NEW PARIS - Chestnut Ridge's Colby Hillegass scored points against Northern Bedford's Brendan Over with 3 seconds left in the first period, 4 seconds left in the second and right at the buzzer to earn a 14-6 major decision.
That kind of wrestle-to-the-end mentality has been is one of the things that's spurring on the good teams in District 5, and there are a bunch of them.
The Lions, ranked second in the Mirror rankings, scored late in periods of two other bouts in addition to recording five pins en route to a 49-24 win Thursday night at Richard W. Fisher Gymnasium.
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Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Chestnut Ridge’s Derrick Claar works on pinning Northern Bedford’s Matt Gochnour at 113 pounds.
"We're wrestling to the end of the match," Ridge coach Greg Lazor said. "We're not just holding on to the end of the period. So, we're wrestling to the end, trying to score the whole time."
The meet started at 113, where Ridge's Derrick Claar tilted Matt Gochnour, saw an opening for a double-arm bar and got the pin in 1:31.
At 120, Ridge freshman Trent Crouse took veteran Mason Replogle down and nearly turned him twice in the first period. After that, though, Replogle took Crouse down in the second, scored two sets of back points and used a half nelson in the third to pin Crouse with 8 seconds left.
"I'll tell you what, that was a tale of a couple periods," Lazor said. "He took him down, was dominating on top and had some close calls with questionable back points. By the looks of it, Crouse was good at neutral and Crouse was good on top with him. Crouse needs to work on bottom against him. Replogle is a beast on top."
Hillegass trailed Over, 2-1, in the first when he scored a late reversal to take the lead. Leading 5-3, he took Over down late in the second. Over came back to within one, 7-6, in the third, but an escape, takedown and two sets of back points gave Hillegass the major.
"Hillegass wrestled smart," Lazor said. "He even pulled out a bonus point at the end. He's wrestling up a weight class as a freshman, and that's not an easy spot to do it at 132."
"There's a sophomore, and it's first varsity experience," NBC coach Brian Dutchcot said. "We try to tell them not to give up any points. We can't give up bonus points. We gave them an extra match point, and that's tough. It's one of those mistakes we're just going to have to overcome and learn from."
Ridge's Shane Pfaunmiller led Damian Corle by two points, 4-2, at 138 when he nailed a takedown with 3 seconds left in the second in an eventual 6-2 win.
Drew Gartland (145) and Matt Sollenberger pulled NBC to within one, 19-18, with pins. Sollenberger, wearing a protective mask to cover a possible broken nose, was up 13-0 when he put Teddy Albright on his back.
The Lions (14-4), however, pulled away with pins by Bradie Bollman (160), Matt Dull (170) and Dan Albright (195) and forfeit wins by Tyler Dibert (182) and Luke Fochtman (220) to make the score 49-18.
"We knew they had some youth and inexperience through there," Lazor said. "We have some guys who we feel pretty comfortable with in there. The boys dominated their matches and didn't take anything for granted."
The Panthers (4-5) closed out the night with two decisions. Quinton Hixson (13-0), the area's top-ranked 285-pounder, went the distance for only the second time this season in a 7-2 win over Austin Buttry (14-4).
"I'm happy he went the distance tonight," Dutchcot said. "You have to give credit to Buttry. He wrestled a great match. He pushed Quinton right to the edge, and I love to see that."
Cody Guyer earned a 6-0 win over Sam Shank at 106 with a takedown, two nearfall points and a reversal.
It doesn't get any easier for NBC, which continues its rugged schedule Saturday night against top-ranked Bedford Saturday night.
"It definitely tests your patience," Dutchcot said. "But, hey, these kids will learn from the experience. I'm glad that we're wrestling this tough schedule. The better competition around the area makes every kid better."
113-Claar, CR, pinned Gochnour, 1:31; 120-Replogle, NB, pinned Crouse, 5:52; 126-Etterman, CR, pinned Defibaugh, 1:49; 132-Hillegass, CR, maj. dec. Over, 14-6; 138-Pfaunmiller, CR, dec. Corle, 6-2; 145-Gartland, NB, pinned Bence, :34; 152-Sollenberger, NB, pinned T. Albright, 4:19.
160-Bollman, CR, pinned Shipley, :39; 170-Dull, CR, pinned Airhart, 3:32; 182-Dibert, CR, won by forfeit; 195-D. Albright, CR, pinned Douglas, 3:36; 220-Fochtman, CR, won by forfeit; 285-Hixson, NB, dec. Buttry, 7-2; 106-Guyer, NB, dec. Shank, 6-0.
Records: Northern Bedford (4-5); Chestnut Ridge (14-4).
JV winners: Crawford, NB; Pearson, NB
