It was indeed a battle, but when the smoke had cleared, the Patriots had run short of ammunition in a 41-23 loss to Seventy-First Wednesday night at Pinecrest.
Tommy Ransdell posted the first points for the Patriots, holding Falcon 112-pounder Manuel Ramirez scoreless in 9-0 major decision. Ransdell improved to 33-11 overall with a perfect 6-0 conference record.
Falcon 119-pounder Phillip Shepard walked onto the mat expecting to handle Kevin Brown quickly, but suddenly found himself on the defensive as Brown took him to the mat in the first period, then worked the pin midway through the second.
Zack Martin continued his march toward a 40-win season as he manipulated James Peterson for 15 points to claim a 15-1 major decision for the Patriots over James Peterson at 135. Martin stands at 38-5 overall.
Patience and endurance paid off for Trevor Capp in the 145-pound class, as the Patriot freshman erased a 5-1 first-round deficit to score a 10-7 decision over the Falcons’ Jeff Simpson. Capp still trailed 7-3 after the second period, but turned a reversal off a bottom start in the final period. A pair of stalling calls against Simpson deadlocked the match, then Capp forced a three-point near fall in the closing seconds to take a 10-7 decision.
Glenn Holmes grabbed another full tilt pin at 171 over Josh Yates to give the Patriots their only other win of the evening.
Holmes went ahead on a takedown at the start of the match, then turned an escape in the third to set up a takedown and quick pin at 5:18.
Near falls can help in a wrestling match, but near misses wounded the Patriots with Brad McKeever (130), Travis Capp (140), Andy Tagliareni (152), and Mike Cummings (189) getting shot down on close decisions that went to the wire.
The loss drops Pinecrest to 4-2 in the league and 17-9 overall.
The Mid-Southeastern Conference picture changed last night following Scotland’s 36-34 upset of conference leader Jack Britt, leaving Pinecrest, Seventy-First, Britt and Scotland all in the hunt for the top-three places in the conference, qualifying them for the state team playoffs.
Pinecrest wraps up the regular season next week with a road trip to Douglas Byrd. The conference tournament follows on Saturday. Pinecrest High School is the site for this year’s tournament.
Results
103 – Harris (SF) tech fall S. Ransdell, 15-0; 112 – T. Ransdell (P) major decision Ramirez, 9-0; 119 – Brown (P) pin Shepard, 3:18; 125 – A. Sivak (SF) pin Poston, 1:20; 130 – Morris (SF) dec. McKeever, 5-1; 135 – Martin (P) major decision J. Peterson, 15-1; 140 – Smith (SF) decision Travis Capp, 12-8; 145 – Trevor Capp (P) decision Simpson, 10-7; 152 – Cashman (SF) decision Tagliareni, 8-6; 160 – S. Sivak (SF) pin Buhman, 4:39; 171 – Holmes (P) pin Yates, 5:18; 189 – Wilson (SF) decision Cummings, 7-5; 215 – M. Peterson (SF) pin Tew, 1:22; 275 – Jackson (SF) pin Robson, 0:33.
