What has become an annual tradition for the two teams along the Highway 22 corridor, the Centralia Panthers boys and girls wrestling traveled to Mexico for a set of duals. The girls teams led off the night, followed by the JV squad matchup, and then the night was closed out with the boys varsity matchup. During this time of the year, like many teams across the state, these two programs are battling a combination of sickness and/or injuries. Regardless of the circumstances though, both sides came to wrestle.
Girls:
Mexico won the duel rather handedly due to the amount of forfeits Centralia gave up. There were only a handful of contested matches for the girls due to the several weights being open and the other team not having someone who was able to bump into an open spot. The first contested match of the night was at 135 lbs., Zuri Crews of Mexico versus Harper Mahan.
After some initial exchanges, Crews took over the match in the first period and was ahead 12-1 by the end of it. Crews didn’t let up and scored a quick takedown to start the second period and pinned Mahan. The next match wrestled was at 145 lbs. Kyleigh Dollens faced off against Abigail Bowen from Mexico. After some intense handfighting and quality fake attacks the score was 0-0 at the end of the first period. Bowen chose neutral to start the second and caught Dollens with a textbook headlock and pinned her in just 20 seconds into the period. The last contest match of the night was at 170. Zaleigh Poe scored a couple of takedowns on her opponents before securing the pin to close out the competition for the ladies. The Mexico Lady Bulldogs won the dual by a final score of 60 to 24.
Boys:
After a handful of JV boys matches in which the two teams split wins, it was the returning Class 1 team state champs turn against Mexico. Things started off kind of shaky with Mexico’s Trevor Coles securing a pin in the waning seconds of the first period against Porter Douglas. This match was followed by one of the matches of the night for the boys that featured two ranked wrestlers in Waylon Adkisson versus Carlos Ramirez. These two exchanged hard setups and counters but Adkisson won the last scramble of the first period and had a 7-1 lead heading into the second period.
Ramirez, a 2-time state finalist didn’t go away quietly and stormed back in the second with a takedown of his own and closed the gap to within four by the end of the second. Adkisson chose the bottom position to start the third period but gave up the lead by giving up a set of nearfall points and two penalty points due to stalling. After a reset and just 20 seconds on the clock and the match tied, Adkisson scored a reversal to win the match by a score of 11-9.
Centralia would take the team lead for the first time of the evening with a pin at 120 lbs by Gradon Hedberg. Unfortunately, that lead quickly evaporated due to Mexico scoring a pair of forfeit wins at 126 and 132 lbs. Starting at 138 lbs. through 150 lbs. Centralia scored 15 points (all bonus point wins) to take back the lead. Charlie Robinson made quick work of his opponent with a first period tech fall victory. Kameron Unger won a back and forth matchup at 144 lbs. By a score of 15-6, earning a major decision. Walker Adkisson continues his successful season with a pin halfway through the second period, increasing Centralia’s by 6 (24-18).
At 157 and 165 lbs., Centralia gave up another pair of forfeit victories, temporarily giving Mexico the lead 30-24. However, Centralia would win three of the final four weight classes (losing only at 190 lbs.) Senior Rex Bryson only needed 40 seconds to pin his opponent from Mexico. At 190 lbs. Mexico’s Grant Walker got a takedown about halfway through the first period before earning his own pin. At 215 lbs. Jaden Decker countered an early attack by Haag of Mexico with a throw and took his opponent to his back, tying the team score at 36-36.
Like many close duals, the match came down to heavyweight featuring the #2 heavyweight from Class 1( Marshall Kable) and the #11 heavyweight in Class 2 (Travis Shramek). Marshall Kable secured a hard fought takedown near the halfway point of the first period after countering one his opponent’s attacks. Despite having nearly a minute to work with, he was unable to turn him but did take a 3-0 lead into the 2nd period. Kable would add one more point in the second period after a successful stand-up and escape but after that neither wrestler could score for the rest of the period. Kable’s opponent tried valiantly to score on him but to no avail. Kable did give up a penalty point with 35 seconds to go in the match. The good news for him is that it didn’t cost him anything and Kable took the match 4-1 and gave the Panthers the final lead of the evening and secured the victory by a score of 39-36.
Notes:
You can listen to Centralia Panther Wrestling Coaches Luke Gramke and Mike Adkisson discuss tonight’s contest against Mexico at Mexico and enjoy some action photos at https://www.firesideguard.com/…/centralia-panthers…/
