HAMPSTEAD - North Carroll wrestling coach Jeremy Myers said he had a feeling how the match might go against Westminster on Wednesday night.
Fortunately for the Panthers, Myers' thoughts involved them winning and that is exactly what they did, dropping the Owls 48-26.
"Some of our inexperienced guys matched up with some of their inexperienced guys, so that made for some good matches," Myers said. "It played out probably almost exactly how I would have thought."
Owen Rill got the Panthers going right away, pinning one of Westminster's better wrestlers Ryker Eckenbarger in the 106-pound bout with just eight seconds remaining in the second period. It was a similar type situation that propelled the Panthers on their run to victory.
After a Cole Wetzel (113) major-decision win over Dean Rill and an Aaron Robey (120) pin of Connor Waskiewicz, the Owls held a 10-6 lead and seemed to be picking up some momentum as Dennis Marmalyukov (126) readied to grapple with the Panthers' Brice Hardesty.
Marmalyukov jumped out to a 5-1 lead after the first period, but Hardesty didn't panic. Showing great patience, he waited for the perfect time to make his move. With less than 20 seconds remaining, Hardesty got Marmalyukov on his back and finally pinned him with just five seconds showing on the clock.
"I just keep calm because I know my coaches are there for me telling me what to do and they always have my back," Hardesty said. "They always watch out for mistakes I'm doing and tell me what to do."
Hardesty's big pin was followed by a Rich Styk (132) major-decision win, an Austin Josephson (138) decision over Jake Reed, an Andrew Merrill (145) pin and all of a sudden the host squad had reeled off a 19-0 run and held a 25-10 lead it would never relinquish.
Only a pin for the Owls' Kevin Mak in the 152-pound bout kept it from being worse because right after that, Panthers' Billy Fritz (160) recorded a pin and Jake Justice (170) came away with a technical fall victory to extend the lead to 36-16.
Despite the defeat, Westminster coach Wes Winters said he feels confident the Owls (0-6, 0-5 county) are making some positive strides.
"We got a couple more kids coming out on the team and the kids are all working hard in the room," Winters said. "We're competitive every single match. It's all about learning right now because we know we aren't going to be as competitive as we hope to be in these dual matches right off the bat because it is a process."
Even with the bad record, the Panthers weren't about to overlook the Owls and it showed with their performance on the mat.
"Record is dependent upon competition," Myers said. "The county schedule is tough so you can be an average team and have a bad record because of wrestling seven county schools. I don't really pay attention to what a team's record is because it's not like we have 14 animals out there ready to go."
106: Owen Rill (NC) pin Ryker Eckenbarger 3:52.
112: Cole Wetzel (W) m-dec. Dean Rill 9-1.
120: Aaron Robey (W) pin Connor Waskiewicz 3:07.
126: Brice Hardesty (NC) Dennis Marmalyukov 3:55.
132: Rich Styk (NC) m-dec. Bryan Kreafle 13-5.
138: Austin Josephson (NC) dec. Jake Reed 6-4.
145: Andrew Merrill (NC) pin Logan Monahan 1:04.
152: Kevin Maks (W) pin John Bosley 5:28.
160: Billy Fritz (NC) pin Austin Raines 1:39.
170: Jake Justice (NC) t-fall Bladen Manyard 18-3.
182: Jason Richardson (W) m-dec. Dana Raver 17-8.
195: Eddie Merrill (NC) pin Dominic Calabria 3:10.
220: Jake Seipp (NC) pin Connor Glass 2:13.
285: Drew Averett (W) pin Tyler Carney 1:06.
