Tigers took their first lead in the next match, when in the second period, Harrold made a nice move to put Luke Ebers on his back, and scored the meet's first pin at 4:22 to give the Tigers a 6-4 lead. The Cadets came right back in the 195-pound match when Jack Darrah scored a pin over Edwardsville's Simon Weakley at 1:34 to give CBC the lead back at 10-6.

Then came the 24-point streak that all but clinched the meet for the Tigers. It started at 220 pounds. when Moss made a great move to put Beau Brown on his back and scored the pin at 3:43 to give the Tigers the lead back at 12-10. It was a key moment in the meet, as both Lloyd Reynolds at 285 pounds and Jackson Summers at 106 pounds were awarded forfeit wins, making the score 24-10. The Tigers then extended their lead to 30-10 when Zeke Rhodes, wrestling at 113 pounds, pinned Jackson Kirn at 1:08.

The Cadets did get six of those points back in the 120-pound bout when Santino Robinson scored the night's fastest pin, taking 59 seconds to win by fall over Drew Landau, cutting the Tigers' lead to 30-16. A 9-0 win by CBC's Alex Flerlage in the 126-pound match over Connor Surtin made the score 30-20, but Dylan Gvillo wrestled a very good match to win over Jacob Fryer 5-0 in the 132-pound bout to put the Tigers up 33-20. Edwardsville then clinched the meet when Bauer, wrestling at 138, pinned Chris Spaete at 1:13 to give the Tigers a 39-20 lead.

In the night's final three matches, in the night's closest match, Grant Schmid came up with a third-period escape, then almost scored a takedown in the final seconds, but Drew Morgan held on to win 2-1 in the 145-pound match to make the team score 39-23. Will Zupanci then won the 152-pound match 6-0 over Jeffery Morgan to set up the night's feature bout at 160.

Odom and Zerban wrestled each other very evenly in the opening period, but midway through the second, with Zerban in the up position, Odom was able to escape, then scored the reversal on Zerban to take a 2-0 lead. It stayed that way until the third, with both wrestlers up, Odom made a counter move on a Zerban shoot and scored a takedown with nearly a minute left in the third to make it 4-0, and from there, Odom went on to win the match to make the final score 45-23.

The Tigers are now 20-2 in dual meets, and will next wrestle in a tournament at Columbia, Mo., Hickman this weekend. Wagner is looking forward to the opportunity for his wrestlers.

"We'll try to get some more matches," Wagner said. "We're going to get a bunch of matches, see some different referees, see some different kids, a little bit more of Missouri-style wrestling, and take it from there."

And the IHSA Class 3A state tournament series will be coming up in February, and Wagner is also looking forward to that as well.

"Before we know that, it's going to be here," Wagner said. "Good match tonight, proud of the kids, proud of my coaches."

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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