Newton-Conover left Bandys on Tuesday night with a 40-17 high school wrestling victory in a closely-contested Catawba Valley Athletic 2A match.
Jarren Pitts won the pivotal 220-pound bout. The Red Devils led 22-17 going into the bout, and three bouts remained.
Pitts and Bandys’ Anthony Christopher battled for control through all three periods and closed regulation tied at 4-all.
After a scoreless one-minute, sudden-death overtime period, they battled through two 30-second periods. Each wrestler scored on an escape, pushing the match into a sudden death, where Pitts chose to start down and won 6-5 on an escape.
“It was going through my head that I needed to do this for the team and that these points determined the winning and the losing of the match,” Pitts said.
Bandys won the first match, then Newton-Conover won at 126 pounds when Franklin Wepner pinned Alec Crowe for a 6-3 lead.
The Trojans then won two straight, with Cameron Crowe defeating Casey Toomey 6-1 at 132 pounds and Zach Johnson beating Kyle Toomey 8-4.
It was then Newton-Conover’s turn to double its luck. Eric Holbrook blanked Timothy Lunsford 9-0 at 145, then Nathan Reitzel pinned Tanner Sponhouse with one second remaining in the first period to put the Red Devils ahead 16-8.
Again, though, the tides turned in Bandys’ favor.
The Trojans’ Andrew Brotherton won 12-6 over Addison Klutz at 160 pounds, and Michael Jolly pinned Collin Minor at 170 pounds in 2:14. That gave Bandys a 17-16 lead.
Newton-Conover took over after that, winning six straight matches.
Rolen Benson bested Zac Whisnant 6-3 to put the Red Devils back in front, and Tyler Benfield outlasted Peter Guiraud 14-8 to give Newton-Conover a five-point advantage.
After the marathon match at 220, Newton-Conover’s lead was 25-17.
Ah-Ron Hope battled Matt Buleh to a 5-2 decision, then Bandys forfeited at 106. Finally, the Trojans’ Darren Parrish was injured and forfeited during the 113-pound match against Jonte Parker.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement