No. 5 Creston with comeback victory over No. 3 Glenwood

A challenge came to town early this season for the No. 5 ranked Creston, No. 3 Glenwood visiting as a part of a triangular with Treynor.

The Rams took an early lead, three consecutive pins to go up 18-0 to start the dual. The Panthers didn’t take their first lead of the night until the second to last match and were able to hold on for a 39-33 win.

Treynor

The Panthers made easy work of the Cardinals, winning the dual 54-27.

Will Bolinger, Kylen Parsons, Lane Travis, Christian Ahrens, Brandon Briley and Carson Rieck won via forfeit at their weight classes.

Milo Staver, Quinten Fuller and Max Chapman all pinned their opponents in the first period.

Glenwood

The finale was a rematch of the narrow regional duals last season that sent the Panthers to the state duals and left Glenwood on the sidelines.

Starting at 175, the Panthers found themselves outmatched to start the dual, the Rams gaining momentum early with three pins.

“We’re younger; we’re a little undersized at 175 and 190 and of course [Mason] Koehler is a state semi-finalist and contender at 215,″ Creston coach Cody Downing said. “It was not the ideal weight to start at, but I’m so proud of our guys. They didn’t let it snowball.”

The first state-ranked matchup of the night was No. 12 Quinten Fuller against No. 5 Koehler. It was Koehler with the victory as he pinned Fuller.

“Somebody has to start it,” senior heavyweight Max Chapman said. “I knew the second Cody looked at me after Quinten lost that it was going to have to be me or it wasn’t going to happen. It ended up being a big part of the duals.”

Another battle of ranked wrestlers, No. 12 Chapman would take on No. 8 Trent Patton. Chapman pulled off the upset with a first-period pin to get the momentum moving.

“That’s when I wrestle best,” Chapman said. “There’s business to do. It doesn’t matter how big of a match it is, you’re going to have to go out there and wrestle anyway. We had business to handle.”

Coming back to the start of the lineup, Kylen Parsons faced Brody Black at 106 where he lost a narrow 4-2 decision.

“Parsons was so close,” Downing said. “I really think as the seasons go on, you’ll see Parsons eke out those matches a little bit.”

At 113, Lane Travis came in to keep the ball rolling, pinning Ethan West in the first period, narrowing Glenwood’s lead to 21-12.

The biggest match of the night was No. 4 Christian Ahrens going against No. 1 Vinny Mayberry.

“That is two kids that have battled each other since the youth ranks,” Downing said. “I think Christian knew how badly we needed him to win that dual.”

Ahrens said he thought the first takedown would set the tone for the match, but it never came, the first period ending without points scored.

In the second period, both wrestlers scored points, ending the period tied at 2. In the final period, Ahrens hung on to a 4-3 lead to knock off the top-ranked 120 lbs wrestler in the state to deafening cheers from the home crowd.

“I knew if I won that match, the team would just start steamrolling through and picking up confidence,” Ahrens said. “That’s what we did and we got it done tonight.”

Downing said that win was pivotal. “If you look and you switch that around, it’s a tie dual,” he said. “Vinny’s a guy who’s been to the state finals. That’s got to give confidence to Christian.”

Sophomore Brodrick Phelps stepped up for the Panthers, finding not only a win against Mark Reed, but a pin, tying the score 21-21.

“Brodrick had a big win, I feel like he’s coming around,” Downing said. “I think what it gave us was momentum. It gives us a chance for a bit more spread, a bit more wiggle room if someone happens to get knocked off.”

At 132, No. 12 ranked Lincoln Keeler was out with a knee injury so first-year wrestler Joshua Bunz stepped in to wrestle No. 3 Matt Beem.

“I give credit to Josh, first-year wrestler, but we didn’t want to forfeit. We don’t believe in that,” Downing said. “We’re going to send somebody out and that’s what we did. I give him props for just going out there.”

Bunz was pinned in the first period for Glenwood to regain the lead, 27-21.

Senior Brandon Briley battled Britten Maxwell for the full three periods, winning in a 9-4 decision after being tied at the start of the second period. As someone who hasn’t been wrestling since he was in the youth league, he said he has relied on his endurance to carry him through close matches.

“It’s how I win most of my matches,” he said. “My endurance has really carried me through most of my career. If I can keep it close, I can wear them down and come out on top in the third.”

Carson Rieck faced Trey Williamson, but was pinned in the second period after going down 5-0. “Carson at 144, I just think he hasn’t wrestled a ton of varsity,” Downing said. “He’s starting to get the experience. I think you’re going to see him and Parsons at 106 improve.”

Though the Panthers were down 33-24 with only three wrestlers to go, it was a good group of three to have closing out the meet - Austin Evans, Milo Staver and Will Bolinger - three top-three conference wrestlers a season ago.

“That’s pretty good,” Downing said. “You worry about how it starts, but you end with those guys.”

Though Austin is battling a pectoral injury, he came out and pinned Conner Wear in 12 seconds to close the gap to three points. Evans is ranked eighth in the state at 150.

Staver had an electric pin over Austin Wear in under a minute, taking the Panthers’ first lead of the night, 36-33. Glenwood’s Reese Fauble did not compete. “I don’t know what’s going on with him; they’re obviously a little dinged up too,” Downing commented. “You’ve got to take the falls where you can get them.”

It all came down to No. 9 ranked Bolinger for the night’s final match. Any win by Bolinger would seal the victory for Creston. A pin or major decision by Kellan Scott would seal the victory for Glenwood, but a decision would tie the dual, sending it to the tie-breaker criteria.

“We were kind of not doing very well in the beginning. It meant a lot to me that I was in the position that I was,” Bolinger said. “We were down and we could have very easily gave up, but we didn’t. That probably meant more to me than anything else.”

The match went the full six minutes, the home crowd chanting, “let’s go Will,” in the final period as Bolinger only had a one-point lead. Time expired and Scott couldn’t finish the reversal, giving the Panthers a victory.

“The home atmosphere – there’s nothing that can compare to what that was like tonight,” Downing said. “We just had so many reasons to lose the dual. You’ve got Keeler out, Austin dinged up, you’ve got a lot of undersized guys in there. There’s a lot of reasons the guys could have quit – on each other, on the dual, and they didn’t.”

The Panthers return to action Saturday at a tournament in Central DeWitt.

“I think both of us, considering we’re healthy, both of these teams are good enough to do something in February at duals and maybe at individual state,” Downing said.