The 2016-17 prep wrestling season is off to a roaring start for the Walker Valley Mustangs, especially after winning the annual Vandergriff Duals at Hixson Saturday afternoon.
The Mustangs won the Black pool after defeating teams from Red Bank, East Ridge, Brainerd and James Clemons, but the biggest win came against East Hamilton in the championship match.
The Hurricanes had advanced with pool wins over Hixson, Chattanooga Christian and Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, but they ran out of gas before they ran out of time against the Mustangs.
Walker Valley’s margin of victory in the finals was 41-31.
“Our goal was to come here and win this tournament today and that’s what we did, but we still have a long way to go and our fitness level leaves a lot to be desired,” said Walker Valley coach Al Morris following the last match of the day.
“We have a young team and we need to be in much better shape, but I saw a lot of improvement today. Our intensity level was good and we’ll get there, but it’s nice to achieve today’s goal. Now we have to get ready for Cookeville,” he said in reference to his team’s next match on Thursday.
East Hamilton coach Ryan Cooper felt pretty good about the day his team was having until Cade Meeks suffered a broken finger in the final pool match against Hixson.
“We were having a pretty good day until Cade got hurt and that sort of cast a dark shadow over the rest of the day,” Cooper began.
“We talked all week about fight and effort. I liked what I saw today. I like where we are in November as we’re headed in the right direction. Our goal for today was to come over here and compete. I feel like we did that as the effort was there. I don’t think we’ve ever finished as high as second before,” he added.
Walker Valley got bonus points in seven of eight individual wins, including pins from Mason Bales at 220, Koby Hooker at 285, Cameron Dwyer at 126, Ethan West at 132 and Mikel Gregory at 160. The Mustangs also got major decisions from Chandler Davis at 113 and Robert Varner at 152 while James Jur was a winner by regular decision.
East Hamilton had three pins, including Tyler Green at 170, TeNario Thomas at 106 and Liam Golden at 145. Pierce Peterson received a forfeit at 182 while Kirby Sailors (195) earned a major decision and Grant Lundy a regular decision.
The match began at 170 pounds and Green gave the Hurricanes the early lead with his third-period pin. The forfeit to Peterson and Sailors’ 11-1 major at 195 gave the guys in green a 16-0 lead before the Mustangs dented the scoreboard.
Walker Valley then won six of the next seven matches to take a 31-22 lead following the pin from West at 132, but the Hurricanes bounced back to knot the score at 31-31 following a 6-3 decision from Lundy and Golden’s first-period pin at 145.
Varner’s 16-7 major decision at 152 gave the lead back to the guys in blue while Gregory’s pin clinched the match and the championship for the Mustangs.
WALKER VALLEY 41, EAST HAMILTON 31
(Match began at 170 Pounds)
106 – Te’Nario Thomas (EH) pinned Karson Huff, 2:42;
113 – Chandler Davis (WV) major dec. Elijah Vance, 17-3;
120 – James Jur (WV) dec. Conner Thornburg, 9-4;
126 – Cameron Dwyer (WV) pinned Seth Carpenter, 1:59;
132 – Ethan West (WV) pinned Joshua Chisenall, 2:15;
138 – Grant Lundy (EH) dec. Dillon Clark, 6-3;
145 – Liam Golden (EH) pinned Joey Vecchione, 1:21;
152 – Robert Varner (WV) major dec. Kevin Siniard, 16-7;
160 – Mikel Gregory (WV) pinned Chris Branson, 2:36;
170 – Tyler Green (EH)_pinned Ben Gates, 5:10;
182 – Pierce Peterson (EH) won by forfeit;
195 – Kirby Sailors (EH) major dec. Skyler Swafford, 11-1;
220 – Mason Bales (WV) pinned Garren Gilreath, 1:32;
285 – Koby Hooker (WV) pinned Jackson Moore, 3:07.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)