Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The Covington wrestling team put in a solid performance Wednesday night as they hosted the Dixie Greyhounds and the Madison Mohawks. The Buccs swept both squads on a night when they honored their seniors and senior parents. Cali Jo Deeter, along with her parents, were honored for her four years of service as a wrestling statistician. Also honored was the lone senior wrestler for the Buccs – four-year starter and district qualifier Justin McMillion – and his parents.
The Buccs started off against Madison, a squad low on numbers, but sporting some talented wrestlers. After Tyler Tebbe (125 lbs) received a forfeit, Covington’s Andrew DeHart (130 lbs) squared off against Madison’s returning district qualifier, Matt Fry. DeHart set the tone for the team with a convincing 12-0 major decision. Cory Ely then picked up a forfeit for the Buccs at 135 lbs. In the next bout, Covington’s Josh McMillion faced Madison‚ returning state alternate, Josh French. McMillion kept it close for two periods, scoring a takedown, before French came away with a 13-3 victory.
Each squad traded forfeits at 145 and 152 lbs, then at 160 lbs, Covingon’s Jake Jennings built up a 13-1 lead before pinning Madison’s Josh Hughes. The remainder of the bout would amount to trading more forfeits as the Buccs came away with a 56-16 victory. Dixie would then go on to defeat Madison by the score of 60-12, setting up a nice showdown between the two remaining squads.
The dual between Covington and Dixie started at the 135 lb. class, as each squad used some dual meet strategies during the competition. Covington won the toss, forcing Dixie to send their wrestler to the mat first. Dixie elected to bump up their 130 lb. wrestler, Logan Robinson, to 135 lbs. in an attempt to gain some team points, but the Buccs countered by bumping up their 130 lb. wrestler, Andrew DeHart. The move paid off as the Buccs would go on to win this bout, 15-4, as well as the final match of the night at 130 lbs. as Covington’s Cory Ely picked up that victory.
At 140 lbs, Covington’s Josh McMillion kept things rolling with a second period pin to give the Buccs a 10-0 start. Dixie would narrow the score to 10-6 after picking up a forfeit at 145 lbs. Covington was then able to extend the lead in the next two bouts as Justin McMillion (152 lbs) earned a first period pin over Dixie’s Ron Watts, while Jake Jennings (160 lbs) earned a 14-0 major decision over the Greyhound’s Kyle Wilson to extend Covington’s lead to 20-6.
Dixie would then battle right back as they won three of the next four bouts to narrow the score to 26-24, Covington. The Buccs then picked up a forfeit with Zach Shilt at 103 lbs to move ahead 32-24. It was at this point in the dual that the victory could have went either way as both squads were fairly evenly matched for the final bouts.
The 112 lb. match featured a pair of returning district qualifiers in Covington’s Matt Breisch and Dixie’s Steve Fredrickson. Breisch earned the first takedown in the low-scoring bout to get a 3-1 decision, giving Covington a 35-24 lead. At 119 lbs, Dixie’s Jon Hutchinson initially took Covington’s Sam Herron down, but Herron earned an escape and takedown, catching his opponent on his back to earn the pin with one second remaining in the first period.
This essentially sealed the victory for Covington as they built a 41-24 lead. Dixie would answer at 125 lbs, as Jordon Wilson defeated Covington’s Tyler Tebbe before Cory Ely picked up the final victory for the Buccs to give the squad a 47-30 win, and improve their dual meet record to 13-1.
Covington travels to perennial power Versailles this Friday, February 1st, for a dual with the Tigers starting at 6:30 pm.
