Heading into the season, Morris wrestling coach Lenny Tryner thought his team would be pretty good. They return state qualifiers in Owen Sater, Carter Skoff, Brock Claypool and Paxton Valentine as well as most of the other starters.

They proved that they are a good team up and down the lineup Wednesday with a 48-24 win over Ottawa.

One of those returning starters is 215-pounder Malachi Congo. The sophomore won by pin Wednesday, beating Vaughn Anderson by pin in 1:16.

“We’ve started out the year pretty well,” Congo said. “We have a good team, one of the best we have had here for a while. We have a lot of studs on the team, and that makes everyone better because they get to go against the studs in practice every day.

“Personally, I feel great. I feel like I am at my natural weight wrestling 215. I had never wrestled him [Anderson] before. For me, it’s about having a plan and not worrying about who it is I am wrestling. It’s about executing the plan that I have, and I was able to do that tonight.”

Congo wasn’t the only Morris wrestler that executed well Wednesday. Also getting pins were Jay Hughes at 126 (4:53 vs. Gage Cortez), Skoff at 157 (2:20 over Jeremy Bridwell) and Owen Olson at 175 (1:11 over Jackson Lucas). Also coming away with victories for Morris were Brayden Hunt at 113 (forfeit), Sater at 120 (5-3 over Mason Munson), Jake Meloun at 138 (10-0 major decision over Rizon Contreras, and Claypool at 150 (20-5 technical fall over Mark Munson).

“We have a lot of guys on this team that wrestle year-round,” Morris coach Lenny Tryner said. “It’s not such a big deal for them to make weight and be in shape. We wrestled a couple of guys [Claypool and Sater] up weights tonight to try get the best matchups.

“I saw a lot of good things tonight. Owen Olson hasn’t wrestled for a while, but he is strong and explosive. He’ll get into better shape since he is coming from football. Football shape and wrestling shape is a lot different. Malachi Congo is the same way. He is big and strong, and he is very fast for his size. We have a good all-around team, and the kids are excited for the rest of the season.”

Ottawa got wins from Ashton Hudek at 145 (pin in 1:53 over Myles Shenberg), Doug Sibert at 165 (pin in 3:47 over Jeffrey Martinez), Wes Wetherford at 190 (pin in 1:22 over Aiden Whennen) and Nathan Worby at 285 (forfeit).

“We are young and inexperienced,” Ottawa coach Peter Marx said. “Morris has some hammers in their lineup and we knew this would be a tough match. We want to use this as a learning experience and get better.

“I thought Mason Munson did a real good job against a state qualifier, only losing 5-3, so that was nice to see. Hudek, Sibert and Wetherford were wins that we expected. We just didn’t match up well tonight.”

GIRLS

Ottawa won the girls match 46-24.

The Pirates got wins from Isabel Gwaltney at 105 (forfeit), Ciara Bolf at 110 (pin in 0:28 over Abbey Vignali), Lily Gwaltney at 115 (forfeit), Val Munoz at 120 (pin in 1:50 over Kaija Johnson), Dawsynn Kettman at 140 (forfeit), Mary Rodriguez at 170 (pin in 0:50 over Harper Hanson) and Juliana Thrush at 235 (forfeit).

“Things went well for us tonight,” Ottawa coach Kevin Aughenbaugh said. “Our younger girls are showing improvement and we like to see that.”

Morris wins came from Aubrie Porras at 125 (pin in 1:50 over Sidney Nanouski), Zara Lugo at 130 (pin in 1:06 over Alexis Rogers), Savannah Vignali at 145 (pin in 5:22 over Alivia Butler) and Ivette Sedano at 190 (forfeit).

“We went from having seven seniors last year to having nine freshmen this year,” Morris coach Scott Evans said. “We’re young, but we are getting better. The young wrestlers are starting to develop.”