Cardinals drop dual to No. 10 Warriors

Newton High’s Cardinals faced off with the Class 3A 10th-ranked Norwalk Warriors Thursday in a Little Hawkeye Conference dual.

The Warriors came into Newton’s gym with five ranked wrestlers among the new 3A rankings out Thursday. Newton has two wrestlers in the new rankings with one just falling out of the top 10 in one weight division.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the five Warriors won matches — three by falls and one by a technical fall. Norwalk piled up points after trailing Newton 18-3 to claim a 50-27 win.

“That’s a good team and that’s why they are a top-10 team,” Newton High head coach Andy Swedenhjelm said. “But, we’ll close the gap by the time of conference (tournament) rolls around.”

Cardinal senior Jaise Gulling had been ranked No. 10 in Class 3A 195-pounds since the start of the season. He admitted on Tuesday he had a rough weekend so he isn’t in the new rankings.

It didn’t stop Gulling. He opened the dual with a pin of Norwalk’s Jason Kritzler at 195 in 3:58. That put the Cardinals up 6-0.

Then came the feature match of the night at 220. Newton junior Gage Linahon is ranked No. 8 and Norwalk senior Nate Heckart is ranked No. 9. took center stage.

After a scoreless first period, Heckart scored on an escape in the second period. Linahon did the same in the third to make 1-all.

The two went to overtime. Linahon and Heckart were tied up and working for a takedown. They both went to the mat on a move and Heckart got the winning takedown at the edge of mat, winning 3-1.

“It was against a good kid. We have to learn how to break through against kids who aren’t very active,” Swedenhjelm said.

Sophomore Gabe Abrams put the Cardinals up 12-3 with a first-period pin of Norwalk’s Bryce Kohls at 285.

At 106, Newton sophomore Anthony Bestell took a 2-0 lead with a takedown in the first period. Norwalk junior Travis McCombs came within a fraction of pinning Bestell at the start of the second period.

Bestell worked out of the situation, giving up just three points. He got a reversal and a three-point near-fall of his own to lead 7-3.

Bestell reversed McCombs again in the third period and pinned him with 1:28 left in the match.

“I just feel stronger this season than last year,” Bestell said after the meet. “I’ve cut weight the healthy way and feel good.”

Bestell said he has been learning to be better in the top position on the mat. He also said he is shooting for takedowns more.

Newton held an 18-3 lead. Norwalk began chipping away at that advantage.

Sophomore Grant Harbour is ranked No. 6 in 113 for the Warriors. Newton freshman Brennan Amos battled but lost by an 18-3 technical full in the third period.

The Warriors’ sixth-ranked junior Keaton Moret pinned Newton freshman Damien Bayles in 3:49 in the 120-pound match. Norwalk was within four points, 18-14, of Newton.

In a scoring frenzy of a match at 126, Newton senior Blake Cockerton notched a 13-11 win. He scored a takedown of Norwalk sophomore Austin Brenizer with four seconds left.

“I like it that our guys get to wrestle tough matches because it helps them get ready for later in the season,” Swedenhjelm said. “We had several new kids getting varsity experience tonight.”

Two of those kids were freshmen Brady Romberg at 132 and Kaleb Wilkins at 138. Norwalk’s Landon Card pinned Romberg with 32 seconds left in the first period to make it 21-20.

Wilkins scored a reversal against Norwalk’s Caleb Schmidt in the 138 match. Schmidt was able to win by a second-period fall, which put the Warriors in front 26-21.

“They both went out there and didn’t act like it was their first varsity match. They competed,” Swedenhjelm said.

Norwalk junior Ethan Vetterick, who is ranked No. 4 at 145, pinned Newton junior Canaan Terpstra. That was followed by second-ranked Carter Schmidt pinning Newton junior Zane Kohlmeyer at 152.

Newton senior Reece Caves lost by a fall in the second period of his 160 match to previously ranked Anthony Huse.

Another freshman got his first varsity match for Newton at 170. Jaden Shaden lost by a first-period fall to Norwalk’s Tristen Duncan.

Trailing 50-21, newly ranked Newton junior Destin Schroder had the last match of the night. Schroder is ranked No. 10 in 3A 182.

Schroder took care of business against Norwalk senior Connor Vroegh. He was up 9-2 after one period and continued to pile up points. With 17 seconds remaining in the second period, Schroder pinned Vroegh.

Newton is 1-2 in LHC dual action. The Cardinals finish the first semester with a visit to Class 2A top-ranked Prairie City-Monroe at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Monroe.

In junior varsity matches against Norwalk on Thursday, Newton went 5-4. The Cardinal junior varsity is slated to compete in the North Polk tournament at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in Alleman.

Norwalk 50, Newton 27

195: Jaise Gulling (NEWT) over Jason Kritzler (NORW) (Fall 3:58) 220: Nate Heckart (NORW) over Gage Linahon (NEWT) (SV-1 3-1) 285: Gabe Abrams (NEWT) over Bryce Kohls (NORW) (Fall 1:30) 106: Anthony Bestell (NEWT) over Travis McCombs (NORW) (Fall 4:32) 113: Grant Harbour (NORW) over Brennan Amos (NEWT) (TF 18-3 4:42) 120: Keaton Moret (NORW) over Damien Bayles (NEWT) (Fall 3:49) 126: Blake Cockerton (NEWT) over Austin Brenizer (NORW) (Dec 13-11) 132: Landon Card (NORW) over Brady Romberg (NEWT) (Fall 1:29) 138: Caden Schmidt (NORW) over Kaleb Wilkins (NEWT) (Fall 3:16) 145: Ethan Vetterick (NORW) over Canaan Terpstra (NEWT) (Fall 0:58) 152: Carter Schmidt (NORW) over Zane Kohlmeyer (NEWT) (Fall 1:49) 160: Anthony Huse (NORW) over Reece Caves (NEWT) (Fall 3:38) 170: Tristen Duncan (NORW) over Jaden Shannon (NEWT) (Fall 1:27) 182: Destin Schroder (NEWT) over Hunter Blomgren (NORW) (Fall 3:44)

Junior Varsity Matches

126: Nathaniel Adams (Norw) pinned Kaden Holesn (New), 1:28; 145: Caden Nunez (Norw) tech fall (18-0) over Austin Brady (New);152: Jayden Larson (Norw) 12-9 dec. over Noah Cook (New); 152: Noah Cook (New) pinned Spencer Haalblom (Norw), 1:15; 160: Matthew Palen (Norw) pinned Braydon Chance (New), 1:08; 195: Owen Sanger (New) pinned Tyler Kelderman (Norw), 0:55; 220: Gabriel Hoen (New) pinned Toby Laurie (Norw), 0:22; 220: Tyson Elliott (New) pinned Toby Laurie (Norw), 0:22; 285: William Muckler (New) pinned Caleb Greenslit (Norw), 2:57.

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