Cougars fall to Gators

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By Andy Lawell

In his dual against Green Valley, Randle Crowley, senior, pins his opponent. (Photo by Brooke Gibson)
In his dual against Green Valley, Randle Crowley, senior, pins his opponent. (Photo by Brooke Gibson)

The varsity wrestling team faced Green Valley High School on Tuesday, Jan. 21 and the Gators won 64 to 3.

Within the first minute of the third period, Parker Boyle, freshman, was pinned by Daniel Brather. This scored the Gators 6 points and raised morale for the visiting team, but the Cougars would not lose their resolve.

The next three matches, however, were more of the same: Giacomo Morris, freshman, was pinned by Connor Burgess, visitor, in his second period, and Sam Thomas, freshman, was pinned by Jesse Gabriel, visitor, in his first, followed by Jason D’Richards, sophomore, being pinned by Wallace Zernich. Sam Thomas was pinned with 20 seconds remaining in the first period.

Then, in a display of physical fortitude and strategy, Randle Crowley, senior, led with two takedowns and a reversal over Nicholas Kanian. This scored the Cougars three points and was the first time the Cougars scored that night.

It was a solid victory for the Cougars that match, but it would not be enough to propel them to victory over Green Valley’s team. Juniors Michael Gale and Daniel Hampton both gave up takedowns against Adrian Ojeda and Giullian Nakamatsu. Myles Wamsley, junior, had a match that went the same way against Jiar Meagher. These matches won the Gators 9 points, making the overall scores 3 to 38.

Dean Gerber, senior, reversed his opponent Robert Razo in the first period, but ultimately Razo would reverse Gerber, scoring the Gators another 3 points.

Following that, David Gerard, junior, was taken down by Jared Temple and pinned in the second period.

Brice Robinson, senior, went the three periods with Cade Van Orden. The match ended and scored the Gators 5 more points.

Finally, Jackson Strong, freshman, faced off with Jordan McAfee, and was pinned in the third period.

“As a team, we could have done better,” said Randle Crowley, senior. “It was a good win for me, but our team could have done a lot better, and has done a lot better. We lost a ton of close matches we should have won. We all know what we need to work on and what we need to improve on, so we can do better next time.”