Going into Tuesday night’s wrestling match against Sheffield, Bradford High head coach Jamey Miller thought the result would be a close one.

Then one of his starters fell ill, and Miller didn’t feel quite as optimistic. Once on the mat, the Owls made quick work of Sheffield, winning six of the seven matches that took place for the 48-28 victory.

All the Bradford wins came by way of pin, with each victory adding a valuable six points to the scoreboard.

“I really had this match going either way when I was looking at it,” Miller said, “especially when our normal 160-pounder went home sick today. I thought, ‘Oh boy.’

“I sat down and rethought it and we’re looking at probably 30-28 one way or the other. I just turned around and told the guys how close I thought it would be so they needed to get those sixes on the board.”

The Owls were able to lean on their middle-weight depth to move to 3-5 overall and 2-2 in the Allegheny Mountain Wrestling League.

“All our kids from 126 up to Derek Sunafrank, their records are all outstanding,” Miller said. “Tyler Thompson has been on a mission to make up ground from his freshman year – he had a concussion and was out half the season. He’s on a mission to get those wins built up so he can get to that 100-win club.”

The night started with arguably the night’s best matchup, as Bradford’s Mike McAvoy took on an aggressive Kevin Marfink at 145 pounds. Marfink took a 4-2 lead into the second period before McAvoy was able to get a takedown to tie the score.

McAvoy became the aggressor late in the match, pinning the Wolverine 12 seconds after he took injury time.

The win was the first of four-straight pins for the Owls to start the match, something Miller was pleased with.

“We started out bang, bang, bang,” Miller said. “We told the kids we would have the possibility of a close one and needed to put sixes on the board at the beginning to get out in front. We knew we were going to give up some forfeits.”

Jaron Ambrose, Sunafrank and Chance McGuire were responsible for the other fall victories as the match progressed through the 152-, 160- and 170-pound classes, respectively.

Ambrose got his win by overpowering Adam Zimmerman at the beginning of the second period. Ambrose started on the bottom to start, got to his feet and then promptly took down Zimmerman for the pin.

Sunafrank defeated Cody Marfink in 2:37, while McGuire had his hand raised after a 4:30 bout against Wilson Delee.

At 182 pounds, Sheffield’s Kevin Evans technical pinned Hunter Gray by a score of 20-7 for Sheffield’s lone match victory. Evans worked for a pin late in the third quarter, but Gray did enough to avoid it for the Owls, which held a 24-4 lead after the match.

“He wrestled tough and didn’t give up the pin at the end,” Miller said. “The heart’s there.”

Austin McCracken got the Owls back on track at 220 pounds and made quick work of Jake Winslow, pinning him in 1:11. Then three forfeits helped Sheffield close the gap to 30-28 despite winning just one match.

Bradford’s Colby Keane’s pin victory of Jacob Disshon at 3:18 made sure there was no hope for a Wolverine comeback. The match ended with Bradford forfeits at 132 and 138 pounds.

Sheffield’s Nolan Nudd, Nick Knowles, Caden Smead and Kole Holden took forfeits, while Bradford’s Thompson and Kyle Hartman had forfeit victories. There was no 113-pound match.

The Owls continue on with a busy week, as the team hosts Cameron County on Thursday and heads to North East on Friday morning for a two-day tournament that commences Friday afternoon. Sheffield (0-5 AMWL) also is at the North East tournament.

At Bradford

BRADFORD 48, SHEFFIELD 28

106 – Caden Smead (S) won by forfeit

113 – No match

120 – Kole Holden (S) won by forfeit

126 – Colby Keane (B) pinned Jacob Disshon, 3:18

132 – Tyler Thompson (B) won by forfeit

138 – Kyle Hartman (B) won by forfeit

145 – Mike McAvoy (B) pinned Kevin Marfink, 4:46

152 – Jaron Ambrose (B) pinned Adam Zimmerman, 2:37

160 – Derek Sunafrank (B) pinned Cody Marfink, 4:30

170 – Chance McGuire (B) pinned Wilson Delee, 2:37

182 – Kevin Evans (S) technical pinned Hunter Gray, 20-7

195 – Nolan Nudd (S) won by forfeit

220 – Austin McCracken (B) pinned Jake Winslow, 1:11

HWT – Nick Knowles (S) won by forfeit