North Union’s 138-pounder Gabe Hansen (bottom) puts a fireman’s carry on Delaware Christian’s Luke Couch Tuesday evening. Pictured in the background is former NU head coach Don Wasserbeck, who is helping the team. (Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
North Union got its 2021-22 varsity wrestling season started on Tuesday as it joined with Mount Gilead, Centerburg, Delaware Christian and Springfield Catholic Central for the North Union Scramble at North Union.
While wanting to see individual victories from his wrestlers, NU head coach Garret Andrews was more interested in getting his team quality time on the mat,
“We have a number of kids wrestling for the first time,” Andrews said. “We were able to them some action against wrestlers with similar ability. It is lot about how much we can learn and really a feeling out process.”
No actual team scores were kept because teams were not able to fill all the weight classes.
That, however, did not keep teams from putting forth their best effort.
“We had a lot of positives from our wrestlers,” Andrews said. “I saw effort through entire matches. Even in losses, we saw things they did right.”
Middle school bouts were sprinkled in with varsity matches and Andrews felt that was a bonus for both teams.
“We were able to interact with both squads,” he said. “A couple of times this year we will try to combine the two teams.”
Picking up a pair of wins for the Wildcats were Trace Williams (113-pound division), Gabe Hansen (123), Austin Cline (138), Zayne Leiter (144), Tyler Cline (215) and Brody Wilson (215).
Earning one win were Braedon Scowden (106), Zack Ellis (126), Traven Reber (132), Evan Beery (157) and Shan Swank (190).
“It was a good start and I feel good about tonight,” Andrews said. “A lot about tonight was how much we can learn.”
Jaxon Canter (172) led the middle school team with a pair of wins while earning one win were Kannon Alvarado (98), Ben Jones (104), Braylen Riffle (116), Jaxon Heminger (122), Jason Cremeans (142) and Jacob Hughes (150).