Maples stun Rockets, 45-33
Holly Tonini
Mapletown鈥檚 Kevin Hayes works to put Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Jordan Jento on his back in the 145-pound bout Wednesday during Section 2-A wrestling action at Mapletown High School. Hayes won by fall in the second period.
Mapletown's Dalton Fowler and Jefferson-Morgan's Tanner Weston go head to head in the 220-pound weight class Wednesday. Fowler would go on to win by fall during their Section 2-A contest at Mapletown High School.
Jefferson-Morgan's Gavin Teasdale makes a quick move to pin Mapletown's Seth McCann during the 126-pound bout during Section 2-A wrestling action Wednesday at Mapletown High School.
Mapletown's Cory Dewitt (top) and Jefferson-Morgan's Tristan Yeager fight for control of the first period of the 160-pound weight class Section 2-A match-up Wednesday at Mapletown High School. Dewitt pinned Yeager as the Maples upset the Rockets, 45-33.
Holly Tonini
Mapletown鈥檚 Noah Hixon pins Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Hunter Journic in the 113-pound bout during their Section 2-A match Wednesday at Mapletown High School. The Maples stunned the Rockets, 45-33. Hixon missed all of last season because of a broken collarbone.
GREENSBORO 鈥� Since the return of the Mapletown wrestling program five years ago, the squad has been looking for that one marquee victory as a team.
In Wednesday鈥檚 Section 2-AA (2-A) contest, the Maples grabbed that signature win with a 45-33 upset of Jefferson-Morgan.
鈥淭his is a huge win for our program, the school and the community,鈥� Mapletown coach Chris Shilk said. 鈥淭his is what we have been building to. J-M has been the measuring stick in the section and in the county. I know their line-up is different from last year, but this is still a big night for our guys.鈥�
The Maples (1-1, 1-1) were down 15-6 through four matches, but rallied back for the section triumph with a decision, two forfeits and four pins for the 12-point victory.
Even though both teams have different line-ups, Mapletown fell to J-M 72-3 last year.
鈥淲e are a young, up-and-coming program, and any time you beat a caliber team like Jefferson it鈥檚 huge,鈥� Shilk said. 鈥淲e knew we matched up with them and we knew this was going to test how we have grown as a program. We turned the tide and our kids wanted it really bad. Words can鈥檛 describe this feeling and I鈥檓 so happy for those kids.鈥�
The Maples got on the board with a first-period pin by Noah Hixon at 113.
鈥淣oah is a senior and he has been peaking at the right time,鈥� Shilk said. 鈥淚 knew when we drew 113 in the locker room that Noah was going to be ready. Noah is one of the few kids that came up through our JV program and has been with us since the beginning. His first-period pin set the tempo.鈥�
The Rockets (0-2, 0-2) countered with 15 straight points, courtesy of a forfeit to Zach Tedrow at 120, a pin by Gavin Teasdale 15 seconds into 126 and a hard-fought 9-2 decision by Josh Agnew at 132.
At 138, Seth Shubert maintained his lead through three periods over Aaron Mylan and captured a 7-0 decision for Mapletown.
The Maples knotted the match up at 15-15 after a second-period pin by Kevin Hayes at 145 and took back the lead for good with back-to-back, first-period pins by Brandon Smotzer (152) and Cory Dewitt (160).
Sandwiched around two first-period falls by J-M鈥檚 Trevor Kniha (170) and Billy Bowlen (195) was a forfeit to Mapletown鈥檚 Gavin Uphold at 182.
Tanner Weston sealed the monumental victory for the Maples at 220 with a second-period fall at 2:38.
鈥淲e knew we had to get pins and couldn鈥檛 settle for decisions,鈥� Shilk said. 鈥淏onus points killed us last week against Beth-Center. Tanner got a big win and he brought the right mentality to the match. Tanner flipped over in the second period and capitalized on some mistakes for the pin.鈥�
The match ended with a forfeit to Mapletown鈥檚 Harley Gee at 285 and another forfeit to J-M鈥檚 Mason Palmer at 106.
鈥淥ur kids are still young and they showed a lot of inexperience tonight,鈥� J-M coach Mike Lesko said. 鈥淲hen they made one mistake, they folded and got pinned. We can鈥檛 be sad for each other and mope around. We have to build off of this. We had the right match-ups tonight, but give Mapletown some credit for getting those bonus points.鈥�
The Rockets venture out to Derry Area on Friday for a non-subsection match, while the Maples head out to Moon for a tournament on Saturday.