March 28, 2024

PCM begins HOIC title defense with pair of wins

MONROE — There was plenty of pomp and circumstance off the mat for the PCM wrestling team on Dec. 7.

On the mat, it was business as usual.

The Mustangs claimed victories in 22 of the 25 contested matches, collected 18 pins and dominated Heart of Iowa Conference foes Nevada and North Polk in a conference triangular.

PCM lost just one match against Nevada in a 75-6 victory. Against North Polk, the Mustangs recorded nine pins and won 70-10. North Polk defeated Nevada 54-27 in the third dual.

“We did what we thought we were supposed to do,” first-year head coach Jeff Nicholson said. “We had the talent and the kids have been training hard in the room so far. We have been pushing them to still get better, and I think we have gotten better in each of our first three performances.”

PCM’s opening dual against Nevada featured two mats under normal gymnasium lighting. The final two duals were under a single spotlight, and each PCM wrestler came out to an entrance song in the night’s final dual against the Comets.

The entrance music is an added touch this season.

“That was mostly my idea,” Nicholson said of the entrance music. “We want a create an atmosphere that other kids want to be a part of. I want to get some of the kids in the stands, younger or high school level or whoever, and I want them to say ‘you know what, that is pretty neat. They are out there under the lights, they have walk out music and the crowd is going nuts. It’s a pretty intense environment.’”

On the mats, PCM dominated most of its matches.

The Mustangs (8-2 overall, 2-0 in the HOIC) took two forfeits against the Cubs — junior Lucas Roland at 170 and senior Jacob Ponder at 195. They went 11-1 in the other 12 matches.

The forfeits came in the first three matches. The other match was a win by fall for Class 2A No. 7 Jarron Trausch at 182 pounds.

After Nevada (0-3, 0-2) got a win at 220 to close the gap a little, PCM rolled off 57 straight points.

Junior Jace Smith (285), freshman Landon Fenton (106), sophomore Payton Drake (113), freshman Brian Nicholson (120), junior Clay VanWyk (126) and senior Chase Shirk (132) cranked out consecutive pins. Junior Cody Wallace won his match by decision at 138, freshman Colby Tool (145) followed with a win by injury default and senior Drew Johnson (151) and junior Wes Cummings (160) finished the Cubs off with back-to-back pins.

“We showed a little more aggressiveness top to bottom tonight. I am pretty happy with our performance overall,” Coach Nicholson said. “There were a couple of matches that didn’t go our way that I thought could have, but for as many matches as we wrestled tonight, the kids did what they should.”

The Mustangs were defeated in two matches against North Polk, but the home team recorded nine pins in the easy win.

Ponder and freshman Chris Marshall started the dual off with pins at 195 and 220, respectively, and then Smith took a forfeit at 285. Fenton and Drake got their second pins of the night at 106 and 113 and Brian Nicholson made it 35-0 with a 15-0 technical fall victory.

North Polk (2-5, 2-1) got on the board with a pin at 126, but Shirk, Wallace and Tool put together consecutive wins to secure the dual win.

The Mustangs’ three ranked wrestlers — No. 3 Cummings (160), No. 2 Roland (170) and No. 7 Trausch (182) — finished off the dual with a pin, technical fall and pin, respectively.

Roland stayed undefeated with his two wins. He used his mat time against North Polk to work on his craft. He scored 20 points in the first period and won the match 26-11.

“They work so hard in the room and they weigh in, we have the spotlight on, they are in front of their fans, they want to wrestle,” Coach Nicholson said. “(Lucas) wants to showcase his technique and his skills, and I don’t blame him for that. He’s puts in a lot time to get to match day.”

Fenton, Drake, Brian Nicholson, Shirk, Wallace, Tool, Cummings, Roland, Trausch, Ponder and Smith all went 2-0 on the night.

Fenton’s two pins took only 1:55 of mat time. Shirk was only on the mat for 2:11.

PCM sweeps quadrangular at Bondurant

BONDURANT — PCM opened its dual season with three easy wins on Dec. 5.

The Mustangs went 24-9 in contested matches and received nine forfeits during a quadrangular sweep of Sigourney-Keota, Bondurant-Farrar and Pleasantville.

PCM opened the night with a 63-18 win over the Savages then took down the host Bluejays 62-8. The Mustangs ended the night with 64-18 win over the Trojans.

Nine wrestlers went 3-0, including Brian Nicholson (120), Tool (145), Drake (113), VanWyk (126), Wallace (138), Cummings (160), Roland (170), Trausch (182) and Shirk (132).

Roland, Trausch and Tool all won their three matches by fall. Nicholson, VanWyk and Cummings all won twice by fall and once by forfeit.

Wallace won twice by fall and once by decision, Shirk won once by forfeit, once by technical fall and once by major decision and Drake took two forfeits and won another match in overtime. Johnson won two matches on the night, both by fall.

Against Sigourney-Keota, the Mustangs went 8-3 in contested matches and was given three forfeits. PCM was 10-3 in contested matches against the Bluejays, and it beat Pleasantville in six of the nine contested matches and were handed five forfeits.

PCM recorded 20 wins by fall in the quadrangular.

PCM rallies past No. 2 Ballard, finishes third at Centennial

ANKENY — After facing four consecutive 3A schools, PCM got a chance to face a 2A program currently ranked ahead of it in the state tournament rankings.

The dual would come down to the Mustangs’ three most decorated wrestlers. With PCM trailing by 15 with three matches to go, Cummings, Roland and Trausch came through with consecutive pins to seal the win for the Mustangs.

The 42-39 win over 2A No. 2 Ballard locked up third place on the day for the 10th-ranked Mustangs. PCM also defeated 3A Dallas Center-Grimes 45-28 an 3A Carlisle 57-21 in pool play on Dec. 9.

“Our wrestlers competed hard today against stiff competition,” Coach Nicholson said. “

The Mustangs opened the day with a 51-22 loss to 3A Centennial and then 3A No. 8 Dubuque Hempstead sent PCM to the third-place match with a 42-28 win. Centennial defeated Hempstead 39-29 in the championship dual.

Roland and Tool each went 5-0 on the day. Cummings, Trausch, Fenton, Drake and Shirk all finished 4-1.

None of Roland’s wins were bigger than the one he had against Ballard. After Cummings earned his pin, the Mustangs were still down 39-30. Roland, who is ranked second in 2A at 170 pounds, wrestled up to face the third-ranked wrestler at 182 pounds, Ben Lee.

Roland (13-0) stuck Lee in 52 seconds to stay unbeaten on the season.

Cummings’ pin against Gerald Gute at 170 took only 36 seconds. Trausch won the meet with his pin in 3 minutes, 41 seconds at 195 over Joe Andrews. Cummings and Trausch both wrestled up a weight from the weight they are ranked at.

“I’m so proud of these guys for never quitting,” Coach Nicholson said.

The Mustangs were 6-6 against Ballard in contested matches. Ballard was given one more forfeit victory, but PCM won the dual because all six of its wins were by fall. The other three falls came from Tool, Shirk and Drake. Fenton took a forfeit at 106.

In the opener against Ankeny Centennial, PCM began with Roland getting a 12-5 win over Nic Leo at 170. The next two wins didn’t come until Fenton and Drake earned back-to-back falls at 106 and 113, respectively. Shirk then got a major decision at 132 and Tool won 10-5 at 145.

“The dual with Centennial was a tough one, it could have been much closer but a few things didn’t go our way and it got away from us,” Coach Nicholson said.

The Mustangs moved guys around all day to compensate for the absence of Ponder, who was taking the ACT test.

Cummings, Roland and Trausch all moved up a weight and got wins by fall against DCG. Fenton then gave PCM a 24-12 lead after a 25-second pin at 106. Drake got another fall at 113 to push the advantage to 18.

PCM also got a win by decision from VanWyk and pins from Wallace and Tool to close out the dual victory. The Mustangs went 8-5 against DCG in contested matches.

The record went to 9-2 in contested matches against Carlisle. And 12 of the 21 points Carlisle scored were due to PCM forfeits.

Eight of the nine wins on the mat by PCM came by way of pin. Those were recorded by Roland, Trausch, Smith, Fenton, Shirk, Wallace, senior Brady Fagen and Cummings. Tool also won his match 6-0 and Drake took a forfeit.

With five ranked wrestlers, Hempstead came into the day ranked eighth in the 3A state tournament rankings. And they defeated PCM in eight of the 12 contested matches.

Earning the four wins were Trausch and Shirk by decision, Tool by major decision and Cummings by fall. Roland and Johnson each took forfeits.

“This was tough matchup for us they where strong and deep at most of the weights,” Coach Nicholson said.

Tool’s unbeaten day included two pins, two decisions and a major decision. He is 12-1 on the season at 145.

Cummings (12-2) won all four of his matches Saturday by fall. Trausch (12-2) earned three pins and one decision, Fenton (10-3) and Drake (12-2) both had three pins and one forfeit and Shirk (12-3) scored two pins, one major decision and one decision.

Cummings, Drake and Shirk all had one loss to a ranked wrestler. Cummings, who is ranked third at 160 in 2A, lost 10-5 to 3A No. 10 Logan Neils of Centennial at 170. Drake lost 7-3 to 3A No. 6 Dillon Gottschalk of Dubuque Hempstead at 113. Shirk lost 8-3 to 3A No. 6 Max Tracy of DCG at 132.

Trausch, who is ranked seventh in 2A at 182, wrestled all five of his matches at 195.