Michael Smith
Raytown South wrestling coach Arianne Henry said her team always gets pumped up when facing crosstown rival Raytown.
It showed on Thursday as the Cardinals won all four of their contested matches against the Blue Jays in a 49-6 rout at home.
Watch post-match interviews:
“We did really well tonight. The rivalry plays into that a little bit,” Henry said. “The guys are a little more amped up. The guys are working really hard.”
Harly Schank (182) was one of the four contested match winners for South. He pinned Shawn Bond-Pushon in 43 seconds.
“I felt like I was very aggressive, but I felt like I should have done some moves better,” Schank said. “I need to work on my bottom position more, but I thought I did well.
“I call it the sleeper. I got the head and was able to take him down and get the pin.”
South also got some big wins from its upper weights. Kyan Guerra (220) got a pin against Javen Brown in 3:35 after it initially looked like he was going for a tech fall by getting several takedowns and letting his opponent up afterward.
“I was just listening to my coaches,” Guerra said. “I was working on getting back points, but they told me to pin him and I did.”
Ethan Bowersock (285) had it a little easier than his teammate. In his match against Ja’Leo Matthews, his opponent fell down after trying to go for a takedown. Matthews stayed down for a second and half before Bowersock pounced on him and got a 15-second pin.
“Whenever he slipped, I took advantage because he was so down,” Bowersock said. “I knew I could hurry up and get there and get the pin.”
The Cardinals saved the best for last as their top wrestler, Norman Schneider (132), improved to 17-1 after pinning Kaseem Bedford in 1 minute. The sophomore wrestled up from 126.
“I was going for a regular high crotch then I fell into a knee pick,” Schnieder said of the takedown that led to the pin. “I got the knee pick then I just did what I needed to do.”
Jorge Gaytan (145), Lucas Richardson (113), Raul Romero (120) and Aidan Bellamy (138) all won by forfeit for the Cardinals.
Carlos Thomas (152) got Raytown’s lone win by forfeit.
RUSKIN 42, RAYTOWN 18:
Since Raytown South faced Ruskin earlier in the year, the Cardinals did not face the Eagles on Thursday.
Instead Raytown had a doubleheader against the Cardinals and Eagles. Ruskin benefitted from six forfeit victories in a win. Raytown won two out of three contested matches.
Donsha Finley (106), Dontae Finley (126), Adal Valladares (138), Bubby Crane (145), Abdallah Banialmarjeh (160) and Kenderall Webber (195) all won by forfeit for Ruskin. The team’s lone contested match victory came from 285-pounder Isreal Gray, who pinned Matthews in the first round.
For Raytown,Thomas (152) and Bond-Pushon (182) both won by forfeit. Brown (220) squeaked by Elijah Pitts 5-4 and Bedford (132) edged Eric Holliday 8-7 even after being called for three stalling penalties.
