KNOXVILLE — One match. It came down to one match for Newton High’s Cardinals in their 2014-15 season opening wrestling dual. They faced a five-point deficit on the home mat of Knoxville’s Panthers.
The Cardinals fate was in the hands of senior J.T. Thongvanh, who is seventh-ranked in Class 3A 170 pounds going into the season. It didn’t take long for Thongvanh to give Newton the dual victory — 27 seconds.
In those 27 seconds, Thongvanh took down Knoxville’s Cody Shives and pinned his shoulders to the mat. The win by pin gave the Cardinals six points, which put them over the top for a 31-30 victory.
“The entire team wrestled hard,” said Andy Swedenhjelm, Newton head coach. “The kids battled well and competed well. I think a few kids were able to work through some first meet jitters, and we should see some big improvement over the course of the year.
“Individually, Peyton Patterson had a big win to start us off against a quality opponent, and J.T. was able to give us the dual clinching pin in our last match.”
Patterson used an escape and takedown to score three points in the second period of his 182-pound match. He held on for a 3-0 win over Jac Agan to start the dual. Duncan Lee pushed Newton’s lead to 6-0 with a 5-2 decision over Jordan Beal at 195.
Knoxville scored nine points winning the next two matches. Newton’s Jordan Henning lost 6-4 to Travis Poffenbarger in the 220 match. Knoxville’s Brock Caviness pinned Lucas Montgomery in 26 seconds at 285.
Newton’s Ross Hull scored 10 points, eight came from three near falls. Hull finally got the pin of Knoxville’s Blake Lee in the 106-pound match. Hunter Versteegh added six points to the team total for Newton with a forfeit win at 113.
The Panthers won three straight matches to go up 21-18. Ben Wooldridge pinned Newton’s Jonathon Lawton at 120, Joe Hollinrake scored a 5-0 decision over Newton’s Alex Bentley at 126 and Knoxville Landsberger won 7-1 over Reece Thurmond in the 132-pound match.
Dakota Dawson, who is eighth in the preseason rankings at 138, put Newton back up with a 13-4 major decision over CodyRay Smith. Bryce Tish won a wild 145-pound match against Knoxville’s Michael Ullestad. Tish scored the winning point on an escape taking a 16-15 decision.
Newton was up 25-21 when Knoxville Nolan Crossett defeated Brett Wolf 8-2 at 152 and Jake Kindley pinned Brady Smith at 160 pounds. Those two wins pushed the Panthers back on top, 30-25.
Then Thongvanh set everything right for the Cardinals.
Newton won four of the seven junior varsity matches contested. Tanner Petro, Justice Borger, Jacob Smith and Caleb Kite got victories. Jace Lukefahr wrestled twice, losing both matches, and Blayden Rhone dropped a match.
Swedenhjelm said Cole Peters suffered a season-ending injury so Thurmond, a freshman, will be Newton’s regular 132-pound wrestler this season.
“We are looking forward to Saturday’s Cardinal Classic, where we can compete against some good teams,” Swedenhjelm said.
The Newton Cardinal Classic begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at NHS. Teams competing with Newton are Knoxville, Johnston, Sioux City North, Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson and Indianola.
Varsity
Newton 31, Knoxville 30
182: Peyton Patterson (NEWT) over Jac Agan (KNOX) (Dec 3-0) 195: Duncan Lee (NEWT) over Jordan Beal (KNOX) (Dec 5-2) 220: Travis Poffenbarger (KNOX) over Jordan Henning (NEWT) (Dec 6-4) 285: Brock Caviness (KNOX) over Lucas Montgomery (NEWT) (Fall 0:26) 106: Ross Hull (NEWT) over Blake Lee (KNOX) (Fall) 113: Hunter Versteegh (NEWT) over (KNOX) (For.) 120: Ben Wooldridge (KNOX) over Jonathon Lawton (NEWT) (Fall 0:42) 126: Joe Hollinrake (KNOX) over Alex Bentley (NEWT) (Dec 5-0) 132: Mathew Landsberger (KNOX) over Reece Thurmond (NEWT) (Dec 7-1) 138: Dakota Dawson (NEWT) over CodyRay Smith (KNOX) (MD 13-4) 145: Bryce Tish (NEWT) over Michael Ullestad (KNOX) (Dec 16-15) 152: Nolan Crossett (KNOX) over Brett Wolf (NEWT) (Dec 8-2) 160: Jake Kindley (KNOX) over Brady Smith (NEWT) (Fall 3:08) 170: Jeff Thongvanh (NEWT) over Cody Shives (KNOX) (Fall 0:27)
Junior Varsity
Newton 21, Knoxville 18
145: Tanner Petro (NEWT) over Riley Spaur (KNOX) (Fall) 145: Cameron Brown (KNOX) over Blayden Rhone (NEWT) (Fall) 152: Justice Borger (NEWT) over Riley Spaur (KNOX) (Dec 8-4) 182: Chase Bellon (KNOX) over Jace Lukefahr (NEWT) (Fall) 220: Jacob Smith (NEWT) over Ben Arkma (KNOX) (Fall) 220: Cameron Brown (KNOX) over Jace Lukefahr (NEWT) (Fall) 220: Caleb Kite (NEWT) over Ben Arkma (KNOX) (Fall)
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at 641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com