CLAREMORE – The Claremore Zebras won three of the final four matches to pull away from the Grove Ridgerunners for a 39-29 win in a 5A wrestling dual between the two teams on Tuesday.
The Ridgerunners trailed nearly the entire night after falling behind after the third match, but closed within one point at 30-29after Bill Nixon’s first period pin over the Zebras’ Sean Shepherd at 195 pounds. Claremore countered with a 3-2 win by Cody Haire over Colby Layman at 220 pounds and Dylan Freeman finished the night with a first period pin at heavyweight.
Grove took advantage of its first opportunity in the night’s opening match at 106 pounds when Pedro Lara broke a scoreless tie against Bryce Magness with a reversal in the third period before getting the pin to put the Ridgerunners up 6-0.
“Coming out against a guy with similar experience and skill level and being smart and wrestling hard; I was very impressed with him,” Ward said. “Obviously, the kid he was wrestling wasn’t some killer but it was a good win for him.”
Claremore got pins at 113 and 120 pounds before a match at 126 that would go a long way toward the deciding the dual. Trailing 4-0 in the third period, Grove’s Tristan Decatur used a five-point move to take the lead over Coy Martin, only to have Martin counter with a reversal before getting the pin with 36 seconds left to give the Zebras an 18-6 lead.
“At 126 we’ve got a kid on his back and even if we don’t pin him we still win the match,” Ward said. “I don’t think we relaxed at all, we got to looking too much for the pin and [Martin] rolled through there.”
Another close match at 132 pounds would go the Ridgerunners way, as John Tune overcame a 5-4 third period deficit to get a 9-5 win over Jairo Bravo. Josh Perez then followed with a 9-1 major decision at 138 to cut Claremore’s lead to 18-13.
Another close decision would go against Grove at 145 when Kaleb Hinds broke a 2-2 tie with four near-fall points in the third period to get a 6-3 decision over Garrett Sisco.
Drew Hardy won a 10-0 major decision at 152 pounds to make the team score 21-17 in favor of the Zebras but Claremore’s Brycen Short would get a pin over Wesley Swingle at 160 pounds to make it 27-17.
“Swingle was wrestling tough and instead of understanding the situation we try to get in a roll with a kid that’s really tough and get stuck there and give up six [points],” Ward said.
A forfeit at 170 pounds pulled Grove within four heading into the hardest-fought match of the night between Claremore’s Dillon Williams and Grove’s Benny Steffenson at 182 pounds. Steffenson, who went into the match having won 13 of his 15 matches since the Christmas break, nearly took a 2-1 lead on a takedown at the very end of the second period.
The Grove senior then got a reversal for a 2-1 advantage early in the third, but Williams got an escape to tie the match before taking the lead on a takedown with 40 seconds left and adding two near-fall points late for a 6-2 win.
“I think it’s just a matter of fixing little mistakes,” Ward said of his team’s performance. “They’re still learning and they’re still green. We’ve got a lot of kids that haven’t wrestled a lot in their careers but they’re getting better.”
The Ridgerunners will host a home dual against Tahlequah on Thursday. The junior high match will begin at 6 p.m. followed by the high school at approximately 7 p.m.
