|
|
Greenville
senior Nelson Robertsputs Clermont Northeastern's Alex
Miller on his head
during their 138 pound match Saturday in the Wave
duels. Miller suffered an injury during the
match and was forced to
default. CNO photos by George Starks
|
|
Wave grapplers falter in varsity tournament
Arcanum looks good overall
By George Starks
GREENVILLE- When the last match of the day was over for the Wave
wrestlers, there was no one more disappointed in Greenville High School
than wrestling coach John Shutts.
Going into the final match with Monroe, Greenville had lost just one
round in the four wrestled, losing only to Celina.
Then came the Hornets and the buzz was more that the Wave could handle.
Wrestling in what turned out to be a pin fest, Greenville was tied with
its opponents, with two matches left.
Both matches ended in pins but not by Greenville.
After the last match was recorded, Shutts came across the mat, hands on
his hips as he shook his head. His team had finished 3-2 on the day and
it was not where the veteran coach had thought his team would be.
“No one in this building is more disgusted than me,” said Shutts after
the six team tournament had ended. “I really think we could have beat
Celina and Monroe today but it all came down to one thing, intensity.
Both Celina and Monroe wrestled like they wanted to win and they
wrestled with intensity. I’m not saying our guys didn’t want to win but
I’ve said it over and over again that intensity isn’t like a light
switch. You can’t turn it on and off just like that.”
According to Shutts, the loss of that intensity he wants from his young
team starts in practice.
“We come out in practice, go through the motions and lollygag around
then come out here, flip a switch on and think you’re going to be a
tough guy,” Shutts admitted. “It doesn’t work that way. I’ve explained
this a few times and hollered at them that they need to get with it. We
started to get a little bit intense before this meet but we had too
many practices before today where we weren’t and it catches up to you.
If you can’t be intense in practice, you can’t be intense when the
whistle blows and maintain it. I don’t believe Celina and Monroe are
better at wrestling but they are more intense. We have to learn that
and get better.”
With wins over Arcanum, Northeastern and Miami East, Shuts admitted,
his team lost matches they should have won.
“Our young guys, I think, were a little overwhelmed at times. I could
see it,” said Shutts. “They got off to a good start last week at
Brookville and today, they were challenged. The competition was
different today than it was last week and it will get tougher during
the year. We started out with easier competition and our schedule just
works out that way, the hammers will come soon and we better be ready.
Wrestling is a journey and not a quick walk. We want to win and our
dual meet record means a lot to us and we want to keep that record
going. Right now we are 8-2 in duals and we have 17 duals. Today was a
learning experience so we will get better.”
While Shutts was disappointed with the 3-2 mark for the day, Arcanum
coach Andy Marker was pleased with the effort of his team, despite
having only seven wrestlers in singlets and going 0-5 on the day.
“It wasn’t too bad today,” said Marker. “We only had seven wrestlers
today so we are giving up 42 points right off the bat every time we go
in to a dual meet so this wasn’t too bad”.
In the final match of the day, the Trojans held a 22-16 advantage with
two matches left to contest.
Arcanum lost both those matches by pin.
“We’ve got some battlers,” Marker pointed out. “Brad Byers went 4-1 on
the day and we had five others go 3-2 today so I sure can’t complain
about that. We were fortunate filling only seven weight classes. We
were hit by the injury bug this week. One wrestler (Sam Arntz) suffered
a concussion. Jerrod Hofacker had an emergency appendectomy 14 days ago
but will get him back next week. One of our kids today wrestled with a
hyper-extended elbow and another one had a wrenched neck and still went
out there and wrestled for us. So overall, I’m proud of my guys
considering all those factors.”
Before the start of the season, Marker said, “it doesn’t matter where
you’re at in December but where you’re in February.”
“I think if we continue to work hard, we will be right where we want to
be in February,” said Marker. “We are learning to transition from one
move to the next. Hopefully by mid-January into February, we will have
all the transition down and we will be smooth in doing it.”
Arcanum will participate in the Versailles Invitational next Saturday
while Greenville will host Brookville, Tipp City and Coldwater on
Tuesday, starting at 5 p.m.
|
|
Arcanum's
Lucas Gower squared off against Daniel Everett of Miami East
in their 182
match. Gower scored the pin with 1:11 left inthe second
period.
|
|
|
|
