Riders rally to pin Ravens

Camden – The Caesar Rodney Riders trailed the Sussex Tech Ravens 29-17 with just five matches left in their Henlopen Conference Northern Division matchup. The Riders recorded four straight pins winning the dual 41-29.

The match began at 106 pounds where the Riders Ben Donato won a 17-0 technical fall over Parker Hampton. Ashton Graham then recorded a pin in 1:05 over Anthony Costello at 113 pounds giving the Riders an 11-0 lead.

The Ravens Anthony Andrews put a stop to the Caesar Rodney run at 120 pounds pinning Cole Moffett in 3:56 seconds, but Trevor Copes answered for the Riders pinning Noah Holcomb-Figgs in 46 seconds at 126 pounds putting Caesar Rodney in front 17-6.

Sussex Tech then reeled off five straight wins to take their first lead of the match.

Hobe Givens won a 14-4 major decision over Sean Dixon at 132 pounds, David Kristunas followed with a 12-2 major decision over Alex Batton at 138 pounds.

The Ravens continued their run at 144 pounds when Dustin Elliott pinned Jamisen Dean in 3:14. Bennett Brumbley won a 3-0 decision over Craig Dixon at 150 and Ryan Cooper won a 6-3 decision over Miguel Sigaran at 157 pounds Sussex Tech a 26-17 lead.

Caesar Rodney coach Trey Mitchell said he was pleased with the fight his wrestlers showed in the matches they were not favored in during that stretch.

“We had to put faith in Miguel (Sigaran) to go out there and do what we call shaving points and he did more than I asked him to by keeping it to a decision and Sean Dixon did the same thing down low. That’s two freshmen that we asked them to do a lot tonight and they did it,” Mitchell said.

The Riders bumped their lineup starting at 165 pounds where Kenneth King pinned Logan Micinowski in 2:36, Logan Heffington followed by pinning Christian Hedges in 1:00 at 175 pounds. Owen Dixon kept the roll going at 190 pounds with a pin over Ethan Horner in 33 seconds and Owyn Dixon put the dual meet out of reach pinning Malachi Miller in 3:27 at 215 pounds as Caesar Rodney led 41-26.

Landon Sockriter ended the match with a 5-1 decision over Caleb Kellum at 285 pounds.

Each team won seven bouts during the match, but it was the six pins by Caesar Rodney that made the difference in the final outcome.

“Matches never go as planned and I have to tell myself that everytime we come out here, things didn’t go our way down low and our upper weights had to pick us up tonight. We talk about scoring and going after pins and we work on it at practice. Tonight we had some guy step up and get those pins,” Mitchell said.

Sussex Tech fell to 5-7 overall and 1-3 in the Henlopen North, the Ravens will host Indian River on Monday, January 29.

Number four ranked Caesar Rodney improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the Henlopen North, the Riders will travel to number two ranked Salesianum on Saturday.