Jonathan Bowen
Going into the Friday Night Dual versus Mexico, the Centralia Panthers are 4-2 on the season in duals. Their two losses came against two other NCMC opponents Hannibal and Moberly. Last weekend the Panthers traveled to St. Louis to compete in the Fred Ross Invitational hosted by Lafayette HS. The Panthers did very well, finishing in 3rd behind the 7th Ranked team in Class 4 (Seckman) and the host the Lafayette Lancers.
The Bulldogs and Panthers have somewhat of a shared history of successes. It wouldn’t be out of place during the off-season to see a handful of Mexico wrestlers in the Centralia wrestling room, working on bettering themselves. Over the past several years the duals have gone back and forth with each team claiming victories. However, the Panthers have had the most recent success against Mexico as they won the dual matchup last season when it took place in Centralia. They won by a score of 69 to 9. The Panthers enter this meet ranked 3rd in class 1 and have seven of their starters currently ranked in the top 10 in the state in their respective weight classes.
Highlights:
The Varsity dual started at the 165 lb. weight class, leaving the 157 lb. match featuring two ranked wrestlers (Grant Van Horn for Mexico and Rex Bryson for the Panthers) to be the nightcap. The Panthers got off to a hot start with 4 straight wins to build a 24-0 nothing lead with three of them via pins (2 happened in the first period). However, as the weight classes went, Centralia was getting ready to hit the tougher part of Mexico’s lineup.
During the 285 lb match, both wrestlers made multiple takedown attempts during the first period but to no avail. Mexico’s Scanavino chose the down position to start the second period. Marshall Kable was able to maintain control of his opponent but Scanavino eventually would squirm away to earn an escape point to take a 1-0 lead. Both wrestlers had some close calls but neither was able to score before time ran out in the second. Kable chose the down position to start the third period. After several attempts and with about 1 minute left in the match…
