MOUNT VERNON — Wrestling at home for the first time in nearly five weeks, the Mount Vernon High School Yellow Jackets hosted its first quad meet of the season on Thursday night. Cardington, Mansfield Senior and Upper Arlington were in town, but each went home with a loss after Mount Vernon swept the meet.
The Jackets downed Mansfield Senior in the first match, 66-11, while Upper Arlington defeated Cardington. That set up a winner’s match with Mount Vernon wrestling the Golden Bears. While Upper Arlington gave Mount Vernon more of a fight, it was still no match as the Jackets recorded six pins in the 52-30 victory. Mansfield Senior defeated Cardington in the consolation match.
“I thought we did real well,” said Mount Vernon coach John Brown. “I thought we attacked real well, and did a good job of filling some holes. Our heavyweight, Ian Mizer, was sick today; our 103 had to get his ear drained; and (Jordan) Montgomery is still trying to heal up. We had to do some fancy footwork to cover some things, but I thought we wrestled more like a team tonight. I was just real pleased the way we fought every match. We made them work every time, win or lose.”
Mount Vernon won 14 matches on the night by pin, three by decision, three by forfeit and one by penalty. In all, Mount Vernon won 21 of the 28 classes it contested, and six Jackets recorded pins in each match.
Matt Belcher won two matches by pin at 119 in 2:13 and 3:15, respectively. Mason Smith won his first match at 130 pounds in 1:34, and then dropped down to 125 and won in 0:56. Charlie Hill also won one match up a weight class and one at his normal class. He pinned Mansfield Seniors’ Cody Henderson in 4:28 at 135 pounds, and then dropped down to 130 and pinned Upper Arlington’s Karic Cecutti in 3:05. Brent Kramp won once by pin in 1:53, and then won by decision, 16-2.
In the middle weight classes, Steve Hall had a big night, winning twice by pin. He won at 152 pounds in 1:40 and 1:49, respectively. Nate Fry also recorded two wins, one by a 14-13 decision and one by forfeit. Russell Donnelly and Devin Allnut each recorded a win at 171 and 189 pounds, respectively.
“I think Steve Hall stepped up; he had two wins and that was huge,” Brown said. “We got two wins out of (Nate) Fry, including a forfeit, and Russell Donnelly came through and won a big match for us. Those were important wins.”
In the weight classes, Mount Vernon went 4-0. Josh Wright, wrestling up at 215, won by pin in 1:47 and 1:02. Dane Cullen then pinned his heavyweight competition in 3:12 and 3:55.
“I think we keep getting better each time out,” said Brown. “We’ve got to continue to work on the little things. Matt Belcher, Mason Smith, Charlie Hill and Brent Kramp all have 20 wins or more already. They are doing a nice job for us. Dane (Cullen) did a nice job stepping up to heavyweight. Josh Wright did a nice job stepping in Dane’s spot. We are performing well.”
Also on the night, Kenny Henault won by decision, 7-4, and Collin Clark and Mike Vilfer each won by forfeit.
The home quad was the first of two for Mount Vernon. The change from duels this season had made things a little different all the way around.
“What this boils down to is we can wrestle two matches for the same amount of points as one,” said Brown. “We are getting more matches in this way. I like it, but it takes away some of the duel meet atmosphere, which is always fun here. We’ve got a tri-meet later in February, and we are going to wrestle on one mat under the main light. ... It is hard to find people who want a duel now, and why would they when you can get two matches instead of one.”
Mount Vernon is off until Thursday when they host another quad. Westerville Central, Newark and Marion Harding come to town. Wrestling will begin at 6 p.m. at Pleasant Street Elementary School.
