Iola High’s perpetually short-handed wrestling squad saw both ends of the spectrum Thursday evening.
It was a foregone conclusion the Mustang wrestlers would come up on the short end of overall scores in home dual matches against Cherryvale and Erie.
That’s because with only five wrestlers overall — two in the same weight class — Iola must forfeit several matches at lighter weights to its opponents.
Such was the case against both Cherryvale and Erie, which had leads of 60-0 and 42-0, respectively, before Iola’s first wrestler saw the mat.
Still, there were several bright spots.
Iola won two of the four matches against Cherryvale, with Seth Sanford (195 pounds) and Colton Toney (280 pounds) winning via pin. Andrew Garber (182 pounds) and Chandler House (220 pounds) both lost via pins.
The Mustangs won one of their three contested matches against Erie. House pinned his opponent, while Garber lost a heartbreaker and Toney was pinned by former IHS standout Trey Colborn.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get kids motivated when you’re down by 60 points before you have your first match,” Mustang head coach Jason Bates said.
Garber, who entered Thursday with an 8-1 record, lost by a technical fall to Cherryvale’s Kaden Housel, a two-time state tournament qualifier.
Housel racked up a 10-1 lead after one period. An early escape, a takedown and a pair of near-falls ended the match midway through the second period gave Housel the prescribed 15-point spread — 17-2 — necessary to end the match with a technical fall declaration.
Garber’s match against Erie’s Rowdy Lahey was a bit tougher to swallow. The Iola senior overcame a 2-1 deficit with a reversal in the second period to lead 3-2. Lahey evened the match with an escape midway through the third period, and took the lead with a two-point takedown. Garber escaped in the waning seconds to cut the deficit to 5-4, but twice narrowly missed earning additional backpoints, the second coming as time expired.
“Andrew had a tough night,” Bates said. “Losing the first match let some air out of his sails, and he came up short in the second one.”
Sanford, meanwhile, went 2-0 on the night. He pinned Cherryvale’s Tristan Osbourn in 35 seconds, then won his second by forfeit against Erie.
“Seth did well,” Bates said. “We’ve been working on leg attacks. He was able to attack his opponent’s legs, and he got the pin.”
House was pinned by Cherryvale’s Clay Holloway in 28 seconds before rebounding to pin Erie’s Jacob Linnebur midway through the second period.
Toney opened with a pin on Cherryvale’s Austin Schrimsher, 28 seconds into the second period.
