Tuesday's wrestling triangular at Fort Calhoun High School ended with a dual involving nine forfeits, two completely open weight classes and just three contested matches between Arlington and the Pioneers.
The Eagles went 2-for-3 in those bouts, but lost the 36-36 dual to FCHS by tiebreaker criteria. Coach Drew Welchert's home team forfeited just four matches, while AHS forfeited five.
After both Washington County teams topped Weeping Water to start, the final dual matchup between them was ultimately decided by Lance Olberding's pin of Trevor Cooley at at 126 pounds. It evened the score at 36.
Olberding, a Fort Calhoun sophomore, led 5-4 after one period, but was in trouble late during the second against Cooley. The Eagle appeared to be turning the Pioneer to his back, but the FCHS wrestler hooked his foe's leg with his own, rolling through and scoring his own back points.
With that, Olberding led 9-4 going into the final 2 minutes.
“When I'm in that situation, I kinda of just go with what I feel and what I practice every day in the room,” he said. “Those little things, they work pretty good in the room, so I feel pretty confident when I get in those situations. Hooking the leg there gave me that little boost.”
The boost eventually led to Pioneer pin with just 43 seconds left in the match.
“Scoring (at the end of the third) was huge,” Olberding said. “And hooking that leg there was a big part of that.”
In the other two contested matches, AHS Eagles Josh Miller and Trey Hill were victories. Miller pinned Grant Nixon in 2:54 at 182 pounds, while Hill took just 26 seconds to stick Gage Nixon at 106.
Pioneers top Weeping Water
During Tuesday's first dual, FCHS bested Weeping Water 48-18, earning all of its points by forfeit.
The Pioneers' Ethan Shaner and Gage Nixon, meanwhile, lost the two contested matches. Shaner was pinned in 1:25, while Nixon was pinned during the third period of his match.
Nixon, however, led McKenzie Regler 17-8 before he was caught with his shoulders on the match.
Overall, Olberding believes his FCHS squad is on the right track early this season.
“Right now, we're wrestling good, but there's a lot better we can do,” he noted.
Eagles win opener 42-15
Before matching up with the triangular hosts, Arlington topped Weeping Water 42-15. Like in the finale, the Eagles competed in just three contested matches.
“We've just got a couple of guys banged up, a couple of guys getting down to weight,” Coach Doug Hart said, noting some illnesses as well.
Hunter Gilmore and Hill were victorious, however. Gilmore moved up to the 152-pound weight class and bested Weeping Water returning state medalist Nolan Blevins by pin at the 2:25 mark.
Hill, meanwhile, won by 23-second pin.
In the Eagles lone loss, Aiden McDuffee dropped a 14-12 sudden victory at 113 pounds.
Overall, Hart was pleased with his team's effort in Fort Calhoun.
“I thought we improved on some stuff that we needed to improve on from Friday at Blair,” he said. “Josh and Hunter wrestled great matches.”
