By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – Two wrestling teams that have become very familiar with each other over the season met at Carmel’s Eric Clark Activity Center on Wednesday.
The Greyhounds hosted Hamilton Southeastern for their Senior Night meet, and it was the regular-season finale for both teams. Carmel came out on fire, winning the first five matches by pin, and that led the ‘Hounds to a 50-18 victory.
Carmel’s first three falls all came in the first round, with Jackson Elliott (113 pounds), Lito Ledezma (120) and Caleb Mattingly (126) all getting the quick pins.
The Greyhounds’ next two wrestlers had to wait until the second period, but Isaac Ward (at 132) and Michael Major (at 138) both got their falls. Just like that, Carmel was up 30-0.
“The number of seniors that we have, they’ve been together, so we have power, we have experience, and the boys are doing a nice job finishing the season up,” said ‘Hounds coach Ed Pendoski.
The Greyhounds won three more matches after that initial spurt. Nayl Sbay took the 145-pound bout by major decision. Trevor Gallagher won a tough decision at 152 and Nate Powell cruised to an 18-5 major-decision victory at 160.
The Royals got on the board in the next two matches. Each match was a battle until the third period, when 170-pounder Zack Wagner got a pin with 33 seconds left. Said Soufiyane was next at 182 pounds, and he got the fall with 30 seconds left in his match.
Seth Richardson won the 195-pound match by fall. Next up were the 220-pounders, Southeastern’s Jackson Goodyear got a third-period takedown to win 3-2. In the 285-pound match, the Greyhounds’ Jack Milligan picked up an 8-3 decision win.
“I think the one thing we like with this group is, we got experience, but they’re buying in on, we’ve just got to keep getting better,” said Pendoski.
Southeastern got the final win of the meet when 106-pounder Aidan Smalley won by decision.
“They’re just really good,” said Royals coach Nick Brobst of Carmel. “Our kids wrestled within our capacity. I thought some matches we wrestled really well, other ones, we’ve got some work to do.”
Both teams will now prepare for the Frankfort sectional, which takes place Saturday, Jan. 28.
CARMEL 50, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 18
Meet started at 113 pounds
113: Jackson Elliott (C) def. Tyler Jackson (HSE) by fall, 1:09
120: Lito Ledezma (C) def. Emerson Dewell (HSE) by fall, 0:57
126: Caleb Mattingly (C) def. Ethan Berens (HSE) by fall, 1:01
132: Isaac Ward (C) def. Kyler Sapp (HSE) by fall, 2:45
138: Michael Major (C) def. Chris Casler (HSE) by fall, 3:10
145: Nayl Sbay (C) def. Adam Gerstner (HSE) by major decision, 11-3
152: Trevor Gallagher (C) def. Zach Lang (HSE) by decision, 8-3
160: Nate Powell (C) def. Landon Hicks (HSE) by major decision, 18-5
170: Zack Wagner (HSE) def. Jackson Schmidt (C) by fall, 5:27
182: Said Soufiyane (HSE) def. CJ Meyer (C) by fall, 5:30
195: Seth Richardson (C) def. Evan Lawhead (HSE) by fall, 4:20
220: Jackson Goodyear (HSE) def. Vlad Balaban (C) by decision, 3-2
285: Jack Milligan (C) def. Dom Burgett (HSE) by decision, 8-3
106: Aidan Smalley (HSE) def. Elliott Leonard (C) by decision, 4-0