HS WRESTLING: SVEC RALLIES TO EDGE LANSING, 28-27, ON CRITERIA (18 PHOTOS) (2024-12-18)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
SPENCER — An 18-point surge over the final three bouts lifted Spencer-Van Etten/Candor to a 28-27 criteria victory over Lansing in IAC crossover action here Wednesday, but a pair of Eagles avoiding pins also played a key role in the win.

“Our guys went out and got after it, got it done,” said coach Jesse Buck.

With several SVEC grapplers out of the lineup due to illness, Buck was pleased with those wrestlers who stepped up to help fill the voids.

“We're down quite a few kids and Lansing, although their team is small, they are really well-coached and they’ve got some good guys who match up really well the same way that our good guys match up,” he said. “I'm proud of our guys who went out there and literally came down to criteria D, so if we didn't go out and look for bonus points and get them, we wouldn't have pulled it out.

“One of our best kids on the team, Rodney Vaow, he was out sick today, and we were looking forward to a good match between him and Shiels. We have four 190s and not a single one was here today, so that's rough, but sickness happens. It's going around. I'm just thankful that the guys who were here went out and performed the way they did.

Some of the more inexperienced SVEC wrestlers, such as junior Landon Lawrence and Brennan Zimmer avoided getting pinned, which in the end proved to be key.

“They went out, didn't shy away, and got right after it just like they were anybody else, and that's all you can do, so I'm proud of our guys for being able to do that.”

Lawrence, competing in just his 10th varsity match, suffered a 19-3 technical fall against two-time state qualifier Owen Clark at 152 pounds. Clark recorded five takedowns before attempting to pin Lawrence, but Lawrence eventually fought his way out of the pinhold, giving Clark the tech at 1:48 of the first period. Lansing received five team points instead of the six it would have received had Clark scored a pin. Clark is 11-0 on the season with two tournament championships to his credit.

The other key loss came at 124 where Zimmer fell to the Bobcats’ Aaden McMillen by a 13-1 major decision. McMillen locked up a near cradle early in their bout and put Zimmer to his back for the majority of the first period, but failed to get the pin. He would turn Zimmer again in the second period to take an 11-1 advantage into the third, where he would score a reversal, but was unable to tack on any additional points. Lansing picked up four team points. McMillen, coming off a title at the grueling Wrangle on the Plains tournament last weekend, improved to 9-1 on the season.

Clark’s win gave the Bobcats a 27-9 lead, but Kaden Jamison decked Brennan Williams in 3:26 at 160 to ignite the SVEC comeback. Jamison built a 10-1 cushion in the first period and was ahead by a 16-3 margin at the time of the pin.

Sophomore Cooper Zufall received a forfeit at 170 to give the Eagles another six team points and cut the gap to 27-21.

There was no match at 190, then sophomore Jak Smith took the mat at 215 for the final bout of the dual meet. He wasted little time in dispatching Max Little in 18 seconds.

With the score knotted at 27, the match was decided by the tie-breaker criteria.

Also helping the Eagles’ triumph were freshman Ian Demare, who accepted a forfeit at 108 in his first varsity appearance, and 8th-grader Gabe Benjamin, who posted an 8-4 decision over Gavin Marsit at 145. Benjamin trailed, 3-1, after one period, but used an escape and takedown to grab a 5-3 lead in the second period.

Other winners for Lansing were Ducati Brotherton (116) and Sheils (138) by fall, and Junior Estep (131) by forfeit.

SVEC improved to 6-3 in duals and is off until the Windsor Christmas Tournament Dec. 27-28.

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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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