An impromptu Haines-Skagway wrestling dual on Saturday drew a big crowd of Glacier Bear fans to the elementary school gym.
Co-coach Dennis Durr said he was pleased by the turnout for the “kind of a last-minute” meet, and both teams had positive results.
“It’s a rivalry, but a friendly rivalry,” Durr said. “It’s something we just came up with, and I think it’s something we’ll try and maybe do annually.”
Skagway brought a team of five wrestlers – Trevor Cox, Richard Deichen, Dominique Foote, Ethan Goebel and Donovan Henson – who each wrestled twice under the direction of coach Duppy Ticarro.
The Glacier Bears took seven of the 10 matches, with seniors Dalton Tuohy (138 pounds) and Walker Blair (152 pounds) each going 2-0. Tuohy picked up both wins by major decision, and Blair won by technical fall and major decision.
Tuohy hadn’t wrestled in a competition since the season-opening meet at Petersburg in mid-October, and said he felt “like I was right where I left off.”
“I was very happy that Skagway got to come over so that we could do this meet, because I was super sad that I wasn’t going to get to wrestle in front of Haines,” Tuohy said.
To get more matches in, several wrestlers grappled with heavier opponents.
Freshman Charlie Bower, who has been wrestling at 106 pounds, opened the meet with a 16-1 technical fall over Deichen. Fellow freshman 106-pounder Ketch Jacobson also wrestled Deichen, who was listed at 120 pounds. Jacobson trailed early, took a 15-5 lead, and then won by fall.
“He felt heavy in the first period,” Jacobson said. “When I was trying to get up, I couldn’t build my base.”
The most thrilling bout of the night was junior Casey St. Clair’s overtime, 16-14 defeat of Henson at 152 pounds. St. Clair said the home crowd “really helped me push through” the match. He faced a four-point deficit in the final seconds, but secured a takedown and back points to knot up the score.
“Towards the end, I was a little concerned, but then it went into overtime, and I had it,” St. Clair said. “I felt pretty confident once I got past the third round.”
He quickly finished the match with another takedown in sudden-death.
“I just felt for whatever was open at the time,” St. Clair said. “In the heat of the moment, you can’t really plan that far ahead.”
Freshman Mori Hays (138 pounds) went 0-2 at the meet, but nearly sent his second match into overtime. Skagway’s Foote, though, avoided a late takedown and held on for an 8-6 victory.
Goebel grabbed the third win for the Panthers, topping Haines sophomore Tyler Murphy (170 pounds) 17-6 to close out the meet.
“Even the matches we lost, we’re doing things that we’re learning in practice, and that’s my main goal,” said co-coach Andrew Cardella. “We had two weeks without any competitions, so we got to do a lot of practicing, and I think it’s really showing right now.”
The event also featured 2013 Haines graduate Jimmy Thomsen as referee and the energetic announcing of Liam Cassidy. The Glacier Bears are scheduled to compete in Ketchikan this weekend.