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A pair of dominating Hawkeye 10 Conference victories here Tuesday night — including a 50-23 triumph over perennial power Lewis Central — has the Creston/O-M wrestling team in the league driver's seat.
The Panthers improved to 8-0 overall and 6-0 in the Hawkeye 10 with the win over the Titans and a 60-17 victory against Kuemper Catholic. Lewis Central won the night's first dual against the Knights, 60-13.
Lewis Central also entered the night undefeated in conference action, but fell to 5-4 overall and 3-1 in the H-10 with the loss to the Panthers to close out the night. Creston/O-M has already defeated Atlantic, another top league contender.
"We talked about how big it was. Now we just have to keep our heads on and take care of Harlan, Shenandoah and Red Oak. That's all we have left," Creston/O-M coach Darrell Frain said. "The opportunity is there for us to win the Hawkeye 10, we just have to take care of it now."
Former Iowa State wrestler and first-year Lewis Central head coach Duke Burk said the Panthers are a tough matchup.
"They just have a solid team up and down their lineup. The holes they might have, we took advantage of them, but their holes are a lot fewer than ours at this point," he said. "I think they won all the toss-ups. I don't think we won a close match the whole meet."
The Panthers are back in action Thursday at home against league rival Harlan and wrap up a busy week at home Saturday with the six-team round robin Panther Invitational.
Early battle
The Titans led Creston/O-M 12-10 after four matches behind pins at 170 and 220. Trevor Frain got one of those early pins back and Keaton Hulett earned a 13-3 major decision at 195 for the Panthers. It was a 16-12 Panther lead after top-ranked heavyweight Collin Bevins earned a quick pin.
Panther 106-pounder Kruz Adamson scored a dominating 17-4 major decision to give Creston/O-M a 20-12 lead and the two freshmen in the Panther lineup opened the gap.
At 113, Kieran Deal wrapped up a solid night of wrestling with a 17-second fall against Mason George. In the first dual of the night, Deal dropped a tough 2-1 decision to sixth-ranked Jared Eischeid of Kuemper.
"I thought we would win at 113, but I didn't know how it would work out," Frain said of the Lewis Central match. "Kieran got it quick and that's good for him. He had a really good night."
Fellow Panther freshman Spencer Wray followed with a hard-fought 8-5 decision against Jake Bahr. Wray scored takedowns in each of the first two periods to build up a 6-1 lead and held off the Titan for the win, to make it a 29-12 Panther lead.
"With Spencer's match I thought that was a toss-up or maybe even a little bit of an underdog. He just kept going and got the win," Frain said.
Pulling away
After a Titan pin at 126 closed the Panther lead to 11 at 29-18, Creston/O-M reeled off four wins in a row to put the dual away.
Gage Cheers fought off his back in the opening seconds at 132 and reversed Chris Thomas to his back to knot the score at 5-5 less than a minute into the match. Cheers tacked on six more near fall points in the first period and went on to a 16-7 major decision.
Jacob Johnston had a first-period pin at 138, Jake Marlin scored a 20-5 technical fall over a scrappy Ethan Ruby at 145 and Juwan Parrish decked Ryan Nightser with a cradle late in the third period at 152.
"Last night was probably our worst practice during the break, so I was a little worried coming in," Frain said. "We were a little sluggish and we didn't do some things, but they did what they needed to do to get the win."
The Panthers scored bonus points in nine of their 10 wins in the dual, including five falls.
"We talked going into it that if you're on your back, you have to fight like heck to get off. And if you have a chance to put somebody away, do it," Frain said. "That's something this team has done pretty well this year. We've had a lot of pins and they put people away when they have a chance."
Creston/O-M had five pins against Kuemper — including four in under a minute — and received five forfeits from the shorthanded Knights.
Creston/O-M 50, Lewis Central 23
170 - Ben Schwery (LC) pinned Adam Baker, 1:14; 182 - Trevor Frain (C) pinned Dylan Miller, 1:10; 195 - Keaton Hulett (C) maj. dec. Austin Lear, 13-3; 220 - Zach Renshaw (LC) pinned Cole Tanner, 3:02; 285 - Collin Bevins (C) pinned Trevor Stephens, 1:53; 106 - Kruz Adamson (C) maj. dec. Jordan Bailey, 17-4; 113 - Kieran Deal (C) pinned Mason George, 0:17; 120 - Spencer Wray (C) dec. Jake Bahr, 8-5; 126 - Corbin Tawze (LC) pinned Alex Fargo, 5:37; 132 - Gage Cheers (C) maj. dec. Chris Thomas, 16-7; 138 - Jacob Johnston (C) pinned Nate Storey, 1:13; 145 - Jake Marlin (C) tech. fall Ethan Ruby, 20-5; 152 - Juwan Parrish (C) pinned Ryan Nightser, 5:34; 160 - Zeb Wahle (LC) tech. fall David Thompson, 21-5.
Creston/O-M 60, Kuemper Catholic 17
160 - Thompson (C) pinned Connor Nolting, 0:29; 170 - Baker (C) won by forfeit; 182 - Frain (C) pinned Max Glass, 0:38; 195 - Hulett (C) pinned Trevin Jorgensen, 0:53; 220 - Cass Weitl (KC) maj. dec. Tanner, 11-0; 285 - Bevins (C) pinned Alex Bruch, 0:46; 106 - Adamson (C) won by forfeit; 113 - Jared Eischeid (KC) dec. Deal, 2-1; 120 - Wray (C) pinned Alex Cortez, 3:50; 126 - Alex Schmitz (KC) maj. dec. Cheers, 10-5; 132 - Kolby Hilgenberg (KC) pinned Fargo, 0:53; 138 - Johnston (C) won by forfeit; 145 - Marlin (C) won by forfeit; 152 - Parrish (C) won by forfeit.
Creston/O-M JV results
Round 1
Keenan Reese (C) pinned Matt Muschenheim (LC), 2:00; Nash Maxwell (LC) pinned Katie Stevens (C), 0:17; Billy Weilage (LC) dec. Stone Hammons (C), 9-7; Garret Taylor (C) pinned Joe Gilman (LC), 0:34; Nick Ruis (LC) pinned Bryce Briley (C), 1:49; Tyler Helm (C) pinned Schuyler Murray (LC), 1:24; Zach Peppmeier (C) pinned Corey Gross (KC), 1:04; Logan Debord (C) pinned Kinnick Fox (LC), 0:42; Riley Bray (LC) pinned Dalton Hribal (C), 3:24; Gavin Leith (C) pinned Matt Muschenheim (LC), 2:32.
Round 2
Billy Weilage (LC) pinned Katie Stevens (C), 2:52; Nick Ruis (LC) pinned Skyler Cook (C), 1:32; Bryce Briley (C) pinned Corey Gross (KC), 0:47; Zach Peppmeier (C) pinned Joe Gilman (LC), 0:24; Tayler Pettit (C) pinned Kinnick Fox (LC), 0:43; Jesse Rathe (C) tech. fall Matt Muschenheim (LC), 20-4; Boone Oslin (LC) pinned Dalton Hribal (C), 1:16.