Morris boys wrestlers show strength in win over Ottawa

OTTAWA – It didn’t take long Wednesday night for the Morris boys wrestling team to assert its dominance in a 64-18 win over Interstate 8 Conference rival Ottawa.

The wrestling started at 132 pounds, and Morris' Aidyn Taylor got things off to a rousing start with a pin of Dillon McKinnon. Taylor’s teammate Jacob Meloun followed suit with a pin of Mark Munson at 138 and Carter Skoff pinned Doug Sibert at 144 for a quick 18-0 Morris lead.

“We had a great match,” said Skoff, who was a sectional qualifier last season. “We have been working hard and pushing each other at practice, and it shows.”

The Morris pin streak continued at 150 when Andrew Peterson won by fall over Ashton Houdak in 1:53, then at 157 when Jordan Martinez pinned Kaden Geiger in 54 seconds to put Morris ahead 30-0. Ian Wills of Morris followed with a pin of Oliver Kearfott in 31 seconds before Ottawa got on the board with a pin by Owen Kearfott at 175 over Aiden Whenner. The Pirates made it two in a row when Wes Weatherford pinned Brian Haish in 1:02.

Morris' Aidan Whenner works to get from under Owen Kearfot in the 175-pound match Wednesday at Ottawa ( Tom Sistak For Shaw Media)

Morris' Malachi Congo then pinned Kyle Frey in 1:50 at 215 before Ottawa’s Allen Trumbo pinned Morris' Ziaire Davis in 1:25 in the 285-pound bout. Morris' Owen Sater followed with a 19-3 technical fall over Ryan Rowe at 106. Morris' Paxton Valentine won by forfeit at 113, teammate Branden Anderson pinned Giovanni Hernandez in 1:04 at 120 and Brock Claypool recorded a 21-6 technical fall over James Laitila at 126.

Anderson won a regional title last season for Morris but was injured in the title match and could not compete in the sectional. In this, his senior season, he is on a mission.

“I want to make it to state this year,” he said. “Last year didn’t end how I wanted it to, so I really want to have a good year this year.

“We have a pretty good team. It’s nice when we get on a roll with a few pins in a row like we did tonight. We all kind of start to feed off each other.”

Morris coach Lenny Tryner was pleased with his team’s performance.

“We wrestled well tonight,” he said. “Our 132 and 138 are new to the varsity, but they set the tempo early on.

“We still have some holes, but we have kids bumping up into weights that they normally wouldn’t, and we have some kids that were freshmen and sophomores last year that are still getting used to varsity wrestling. Overall, though, we did well. Even in the matches we gave up six, we made them work for that six.”

Morris’ Ellie Evans works to escape from hold by Ottawa’s Isabel Gwaltney in the 105-pound girls match Wednesday at Ottawa. ( Tom Sistak For Shaw Media)

Ottawa coach Peter Marx saw plenty to be encouraged about despite the final score.

“We knew this would be a tough match,” Marx said. “Morris is a very good team. From 106 to 144, they have a lot of guys that can give a lot of people a lot of trouble.

“I saw a lot of improvement tonight, and it was great to see everyone cheering their teammates on and pulling for each other. No matter what the score was, they were right there for their teammates. I also thought Owen Kearfott did a great job. He is a jack-of-all-trades for us, going between 175 and 190. He got to wrestle 175 tonight and got a nice win.”

Morris won the girls dual 30-12.

Winning for Morris were Nicolette Bowlman (140), Olyve Havens (145), Savanah Vignali (155), Maggie Gordon (110), Makenzi Martin (115) and Zara Lugo (125). Winners for Ottawa were Juliana Thrush (235), Isabel Gwaltney (105), and Jaiyden Provance (135).