Cape wrestling wins pair of weekend matches
“What the heck was that?'' Cape fans were asking after Cape’s hard-earned victory over Lake Forest.
Cape wrestling had to reach down and go hard at home over the weekend, beating St. Georges Tech 46-22 Feb. 2, then coming back the next day to survive a scare from Lake Forest before locking down a 46-25 victory.
“Both St. Georges and Lake Forest are good and well-coached teams. They give no forfeits and show up tough for every bout,” said Cape coach Chris Mattioni.
The Cape win over Lake included nine total pins – six for Cape and three for Lake – and a tech fall for Cape. Each team had a win by major decision.
Cape was leading the Lake match, which started at 106 pounds, 27-9 after a Nick Walker tech fall over Ian Nance at 144 pounds.
Lake answered with 16 straight points: 150 pounds, Case Dempsey major decision over Noah Diamond; 157, Coen Dempsey pin over Kingston Davis (5:40); and 165, Shawn Ferrell pin over Hayden Wheeler (2:59).
The score closed to 27-25 in favor of Cape with four bouts remaining.
“Both guys who got pinned were leading,” Mattioni said. “Obviously we needed a big finish.”
Jeffrey Rainier at 175 got the biggest win of his career, beating Brogan Thomas 4-2 in overtime with a sudden-victory takedown. But Rainier was hit for an unsportsmanlike two-point team deduction for his celebratory gesturing, which the referee interpreted as taunting.
Cape took a 28-25 lead into the final three matches.
Cape closed with three pins, starting with Luke Arnold-Decyk, 190, over Chase Lewis (3:04); Patrick Donahue, 215, over Cullen Parsell (2:44); and Sean Costello, 285, over Matt Cannon (2:44).
Cape’s other pins in the match were Austin Guerrieri, 106, over Kamren McCray (1:40); Cale Baker, 113, over Aaron Ratledge (0:48); and Tripp Gannon, 120, over Mason Ferrell (2:59).
The Friday Senior Night 46-22 Cape win over St. Georges started at 120 and saw the Vikings trailing 16-3 after four bouts.
The Vikings responded with a 43-6 run over the next 10 matches, highlighted by pins from Nick Walker at 144, Hayden Wheeler at 165, Patrick Donahue at 215 and Cale Baker at 113.
Cape is scheduled to host Smyrna Monday, Feb. 5, with JV matches starting at 5 p.m. Cape then travels to Sussex Tech Wednesday, Feb. 7, for a 6 p.m. match.
