EDWARDSVILLE – There are times the outcome of a wrestling meet can hinge on just one moment of a bout.
Wednesday night's Southwestern Conference meet between O'Fallon and Edwardsville hinged on just such a moment.
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The Panthers, on the strength of three straight pins, had rallied back from 27-13 down to take a 31-27 lead on the Tigers and everything was riding on the outcome of the 285-pound bout between the Tigers' Josh Anderson and the Panthers' Mason Baker.
Anderson had fallen behind Baker and trailed most of the way, but roared back in the third period to get Baker on his back and score a pin with just six seconds left in the bout to put the Tigers back on top at 33-31 before Ben Lunn pinned Austin Kostedt in 56 seconds to finish out the meet and give the Tigers a 39-31 win at Edwardsville's Jon Davis Wrestlng Center/Babe Stahlhut Arena.
The win kept EHS unbeaten at 4-0 in the SWC (15-3 overall) while dropping OTHS to 13-1 overall and 3-1 in the league.
“The kid really went after it,” said Tiger coach Jon Wagner said of Anderson. “I thought he (Anderson) really went after it the whole match; he went with a double-underhook and finally got his hands locked. He had gotten his (Baker's) hands locked a couple of times (before), but he ran out of real estate, and he finally got his hands locked in the middle of the mat, and he was finally able to pull him down.”
The Panthers' three pins in a row that put them ahead came from Mason Hewitt at 182, Koby Bosworth at 195 and Brian Ahle at 220. “That's a nice little murderer's row they've got there,” Wagner said. “There's no doubt about it; we knew we were going to be really hard-pressed right there; Sam Martin's (at 195) underweight, we got Bo (Melkamp at 220) back – that was his first match back this season, so he's not where he needs to be yet, and we've got Connor Mikulat a little underweight (at 182) and he was wrestling one of their best kids.
“We knew what we were in for and they were ready and they came out here to win. It was a hard-fought match.”
After Luke Odom was awarded a forfeit win at 113 to begin proceedings, Noah Surtin put Edwardsville ahead 12-0 by making quick work with a 57-second pin of Vaughn Turner before the Panthers' Alex Ziegler pinned Josh Turner in 2:47 at 126 to cut the Tiger lead to 12-6. Edwardsville picked three of those points back up when Ben Schlueter managed to hold off Alex Fulton at 132 when Fulton gained a two-point reverse of Schlueter but couldn't turn Schlueter on his back for near-fall points in the late going, Schlueter winning the bout 3-2.
O'Fallon's Jaylen Jones got the Panthers back to 15-9 with a 6-1 decision over Joe Griffin at 138, but Edwardsville's Rafael Roman scored a 23-9 major decision over Mike Faulkner to put the Tigers ahead 19-9 at 145 and Baylor Montgomery at 152 defeated Caleb Carriel 9-0 for four more points to extend the Tiger lead to 23-9. At 160, Jack Bond defeated Eric Epenesa 11-2 to cut the EHS lead to 23-13 before Markel DeBerry scored a 10-2 win over Jake Delange at 170 to put the Tigers ahead 27-13.
Then came O'Fallon's three straight pins – Hewitt in 1:23 over Mikulaut at 182, Bosworth in 1:50 over Martin at 195 and Ahle in 1:44 over Meikamp at 220 – to give O'Fallon 18 important points and give them a 31-27 lead before Anderson stepped up to the mat against Baker and falling behind 3-0 before coming from behind to score the pinfall at 5:54 to put the Tigers back head 33-31, Lunn's fall over Kostedt clinching the win.
Edwardsville will head to Kaukauna, Wis., Friday and Saturday for the annual Cheesehead Tournament. Real-time tournament updates throughout the weekend will be available at www.trackwrestling.com.
