East wrestlers roll against Bull Dogs

Five matches into Wednesday night’s city wrestling battle, Columbus North and 10th-ranked Columbus East were deadlocked at 9-9.

After that, it was all Olympians.

East won the final nine matches — five by forfeit — scoring 49 unanswered points to claim a 58-9 victory in its final tuneup for Saturday’s Hoosier Hills Conference meet.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be a close dual because they only brought nine wrestlers,” East 160-pounder Austin Wilson said. “But we knew that we needed to win the matches we should have won, and we went out there and did that.”

Wilson was the only Olympian senior to compete on senior night. The other varsity senior, Austin Sheckles, won by forfeit at 220.

After East’s Andy Davidson started the match with a 15-6 major decision against Will Russell at 152, Wilson scored an 18-1 technical fall against Nick Holt to give the Olympians (16-5) a 9-0 lead.

“I just went out there and do what I always do,” Wilson said. “I was staying in good position, which is what I concentrate on all the time.”

The Bull Dogs (8-19) then won three consecutive decisions to tie the match. Andrew Chapman beat Hunter Dickmeyer 8-1 at 170, Brigham Kleinhenz edged Lane Goode 2-1 at 182 and Josh Larson topped Jacob Bolte 7-2 at 195.

“We did lose three matches there, but I definitely think there are some things we can build on those matches,” East coach Chris Cooper said. “We have a couple things we have to work on before conference on Saturday.”

After Sheckles’ forfeit win gave the Olympians the lead for good, Dalton Anderson scored a 10-2 major decision against Bradley Gutierrez at 285. East’s Jeremy Clark then won a 9-4 decision against Morgan Smith at 106 to increase the lead to 22-9.

The Olympians’ Joey Gordon pinned Keandre Watson in 3 minutes, 10 seconds at 113, and Cayden Rooks pinned Nick Miller in 1:30 at 120. East’s Graham Rooks (126), Dawson Combest (132), Jake Schoenegge (138) and Corban Pollitt (145) all won by forfeit.

Cayden Rooks is ranked No. 3 in the state at 120. Graham Rooks is No. 2, Combest is No. 7 and Schoenegge is No. 9 in their respective weight classes.

Like East, North will compete in its conference tournament on Saturday. The Bull Dogs will travel to Perry Meridian for the Conference Indiana event after visiting Seymour in a makeup meet tonight.

North was competing Wednesday for the first time in two weeks.

“We haven’t practiced well this week, so it kind of showed tonight,” North coach Justin Cooper said. “We should have had a couple more wins. Hopefully, we turn that around before sectional.”