WEST ALEXANDRIA – The Arcanum wrestlers are working on their quads and every other body part as they round into shape for the upcoming sectionals under the guidance of head coach Jared Beatty.
The Arcanum grapplers tore apart the competition at the Twin Valley South quad meet held last Thursday night under frigid conditions. The Trojans came out hot and never stopped in taking host Twin Valley South to the North Pole and back by dispatching them to the tune of 39-12. Next up were the Preble Shawnee Arrows out of Camden and they sent them home camping by doubling down on them, 36-18. The other team making up the quad meet was old foe, Tri-County North whom Arcanum has wrestled many times before so they did not lock horns with them as you do not wrestle every team in a quad meet.
First match of the night was Arcanum squaring off against the home squad in Twin Valley South as the half-filled gymnasium was awaiting this encounter for some time when the clock struck 5:30 p.m.. Striking the first blow was 126-pounder Cameron Haney for the Trojans as he tussled with Aaron Cole from Panther land. Haney handled himself well and was up 4-0, 6-0, and 6-1 before pinning Cole with 50.6 seconds left in the third period of action for a quick 6-0 lead. Cristian Snider, coming off his sterling fourth place finish at the Eaton Invitational, wasted no time in getting himself something to eat as he pinned his 106-pound foe Tanner Brown at the 3:09 mark in the second period. Snider was up 5-0 before turning the tables on Brown for Beatty’s bunch and a 12-0 lead. Hannah Colosky at 132 pounds got Twin Valley South on the red and black scoreboard with a forfeit as the Trojans had no wrestler in this weight classification. The Trojan lead was now cut in half as a forfeit is worth six big points the same as a pin so the tally now read, 12-6.
Ethin Hoffman, coming off his injury plagued 6th place finish at the Eaton Invitational, was up next at 138 pounds. Hoffman showed no signs of being injured this night as he pinned Chance Lakes to the red and white mat with 8.6 seconds left in the first frame. The score now tripled to 18-6 and the Panthers knew they were in a fix as they were already running out of wrestlers. Devin Kuhbander was next to toe the mat at 145 pounds and he ran into a buzz saw in Logan White. White turned on the orange and black wrestler and was up 7-0 before pinning Kuhbander with a series of moves at the 3:37 mark in the second period. The win catapulted the Panthers to within six at 18-12, but that was as far as the Twin Valley South point total would go because Braydin Gillem at 152, Cael Gostomsky at 170 and Marcus Foreman at 182 all registered 6-point forfeit wins much to Trojan faithful delight. These quick 18 points doubled the Trojan scoring spree to a commanding 36-12 advantage with only one scheduled match left. At 195 pounds, Dylan Rhodehamel increased the lead for the Darke County squad against Dillon Howard with a 6-1 win good for three points as he led 2-0 and 4-1 before the final outcome. This gave the youthful Trojans a well deserved 27-point win with another match to follow against Preble Shawnee .
The match with the Arrows started off with Arcanum’s hottest wrestler at 106 in Snider, who was crisp with all his moves in putting Matthew Grubb to the mat in an astonishing 47 seconds. Grubb could not have gotten to the mat any faster than this pin as the Trojans got off to another 6-0 lead. Jack Carter evened things up quickly with a forfeit win at the 113 diadem much to the delight of the Camden community. Haney was up next at 120 pounds for Arcanum. He was coming in off his fifth place finish at the Eaton Invitational and took control of his opponent early. Haney handled Rylan Roberts with ease with a series of aggressive moves to pin his foe at the 17.6 mark of the first to propel the orange and black to a 12-6 advantage. Then the Arrows were as helpless as sparrows as they gave up 18 straight points because of forfeits. This enabled Hoffman at 138, Kuhbander at145 and Gillem at 152 to garner quick victories to help the Trojan cause.
Gostomsky had the match of the night in the 170 pound class as he was down 2-5, 2-7 and 2-10 before pinning the stunned Tristan Engle late in the match. Arcanum was up 36-6 now and looking for more foes to conquer. Foreman was next up to grapple and he ran into a whirlwind in Eddie Kincaid. Kincaid needed no aid as he pinned Foreman at the 1:42 mark of the first to make the count a little closer at 36-12. 1At 95 pounds, Rhodehamel was overwhelmed by Kanyan Schall trailing 2-0 and 6-1 before getting pinned with 22 seconds left in the second. The Trojans headed home with a double-digit victory of 36-18 over the Arrows.
”We wrestled well tonight and rebounded well from our efforts in the Eaton Invitational. We were very pleased that our heavyweight Jayden Heltsley actually made weight tonight for the first time and we look forward to his contributions in the next match which will be on Saturday, Feb. 9 at Covington. It was nice to get some forfeits going our way as we are usually the ones giving up the forfeits,” commented Beatty.
