Cardinal wrestlers drop LHC dual to Indians

NEWTON — Bryce Tish put an exciting and positive end to a bit of a disappointing night on their home mat for Newton’s Cardinals. The Cardinals hosted Oskaloosa’s Indians in Little Hawkeye Conference action.

Tish, a sophomore coming back from an injury, had the final match of the night. He caught Oskaloosa’s Willis Knox in a throw right to his back. Tish won the 132-pound match in 23 seconds with a pin.

The Indians left the NHS gymnasium Thursday night with a 37-33 win over the Cardinals. It was the first loss in conference duals for Newton. The Cardinals are 2-1 in LHC duals and 7-4 overall.

“We have to work a little bit harder. Some of our guys expect to go out and get a win instead of going out and earn a win,” said Andy Swedenhjelm, Newton head coach. “We have to talk about that more as a team.”

Newton began the varsity dual well. Juniors Dakota Dawson and Brett Wolf pinned their opponents at 138 pounds and 145 pounds, putting the Cardinals up 12-0.

Oskaloosa’s Jason Beebe defeated Peyton Patterson 12-3 in the 152-pound match. The Indians’ Tyler Zickefoose pinned Earl Kimmel with three seconds left in the first period at 160.

Newton’s J.T. Thongvanh faced Oskaloosa’s Cody Jones, who placed at state a year ago, in the 170-pound match. Thongvanh scored the opening takedown but trailed 3-2 after the first period. Jones posted a 14-4 decision over Thongvanh to tie the team score at 12-all.

“We had some people step up and battle really well in matches. J.T. wrestled well against a returning state place winner,” Swedenhjelm said. “Bryce is doing well and gave us a good ending to the meet. He is almost full strength now. Overall, we were close against a good team. Oskaloosa has some good individual wrestlers.”

At 182, Newton’s Cole Doerring was pinned by Mason Wisse in 1 minute, 10 seconds. That win put the Indians in front for good, 18-12. Kyle Salazar pinned Newton’s Jordan Henning in the second period of the 195-pound bout.

Ray Schroder, who moved up to 220 for the dual, scored a 13-6 decision over Oskaloosa’s Callan Tomlin. Newton’s Jacob Williams, who is battling a shoulder injury, went through a scoreless first period with Zane McKay.

“It was a scramble (in the second period) and I got the reversal,” Williams said about his win by pin over McKay in the 285-pound match. Williams, a senior, worked his way off the bottom and turned McKay with 24 seconds left in the period.

“I don’t like giving up so I’ve been working through the injury. I want it to go better (on the mat) for me,” Williams added.

Newton trailed Oskaloosa 25-21 as the dual moved into the lower weights.

Koby Hull and Oskaloosa’s Drew Sams were tied up at 2-2 at the end of the first period of the 106 match. Sams gained four points on back-to-back near falls in the second period. Hull was down 8-2 when he reversed Sams in the third period but time ran out. Sams got the 8-4 decision.

At 113, Newton’s Hunter Versteegh held a 4-0 lead following two periods of the match against Josh Diehl. Diehl got a takedown to start the third period. Versteegh reversed and put Diehl right to his back for a pin at the 1:18 mark.

The Cardinals were down by just one point, 28-27, with three matches remaining.

Cole Peters squared off against the Indians’ Skyler DeJong in the 120-pound match. Peters fell behind 4-2 early in the second period. The action was halted for a brief time when Peters was shaken up, but he returned to the center of the mat.

DeJong turned Peters for a pin with 18 seconds left in the second period, bumping up Oskaloosa’s lead to 34-27. Alex Bentley fought three periods against Oskaloosa’s Nick Beebe before bowing to a 5-1 decision at 132.

Tish’s quick win at 132 ended the conference dual.

“Our team philosophy is ‘take shots and be aggressive.’ We weren’t aggressive and we didn’t take shots tonight,” Swedenhjelm said. “The beautiful thing about it — it’s all fixable. It’s not for the lack of talent or for hard work because the guys do work hard in the (practice) room. We have to learn to turn it on in competitive situations.”

Newton’s varsity heads to Saturday’s Ottumwa Invitational.

In junior varsity action Thursday, Newton won 10 of 12 matches. Parker Schuster, Jacob Smith, Caleb Kite, Jac Fisher, Justice Borger, Mac Icenbice, Lucas Montgomery and Cal Hunter each won by pins for the Cardinals. Montgomery, Hunter and Schuster each had pins in the first 35 seconds of their matches. Jeremy Dossie and Trevor Miller recorded victories by decisions.

Oskaloosa (O) 37, Newton (N) 33

106: Drew Sams, O, dec. Koby Hull, N, 8-4. 113: Hunter Versteegh, N, pinned Josh Diehl, O, 4:42. 120: Skyler DeJong, O, pinned Cole Peters, N, 3:41. 126: Nick Beebe, O, dec. Alex Bentley, N, 5-1. 132: Bryce Tish, N, pinned Willis Knox, O, 0:23. 138: Dakota Dawson, N, pinned Davide Alessi, O, 1:34. 145: Brett Wolf, N, pinned Brady Beerbower, O, 0:17. 152: Jason Beebe, O, dec. Peyton Patterson, N, 10-4. 160: Tyler Zickefoose, O, pinned Earl Kimmel, N, 1:31. 170: Cody Jones, O, maj. dec. Jeffrey Thongvanh, N, 14-4. 182: Mason Wisse, O, pinned Cole Doerring, N, 1:10. 195: Kyle Salazar, O, pinned Jordan Henning, N, 4:38. 220: Ray Schroder, N, dec. Callan Tomlin, O, 13-6. 285: Jacob Williams, N, pinned Zane McKay, O, 3:36.

Junior Varsity matches

126: Parker Schuster, N, pinned James Fisher, O, :33. 138: Zach Randau, O, dec. Harley Walker, N, 4-2. 182: Jacob Smith, N, pinned Zach Fletcher, O, 5:06. 182: Caleb Kite, N, pinned Kitariio Walker, O, 1:53. 145: Jeremy Dossie, N, dec. Skylar Allison, O, 6-3. 220: Cole Bossard, O, pinned Caden Manning, N, 1:29. 152: Kevin Merk, O, dec. Nick Geerlings, N, 6-0. 126: Jac Fisher, N, pinned James Fisher, O, 1:01. 138: Trevor Miller, N, dec. Randau, O, 4-2. 145: Justice Borger, N, pinned Allison, O, 1:18. 195: Mac Icenbice, N, pinned Jacob Clark, O, 1:28. 220: Lucas Montgomery, N, pinned Bossard, O, :30. 152: Cal Hunter, N, pinned Merk, O, :32.