Reynoldsburg wins duel with Jackets
MOUNT VERNON — Up against the 10th-ranked team in the state and an Ohio Capital Conference powerhouse, the Mount Vernon High School wrestling team struggled at home in a duel meet against the Reynoldsburg Raiders. Jackets head coach John Brown says his team still has a lot of improvement to make, but showed some positive performances. The Raiders powered over the Jackets in Saturday night’s match, 67-8.
“I’ll tell you what I told them, ‘It was some of the worst and best I saw out of them this year,’” Brown said. “We came out and attacked well. We did a lot of things we worked on this week. There were a lot of huge pluses in such a lopsided match.”
Mount Vernon’s Matt Belcher started the night off for the Yellow Jackets. Weighing in at 104.1 pounds, he faced the states’ No.6-ranked Kent Li of Reynoldsburg, in the 103-pound weight class. Li fired up the Raiders, pinning Belcher in 1:22. Reynoldsburg succeeded in the next five weight classes (112, 119, 125, 130 and 135).
“I think we came out ready to go,” said Reynoldsburg head coach Jason Allen. “Our intensity was high and we were executing our moves. Our confidence level was up. Overall, I’d give us an A-minus.”
Mason Smith of Mount Vernon worked hard against Reynoldsburg’s Jasper Few in the 112 weight class, but lost by pin at 3:29. Brent Kramp (Mount Vernon) and Robbie Nein matched up at 119 pounds. Nein took another win for the Raiders with a 12-0 major decision.
Brody Fletcher and the Raiders’ Chris Lester followed the night’s trend. Fletcher was pinned at 3:57. Jordan Berry attempted to turn the tables on Reynoldsburg’s success. He faced senior Nick Sasfy and went 4:47 into the match before being pinned by Sasfy. Yellow Jacket Corey Sheller took the mats next at 135 pounds, and Dustin Few successfully pinned Sheller at 3:11.
“Some of the matches, they wrestled hard,” said Brown. “Brody Fletcher came out and wrestled a state qualifier real tough for a period and a half. And then just fell apart, made a mistake. We consistently did that throughout the night, I mean they are the No. 1 team in the Central District. But I think we could have made some better choices and cut down on some of our mistakes.”
“We try to get it on a roll and try to keep that going,” said Allen. “Guys don’t want to be the only ones who didn’t get a pin, so they challenge each other by doing that.”
The Raiders were feeling unstoppable against the Yellow Jackets, but Michael Lybarger (140 pounds) stepped up to the challenge and defeated Reynoldsburg’s Zach Brill by tech fall in two minutes. Mount Vernon’s Andy Barber fell to Jeremy Cook by a score of 13-1, but teammate J.J. Maglott took control of the Raiders’ Bilal Shalah in the 152-pound weight class. Maglott won by a 10-3 score.
However, the Raiders would win the next five matches as the Yellow Jackets faced three of the state’s top wrestlers. The Raiders gave a lot of team support throughout the night to help them win Allen said.
“When you have guys cheering for you, it makes it better,” said Allen. “I think we did that today and we haven’t done that in the past, but we did it today and we’re going to continue to be building up on that.”
Derek Hudson faced the states’ No.2-ranked wrestler at 160 pounds, Mazin Shalah, and lost by tech fall in 2:58. Mount Vernon’s Trevor Boyd (171 pounds) wrestled Nick Sasfy, 14th ranked, losing by pin in 1:28. Reynoldsburg’s heavy-weight, Andy Hartshorn, third in the state, pinned Marshall Cramer at 1:22. Mount Vernon’s Rex Little (189) and Dane Cullen (215) also lost their matches to their opponents. Little was pinned at 2:44, and Cullen went down at 3:02 by pin.
“I told them, they got to leave here with something positive,” said Brown. “You know, 69-8, that’s quite a whipping so we have to look at the positive things and try to build on those.”
For the junior varsity, Mount Vernon won 21-3. Renay Bakley (103 pounds) won by decision, 17-16. Chris O’Hara (145 pounds) won by pin in 1:23, and Dakota Smith (152 pounds) pinned his opponent, Austin Kirby, in 17 seconds. Lindsey Curry (112) and Matt Smith (160) both lost by decisions.
“I tell the guys all the time, ‘If you want to be the best, you’ve got to see the best,’” Brown said. “We’re in the process of doing that. They get to see where they want to be and then what type of work they need to do to get there.”