Most coaches would love to have a hard-fought dual wrapped up by the time the final match of the night approaches. However, in a competitive area like Carroll County, winner-takes-all finales are all too common with the amount of talent scattered across the area.
Tuesday night’s dual between Manchester Valley and Century was just the latest one to go down that path as heavyweights Cru Boog and Christian Prince stepped into the circle with the Knights holding a two-point lead.
Manchester Valley’s Boog got the job done. All he needed was any kind of victory, but he got his work done quickly, pinning Prince in a mere 35 seconds to secure the 38-34 win for the Mavericks.
“It’s always good to have Cru Boog in a situation like that,” Manchester Valley coach Dave Dodson said. “To put it in a senior, a leader’s hands to bring it home like that is pretty special for him and the team.”
Boog waited almost three hours to wrestle Tuesday, but he was focused and locked in all night. Sitting next to a coach as he intensely watched his teammates one by one, Boog cheered his teammates on, being the first to offer some advice that led to a win, or some encouragement after one of his teammates suffered a tough loss.
“It’s all about pushing your teammates to get better,” Boog said. “I work hard and I want to make sure the others are following and working just as hard if not harder.”
Hard work was the theme of the night as both teams pushed each other to the absolute limit and in the process treated the fans to many extremely close, intense matches that were certainly worth the price of admission. The Knights’ usual suspects were at it again as JT Ferguson, Dom Damico and Brayden Vassell picked up three of many Century wins on the night. Ferguson’s victory put him just one win shy of 100 for his career.
“Credit to Century, they did a nice job. They won a couple close matches and took us right to the limit,” Dodson said. “But we won the matches we needed to win.”
In the back-and-forth dual, the Mavericks picked up victories from 126 pounder Dakota Barnard, who defeated Grady Faye, 9-2, and Ryan Hydorn, who earned an impressive technical fall in his 138-pound matchup with Wyatt King.
The Mavericks’ win that really had the crowd alive was the 157-pound match where Luke Bourg found himself in a bit of a pickle heading into the third period down three points. Bourg persevered, not only scoring eight straight points in the final frame, but going on to pin Talin Evans in what was one of the moments of the night for the Mavericks.
“I knew I was down, so I knew I had to something,” Bourg said. “I knew my team needed me, so I didn’t give up for them. It was close but we finished it out.”
Now with another dual wins, this one coming off the heals of a bitter defeat at the hands of South Carroll, Dodson saw the most important trait he needed to see from his team as they bounced back and got a close win.
“It’s about resiliency this time of year,” Dodson said. “We’re continuing to improve and finding ways to get better every single day to be right in the mix at the end.”
Manchester Valley 38, Century 34
106: Kaden Reid (MV) wins via forefit ; 113: Eli Stein (C) PINS Grayson Hydorn (MV) ; 120: Brayden Brassell PINS Kyle Reid (MV) ; 126: Dakota Barnard (MV) def Grady Faye (C) 9-2 ; 132: Chris Brooks (C) def Chase Reis (MV) 14-5 ; 138: Ryan Hydorn (MV) def Wyatt King 16-0 ; 144: Brayden Vandervoort (MV) PINS Colton Merson (C) ; 150: Dylan Vroom (C) def Beau Snell (MV) 9-6 ; 157: Luke Bourg (MV) PINS Talin Evans (C) ; 165: Dylan Brown (MV) PINS Cameron Wagner (C) ; 175: JT Ferguson (C) PINS Kevin Schroeder ; 190: Dom Damico (C) def Aiden Tranker (MV), 11-8 ; 215: Alex Gernand (C) PINS Ryder Onkst (MV); 285: Cru Boog PINS Christian Prince.
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