March 18, 2024

Cardinals fall to Norwalk in LHC mat action

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A final home dual meet before Christmas break got away from Newton High’s Cardinals quickly. Visiting Norwalk’s Warriors racked up seven match victories by falls — six pins and one technical fall — on their way to a 52-15 win over Newton Thursday.

Newton had one win by a pin in the 14-match dual. The Cardinals posted three wins by decisions in the Little Hawkeye Conference competition.

There were bad and good aspects of the way the Cardinal wrestlers competed in their second home competition of the week, according to Newton head coach Andy Swedenhjelm.

“We went with a bit of a different lineup tonight. We weren’t getting the first takedown of matches tonight. Our kids know how to take shots, but we also have worked hard in the wrestling room on counter-shots,” Swedenhjelm said. “Our kids did a good job of stopping (takedown) shots by Norwalk, so in that regard I was pleased with the way they worked out there.”

Swedenhjelm admitted the Newton wrestlers need to be a lot more active on their feet. Most wrestlers who get the first takedown in matches tend to win matches more often, he said.

Norwalk’s Alanah Vetterick pinned Newton freshman Ross Hull in 48 seconds to open the varsity dual in the 106-pound match. Junior Hunter Versteegh recorded the equalizer for the Cardinals. Versteegh built a 6-2 lead over Norwalk’s Cody Lehman in the first period. Versteegh scored on a reversal in the second period and pinned Lehman with 1:40 left in the period.

After that it was pretty much Norwalk. The Warriors won the next three matches to take a 21-6 lead.

Newton senior Dakota Dawson and Norwalk’s Alan Moore waged a 138-pound match which went the full three periods. Dawson pushed out to a 4-1 led after the first two-minute period. Dawson was up 7-2 going into the final period. Dawson won 8-5.

In between Newton’s two wins were matches by less experienced Cardinal wrestlers. Junior Alex Bentley lost a major decision, 8-0, to Tyler Hirl at 120 and Parker Schuster, another junior, dropped a technical fall, 18-2, to Chase Fouts in the 126-pound match. Freshman Josh Miravalles wrestled his third varsity match of season and was pinned by Norwalk’s Dylan DeFreece in 51 seconds at 132.

Newton shuffled wrestlers around in the middle weights with junior Bryce Tish, who has been starting at 145 pounds, was sidelined by Swedenhjelm because of a slight injury. Senior Brett Wolf moved to 145, sophomore Brady Smith took the 152-pound slot and junior Harley Walker wrested at 160.

Wolf fought off Norwalk’s Ryley Smith until the final minute of their match when Smith pinned Wolf with 53 seconds remaining. Norwalk’s Jesse Cowie marked up a major decision, 11-1, over Brady Smith, then Logan Foetisch pinned Walker in 51 seconds. Those three wins pushed the Warriors’ lead to 37-9.

J.T. Thongvanh, Newton’s senior 170-pounder, was back on the mat after being out for two weeks with a shoulder injury. Thongvanh got the first takedown and led 2-1 after one period over Norwalk’s Blake Hoover.

Thongvanh scored a point with an escape and went up 5-1 with another takedown to begin the second period. Hoover countered with the same combination later in the frame. Going into the final two minutes, Thongvanh had a 5-4 lead.

Thongvanh came out from the bottom position for an escape in the third period. He and Hoover worked each other for a takedown. Thongvanh still had a 6-4 lead with 13 seconds left and he sealed the victory with a takedown with about five seconds on the clock for an 8-4 win.

“J.T. came out and beat a good kid tonight. For not being able to practice or compete for two weeks and to win against a caliber kid like that bodes well for his future this season,” Swedenhjelm said.

At 182, Newton sophomore Payton Patterson came up short against Zach Kelley, 7-1. Newton’s final win came in the 195-pound match as junior Duncan Lee stayed out in front of Norwalk’s Jake Seely. Lee recorded the first takedown and was up 2-1 after one period and led 7-3 at the end of two. He won 11-5.

Newton’s Jordan Henning, a junior, challenged Class 3A sixth-ranked Trystan Minnis of Norwalk in the 220 match. Henning took Minnis down for two points, but Minnis reversed him and pinned him with 52 seconds on the first-period clock.

Sophomore Caden Manning had a good takedown shot, but Norwalk’s Ryan Kennedy countered to put Manning on his back in the 285-pound match to end the competition.

Newton is 1-1 in Little Hawkeye Conference dual action. The varsity heads to the Fort Dodge Invitational Saturday. The Newton junior varsity competes in Saturday’s North Polk tournament.

On Thursday against Norwalk, Newton won six of 12 junior varsity matches.

Junior Varsity Results

Tristan Langmaid had a 3-2 win over Jack Livingston, Jonathon Lawton pinned Tristan Onstot, Aren Sorenson pinned Alex Hoover, Blayden Rhone pinned Jarid Leto, Jacob Smith pinned Drake Leek, and Logan Zibert won by a pin for Newton. Caleb Kite was pinned twice, Logan Wolfe, Tanner Petro, Justice Borger and Reed Sheperd each lost by a pin to Norwalk wrestlers.

Varsity Results

Norwalk (NO) 52 Newton (NE) 15

106: Alanah Vetterick (NO) over Ross Hull (NE) (Fall 0:48) 113: Hunter Versteegh (NE) over Cody Lehman (NO) (Fall 2:20) 120: Tyler Hirl (NO) over Alex Bentley (NE) (MD 8-0) 126: Chase Fouts (NO) over Parker Schuster (NE) (TF 18-2 4:28) 132: Dylan DeFreece (NO) over Josh Miravalles (NE) (Fall 0:51) 138: Dakota Dawson (NE) over Alan Moore (NO) (Dec 8-5) 145: Ryley Smith (NO) over Brett Northcott (NE) (Fall 5:08) 152: Jesse Cowie (NO) over Brady Smith (NE) (MD 11-1) 160: Logan Foetisch (NO) over Harley Walker (NE) (Fall 0:50) 170: Jeff Thongvanh (NE) over Blake Hoover (NO) (Dec 8-4) 182: Zach Kelley (NO) over Peyton Patterson (NE) (Dec 7-1) 195: Duncan Lee (NE) over Jake Seely (NO) (Dec 11-5) 220: Trystan Minnis (NO) over Jordan Henning (NE) (Fall 1:09) 285: Ryan Kennedy (NO) over Caden Manning (NE) (Fall 0:45)

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com