Rockets cruise to 54-21 win against Mapletown
JEFFERSON — With only four bouts contested, Jefferson-Morgan took advantage of some forfeits to upend Mapletown, 54-21, in Section 2-AA (2-A) wrestling action Wednesday night.
Coming into the match, Mapletown had won the last two meetings against its Greene County rival, but J-M had the numbers on its side and now owns the inside track for third place in the section behind McGuffey and Beth-Center.
The Rockets (3-2, 2-2) face West Greene next Wednesday to end section play. With a win, J-M will have a chance of competing against the third-place team from the other subsection for the fifth-place playoff spot out of the section.
“If we win this one, we knew it would set us up in a good spot for a chance at third place,” J-M coach Mike Lesko said. “Now, we own the head-to-head tiebreakers against Bentworth (a 40-34 win on Dec. 20) and Mapletown. We just have to take care of business against West Greene. That was a goal of ours to make it to the team playoffs.”
The Maples (1-3, 1-3) will wrap up their section at home versus Bentworth next Wednesday. Coach Chris Shilk was unavailable for comment after the match.
With the match starting at 285, Mapletown grabbed a 6-0 after Cameron Rush received a forfeit.
After no bout was contested at 106, J-M rattled off 18 straight points when Mason Palmer (113), Peyton Whipkey (120) and Alex Lange (126) received forfeits.
J-M’s Gavin Teasdale moved out to a 14-3 lead in the first period before securing a pin fall victory over John Howard at 1:28 at 132 pounds.
Teasdale improved his overall record to 139-1 and is now 17 wins away from tying the school’s all-time career wins mark that was set by Brendan Howard a couple of years ago.
“Gavin is working hard and he is just taking it one day at a time now,” Lesko said. “We really don’t talk about what happened (Teasdale’s first varsity loss in the finals at Powerade), it’s painful for everybody involved. We just don’t bring it up. Gavin has always been a quiet kid, but you know he is determined to reach his goals.”
After J-M collected a forfeit win to Josh Agnew at 138, Mapletown cut the deficit to 30-9 after J.T. Hennessey recorded a 6-3 decision over Nathan Bilonick at 145.
Sandwiched around a forfeit win for the Maples’ Kevin Hayes (160) were three more forfeit victories by the Rockets’ Molly Mylan (152), Kolin Walker (170) and Justin Maddich (182).
Jonathan Wolfe scored a first period pin in just 19 seconds over Robert Friend for J-M at 195, while Mapletown countered with the final points of the night after Tanner Weston scored an opening period pin at 1:33 over Mike Ludrosky at 220.
“You got to watch each kids’ section records when it comes to the postseason,” Lesko said. “We could have mixed and matched some kids in some different weight classes tonight, but you always have to be mindful of the big picture. I think as a team, we are healthy and hopefully hitting our stride into the postseason.”