Saturday night’s alright for wrestling

Comets host Green Devils in final regular-season dual

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Saturday night wrestling duals are not that common, but they’ve become a tradition between non-conference rivals Charles City and Osage.

Last Saturday, the Comets hosted the Green Devils for their final home dual meet of the regular season.

Both teams had a large collection of fans in attendance during a night where the Comets honored its local youth wrestlers as well as two seniors  — Nate Lasher and AJ Maloy — for recently achieving their 100th wins of season as well as for their academic excellence in the classroom.

Aside from the 120-pound weight class, the Comets were able to fill a full lineup but were unable to catch the Green Devils after a late run as Osage won, 37-29.

When Maloy pinned Dalton Wright 20 seconds into their 220-pound bout, the meet was still in the balance as Osage led 34-29 with one match remaining.

After a late lineup change, Osage moved Caleb Ring — who like Maloy is a Class 2A ranked 220-pounder and returning state qualifier and has battled Maloy in several memorable matches during their career — to heavyweight to face Luke Hillegas.

Hillegas needed to record a technical fall for a tie or a pin for the win as a major decision or a decision wouldn’t be enough. But Ring made sure Hillegas got none of the above and finished the meet with a 4-1 decision.

Charles City’s 145-pound sophomore Dylan Koresh was thisclose to earning a fall or technical fall against Mitchell Schotanus, but had to settle for a 16-2 major decision.

Comet Sam Niichel also earned a major decision victory during his 195-pound bout against Michael Uthe. Like a pitbull who won’t let go of your leg, Niichel repeatedly applied enough torque to Uthe’s single limb while the two were grappling on the mat to get takedown points on way to winning 10-2.

Junior 113-pounder Wanya Pace also had an impressive night for the Comets as a series of two-legged takedowns enabled him to defeat Joe Sullivan in a high-scoring 13-9 final.

OSAGE 37, CHARLES CITY 29

106: Joe Jacob (OSAG) over Bronson Forsyth (CHCI) (Dec 8-4) 113: Wanya Pace (CHCI) over Joe Sullivan (OSAG) (Dec 13-9) 120: Nolan Byrnes (OSAG) over (CHCI) (For.) 126: Carter Proffitt (CHCI) over (OSAG) (For.) 132: Nate Lasher (CHCI) over (OSAG) (For.) 138: Brody Roll (OSAG) over Shau Landt (CHCI) (Dec 3-1) 145: Dylan Koresh (CHCI) over Mitchell Schotanus (OSAG) (MD 16-2) 152: Mason O`Malley (OSAG) over Bryce Hamm (CHCI) (Fall 5:06) 160: Derek Fox (OSAG) over Ciana Sonberg (CHCI) (Fall 0:34) 170: Zach Williams (OSAG) over Jack Sindlinger (CHCI) (MD 15-2) 182: Brock Jennings (OSAG) over Alex Koehler (CHCI) (Fall 1:02) 195: Sam Niichel (CHCI) over Micheal Uthe (OSAG) (MD 10-2) 220: Aaron Maloy (CHCI) over Dalton Wright (OSAG) (Fall 0:20) 285: Caleb Ring (OSAG) over Luke Hillegas (CHCI) (Dec 4-1)