Wednesday, December 7th, 2016
Bulldogs grapplers struggle in opener
Celina falls to Bath, Elida in super-tri
By Gary R. Rasberry
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Celina's Tim Ferrall watches Bath's Tre Terry in the early portion of their 182-pound bout during Tuesday's WBL match at the Celina High School gymnasium.
CELINA - The Celina wrestling team had a tough challenge in the season opening set of matches as the Bulldogs hosted a Western Buckeye League super-tri at the high school.
The Bulldogs, missing several starters due to injury, struggled against Bath before falling 55-24 in the first match and then had to face reigning WBL co-champion Elida in round two. Elida dominated the match to finish 2-0 with a 55-9 win over Celina.
"I thought we had a chance to match up against Bath, keep it close and have a chance to win," Celina coach James Miracle said. Miracle sent out Austin Hines, who had been battling injury, to open up at 145 pounds against Bath. Hines won his match over Zach Simpson with a pin in the first period, but that was the last Celina competitive win as the remaining points came via Bath having to void weight classes. Garrett Garver (152 pound), Issac Ingram (170), Tre Terry (182), Jayden Neal (285), Rylan Sanchez (106), Ethan Kohlhorst (120), and Collin Mell (138) recorded wins via pinfalls for the Wildcats.
Against Elida, Celina lost two early matches before Logan Muhlenkamp gave Celina its first win via decision. Elida won the next six contested matches, three wins coming by pin.
Sam Warner won his match at 126 pounds over Kavan Hurst by pinning him twice. The first pin came immediately after the signal for the end of the first round and did not count. Warner promptly scored the pin that counted 33 seconds into the second period for the win. Elida won the final three bouts to finish the night.
"It's tough when Elida had 12 seniors in the lineup and we have one. We had five guys who couldn't wrestle tonight and had to use our second lineup,"Miracle said. "Our freshmen went out there and learned it wasn't middle school anymore. There's only way for us to go, that's up.
"We had some good things that happened. Just not enough."
Celina will have some freshmen and JV wrestlers compete against Parkway on Thursday right after school. The varsity travels to Bucyrus on Saturday for an invitational.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Celina's Austin Hines pins Bath's Zach Simpson during Tuesday's WBL dual match at the Celina High School gymnasium.
