Coaches enjoy any opportunity to connect sports to life lessons.
Carmel wrestling coach Ed Pendoski found one when his Greyhounds team beat Westfield 42-19 in a dual meet Wednesday at the Eric Clark Activity Center. The meet was tougher than the score indicated, as there were quite a few close matches that evening, and Carmel was behind in a couple of the matches that it came back to win.
“The moral is, just keep wrestling,” said Pendoski. The coach said that anyone that’s ever wrestled before knows that can be a hard thing to do, but it’s what got the ‘Hounds the victory.
The two teams traded match wins in the early going. The Shamrocks started the meet with Charlie Woodward getting a win at 220 pounds by fall, then Carmel’s Jack Milligan took the 285-pound match in a decision. Westfield’s Chase Camire was awarded a forfeit at 106, the Greyhounds’ Gavin Thompson won by fall at 113, and the Shamrocks’ Braxton Vest was victorious by major decision at 120.
The turning point was at 126 pounds, where Carmel’s Isaac Ward won with a second-period fall. That would be the first of eight consecutive match wins for the ‘Hounds. Michael Major won at 132 with a 3-0 decision, getting all of his points by near-fall at the end of the match. Luke Farling also win a close decision match at 138.
Carmel swept through the next three matches, with Nayl Sbay winning at 145 by fall, Trevor Gallagher taking the 152-pound bout by major decision, and Nate Powell getting the 160 match by technical fall. Alex Ryan then stepped in for the Greyhounds at 170 and won by a close 6-5 decision, which Pendoski used as another example of “just keep wrestling.”
“Westfield’s a quality team,” said Pendoski. “They’ve got a lot of guys returning from last year in their lineup, and so to be able to keep wrestling in that case, those are important.”
Sam Johnson picked up another decision win at 182, then the Shamrocks’ Mikeah Webster closed the meet with a 3-1 decision win.
“I liked what our team was doing, I liked our team staying in it,” said Westfield coach Phil Smith. “Obviously both us and Carmel had a few guys out with injuries and sicknesses and things like that, so it’s always hard to put together a lineup and match guys up the right way. But for the most part, we liked the way our younger guys fought today.”
Both teams will now focus on their respective conference meets on Saturday. Carmel will compete in the Metropolitan Conference meet at Warren Central, while the Shamrocks travel to Avon for the Hoosier Crossroads Conference meet.
CARMEL 42, WESTFIELD 19
Meet started at 220 pounds
220: Charlie Woodward (W) def. Gavin Dilley (C) by fall, 1:05
285: Jack Milligan (C) def. Mike Platonov (W) by decision, 3-1
106: Chase Camire (W) won by forfeit
113: Gavin Thompson (C) def. Porter Temples (W) by fall, 1:18
120: Braxton Vest (W) def. Caleb Mattingly (C) by major decision, 8-0
126: Isaac Ward (C) def. Owen Matthew (W) by fall, 2:53
132: Michael Major (C) def. Thadeus O’Neill (W) by decision, 3-0
138: Luke Farling (C) def. Ike O’Neill (W) by decision, 5-3
145: Nayl Sbay (C) def. Hank Temples (W) by fall, 2:36
152: Trevor Gallagher (C) def. Carson Brandt (W) by major decision, 21-7
160: Nate Powell (C) def. Eli Frei (W) by technical fall, 18-3
170: Alex Ryan (C) def. Cameron Echard (W) by decision, 6-5
182: Sam Johnson (C) def. Austin McClure (W) by decision, 10-5
195: Mikeah Webster (W) def. Joseph DelBusto (C) by decision, 3-1