Panthers sweep Glenwood quad

GLENWOOD — The Creston boys wrestling team had another clean sweep Tuesday night in the Glenwood Quadrangular with Treynor and West Central Valley.

With the Panthers finding pins in more than half their matches (19 in 37), they dominated the meet, beating West Central Valley 68-6, Treynor 63-15 and Glenwood 45-27.

Panthers Kylen Parsons, Lane Travis, Christian Ahrens, Brodrick Phelps, Trey Chesnut, Brandon Briley and Kaden Street were undefeated in their matchups.

Juniors Ahrens and Briley were three for three on pins, senior Street was two for two and freshman Travis had a pin in his only match of the night.

Creston vs. West Central

The Panthers began the meet with a dominating victory against the West Central Wildcats.

The pairing of the matchup was at 170-pounds with Street, ranked ninth in the state in Class 2A, facing senior Kaedon Lindsay, ranked eighth in Class 1A. A takedown in the first period got Street out to a 2-0 start, and he was able to find the pin with 45 seconds left in the second period.

Six Panthers had pins in the first period with the fastest being junior Max Chapman with a 15 second fall against Tommy Teague.

Ahrens took down Cameran McNutty in 1:06, Phelps pinned Alyc Phippen in 35 seconds, Briley defeated Trenton Naragon in 1:32, senior Chris Aragon pinned Nathan Bentler in 1:31 and junior Milo Staver took down Donald Shepley in 1:37.

The Wildcats found their only points when Jathan Edgington found a pin in his 182-pound match against Creston junior Jackson Kerr.

Though the Panthers found an easy victory over West Central, Creston head coach Cody Downing emphasized the importance of focusing on the match at hand, rather than the Hawkeye 10 rival dual against Glenwood at the end.

“If you’re focused on the one at the end, you can slip up and miss one of the first two,” he said. “I think you just go with the same approach every dual and that’s what we talked about doing.”

Creston vs. Treynor

Though the Panthers ended with a resounding win against Treynor, it was the Cardinals who found the first points of the night.

Treynor’s Dan Gregory, ranked fourth in the state in Class 1A, faced Creston’s Chapman to begin the dual. The match started slow, neither finding a takedown in the first period. Gregory started in the bottom position in the second period, but a reversal and near fall resulted in 4 points for the Treynor senior. With 1:39 left in the match, Gregory pinned Chapman to give the Cardinals a 6-0 lead.

The lead was short lived as Creston’s Travis pinned Jamison Larson late in the first period, Parsons won by forfeit and Ahrens pinned Jeff Sornson in 1:50.

Briley, Aragon, Will Bolinger, Jagger Luther and Quinten Fuller all had pins in their matchups. While Aragon pinned his man in 49 seconds in the 145-pound match, Fuller took the fastest pin in a 16 second fall against Lowell Knott at 220.

“We’re still missing Austin Evans and Lincoln Keeler,” Downing said of two of their best wrestlers. “We’re hoping after Christmas for both of them.” Creston is no-doubt feeling the loss of its state-qualifying wrestlers, but the “next man in” mentality has been working. Briley and Phelps have stepped into their roles successfully, both undefeated on the night.

Creston vs. Glenwood

Though the Panthers took down conference rival Glenwood 45-27, Downing said the dual was a lot closer than the score reflected.

“I know Glenwood’s missing some guys,” he said. “They’re missing one of their better wrestlers, (Matt) Beem.”

Creston won by forfeit at 106 to start the dual. After, 113-pound freshman Parsons battled with Glenwood junior Ethan West. He got out to a fast start, taking West to the mat and scoring on a near fall. The score was 7-0 at the end of the first period. Parsons grew his lead to 14-1 in the second with multiple takedowns and a near fall. In the final period, he quickly found his pin with 1:49 left in the bout.

At 120, Ahrens found himself again facing a wrestler state-ranked at 113. While Ahrens himself is ranked ninth at 102, his opponent, junior Vinny Mayberry, is ranked second at 113. Though Glenwood found the takedown quickly, Ahrens pulled off the upset in the first period. Coaches, wrestlers and fans erupted in cheers as the ref’s hand slapped the mat with 17 seconds left in the first period, signaling Ahren’s victory.

A forfeit at 126, a 7-1 decision by Chesnut and a pin by Briley in the second, grew the Panthers lead to 33-0 against the Rams.

A series of tough losses for Creston led a Glenwood comeback.

Aragon moved quickly against his opponent, Reese Fauble, earning 5 points for a take down and near fall in the first period. Fauble came back with a reversal, an escape and another reversal to tie the score at 5 in the final period. As he was in control, Fauble scored 2 off a near fall, sealing his 7-5 decision against Aragon.

Staver faced Tate Mayberry in a slow start, neither scoring in the first period, but with 52 seconds left in the second, Staver was pinned.

At 160, Bolinger and Scott Reed faced off in a rollercoaster battle. Takedowns and reversals happened so quickly, the refs hardly had time to keep up. After 16 points were scored in the first period, the boys were tied at 8. They settled in during the second period, working each other on the ground — neither able to score. Bolinger found the lead again in the third with a reversal on Reed. With 10 seconds left, Reed escaped — narrowing the lead to 10-9. As they circled each other, Reed dove, earning 2 points on the takedown as time expired to win the match.

“I thought Will and Chris Aragon, I would consider them upsets,” Downing said. “I thought we would win both of those matches. It happens. I think I’d rather them happen in December than later on in the year when it’s tournament time. Then I thought we pulled an upset at 120 with Christian Ahrens so I think those kind of even out.”

Heading into the 170 bout between Street and Austin Wear, the score was 33-12. Street dominated the match, outscoring his opponent 12-1 before ultimately finding the pin in the second period. The pin sealed the victory for Creston as the score increased to 39-12.

Kerr and Luther were both pinned while Fuller lost by a 9-2 decision to close the gap to 39-27. Going into the last matchup, had the two forfeits not counted, the score would be tied at 27.

Chapman took on Glenwood junior Trent Patton, a state-ranked wrestler at 220. While Chapman was in control of the points 5-1, a mistake nearly cost Chapman the match as he narrowly avoided a pin.

“He could have gave up,” Downing said. “He was on his back there in the middle part of the first period, and he fought. I think he knew it was a match he could win so he was able to fight him off and give himself a chance later on.”

That chance came late in the second period when Chapman pinned Patton to end the dual 45-27.

The boys will wrestle from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Central DeWitt High School against Bellevue, Camanche, Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Central DeWitt, Clinton, Davenport Central, Davenport North, Iowa City Liberty, Maquoketa, Mid Prairie, Midland, Northeast, Williamsburg and Wilton.