By RICHIE HALL
Reporter Sports Editor
Whenever two Hamilton County wrestling teams face off against each other in dual meets, expect to see the following phrases to describe the competition:
“Roller coaster.” “Up and down.” “Back and forth.”
Clichés they may be, but they accurately summed up the Noblesville-Westfield dual that took place Wednesday at The Rock. The Shamrocks won the meet 39-24, clinching the win by getting four straight victories in the upper-middle weights.
“We felt good about the win,” said Shamrocks coach Phil Smith. “We didn’t wrestle our best match as a team by any means.”
Westfield started the meet with three straight victories. Dylan Driver got a decision at 106 pounds, then 113-pounder Carson Eldred and 120-pounder Brady Drilk won their bouts by pin, which gave the ‘Rocks extra team points on their way to a 15-0 lead.
The Millers won the next four matches, all by decision. Dalton Huffman went first, with a victory at 126 pounds. That was followed by two overtime wins, first by Justin Johnson-Sparks at 132. Gary Kitko then got an extra-period win at 138. Sebastian Dillon was victorious at 145 in a dramatic 5-3 match.
But the ‘Rocks yanked the momentum back starting with the 152-pound match. Kyle Saez won that bout by fall. Westfield then got two decision wins by Gabe Arvin at 160 and Dylan O’Donnell at 170. Ryan Mahoney then got a first-period pin at 182 to seal the team win.
“Our pin at 52 really got things going,” said Smith.
“Their upper weights came to compete and ours didn’t,” said Noblesville coach Michael Weimer. “And that was the deciding factor.”
Weimer did say that he was very “proud of our kids being together as a team and staying in the dual when it was close,” and that he enjoyed coming back to Westfield, where he was once an assistant coach.
“It was fun and exciting to come back to Westfield,” said Weimer.
Noblesville’s Anthony Georgiou won the 195-pound match by forfeit.
“Our 95-pounder was a little banged up, so we decided not to have him wrestle today,” said Smith.
The match concluded with both teams trading pins. Sam Medlen got a second-period pin for Westfield at 220 pounds, while Sam Wertz worked his way to a third-period fall for Noblesville at 285.
The Shamrocks will travel to the Calumet Invitational on Saturday. The Millers are back in action on Tuesday when they head to Hamilton Southeastern for a dual meet.
Royals fall to Zionsville in dual meet
Hamilton Southeastern dropped a dual meet to No. 10-ranked Zionsville 46-16 on Wednesday.
Jacob Simone, Sam Crousore and Blake Forbes all had a win on the night. Southeastern is back in action Saturday at the Frankfort Invitational.
Noblesville’s Sebastian Dillon (left) tries to get out of the hold that Westfield’s Jake Rokop has on him during the 145-pound match of the Millers-Shamrocks dual meet Wednesday at The Rock. (Richie Hall)