Royal Valley's Marshall Stewart (shown above, top) works on pinning his opponent to the mat in one of the team's home duals last Thursday. Stewart and the RVHS wrestlers had a lot of success on the night, sweeping their home quad with Pleasant Ridge, Atchison and Perry-Lecompton.

Panther wrestlers roll at home to start competition in 2016

It was just a lot of fun. We love wrestling at home and we just had a good time Thursday night and we want to continue that."

 

Starting competition in 2016, the Royal Valley wrestling team had a clear-cut goal. After starting the season strong, coach Jason Puderbaugh noted he didn’t want his team to let up and it seemed the Panthers took that message to heart in a trio of duals in Hoyt on Thursday night.

“I thought our guys were aggressive. I thought they did exactly what we set out to do,” Puderbaugh said. “I tried to explain to them before the meet, don’t worry about technical errors. Just go out there and when you try to hit something be all in, sell out on it, and that’s what they went out there and did.”

Like their final tournament before Christmas break, the Panthers cruised at home in three more dual wins against Pleasant Ridge (again), Atchison and Perry-Lecompton.

While Royal Valley’s first dual against Pleasant Ridge was the closest of the night, the team already had a comfortable win (46-15) before one of the tightest matches of the evening saw Panther Blake Garrison get a rematch with the Rams’ Dustin Graham.

An early injury hindered Garrison in the match, but he still made strides and nearly pulled out a win before coming up one point short. Despite that setback, the junior wrestler still kept to the team’s theme and stayed aggressive, closing out the night with a win by fall in the final dual against Perry-Lecompton.

Outside of the Rams, no other opponent could really come close to RVHS as the home team racked up six pins and 66 points in a win over Atchison before closing out the night with a convincing 60-16 victory over league foe Perry-Lecompton.

While numerous Panther wrestlers went undefeated on Thursday and nearly every wrestler collected a win, three in particular stood out to Puderbaugh. The coach noted that Noah Hart, Jacob Box and Brian Shane all turned in stellar performances in the duals, as the trio were undefeated and combined for six pins in their matches.

Those three may have been the big winners on the night, but it was heavyweight Charles Todd who put the exclamation point on the team’s dominant performance, as he closed the final dual against Perry with a pin in less than a minute.

Puderbaugh noted it was exciting to see the senior Todd make his return to the mat after nearly a year off and see him quickly display what makes him such a force to be reckoned with in his first match of the 2015-2016 season.

“He’s got a lot of talent. He’s strong. He’s aggressive. He’s got a lot of intangibles, stuff that’s tough if not impossible to coach,” Puderbaugh said.

From the veterans to the younger wrestlers, the Panthers looked comfortable in their return to the mat and Puderbaugh noted it was good to see all the wrestlers stay active on their feet. Now, Royal Valley will try to bottle that up and keep using that energy moving forward in 2016.

“It was just a lot of fun. We love wrestling at home and we just had a good time Thursday night and we want to continue that,” Puderbaugh said.

The Panthers will get their next chance at a road dual hosted by Silver Lake starting at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

RV wrestling quad

Team results:

Royal Valley 39, Pleasant Ridge 15

Royal Valley 66, Atchison 12

Royal Valley 60, Perry-Lecompton 16

Individual results:

vs. Pleasant Ridge

(106):  Dalton Ware had an open round.

(113):  Both teams were open.

(120):  DJ Kester had an open round.

(126):  Lance Bailey won by decision, 13-6, over Luke Oatney (PR).

(132):  Brett House won by fall over George Blue (PR).

(138):  Both teams were open.

(145):  Zack Lux won by fall over Eli Schwinn (PR).

(152):  Seth Beying (PR) had open round.

(160):  Nic Bridges (PR) had open round.

(170):  Both teams were open.

(182):  Jacob Box won by fall over Anthony Brigg (PR).

(195):  Dustin Graham (PR) wins by decision, 8-7, over Blake Garrison.

(220):  Both teams were open.

(285):  Charles Todd had an open round.

 

vs. Atchison

(106):  Dalton Ware had an open round.

(113):  Garrett Pruyser won by fall over Gavin Rebant (Atch.).

(120):  DJ Kester had an open round.

(126):  Ethan Ashley won by fall over Michael Deware (Atch.).

(132):  Brett House had an open round.

(138):  Spencer Vice (Atch.) won by fall over Caleb Burnworth.

(145):  Zack Lux had an open round.

(152):  Noah Hart won by fall over Alex Bindel (Atch.).

(160):  Karsen Smith won by fall over Caleb Pierce (Atch.).

(170):  James Boatwright (Atch.) won by fall over Marshall Stewart.

(182):  Both teams were open.

(195):  Jacob Box won by fall over Andrew Wilson (Atch.).

(220):  Brian Shane won by fall over Riley Smith (Atch.).

(285):  Charles Todd had an open round.

 

vs. Perry-Lecompton

(106):  Dalton Ware won by fall over Dalton Kahle (PL).

(113):  Wyatt Pringle (PL) won by fall over Garrett Pruyser.

(120):  Ethan Ashley won by fall over Hunter Barnes (PL).

(126):  Lance Bailey had an open round.

(132):  Brett House won by decision, 5-1, over Joel Guess (PL).

(138):  Josh Renneberg (PL) won by fall over Caleb Burnworth.

(145):  Zack Lux won by decision, 9-3, over Peyton Kahle (PL).

(152):  Noah Hart won by fall over Cyrus McCoy (PL).

(160):  Torin Van Nest (PL) won by major decision, 10-1, over Karsen Smith.

(170):  Marshall Stewart won by fall over Tyler Erickson (PL).

(182):  Jacob Box had an open round.

(195):  Blake Garrison won by fall over Mason Rodie (PL).

(220):  Brian Shane won by fall over Dakota Kelley (PL).

(285):  Charles Todd won by fall over Kyle Bonham (PL).

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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