Father Ryan Wrestlers Nip Cleveland On Eighth Criteria

Purple Irish Rebound After Humbling Loss To Archer

Friday, December 12, 2014
John Hunt

CLEVELAND -- The top three wrestling teams in Tennessee and Georgia gathered here at the Jones Wrestling Arena for a little dual-meet action prior to Saturday's Al Miller Cleveland Duals and when all was said and done, the rankings were about right on the money.

Father Ryan and Cleveland are the top two Tennessee teams in the latest wrestling poll and both are defending state champs in the traditional tournament in their respective divisions.

The Archer Tigers, the two-time Class 6-A defending Georgia champs who are ranked fifth nationally, put the wood to Father Ryan in the opener and won the last 12 individual matches en route to a thoroughly-convincing 59-3 victory.

Then in the finale, they had to go to the eighth criteria in the rule book to determine a winner, but the Purple Irish were declared the winner over Cleveland in a final score of 33-32.

That deciding criteria was the cumulative total of first points scored for all 14 individual matches and Father Ryan won that by 16-10.

"It feels like a loss," said Ryan coach Pat Simpson after his team had improved to 8-2 for the season.

"I'm really disappointed in the way we wrestled. You can see where we're strong, but you have to hang on in situations like that we weren't able to do that. I feel like we're the better team, but I just hope we have a chance on Saturday.

"But when you lost two 1-0 matches and two others get pinned who shouldn't have, it's not a real positive thing," he said.

Cleveland coach Jake Yost was really proud of the way his kids battled back after trailing 19-3 following the first five matches.

"I feel like our kids did a pretty good job as we had a lot of fight, but we put it on the line against a very good Father Ryan team. They're number one for a reason. We still have a lot of little things to work on, but a match like this can only make us better. Nobody's ever won a state title in December," stated Yost.

A major decision from Raymond Eason and a pin from Joey Vogelpohl gave the visitors from Nashville an early 10-0 lead before Colton Landers earned a 1-0 decision for Cleveland at 126.

A regular decision from Kirby Simpson and a pin from Eli King stretched Ryan's lead to 19-3 before the Blue Raiders started their comeback.

Perhaps the most impressive victory for Cleveland came at 145 pounds when Ezra Taylor claimed a 15-4 major decision over Christopher Wesnofske in a battle of top-ranked wrestlers.

Nick Naughton's major decision at 152 stretched the lead back to 16 at 23-7 before Cleveland won five of the next six matches to take a 32-26 lead when John Simpson scored a first-minute pin at 285.

Aaron Oliver got the ball rolling with a 13-0 major decision at 160 before Jonathan Martin earned the second 1-0 decision at 170. Seth Garcia and Riley Stevison both had pins to put Cleveland up 26-23 before Ben Stacey's 4-2 decision at 220 knotted the score at 26.

John Simpson's pin gave Cleveland a 32-26 lead before Christian Simpson's pin at 106 knotted the score for the last time, forcing referee Walter "Tater" Vineyard to go to the rule book to determine the winner.

The second match was much closer than the first.

Gavin Smith's pin at 106 gave Archer a 6-0 lead before Eason claimed Ryan's only win. Trailing 5-2 late in the third period, Eason scored a reversal and finished with a three-point near-fall to seal the 7-5 win.

The Tigers then won the last 12 matches, including a 27-second pin from Elliott Lee at 220 and a 25-second fall from Jacob Lill at 285 to put icing on the cake for the visitors from Lawrenceville.

The Tigers will be one of 15 teams in Saturday's Duals, but they won't win as they're leaving after their pool matches to head back home where their football team will be playing for a state title in the Georgia Dome.

FATHER RYAN 33, CLEVELAND 32

(Match started at 113 Pounds)

106 -- Christian Simpson (FR) pinned Bryce Pond, 2:31;

113 -- Raymond Eason (FR) major dec. Cody Mathews, 15-6;

120 -- Joey Vogelpohl (FR) pinned Rosmel Gallo, 1:18;

126 -- Colton Landers (Clev) dec. Trey Chalifoux, 1-0;

132 -- Kirby Simpson (FR) dec. Tristian Blansit, 6-4;

138 -- Eli King (FR) pinned Joseph Bowers, 1:11;

145 -- Ezra Taylor (Clev) major dec. Christopher Wesnofske, 15-4;

152 -- Nick Naughton (FR) major dec. Jack Hicks, 11-3;

160 -- Aaron Oliver (Clev) major dec. Anthony Hagey, 13-0;

170 -- Jonathan Martin (Clev) dec. Marcelo Morrice, 1-0;