Pinfall Parade

CELINA - James Miracle had a lot to be happy about after his Celina wrestling team wrapped up their Western Buckeye League match against Kenton.

Of the 11 wins the Bulldogs had among the 12 contested matches, 10 were ended via pinfall as Celina rolled to a 75-6 win over the Wildcats at Celina High School to move to 2-0 in WBL contests.

Only two bouts were extended into the third period, with four victories coming in the first period.

"We've been in (the situation) Kenton's in about seven years ago," said Miracle, referring to Kenton having six of its 12 wrestlers being freshmen or sophomores. "All our guys from 126 up bumped up a weight class. They have their numbers up and we were (WBL) runner-up last year for a reason. Hopefully, in the future it's more competitive."

Tyler Carlin started the pin parade at 182 pounds in taking down Gavan Manns in 91 seconds. Alex Stachler followed at 195 with a win over Brandon Bowling with five seconds remaining in the second period. At 220, Rece Rutledge got a reversal on Josh Hart and snagged a pinfall at the 2:57 mark to make the score 18-0. Joey Posada completed the heavyweight bouts by pinning Eli Kauble in just 51 seconds at 285.

The lone non-pinfall win for Celina came at 106 as Matthew Smith, who stepped up after Landin Wallace could not make weight, battled Connor Dye before picking up three points in a 3-1 decision.

"Not much I can complain about," said Miracle. "We had a freshman come out at 106 (and won). We had a chance at possibly history in winning 81-0. I don't think we've ever done that."

After Wallace, who bumped up to 113, and Derrick Slater (120) had their hands raised when Kenton could not fill the weight classes, Brycen Miracle pinned Aaron Modd at 126 in 1:50. Freshman Zack Greber continued the pin streak at 132 in putting Logan Brown's shoulders to the mat at 2:58. Landon Engle pinned Anthony Hunt with 48 seconds remaining in the second period to win at 138. Zack King pinned Landen Elliott in 1:13 to win at 145. Kyler Bowlby added a pin at 2:18 over Brandon Diaz at 152 and Jaden King pinned Zach Hart in 2:49 at 152.

The final bout came at 170 as Gavin Brown faced returning district qualifier Carter Bays at 170. Bays took a 2-0 lead after the first period. Brown chose a neutral start for the second period and got a takedown and three back points to make it 5-2 before Bays got a reverse to cut the margin to 5-4 heading to the third period. Bays chose the down position in the final period, got an escape followed by a takedown before pinning Brown at 5:01 to prevent the shutout.

"(Bays) was a WBL runner-up last season (at 160 pounds). He was the one kid I thought we couldn't beat on their team," said Miracle. "Gavin, only a sophomore, had him dead to rights and almost pinned him, then got caught in the final 40 seconds."

Celina travels to Archbold on Wednesday to take part in a duals tournament.