Lebanon comes up big in close matches
Israel Potoczny israel@lebanondailyrecord.com
Jan 23, 2009
Lebanon’s ability to pull out close match’s was the difference on Thursday as they defeated Rolla at Carr Gymnasium 42-27.
Wrestling at 135 pounds, freshman Aaron Starnes set the tone for the win when he defeated Joel Laney in overtime 4-3.
Lebanon trailed 21-6 when Starnes took to the mat, with the Yellowjackets only six points coming via a first period pin by Kyle Hansen at 125 pounds.
Tyler Zimmerman, the state’s No. 6 ranked wrestler at 140 pounds, followed Starnes with a pin of Don McDonough, cutting the Rolla lead to 21-15.
Freshman Austin Brawner trailed Ryan Heflin by five points with 15 seconds remaining, but came back to force overtime and win the 145-pound match 11-9.
Nick Nekola followed at 152 pounds and gave LHS its first lead at 24-21. Nekola and Tyler Chavez were tied at six when Nekola pinned Chavez at the 2:42 mark.
“We won all the close one’s,” Lebanon head coach Randy Roark said. “Those were three big matches, they could have went either way and we pulled them out.”
Lebanon won three of the four remaining matches, beginning with Steven Griggs at 171 pounds. Griggs was up big throughout the match, leading 19-8 at the end of the second period, and finished off John Hefheins with a pin at the 5:15 mark.
Trevor Byrd led Trent Boyer 4-2 at the end of the first period and ended the match by pinning Boyer at the 2:59 mark.
Justin Britt’s match with Marcus Hibbard nearly ended as soon as it began as Britt pinned the junior 53 seconds into the match. Undefeated, Britt remains the state’s No. 1 ranked heavy weight.
“I expected us to be pretty solid,” Roark said. “We have all but three guys return from last year, and we have three freshmen stepping in (Tyler Eppler at 103 pounds, Dane Bethel at 112 and Brawner).”
Junior varsity rolls
In preparation for its home junior varsity tournament on Saturday, the Lebanon JV rolled to a 40-25 win over Rolla. The JV has posted a host of impressive performances this season, including a win of the Jefferson City JV Tournament.
“There are quite of few kids on the JV that have wrestled varsity,” Roark said. “There are quite a few that swap back-and-forth with some of the varsity kids.
“If we had a duel between the varsity and JV, there might a few varsity kids lose.”
John Herron (140), Brett Chaffin (160), Kody Tipton (171), Dan Drinkall (189), Wyatt Byrd (215) and Dave Stewart (285) were all winners for Lebanon on Thursday.
