Northern Lebanon wrestlers roll over Elco
FREDERICKSBURG – Matt Vines has a fairly simple, yet completely accurate, description of his teammates on the Northern Lebanon wrestling team.
“It’s like a ball rolling downhill,” Vines said.
More like an avalanche at optimum speed at this point.
Vines did his part as the Vikings made quick work of Elco, 64-9, in a Lancaster-Lebanon League crossover match. Northern Lebanon upped its record to 13-1 on the season, while Elco fell to 13-3.
Starting at 152 pounds, the trio of Blaise Bressler, Luis Negrerios and Quinn Blatt all took commanding first-period leads, including Blatt’s first period fall over Tori Robinson, to race out to a 17-0 lead.
In fact, it was 35-0 after Vines picked up a pin at 220 over Tony Rodriguez.
Elco notched wins at 285, with Ryan Rolon’s 7-2 decision over George Thompson, and a win by forfeit at 126 by Shawn Price.
“You just got to think about your own match and then just go out there and compete the way you’re supposed to,” Vines said. “I think once the guys get on a roll it just puts everyone in a better mood.”
Tuesday’s match was the ninth time Rusty Wallace’s squad scored 50 or more points. At times they seemingly make it look too easy.
“I asked (Rusty), ‘Are you better than last year?’ because I didn’t know,” Elco coach Chad Miller said. “There’s some kids who are good individuals that got better, but he said they’re better this year, and I thought they were better last year. I don’t know. I think though that this year the competition that they’ll face isn’t as tough as what it’s been.
“That’s not a knock on whatever they’ll achieve. It’s a good year to be as balanced as they are because I don’t think our league is as tough. I think they have every bit the chance to win the league championship this year, which isn’t usually an opportunity for a Section Three team, but there’s no dominant Section One team.”
Miller’s team is in the midst of a tricky part of its schedule, falling in Monday’s rescheduled match against the Vikings, with Donegal and Annville-Cleona awaiting.
The focus for Wallace’s team is as clear as it’s been all season.
“We tell them it doesn’t matter if you win in December, it doesn’t matter if you win January,” Wallace said. "It’s irrelevant. Our goal, we’re looking at February, looking at March. We haven’t even talked about individuals yet. We have a lot of team goals we want to get after in the next couple of weeks."
Northern Lebanon will face Columbia on Thursday in a final tuneup for the Lancaster-Lebanon League tournament.
Northern Lebanon 64, Elco 9
At Fredericksburg
152 — Blaise Bressler (NL) p Carlos Romero, 0:45. 160 — Luis Negrerios (NL) tf Ethan Anspach, 19-3, 4:15. 170 — Quinn Blatt (NL) p Tori Robinson 0:26. 182 — Hunter Wallace (NL) p Justin Althouse, 0:39. 195 — Luke Funck (NL) p Jeremy Habowski, 0:34. 220 — Matt Vines (NL) p Tony Rodriguez, 3:34. 285 — Ryan Rolon (E) d George Thompson, 7-2. 106 — Kyle Anspach (NL) p Levi Brooks, 0:47. 113 — Dustin Breidegan (NL) d Alex Puglio, 7-1. 120 — Colin Leonard (NL) p. Liam Derosiers, 1:17. 126 — Shawn Price (E) won by forfeit. 132 — Trevor Leonard (NL) d Owen Nell, 4-3. 138 — Zach Kelly tf Cameron Krow, 17-3, 3:29. 145 —Steve Herb (NL) p Austin Eldridge, 1:13.