December 7, 2011

Youth leads the way as grapplers roll

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W hitehallwrestling coach Robert Diekel knew he had a young potentially solid team that had a chance to be competitive at the end of the season, but even he had to be a little surprised by their performance on Saturday afternoon.

Whitehallpicked up four pins and four wins by forfeit as they kicked off the 2011-12 season with a convincing 54-27 win over Granville in a non-league dual meet held at Whitehall High School on Dec. 3.

The Railroaders were paced by several strong performances from some of its’ youngest members, including wins from freshmen Ryan Love and Chad Amerio and sophomores Jordyn McCoy and Brandon Steves.

“Congratulations to our freshmen. They did very well,” Diekel said. “Our experienced kids did what they were supposed to do and the younger kids stepped up and wrestled very well. It’s a nice way to start the season.”

Love, who wrestled at 102 pounds, pinned Granville’s Joseph Bogart in1:22, one of four wins by fall in the match forWhitehall. Zach Diekel at 220 pounds, McCoy at 132 pounds, and Adrian Beebe at 160 pounds all managed to pin their opponents.

McCoy had a very tough match with Damian Duffy but was able to pin his opponent with ten seconds remaining in the second round.

Amerio and Jesse Owens wrestled perhaps the most competitive match of the day with Amerio earning the win on points, 3-0.

Brandon Steves also won by points, defeating Bradley Perry 8-1.

Granville received pins from Josh McKittrick (285 pounds) and Hayden Miller (138 pounds).

Nathaniel Palmer also earned a victory for Granville, defeating Jake Gregory 9-2 on points.

Gregory, only an eighth grader, wrestled valiantly against a very good opponent, but appeared to run out of gas late in the match.

After the match Diekel praised the performance of the teams younger members.

“I’m pretty excited with our younger kids,” he said. “Some of these kids are going to be very good when they get older.”

Whitehall’s Austin Rich (99 pounds), Brandon Bills (182 pounds), Al Aubin (120 pounds) and John Diekel (152 pounds) and Granville’s Eric Rozell (195 pounds) and Steve Cohan (126 pounds) all received wins via forfeit.

The team is in action this weekend, Dec. 9 and 10 at the Columbia Duals.