Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Troy and Tippecanoe came to Covington Tuesday night for a tri-meet and a young Buccaneer team more than held their own.
Troy came out on top, winning both duals, while Covington handled a Tipp City team that gave up eight weight classes against the Buccs.
The most exciting matches of the night came near the end of the three-and-a-half hour meet when Covington and Tippecanoe were in the midst of battle.
The first came at 152 when Tippecanoe’s Casey Beck and Covington’s Jake Jennings were locked on the mat. Jennings held a 6-3 advantage at the end of the second round, but Beck worked his way back in and tied the score 8-8 with a take down just before the whistle blew to end regulation.
Beck was able to claim another take down in the overtime to give Tippecanoe its first points of the match.
The next match was just as exciting as Tipp’s Phil Roth and Justin McMillion of the Buccs faced off.
Roth held a 4-1 lead at the end of the first two rounds, but McMillion was able to claim an 8-6 victory, taking down Roth and putting him on his back in the final minute. McMillion was trailing 6-3 in the final 60 seconds at 160.
“Justin is kind of a one-hit-wonder for us,” Covington coach Tom Barbee said. “He is always looking for one move to get a win. (Roth) wrestled a good, basic solid match until the end and we just got him in a move.”
Covington was able to take advantage of all the forfeits to post a 60-15 victory as Matt Breisch, Tyler Tebbe, Andrew DeHart, Cory Ely, Logan Hall, Josh Shefbuch and Zach Shilt claimed wins due to forfeit.
In the matches that were wrestled against Tippecanoe, Sam Herron pinned Joe O’Brien in 3:36 at 119. Josh McMillion defeated Josh Barrere 10-5 at 140. Aaron Devenport pinned Josh Weston in 3:35 at 145. Tippecanoe’s Nathaniel Graham won by forfeit at 215 and Zach Watkins beat Charlie Bruyere, getting him to tap out.
Troy won the match against Covington in the closest tilt of the night, 42-27.
Covington’s winners over Troy began at 112, as Breisch pinned Manny Montellano. At 130, freshman standout Andrew DeHart won an impressive 15-0 technical fall over Kyle Lyons.
Josh McMillion pinned Giles at 2:57 at 140. At 160, Justin McMillion won a 22-8 major decision over Neil Mezache. At 171, Hall pinned Nick Harmon at 1:02.
Troy’s winners over Covington began at 103, as Thomas Caughell won a 10-5 decision over Shilt. At 119, Cole Cochran won a 14-1 major decision over Herron. At 125, Rowe picked up a 9-0 major decision over Tebbe. Hayne Housely pinned Ely at 2:50. At 145, Zach Sturwold won a 10-0 major decision over Devenport. At 152, Haren won an 8-4 decision over Jennings.
Eric Lennartz posted an 18 second pin over Shefbuch at 189 and Jesse Browning claimed a forfeit victory.
“I was happy we got as close to Troy as we did,” Barbee said. “We wrestled hard against them. I was happy getting that close.”
