Ottawa junior Vaughn Anderson didn’t have much time to consume the words from Pirates coach Peter Marx prior to taking the mat for his 215-pound match on Thursday night at Kingman Gym.

But those few moments were enough to get his adrenaline going even faster.

“Coach told me before my match that if I won, it would clinch the dual win for us,” Anderson said. “It was exciting and nerve-racking at the same time.”

Anderson then went out and posted a second-period pinfall against La Salle-Peru’s Endrew Sell to help the hosts eventually register a 45-33 win over the Cavaliers.

“I always want to try and make the first shot if I can, but I saw (Sell) was a pretty strong kid, so I didn’t want to get thrown,” Anderson said. “I was kind of in a defensive mode, waiting for him to make a mistake and then hoped to take advantage of it. He ended up on top of me, but I was able to work out of it, got him in a half and eventually got the pin.

”It was pretty awesome.”

Ottawa also received on-mat wins from Anthony Juarez (126 pounds, 9-6 decision), Gavin Creed (132, first period pinfall), Ashton Houdek (144, first period pinfall) and Wes Weatherford (190, second period pinfall).

La Salle-Peru senior Ryland Rynkewski posted the quickest victory of the dual with a pinfall in 20 seconds at 150 over Ottawa’s Jerome Bridwell.

“For the most part, I really don’t go into any match with a certain game plan,” Rynkewski said. “I just want to go out and wrestle as hard as I can and make adjustments if I need to. I normally try and stick to the moves I work a lot on in practice.

“It had been almost two weeks since I wrestled with the Christmas break, so I wanted to come out today strong right at the start. I was able to get a quick double-leg takedown on a shoot, worked him to his back and got the pin.”

The Cavaliers also had wins from Gianni Verucchi (120, second period pinfall), Caleb Plut (157, first period pinfall), Beau Lawrence (175, first period pinfall) and Eric Matelka (1-0 decision).

While the boys were grappling on one mat, the girls were doing the same on another.

L-P sophomore Kalista Frost started her squad to victory with a second-period pinfall over Ottawa’s Isabel Gwaltney at 100 pounds.

“I realized during the first period that she wasn’t going to try to shoot, so before the second period started I told myself that I needed to shoot,” Frost said. “It’s not normally how I wrestle, but sometimes you have to adjust to your opponent, and I knew going for my own shots what was going to work best.

“I felt like we were pretty even, so I really wanted to try and get the lead and go from there. I was able to hit my chance and then get the pin. I’m most happy that I stuck with what I felt would work, it’s a big confidence boost for me.”

The Cavaliers’ Sarah Lowery (110, 9-6 decision in sudden death), Emily Lowery (120, first period pinfall), Kiely Domyancich (130, first period pinfall) and Marisa Eggersdorfer (155, second period pinfall) also posted triumphs.

Ottawa sophomore Jaiyden Provance led her 135-pound match 8-0 before securing a third-period pinfall.

“I really came into my match today wanting to work on my setups,” Provance said. “My setups haven’t been as consistent as they need to be, and I’m a wrestler that wants to take a lot of shots. To get successful shots you have to be able to get separation, some space from your opponent. I felt like I improved in that area today.

“I was also trying moves I’ve been working on in practice as much as a could. I still have a lot to work on, but I’m happy with how I wrestled today.”

The Pirates also posted wins from Ciara Bolf (105, second period pinfall), Dawsynn Kettman (140, 20-9 decision) and Juliana Thrush (235, second period pinfall).

The Ottawa boys are back in action Friday and Saturday at the Princeton Invite, while the girls are at the Conant Invite on Saturday.

The L-P boys are next in action on Saturday at the Morton Invite, while the girls are off until Jan. 15 when they host Rochelle in a dual.