Indian River head wrestling coach Jeff Windish indicated last week that he felt that all of his varsity wrestlers could make the state tournament by placing in the top six slots at the conference tournament.
Coastal Point • JESSE PRYOR:
Bo Wilkinson tries to keep Caesar Rodney grappler Alex Meade down. Wilkinson lost to Meade in the championship round.Eight Indian River wrestlers, including conference champion Perry Townsend (215 pounds), placed in the top six slots and are heading to this weekend’s state tournament. Luke Saylor (140) and Josh Hitchens (171) just missed qualifying for the tournament, both placing seventh.
Townsend secured the tournament’s first pin of the championship round just 30 seconds into the third period, over Jamar Beckett of Sussex Tech. He won all three of his matches (two by fall) and finally broke his second-place dry spell over the past four tournaments.
“Beckett’s a tough guy,” Townsend said. “He wrestled me strong during the season, and I knew it would be a tough match.”
“I’m the No. 1 seed going into the (state) tournament and a lot of people will be looking to knock me off,” he continued. “Everyone wants to knock off the No. 1 seed. But it’ll probably be Beckett I see in the (state) finals.”
“I haven’t had my hand raised yet,” he continued. “But I knew coming into the season that if I worked hard enough I could be the state champion.”
Delfino Pascual (103), Bo Wilkinson (140) and P.J Barch (152) each fell short of the conference championship in their respective weight divisions and placed second.
Barch won three straight matches leading up to the championship round, where he lost a 13-4 decision to Caesar Rodney’s Brian Ribolla. Barch wrestled his first match of the season for the Indians against Seaford on Feb. 7 and tech-fall-pinned Trevor Polk.
Polk went 3-2 and placed fifth in the conference tournament.
“P.J. is a sleeper to win at states (tournament),” Townsend said. “He’s a tough kid and he showed everyone what he’s made of.”
Mike Magaha (119) has his only loss in the tournament to the conference finalist runner-up, Luis Burgos (Caesar Rodney), and eventually placed third.
Dominique Morris’ 2-2 tournament record earned him a fourth-place finish.
Zach Rector (285) placed fifth. And Sean Cummings (135) rounded out Indian River’s tournament finishers, in sixth place.
Caesar Rodney dominated the tournament, sending eight wrestlers to the championship round and winning six matches. They won championships at the 125, 130, 135, 140, 152 and 160 (by injury default) weight classes.
Sussex Central had five make the championship round, though three won.
Indian River sent the third-most wrestlers to the championship round, with four.
Indian River keeps it close against Smyrna
Indian River lost in the opening round of the Delaware Division II State Dual tournament for the third year in a row, following a 36-24 loss to Smyrna. The match saw the lead change hands five times and tied once.
Smyrna finally reclaimed a 22-21 lead, following a 16-7 major decision by Kenny Boyles over Pitts with five matches remaining.
Brad Margist (130) had a tech-fall-pin over Daniel Cervantes (20-3) that widened the margin heading down the stretch.
But Cummings brought Indian River back into striking distance (27-24, Smyrna advantage) with a 12-8 come-from-behind decision over Cody Carbine.
“A pin here or there could’ve made all the difference and changed the whole match,” Townsend said.”
Unfortunately for Indian River, they couldn’t get a pin to recapture the lead for the win.
But with the number of injuries to this year’s team, Windish is just glad that they were able to make this year’s tournament.
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P.J. Barch tries to hold off Brian Ribbola, looking for a chance to reverse.“Just to make it here was a big plus, and to keep it close was another big plus,” Windish said. “Especially when you consider that we’ve had anywhere from four to five guys out of the starting lineup because of injuries. But we battled back and now we’re taking eight to states. Individually and team-wise, it’s been a challenge. But, overall, I’m very pleased with our effort.”
Despite, getting knocked out of the first round of the state dual tournament, Windish stayed on the positive side.
“We knew that it was all about the match-ups. We didn’t have the match-ups in the first match (against Smryna), but we’ve improved and we got the match ups,” Windish said. “Having P.J. back in the lineup was definitely good for us, and Zach Rector being a first-year wrestler down big in the third period to come back and get the pin was enormous.
“And I’ll be honest with you – I’m just as proud of Daniel Cervantes for not giving up the pin. He showed enormous heart and didn’t give up any (more) bonus points. He could’ve given up, but he didn’t.”
Indian River lost to Hodgson 48-18 and 44-27 the previous two seasons.
Pascual, Magaha, Cummings, Wilkinson, Barch, Morris, Townsend and Rector each will compete in the state tournament this weekend (Feb. 23-24) at Delaware State University.