PCM claims HOIC dual title

MAXWELL — With four open weights, Saydel tried to mix and match a lineup that gave the Eagles the best chance against Prairie City-Monroe on Thursday night.

Mustang coach Cory Waddell told his team before the night began they would not shift anyone around and see what his best 14 wrestlers could do.

In the end, the team that didn’t mess with their lineup was victorious as PCM rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat Saydel, 42-32, in a Heart of Iowa Conference triangular.

The Mustangs defeated host Collins-Maxwell/Baxter, 75-6, earlier in the night and the two HOIC wins clinched the conference dual championship. Saydel defeated CMB 56-12 in the finale.

“It feels great,” Waddell said. “I knew it was going to be close. One of the ways I drew it up was really close to what the final score was.

“Saydel tried everything. They tried to bump guys around to try to score as many points as possible. I told the guys in the locker room that we have 14 guys and we are going to send our 14 best guys out there and see what happens. We didn’t move anybody, and it turned out all right.”

Waddell told his team and the PCM administration that this season would be his last as Mustang head coach. His squad sent him out with a dual conference title.

CMB earned three wins total on its Senior Night. Senior Archer McFadden earned a win by fall against PCM’s Jace Smith at 285 in the first dual. Against Saydel, senior Evan Bianchi (12-6) took a forfeit at 160, and sophomore Caleb Fullerton (14-5) pinned Saydel’s Jackson Dopheide at 138.

“We give everyone a 36-point handicap unfortunately,” CMB coach Mike Leslie said. “Those seniors will be tough to lose. We don’t have another heavyweight, and we don’t have a guy who is at Evan’s level at this point in time. That may change but losing those guys will be rough. I watched them grow, and they have made a lot of improvements over the years. This is the first class that has gone all the way through since I have been here.”

Saydel jumped out to a lead against PCM. The Eagles moved Peyton Swafford down a weight, and that resulted in a 6-2 win. Trevor Sprague (32-4) moved up to face PCM senior Leevi Telfer and got another win by fall.

Senior Clayton Welch (220) and freshman Payton Drake (106) both were given forfeit wins in between Saydel’s Hunter Jesse’s pin against Smith.

Saydel tried to move a few other wrestlers around, but it backfired at 113. Sophomore Clay Van Wyk scored early in the match and went on to defeat Dylan Becker, 2-0.

“It helps you mentally,” Van Wyk said of the early lead. “I didn’t have to wait until the last minute to score, but you also have to keep moving so they don’t score on you.

“It’s a confidence booster. They thought they could what they wanted with their lineup, and I was able to prove them wrong at my weight.”

Waddell liked that his young wrestler was ready to go when he expected to take a forfeit.

“I always tell them they need to be ready to go no matter what, and Clay was ready to go tonight,” Waddell said. “He didn’t think he had a match, but he went out and took care of business.”

Saydel (14-7 overall, 7-1 in the HOIC) regained momentum with three straight bonus-point wins — two pins and one technical fall.

Junior Chase Shirk turned the dual around when he came up with a pin at 138 pounds. Shirk’s victory over Dopheide started a run of five straight wins that helped the Mustangs (15-8, 8-0) rally for the win.

“Coach wanted me to go out there and do my job,” Shirk said. “I knew the kid had pinned me before. Trapping him and pinning him like that was a great feeling.”

Shirk was involved in one of those swing matches that can turn a dual either direction.

“That was a huge win for us. Without that pin or with a loss, we would have been in trouble,” Waddell said. “He’s been sick, too. He didn’t wrestle for us Tuesday, but he was in school today, and did what he had to do tonight to help us win a conference title.”

Class 2A No. 3 Xavier Miller got a pin at 145 and No. 7 Wes Cummings and No. 5 Lucas Roland both took forfeits at 152 and 160, respectively. That locked up the dual for the Mustangs.

In the final match of the dual, sophomore Jarron Trausch rallied for a win over Devon Van Houten, who came into the night 25-4. Van Houten scored an early takedown, but Trausch picked up a 6-2 win after collecting a takedown and a back points in the final 30 seconds.

“He’s never out of the match,” Waddell said of Trausch. “He’ll always do something and keep trying until it works. That was a good win.”

The Raiders forfeited six weights to PCM in the night’s opening dual. PCM also got pins from Drake, Miller, Cummings, Roland, Telfer and sophomore Cody Wallace (132).

The only match that went the full six minutes was at 138 where Shirk rallied from an early hole to defeat Fullerton, 6-4.

“He’s having a good year,” Leslie said of Fullerton. “He just made some little mistakes that we need to keep trying to clean up.”

CMB (0-16, 0-8) forfeited four weights against Saydel. The Eagles won three other bouts by fall and a fourth by technical fall.

The only match that went six minutes came was at heavyweight. McFadden (16-5) won the toss in a scorelss match in the second period but chose to start the period on top. Jesse (30-6) got free for an escape and then escaped to start period three and won 2-0.

“It was his choice. He made the call and didn’t ask us,” Leslie said of McFadden’s decision to start the second period on top. “I just told him after the match that he just needs to learn from the mistake. I think he will.”

Eight Mustangs went 2-0 on the night. Miller won both of his matches by fall and improved to 32-2 on the season. Cummings (28-1), Roland (19-1) and Drake (27-6) each won one match by fall and the other by forfeit. Shirk had a pin and a win by decision, Trausch (30-5) and Van Wyk both won by forfeit and by decision and Welch took two forfeits.

The Mustangs and Raiders both return to the mats at 10 a.m. Saturday in the HOIC Invitational tournament in Alleman. The meet is hosted by North Polk.