In its first taste of action at home, Iola High wrestling did not disappoint.
The Mustangs, led by their young core of talented freshmen and sophomores, fought past Humboldt 36-21 and followed that up with a 39-31 loss versus Burlington in which they won five of the seven contested matches.
We actually had to mix some weight classes up so wed match up with them better and that really helped us out, Iola head coach Jason Bates said. And then Burlington brought some of their top JV and younger varsity so that both Humboldt and us could get some matches in and we appreciated that.
Humboldt also faced Burlington and lost 70-6.
Were kind of a young team this year so I think we did the best that we could, Humboldt head coach Kent Goodner said. It is what it is.
Iola and Humboldt opened the night with a thrilling overtime 152-pound match between Humboldts Reid Barnett and Iolas Casen Barker.
The two battled it out throughout the four periods but in the end, it was the senior Barnett who managed to get the winning takedown.
From then on, it was pins down the board.
Iola’s 170-pound senior Elijah Luedke got a first-period pin of Humboldts William Todd but the Cubs answered right back with senior Dagen Goodner pinning junior Gary Lower in the first period of the 220-pound match.
Two-loss Mustang sophomore Logan Brown tussled with Humboldt senior David Watts in the heavyweight bout and eventually got a hard-fought win in the second period.
Brown had struggled in Iolas last tournament but the two pins he recorded Thursday night showed that he had already bounced back and was ready to start winning again.
Hes doing great so far, Bates said. But hes still improving and has a long way to go. It was a good time for him to start winning matches again.
Freshman Trent Jones wrapped things up with a second-round pin of Humboldts Ethan Doepke.
Weve been working really hard in practice, Bates said. Weve tried to improve on the little things and weve gotten back to the fundamentals of wrestling and I think its really paid off. Its really showing.
The Cubs struggled versus the larger Burlington team and won just one of their matches. Dagen Goodner had opportunities to grab a win versus Wildcat senior Preston Alford but succumbed to a second-period pin due in part to a sore shoulder.
