Ottawa junior Vaughn Anderson didn’t have much time to consume the words from Pirates coach Peter Marx before taking the mat for his 215-pound match 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 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 I 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.