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Tiger grapplers win Matwarming dual
By Eric Wade
Daily Mail Sports Editor
"It was a great night." Those words from the mouth of Nevada High School head wrestling coach Devin White couldn't have provided a better description of how things turned out as his squad took to the mats at Nevada High School for Matwarming.
The Tigers entered the night against the Mustangs of McDonald County High School not only knowing that it was a special night that deserved a solid showing, but also knowing they had a very substantial edge over the opposition.
"You know, I told the kids before, I said, 'You wrestle to the best of your ability, this is in the bag,'" White said. '"You've got to focus. You've got to do what you need to do and you've got to take care of business.
'"But if everybody comes out and wrestles, we should dominate this team.' And looking at the numbers, I mean, that's exactly what we did."
Dominate, indeed. By the time all was said and done, the Tigers won eight of the night's 10 contested bouts and took the victory by an overall score of 57-21.
Not only did the Tigers win, but they did so convincingly, in the vast majority of those 10 contested bouts. In seven of the 10, the Tigers earned their victories by pin, and spent an average of less than 1 minute, 52 seconds on the mat.
The quickest of those seven pinfall victories came in the 145-pound bout, when Morgan Long defeated McDonald County's Justus French in just 26 seconds. Not far behind him was one of Tigers' best wrestlers in Dayton Miller, who took down McDonald County's Nathan Knadle in 36 seconds.
The last of Nevada's three pinfall victories that took less than a minute when Clay Regers found himself in an interesting matchup at 285. He was matched up against McDonald County's Quinton Keene, who is missing the lower half of his right arm.
Despite that significant disadvantage, Keene lasted 55 seconds before Regers was able to secure the pin.
"He was a little nervous about that," White said of his senior heavyweight. "He wrestled well."
Though his bout lasted quite a bit longer, Chaden Brandt provided the Tigers with one of the most impressive performances of the night. At 160 pounds, Brandt has been a bit of a question mark all season for White and his staff as the sophomore is wrestling for just the second season of his life.
Despite coming into the season with almost no experience or technical understanding of the sport, Brandt has given White and the rest of the Tigers' coaching staff a lot about which to be happy and Tuesday night's bout against McDonald County's Jimmy Boyer was one of the best he has wrestled all season.
"Chaden looked good at 60," White said. He's strong as an ox, athletic as all get out."
That athleticism and strength has been what has gotten Brandt many of his wins this season, but such was not the case Tuesday. Throughout most of his bout against Boyer, Brandt was able to showcase just how much technical improvement he has made this year on his way to a pinfall victory, 1:13 into the second period.
"He got a little sloppy there for a little bit, but his technique has come a long way," White said.
Also on the list of highlight reel bouts for the Tigers was the 152-pound match between Johnathon Ireland and Trevor Young. In a back-and-forth bout that was still in question, right up until the end, Ireland used what White said will be one of the biggest keys to his future success -- his mind -- to secure a 5-2 decision victory.
"That was a great match for Johnathon," White said. "I'm very pleased with the way he wrestled."
The Tigers' other victories on the night came in the 120- and 126-pound bouts, when Colten Shrewsbury and Daxtyn Hiestand both earned victories by pin at the 1:25 mark -- Hiestand in the first period and Shrewsbury in the second -- as well as the 170-pound bout, when Anthony Franco pinned Christopher Dalton 59 seconds into the second period.
In the high created by winning the dual in such dominant fashion, the two Tigers who picked up victories by forfeit -- Scott Swink and Jacob Johnson -- were able to take their nights off in stride, joking with the coaching staff about the difficulty associated with their latest wins.
"They were like, 'Man, that guy was hard,'" White said.
Though two Tigers came out of the night with losses, neither bout was a lopsided affair, by any means. Both Cameron Diaz and Trey Pritchett spent a significant amount of time in control, before falling in the end -- Diaz by pin and Pritchett by a 9-5 decision.
"He just got caught in a bad position," White said of Diaz. "You know, it happens to all of us."
Though White was more than pleased with his team's performance in Tuesday night's victory, he was still very quick to point out that his squad still had some work to do. Despite that knowledge, however, White has very high hopes for his squad as the season wears on.
"We are a very, very young team," he said. "You know, it's one of those things that we have only room to grow, only room to improve."
The Tigers won't have to wait long for their next opportunity to work on that improvement as they are scheduled to get right back into action on Saturday, competing in one of the tougher tournaments they will attend this year. That tournament -- the Kearney Invitational -- is scheduled to begin Saturday morning, at Kearney High School.