A different look for POI champions

MOUNT AYR – Friday’s Pride of Iowa Conference Championship was a quiet scene, feeling incomplete for a wrestling tournament as teams were depleted due to COVID quarantines.

One of the top teams in the conference, Mount Ayr, was missing three of its ranked wrestlers and others that have started off the year hot, while Southwest Valley missed the tournament entirely due to quarantines.

The Raiders, missing a bulk of its team, finished in seventh place with 81 points.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s part of this season,” Mount Ayr co-head coach John Ford said. “It’s something everybody has to deal with. Southwest Valley didn’t come because they got hit. My philosophy is, ‘I’d rather it be now than sectional time.’ We lost three state-ranked kids that would have been a lot of team points. I thought we would have had a legitimate shot (to win the team title).”

Martensdale-St Marys took home the trophy in first place with 148.5 points.

Bedford/Lenox finished in second with 146.5 points, and East Union was fourth with 125 points. Nodaway Valley took home sixth place with 96.5 points to round out area teams who scored.

Tigers take second

Bedford/Lenox put three wrestlers in finals matches, all coming away atop their classes en route to a second-place team finish.

Mizael Gomez (106) had one wrestled match on the night, the finals. He quickly pinned Southeast Warren’s Rylan Jimenez in 32 seconds. At 220, Dawson Marshall also wrestled one match throughout the tournament. He pinned Mount Ayr’s Chris Wyant in 11 seconds.

Devin Whipple repeated as the 220 champion, pinning Southeast Warren’s Tate Dierking in the semifinals to face Martensdale-St Marys’ Alan Allsup. Whipple won a 6-0 decision over Allsup, scoring points on an escape, takedown and near fall all in the second period.

Dalton Kitzman (126), Conner Fitzgerald (132), Dawson Stream (152) and Jake Cox (170) were all third-place finishers to boost the team score. Cox and Fitzergald scored pins at 35 seconds and 1:56, respectively. Kitzman scored a 15-0 technical fall, and Stream won a 16-8 major decision.

Andrew Keenan was the lone Bedford/Lenox wrestler battling for third place to lose. He came in fourth place, falling to pin against Mount Ayr’s Keaton White.

East Union crowns two champions

East Union’s day saw a big game from three of its wrestlers who made a run to become a Pride of Iowa Conference champion.

DJ Islas (113), Jarryn Stephens (126) and Damon Hayes (152) won four combined matches to make it to the finals.

Facing Southeast Warren’s Ian Schneider in the finals at 113, Islas finished on top of his bracket for the second week in a row, after winning the Lenox Invitational Saturday, Dec. 19. He went up 9-0 on Schneider before recording a pin at 3:41. For Stephens, he scored back-to-back pins before facing Nodaway Valley’s Ben Breheny.

Stephens and Breheny battled back-and-forth throughout the match. Stephens, looking to return to the state tournament for a second consecutive year, was aggressive throughout the match, taking Breheny down five times.

Stephens won a 15-6 major decision to take the 126 crown.

Hayes had a bye in the quarterfinals before scoring a pin at 5:06 over Central Decatur’s Evahn Wallace in the semifinals. In his final match of the day, Hayes was pinned in 22 seconds against Martensdale-St Marys Johnnie Cassady.

Three other Eagles made their way to a third-place match. Milo Staver (120), Erik Allen (132) and Haydn Walters (138) made their way back the final consolation match, but Staver was the lone Eagle to win their final match of the tournament.

Staver scored a 17-0 technical fall win over Southeast Warren’s JC Bradley. Allen and Walters each lost to pin in their matches, each finishing in fourth place.

Mount Ayr battles quarantines

Mount Ayr finished with one wrestler in first place Friday.

Class 1A No. 4 106 Drew Ehlen, Class 1A No. 7 145 Trae Ehlen, Class 1A No. 5 152 Jaydon Knight and Jarrett Webb (113), who has started the season off hot, were all out Friday, missing a chance to become conference champions.

Class 1A No. 10 126 Bryce Shaha was the lone Raider to finish atop his weight class.

Shaha, looking to continue his road back to the state tournament, rebounded from a two-loss night in Leon the week prior by dominating East Union’s Allen. He scored a pin at 2:15 and a second-period pin at 3:53 in the finals against Martensdale-St Marys Julian Huston.

“(Friday), he said ‘I’m opening up,’” Ford said. “He went in there and dominated. That’s what we’ve been working on in our room, dominant performances.”

The win marks Shaha’s third Pride of Iowa title. Last season, he missed the tournament due to injury.

One other Raider made the finals. As one of two wrestlers at 220, Wyant received two byes to move straight into the finals to face Bedford/Lenox’s Marshall. Wyant was pinned in 11 seconds.

At 160, White knocked off Bedford/Lenox’s Keenan for thrid place. After falling to a pin against eventual 160-pound winner from Martensdale-St Marys, Cael Cassady, White scored back-to-back pins for third place.

“I thought we wrestled a lot harder. Some of our younger kids have been struggling to step up to high school,” Ford said. “We have two brand new kids who have never been on a mat until this year, and I thought they wrestled a lot better. Progression is what we want to see every day.”

Nodaway Valley relies on captains

For the Wolverines, head coach Jesse McCann’s four captains had a strong showing to continue to lead the group throughout the first half of the season.

Seniors Ben Breheny (126) and Jaxon Christensen (138), to pair with a junior duo of Class 1A No. 8 120 Elliot Cooney and Caelen DeVault (170) each made the finals at their weight classes.

Cooney was the lone winner, taking his third straight Pride of Iowa title. He scored two pins in the first period before facing Martensdale-St Marys’ Conor Cassady. Cooney pinned Cassady at 2:23 for another quick win.

“Elliot knows he has to take care of business against (Cassady),” McCann said. “One thing that Elliot and I know is we have to keep working on our takedowns in that situation. Elliot is the type of person who takes you down, and he just wants to pin you to get it over with. We know to prepare for state though, we need to work on our setups and get those shots in.”

Breheny’s road was tough, facing Stephens to battle for the top spot. Breheny had opportunities to make a move on Stephens, but he wasn’t able to capitalize.

McCann said beating Stephens was something Breheny wanted to accomplish, but they will continue to work for the next match.

Christensen and DeVault both battled their way to the finals match before falling to a major decision loss and decision loss, respectively.

Christensen fought his way to the finals by going through Central Decatur’s Devin Adams in a 16-12 decision that Christensen won in the final moments. Adams scored a takedown near the edge of the mat, and Christensen was able to spin around to get on top, scoring a reversal that led to a near fall to take the win.

Against Southeast Warren’s Randy Jimenez, Christensen lost in a 12-1 major decision.

McCann said Jimenez is a tough opponent, not giving his opponents a chance to breathe, so taking a decision loss was something he can build on during the year.

DeVault scored two pins before matching up against another tough finals opponent in Southeast Warren’s Tanner Dierking.

McCann said going into the tournament, he felt this would be a good matchup for DeVault, facing the same opponents throughout the year and finishing with similar scores.

DeVault fell in an 8-4 decision after a near fall in the first period and reversal in the final minute of the third period were the difference.

“This year it was their turn. They’re upperclassmen now, and they said, ‘this is my turn. I deserve to be in the top-two this year,’” McCann said. “They took it to them, and I just hope they can use that momentum. Those four are the bright stars right now at Nodaway Valley with good records. I hope they just keep taking that momentum through the second half of the season.”

Results

Team scoring — 1. Martensdale-St Marys 148.5; 2. Bedford/Lenox 146.5; 3. Southeast Warren/Melcher-Dallas 139; 4. East Union 125; 5. Central Decatur 112; 6. Nodaway Valley 96.5; 7. Mount Ayr 81; 8. Wayne 31.5; 9. Southwest Valley 0.

106 — 1. Mizael Gomez (B/L) pinned Rylan Jimenez (SEW), 0:31.

113 – 1. DJ Islas (EU) pinned Deann Wyant (MA), 0:26. 3. Christian Choate (M-SM) pinned Deann Wyant (MA), 0:26.

120 – 1. Elliot Cooney (NV) pinned Conor Cassady (M-SM), 2:23. 3. Milo Staver (EU) tech. fall JC Bradley (SEW), 17-0. 5. Cody Morgan (CD) pinned Josh West (MA), 3:05.

126 – 1. Jarryn Stephens (EU) maj. dec. Ben Breheny (NV), 15-6. 3. Dalton Kitzman (B/L) tech. fall William Gillis (CD), 15-0. 5. Colton Halterman (SEW) pinned Preston Fleharty (MA), 2:29.

132 – Bryce Shaha (MA) pinned Julian Huston (M-SM), 3:53. 3. Zackery Gebbie (NV) pinned Erik Allen (EU), 1:19.

138 – 1. Randy Jimenez (SEW) maj. dec. Jaxon Christensen (NV), 11-5. 3. Devin Adams (CD) pinned Haydn Walters (EU), 3:23. 5. Sampson Henson (M-SM) dec. Payton Fleharty (MA), 12-5.

145 – 1. Logan Jones (CD) dec. Jakson Cobb (Way), 7-2. 3. Conner Fitzgerald (B/L) pinned Devin Schall (M-SM), 1:56. 5. Jarett Davison (SEW) pinned Draven Moore (EU), 3:02.

152 – 1. Johnnie Cassady (M-SM) pinned Damon Hayes (EU), 0:22. 3. Dawson Stream (B/L) maj. dec. Evahn Wallace (CD), 16-8.

160 – 1. Cael Cassady (M-SM) tech. fall Bradley Metz (SEW), 21-6. 3. Keaton White (MA) pinned Andrew Keenan (B/L), 4:00. 5. Shane Lear (EU) pinned Brandon Raasch (NV), 3:19.

170 – 1. Tanner Dierking (SEW) dec. Caelen DeVault (NV), 8-4. 3. Jake Cox (B/L) pinned Logan Wearmouth (M-SM), 0:35. 5. Jesse Niebauer (CD) by forfeit.

182 – 1. Dakota Boswell (CD) pinned Jed Weaver (B/L), 4:00. 3. Louis Gonzales (EU).

195 – Tegan Carson (CD) pinned Braydon Sweitlik (MA), 3:16. 3. Logan Montgomery (SEW).

220 – 1. Dawson Marshall (B/L) pinned Chris Wyant (MA), 0:11.

285 – 1. Devin Whipple (B/L) dec. Alan Allsup (M-SM), 6-0. 3. Chad Kent (Way) pinned Tate Dierking (SEW), 2:56. 5. Ryan Boswell (CD) by forfeit.