Week One: Riverside Rumble Day Two

The team started out very slow when the consolation bracket began on Saturday. It all started with two wrestlers not making weight and having to forfeit matches. Then there were two byes and only one victory out of 8 matches of the first round. This eliminated 7 wrestlers right away in matches that we should have won to help us in the team race. In the championship bracket things got off to a better start with Zak Adkins, Rynell Roper, and Dylan Norwood all winning. The second consolation round eliminated another three wrestlers leaving only freshman Allen Harrison going for the Beaver Bracket Championship. In the semis in the championship bracket, Zak Adkins lost a hard fought match by giving up three takedowns to lose 8-6. Rynell Roper won his match in overtime in a battle of conditioning. Dylan Norwood won his semifinal match, with a second period pin, to send him to his first finals round of his career. Lamar Gunter, who lost his first championship round match, rebounded with a victory and then a loss. Zak Adkins put his tough semifinal upset behind him and defeated a wrestler he saw a day earlier to advance him on to the final round. The finals were set up as follows: Allen Harrison going for 1st in the consolation bracket, Lamar Gunter going for 5th, Zak Adkins for 3rd, and Rynell Roper and Dylan Norwood going for 1st. Allen Harrison lost his match by pin to finish second in the consolation bracket. Lamar won his match for 5th by a 8-7 score. Zak finished 3rd in a well wrestled match. Rynell lost a disappointing 3-2 decision to the defending Rumble champion. The state alternate, from West Branch, took the lead on a first period takedown that Rynell could not recover from. Staying on the championship mat for the next weight class, with the same opposing team in West Branch, Dylan Norwood took the mat in his first championship match. He wasted no time in taking his opponent down and attempted to try a cradle. He was able to secure back points from the cradle but not the pin. Going into the second period, Dylan chose the down position. When the whistle blew, Dylan exploded up and his opponent was off balance and high on his back. Dylan shook him off over his head and looked to lock up another cradle and this time he was successful in pinning his opponents shoulders to the match for the championship win. Congrats Dylan on your first wrestling championship. With his victory, Dylan solidified the team finishing in the top ten, which was our team goal going in to the tournament. Great job guys. (Video of matches will be added this week)