The Mishawaka Cavemen made an early season statement to the defending state champs, Crown Point, in the final round of the Chris Traicoff Invitational at Calumet High School. In that final round, Mishawaka rode the momentum of two first period pins at 215 (Christian Lentz) and HWT (Travis Thomas) to cruise to a 43-17 victory. Mishawaka got to the final match by defeating Highland, Westfield, Portage and Franklin Community. Crown Point need to defeat Lake Station Edison, Munster, Franklin and Portage to reach the deciding dual.
FINAL MATCH BREAKDOWNS:
189 – The final dual started out well for Crown Point as Tyler Kral countered a bear hug throw by Mishawaka’s Danny Abu-shehab with a nice whizzer and put the Caveman grappler to his back to garner a quick 4-0 advantage. Abu-shehab escaped to end the first period 4-1. Kral got another takedown and rode to a 6-1 victory.
215 – Caveman Christian Lentz overwhelmed John Hannon with a takedown and two sets of back points early. Lentz sucked Hannon back on a short sit to secure the pin.
HWT – Mishawaka’s big man Travis Thomas worked an underhook knee pick to put Crown Point’s Josh Swope to his back for five points. Swope fought back to his belly but could not with stand the power half of Thomas who patiently sunk it deep to power over Swope for the pin.
103 – Most fans probably felt this was a swing match in this dual as both Crown Point’s Colton Sarroff and Mishawaka’s Grant Martsolf seemed evenly matched based on who they had wrestled earlier in the day. Sarroff fought off two first period takedown attempts and the period ended with no score. In the second period, Martsolf got the boots in began to work a power half. Martsolf seemed to get high but expertly kept his head and arms in good position and was able to go to work on the young Bulldog’s shoulder with the power half. Martsolf got the three point near fall and the second period ended with a 3-0 lead. Martsolf earned an escape in the third and gave up a late takedown to end the scoring 4-2.
112 – Crown Point forfeits to Mishawaka’s Paul Beck. Beck was a monster all day and not seriously threatened in any of his matches.
119 – Crown Point was in the need of bonus points to get themselves back in this dual and the heart of their line-up begins with defending state champion Anthony Hawkins. He squared off with first year varsity wrestler Layten Binion of
The Mishawaka Cavemen made an early season statement to the defending state champs, Crown Point, in the final round of the Chris Traicoff Invitational at Calumet High School. In that final round, Mishawaka rode the momentum of two first period pins at 215 (Christian Lentz) and HWT (Travis Thomas) to cruise to a 43-17 victory. Mishawaka got to the final match by defeating Highland, Westfield, Portage and Franklin Community. Crown Point need to defeat Lake Station Edison, Munster, Franklin and Portage to reach the deciding dual.
OTHER MATCHES OF NOTE:Sean McMurray probably would have earned Outstanding Wrestler award if this were not a team tournament with victories over #2 Tyler Willis of Cathedral and #2 at 152 Ryan Stahl. In the Mc/Willis match, Willis was very defensive and countered many near takedown attempts. MacMurray was able to escape and use superior riding skills to win 1-0. In the Stahl/McMurray battle, McMurray finished an nice single leg in the first period and powered a nearside cradle for two nearfall points. Stahl was able to ride McMurray the entire 2nd period but was unable to turn the Portage two time champ. McMurray was able to return the favor by riding Stahl the entire 3rd period and secure the victory.
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