The Columbus North wrestlers had a tough night Tuesday against a powerful Jennings County team.
The Bull Dogs forfeited four matches, resulting in 24 free points for the Panthers. Jennings won six of the remaining 10 matches to claim a 56-21 victory.
Rusty Vaughn started the meet for the Panthers by pinning Nate Woods 1 minute, 6 seconds into their 138-pound match. Other wins by pin for Jennings came from Victor Antunez pinning Nick Miller in 3:50 at 113, Sam Woolf against Andrew Chapman in 3:53 at 182 and Brady Shepherd against Dalton Kirk in :18 at 285.
The remaining wins for the Panthers came on major decisions. Jacoby Trotter beat Will Russell 10-2 at 152, and Alex Skelton downed Nick Holt 15-6 in overtime at 170.
“We struggled tonight,” North coach Justin Cooper said. “But we had a couple matches that went the other way that could have easily went our way with a little bit more heart and effort. I think it was a little bit closer than what the score said it was.”
Holt had a five-point lead against Skelton, but a stalling call late in the third round helped push it to overtime. Cooper said that match will help him gain experience as a freshman.
The Bull Dogs were able win an overtime victory at 120. Keandre Watson scored two points 30 seconds into the overtime round to get the 7-5 win against Michael Pemberton.
North also won three other matches by pin. Morgan Smith pinned Teagen Johnson in :49 at 106, Josh Larson pinned James Jump in 3:49 at 195 and Bradley Gutierrez pinned Shon Warner in 3:55 seconds at 220.
Jennings coach Howard Jones said he focuses on pulling the close matches out at the end, and his team has some room for improvement.
“The score is not any indicator of what we need to work on,” Jones said. “We need to work on a lot of things, and doing so, we’ll get better.”
