Outside just fine for Erie-Prophetstown wrestlers

PROPHETSTOWN – The great outdoors was just fine for the Erie-Prophetstown wrestling team in its season-opening matches against Rock Falls and Rochelle on Wednesday evening.

Competing at Mosher Field to increase home attendance and allow road fans in a more COVID-friendly environment, the Panthers picked up wins against the Rockets (60-6) and Hubs (37-36) on a mat situated square on the 50-yard line. Teams were on the track, just off the mat, while about 100 fans were in the stands for the nonconference triangular.

It played to mostly positive reviews.

“It was very different,” Erie-Prophetstown 126-pounder Nick Smith said. “I wouldn’t say I didn’t like it. It was fun, but it got a little cold toward the end. The mat felt very weird on your feet. It felt like you were walking on a waterbed. It wasn’t terrible.”

Erie-Prophetstown's Nick Smith battles Rochelle's Weldon Nay on Wednesday night at Mosher Field in Prophetstown. (Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media)

“I haven’t wrestled outside before,” Rochelle 220-pounder Noah Messer added. “It’s always been during the winter. It’s been inside and hot, and today, it was really nice with the breeze and the sun. It made it a lot more fun.”

The tightest match was between Erie-Prophetstown and Rochelle. Rochelle received four forfeits and won two bouts by pin at 182 (Ben Harvey) and 285 (Jaden Cook) for 36 points.

Erie-Prophetstown received just one forfeit, at 195, but won six contested bouts and also accumulated 36 points. The first tiebreaker is total bouts won, including forfeits, and the Panthers took that 7-6.

E-P had to win the last four contested bouts to forge a tie. The run began at 106 pounds, as Jacob Gibson won by pin in 4:56 against Riley Demask.

At 126, Smith won the bout of the night, 11-10 against the Hubs’ Weldon Nay. Nay got his second takedown of the final period to tie the score 10-10 with :45 to go, then cut Smith loose 5 seconds later.

With :18 to go, Nay had the makings of a potential go-ahead takedown, but Smith was able to literally hang on for the win.

“I was really scared that he was going to get the two,” Smith said. “I just had to grab a leg and make sure that he couldn’t get behind me, get the two and win.”

Erie-Prophetstown's Carter Jepson holds Rochelle's Wesley Brown to the mat Wednesday night on the football field in Prophetstown. (Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media)

Carter Jepson followed with a pin of Wesley Brown in 2:43 at 132 pounds to put E-P up 33-30.

In the final contested bout, the Panthers’ Jase Grunder was an 8-3 winner against Grant Thompson at 138 to put his team up 36-30. There was a double forfeit at 145, while the Hubs received a forfeit at 152 to tie it up at 36-36.

Erie-Prophetstown's Jase Grunder and Rock Fall's Payhton Smith lock arms in a 145-pound match. (Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media)

Neither of the other two matches had the same down-to-the-wire excitement.

In the 60-6 win against Rock Falls, E-P’s Tyler Ballard (138) and Gunnar Wuebben (170) won by pin, while Grunder (145) and Logan Wheeler (195) won decisions. Wheeler made a second-period escape with :15 on the clock stand up in a 1-0 decision against the Rockets’ Dylan Williamson.

Rock Falls’ lone contested win came from 220-pounder Dontavious Brown, who pinned E-P’s Bryce Folsom in 1 minute.

“My coaches talk a lot about head control,” Brown said, “so I was trying to do that with the underhook. I was pulling him down. Mainly, it was getting head control.”