There was plenty of excitement as the Buccs, Cavaliers and Vikings squared off in a tri meet tonight. Each dual came down to the last few matches, but in the end, Miami East came away undefeated. Covington dropped both duals, losing to Miami East, 34-36, and Coldwater, 21-38. Miami East defeated Coldwater, 40-26.

Brad Laughman (275) got the Vikings going early in their dual with Covington, earning a fall over Ezra Mohler. Michael Corkhum (103) then picked up a forfeit for the Buccs, followed by two forfeits for the Vikings received by Levi Long (112) and Seth Gilley (119). At 125, Covington’s Mitchell Herron and Miami East’s Ryan Havenar battled back and forth in a tight contest when in the second period, Havenar landed a big five-point move. Trailing 10-5, Herron managed to get a takedown in the third period and pin Havenar to get the Buccs closer to Miami East, 12-18.

At 130, Wes Kief (ME) then earned a fall over Ritchie Watkins of Covington. This became the beginning of nice winning streak for the Vikings. Covington’s Bobby Wiltshire battled Justin Zeller at 135 lbs. in one of many matches in the evening that went to overtime. Zeller shot first and landed the takedown in overtime to win the match. The Vikings continued their winning ways as Tyler Mumford (140) defeated Ben Adams of Covington, 7-5, and Jake Knoop (145) defeated Brandon Hartzell by a pin in 3:53, to give the Vikings a 36-12 lead.

The rest of the dual was all Covington, however, as the Buccs rolled up wins in the next five weight classes. At 152, Justin Mahan defeated Jake McGillvary by a pin in 2:54, while at 160, Ryan Vanderhorst defeated Brandon Knoop, 9-1. This set up another overtime match at 171 between Covington’s Brian Ely and East’s Derek Kane. In the first overtime period, niether wrestler was able to score a takedown, so the match moved to sudden death where the top wrestler must remain in control to win the match, while the bottom wrestler must score a point to win. Kane, since he was the first to score in the match, chose down, but Ely was able to control him for 30 seconds, giving the Buccs another win.

At 189, an exciting match between two successful wrestlers, Covington’s Logan Brown and Miami East’s Ben Nelson, didn’t disappoint. Brown had control of the match early by securing a number of takedowns before Nelson made a third period comeback. Brown was able to hold on for a 10-7 victory, however. The final match of the dual was won by Covington’s C.J. Potter (215) who trailed East’s Cody Snider before going on a second period scoring frenzy and pinning Snider in 2:42, bringing the final score to Miami East 36, Covington 34.

Going 2-0 in the tri for the Buccs were Michael Corkhum (103), Mitchell Herron (125, 2 pins) and Logan Brown (189). Going 1-1 were Ritchie Watkins (130), Ben Adams (140), Justin Mahan (152, 1 pin), Ryan Vanderhorst (160), Brian Ely (171) and C.J. Potter (215).

The Buccs will be hosting their last home dual of the season this Thursday (1/15) at 6 pm versus Dixie. They will then travel to Miami East Invitational on Saturday.