5 Observations: Spring Grove blows out Red Lion
Spring Grove wasted little time taking taking a lead against Red Lion Thursday night.
In the first league dual meet of the season for either team, the Rockets won the first seven matches on their way to a 53-21 road victory. Spring Grove claimed 10 of the 14 bouts with one loss coming by forfeit.
"We did get couple (tournament) matches under our belt over the weekend, but it's still early so we're making some early-season mistakes," Spring Grove coach Tony Miller said. "Everyone's still trying to get in shape."
Here are five observations from the meet.
1. The pin parade: Only one of the first eight bouts of the night lasted the full seven minutes, with the other seven being decided by pin or forfeit. Overall, seven of the night's bouts were decided by pin or technical fall, with Spring Grove claiming five of those. Nate Young (285 pounds), Dalton Rohrbaugh (113) and Jake Meyer (132) helped put the Rockets up 39-0 with early pins while 152-pounder Anthony Hinson officially put the meet away with a dominant 15-0 win over Cole Daugherty.
Dylan Gurerri (152) and Issac Rivera (138) notched pins for Red Lion.
2. Spring Grove undersized at 285: The Rockets' heavyweights aren't so heavy. Both Nate Young and Wyatt Becker weigh in around 220 pounds, but both will rotate between that weight and 285 throughout the season, according to Miller.
On Thursday, Becker collected a forfeit at 220 while Young faced Red Lion's heavyweight Nathan Schmuck. Despite clearly being the smaller wrestler, Young easily pinned Schmuck in 39 seconds.
"They kind of bounce back and forth, sometimes we switch them just to switch them," Miller said. "Nate's a pretty strong kid though. But both do a really good job."
3. Jackson rallies for overtime win: After the first half of the meet offered fans little else besides pins and forfeits, Spring Grove's Chance Jackson and Red Lion's Devon Gurreri provided one of the few tense bouts at 145. After trailing for nearly all of three periods, Jackson prevailed for a 3-1 overtime win.
After giving up an escape in the second period, Jackson seemed likely to lose 1-0 before a locked-hands penalty against Gurreri with 20 seconds left in the third sent the match to overtime. Jackson came through with a takedown for the victory.
"It takes a lot of guts and a lot of heart and that's what we were yelling over here," Miller said. "We wish he could have gotten the takedown earlier, but we're happy he pulled through."
4. Gurreri pulls off late pin: The other thrilling bout of the night came at 160 pounds, where Red Lion's Dylan Gurreri pinned Trent Baker in the third period for one of the Lions' few highlights.
In a battle between football players, Gurreri trailed in the final seconds after giving up a takedown in the final minute. Using one last move, the senior managed to flip Baker to his back for the fall with 7.4 seconds remaining. Both wrestlers were noticeably exhausted afterward.
5. Red Lion unable to fill lineup: A lack of varsity wrestling should continue to plague Red Lion during the remainder of its dual meet schedule. The Lions forfeited at 285, 106 and 120 on Thursday, and first year coach Albert Gleichauf said that will continue throughout the season.
"We don't really have guys to fill those spots," Gleichauf said.