BUFORD – The Catawba Ridge Copperheads wrestling team took two more duals on the road to improve to 10-1 on the season.
Catawba Ridge beat Chester 48-36 and Buford 43-33 at Buford High Tuesday evening. The wins give the Copperheads a new school record for most wins in a season with 10 now. The previous record was nine set last year and Catawba Ridge is barely three weeks into their season.
Both matches were close, especially the Buford match as it came down to the final weight class to determine a win. These close wins should help the team in the long run said head coach Allen Runyon.
“We will rely on these matches to show ourselves we can do it,” Runyon said. “We can’t give up extra points. We have to wrestle a full six minutes.”
Against Chester, Catawba Ridge started hot, but then the Cyclones quickly rallied. The Copperheads went up 24-0, before Chester would tie the match at 24 winning four straight matches. Jakob Kees opened the match at 138-pounds with a second period pin to give Catawba Ridge the early lead. Levi Jones (145), Sean Barstad (152), Jarrett Eubanks (160) all got first period pins to give the Copperheads a comfortable lead at 24-0 or so they thought.
After dropping four consecutive matches, heavyweight Alex Bunz got a crucial second period pin, before
Aiden Shaffery (106) also got a pin in the first period to give the Copperheads some breathing room. A forfeit at 113-pounds for Catawba Ridge made the match just a six-point difference at 36-30.
Clark Ostendorf won by forfeit at 120-pounds for the Copperheads and then Alex Teel clinched the match with a first period pin at 126-pounds.
Against Buford, the match was a lot closer from the beginning. Buford went up 6-0 before Catawba Ridge tied the match at 6-6 with a forfeit win from Barstad (152). The Copperheads would then win the next two matches to go up 15-6 with a pin from Eubanks (160) and a 14-11 decision from Alex Buxton at 170-pounds.
Buford would then rally to tie the match on two more occasions and take the lead two more times. Tony Atkins would get a key second period pin at heavyweight to tie the match at 21-21. Buford would then go up 33-21, but Catawba Ridge would then rally to tie the match at 33-33 with two forfeit wins from Ostendorf (120) and Teel (126).
Tied for the fourth time in the match, the dual came down to the final two matches with the Copperheads taking both. Connor Stukitz (132) won 13-2 to give them a 37-33 lead and Kees (138) would get a first period pin to clinch the win for Catawba Ridge.
Up next for the Copperheads is another tri-match at Gaffney against the Indians and Crest from North Carolina on Wednesday, Dec. 22.
Basketball
Nation Ford varsity basketball programs swept York Tuesday night. The Falcons’ boys team won 73-40 as four players scored in double figures for Nation Ford, who improved to 3-5 overall. The team was led by Sheldon Joseph with 14 points. Nas Berry added 13 points, Trevor Rayborn scored 11 points and Quadier Hand dropped in 10 points.
The Nation Ford girls team won 39-33 to improve to 3-6 on the season. Camille Kerridge led the Falcons with 22 points in the win.
The Falcons will get back in action Friday at Catawba Ridge.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
