Pioneers give two forfeits, fall to Sapulpa by one point
12/07/2007
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Stillwater High won seven of the 12 bouts wrestled on Thursday night.
But a pair of forfeits were too much to overcome for the Pioneers, who dropped their dual opener, 35-34, to Sapulpa at the SHS Fieldhouse.
Kyle Blevins’ pin at 171 pounds gave the Chieftains a 35-24 lead with three bouts to wrestle.
Pioneer junior Chris Perry dominated Scott Deo, 10-2, at 189 with Earl Sparrow using some late dramatics to beat Bryan McDaniel at 215.
Trailing 35-31, Stillwater junior 285-pounder T. Mike Walker needed at least a major decision to forge a tie but could only manage a 3-2 victory and the visitors escaped with a one-point win.
"I’m not too disappointed in the way things turned out," said Stillwater head coach Doug Chesbro, whose club competes in the Perry Tournament of Champions today and Saturday. "Sapulpa is a tough team and we lost a couple of matches that I think we will win down the road.
"I’m not going to base our season on what I saw (Thursday)."
The Chieftains picked up a couple of big decisions at 135 and 152.
Brice Hill scored a takedown with :58 left to beat Pioneer senior Ben Marks at 135. The two are very familiar with each other, splitting matches last season.
"Those guys are going to be nip-and-tuck every time they wrestle," Chesbro said. "I think that maybe we were a little bit uptight ... first home dual, worried about making weight (today)."
At 152, Will Kellogg rallied from a 5-2 hole to beat junior Damien Miles, 8-5.
The hosts rallied with four wins in the final five bouts, starting with Tyler Sullivan’s third-period pin of a very tired Cole Deo.
"Chris Perry told me we needed a pin before the match," Sullivan said. "I could sense (Deo) was getting tired and I felt stronger later in the match. We came up one-point short though, and that stinks."
Seniors Ky Corley and Austin Standage each picked up first period pins, along with freshman 103-pounder Jared Elmore, making his varsity debut at SHS Fieldhouse.
"I was probably more nervous for my first match at Ark City," admitted Elmore, who needed just 17 seconds to pin Travis Lowry in the dual’s opening bout. "It’s always been kind of a family thing to wrestle as a freshman.
"I remember a few of (brother) Ben’s matches, but I really started getting into it when Luke was wrestling. I wasn’t as good as they were when I was younger, but I want to learn as much as I can to get better."
Luke was a state champion for Chesbro in 2004.
Perry, a two-time state champion, moved his career record to 60-1 with a methodical major decision over one of the state’s better 189-pounders.
"In football or wrestling, whatever I do I want to be the best," said Perry. "I try to treat every match like it’s my last match. (Deo) is tough. All I could do was wrestle hard and I felt like I did that. He’s tough to score on, tough to move.
"Right now I’m probably not that big for the weight. It’s more or less for the team because I’ll probably go 171 over the summer. The guys are stronger (at 189) but I still want to dominate every time I step on the mat."
Sparrow, who did not wrestle at Ark City, needed everything and more in his first match of the season. Trailing 3-2 after a second-period rideout, the defensive end forced a pair of stalling calls in the third period to tie it. McDaniel escaped late for a 4-3 advantage, but with :10 left Sparrow pulled out a double-leg takedown for 5-4 victory.
Stillwater returns to home mats next Thursday when they host Enid. After this weekend’s Perry TOC, SHS visits Bartlesville on Tuesday.
Click here for the full results from the Sapulpa Dual
