Vandal wrestlers fall to Belleville West in opener

By Editor | November 28, 2018 |

Pins were the difference as the Vandalia wrestlers opened their season with a loss to Belleville West, 42-35, on Tuesday at home.

“They won seven bouts and we won seven bouts, so they won by seven because we got pinned seven times and they didn’t,” coach Jason Clay said.
“We had enough in the lineup to win tonight,” he said. “We just have to not give up so many pins.”
The Vandalia led at the start, with Ryan Kaiser winning a 16-1 technical fall and Zack Stephenson pinning his opponent.
But Belleville West won four of the next five matches and the next five of seven with pins, with one of their pins coming with .10 of a second left in the bout.
Vandals Gavin Mouser, Jarek Wehrle and Tanner Swain pinned their opponents.
Tiler Worker won 7-6 and Matthew Hobler won 10-6.
The Vandals were without Anthony Enlow, who is still working to get down to weight in order to compete at the heavyweight level, and have others also working to get down to weight.
“It was an intense dual, and it was good,” Clay said.
“They’re a 3A schools and that was their fifth match and our first, and we kind of looked like it.
“I think we’ll be better on Saturday (CM Invite),” he said.
“Sometime, you just have to get out there and knock the rust off a little bit.”
Despite the loss, Clay saw some good come out of Tuesday’s match.
“We had some good performances,” he said.
“I thought that Ryan Kaiser wrestled well in his first match at varsity and a couple of other guys did what we expected them to do.
“Tiler Worker, who’s in his first full year at varsity, competed well, Gavin (Mouser) had a nice match, and Jarek (Wehrle) and Hobler and Tanner had pins,” he said.
“And we had some other wrestlers out there battling hard,” Clay said.
“It’s a starting point, so tomorrow we’ve got to get better at practice and keep getting everybody down to weight and in the lineup.
“By the end of the year, we should be pretty tough,” Clay said.