River View wins county invite
WARSAW – The River View Black Bears defeated county rivals Ridgewood and Coshocton on Thursday night, Dec. 15, to take home the county crown.
The Black Bears were able to do something Ridgewood and Coshocton couldn’t and that was fill all the weight classes.
River View cashed in 36 of their 42 team points via forfeit to take down the Generals 42-33. The Black Bears started off the match with three straight forfeit wins to open up a 18-0 lead.
Ridgewood senior Colton Bethel would pin Hayden Martin with five seconds left in the first period to get the Generals on the board with six points. River View would then have another three forfeit wins to push the lead to 36-6.
The Generals would pick up some momentum with three straight wins of their own, led by Tyler Caudy’s 13-6 decision over Ryan Caley. Kevin Bethel and Kyle Bethel would follow up with two pins to get the score to 36-21 with a key matchup coming up next between seniors Brody Bookless and Javon Merrill. Bookless would pick up an 8-6 overtime win over Merrill and Lucas Laurvray would pick up a 7-4 decision over Abrham Buckler to seal the deal for the Black Bears. Ridgewood would add pins by Jason Stubbs and Kasey Bethel but their efforts would not be enough as the match ended 42-33 in favor of the Black Bears.
Ridgewood Head Coach Chad Massie knew that they would struggle to beat River View because of the open spots, but Massie is not using that as an excuse.
“I think we were a little slow in the first period with some of our matches. I don’t think our conditioning is where we want to be,” he said. “We don’t know if two days off school had anything to do with that but we aren’t using that excuse. I am happy with only giving up two matches on the night though but we gotta pick up our conditioning.”
Ridgewood would go on to defeat Coshocton 43-18 in the first match of the night. Ridgewood did not lose a match against Coshocton as the Redskins’ 18 points were acquired all through forfeits. Kevin Bethel, Merrill, Buckler and Stubbs would all pick up pins in the match while Colton Bethel and Kyle Bethel picked up decisions.
In the final match of the night, River View would defeat Coshocton 57-23 to claim the county title. Forfeits would again aid the Black Bears to another victory, picking up another five forfeits to give them 30 points.
Samuel Mitchell would kick off the match for the Black Bears with a :28 pin over Coshocton’s Austin Fowler in the heavyweight class. Lucian Brink and Austin Guthrie would get two straight pins at 106 and 113 to give Coshocton a 12-6 lead. Braiden Davis would claim a forfeit to tie the match, but Coshocton’s Blake Barrick would defeat Nicholas Jacob 6-0 to give the Redskins the lead again.
After two more forfeits, Coshocton’s Zen Corbitt would win via technical fall 15-0 to pick up five points. Slade and Bookless for River View would pick up two pins in a row to push the contest out of reach for the Redskins. Thomas Walters would win a 5-2 decision for the Redskins while Haines and Nemeth would claim forfeit victories for the Black Bears to round out the scoring.
Category: High School, Sports
