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Whitehall rode a wave of forfeits to a 66-24 victory over Fort Ann in the school’s annual afternoon Assembly match.
Each team recorded three pins but Whitehall scored eight victories on forfeits as Fort Ann just didn’t have the bodies to compete.
Zach Diekel (195), Austin Rich (99) and Al Aubin (120) all recorded pins for the Railroaders. John Diekel (138) picked up his 150th varsity win with a forfeit.
The Cardinals got pins from Aaron Smith (285), Josh Bressette (106) and Zach White (132).
Although the victory was nice, especially on the heels of last weekend’s 0-5 performance at the Montgomery Duals against some very talented and experienced teams, head coach Robert Diekel said the number of forfeits isn’t advantageous for a young team looking for experience.
“This isn’t necessarily fun as a coach. They just don’t have the kids,” he said. “Last weekend was tough, we wrestled some good teams but I think that builds character in the end.”
The match ended so quickly that Whitehall had to send out several of their athletes to wrestle each other in exhibition matches just to fill time until the kids could be dismissed for the holiday break.
Fort Ann head coach Allan Bressette said he had several wrestlers who were ineligible, but was pleased with those did wrestle.
“I thought we did well. We did better than we did against Salem. It’s nice to come over here. The coach has been here forever and they wrestle well.”
The match was a homecoming of sorts for several of Fort Ann’s wrestlers who occasionally practiced with Whitehall until Fort Ann began its own program earlier this year.
Bressette, who started a peewee program “four or five years ago,” and grew it into a varsity program said the early results haven’t been “too bad” for a small school in its first year.
Unfortunately for Fort Ann, the results weren’t there against Whitehall.
Zach Diekel and Aubin both made short work of their opponents pinning them in 1:28 and 37 seconds, respectively.
Rich and Caleb Bush wrestled the match of the day at 99 pounds.
Each struggled to gain a clear advantage of the other through the first several minutes of the match until Rich gained the upper hand and pinned his opponent at 5:56 mark.
Picking up wins for Whitehall via forfeit were Dominic Gregory (220, who also picked up a win in an exhibition match), Chad Amerio (113), Dylan Younger (126), Julian Barber (145), Cody Gardner (152), Adrian Beebe (160) and Brandon Steves (170).
The Railroaders who improved to 1-1 in the league and 6-11 overall continue to improve, their coach said.
“You always want to wrestle better than you are, but we’re improving,” Diekel said.
The team is action today at the Pellerin Duals and host Hadley Luzerne /Lake George Jan. 4 at 6 p.m.
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