Tied at 15 with seven matches to go, the DuBois wrestling team closed out a win over Bradford with three consecutive falls late in Thursday’s dual meet.
The evening’s action started at 152 pounds and, after six matches, the sides were even as lineups flipped back to their lightest weight. The Beavers won five of seven matches from there, however, running away with a 42-23 victory in a meeting between two of District 9’s three Class 3A teams.
“We needed to do a better job of getting focused before the match and that’s on me; I’ll take responsibility,” Bradford head coach Stefan Chaussard said. “I don’t think we were mentally ready to go out there and I think it showed. I give DuBois a lot of credit — they wrestled really well.”
The dual started with two upbeat matches, each side claiming three team points.
Alex George overcame a first-period hole to score a DuBois win at 152. After Cascius Rissmiller’s takedown in the first, George got three takedowns to seal a 7-4 victory.
Lukas Laktash then pieced together a 4-1 victory for Bradford at 160, keeping Carter Wilson on the mat for the majority of the match.
Latkash secured a takedown on the edge of the mat in the first period after a minute of defensive work by Wilson. Laktash started the second period with a reversal and rode Wilson the rest of the bout, including the entirety of the third.
DuBois forfeited to Bradford at 172 pounds and Dawson Smith followed with a momentum-securing fall at 189, taking his opponent down to his back and wrapping up a pin in the waning seconds of the first period. At that point, Bradford led, 15-3.
“It started out in a good spot for us. (Smith) really came through,” Chaussard said. “He kind of weathered the storm and dug deep, and he did a nice job of capitalizing when his opponent was in a bad position.”
DuBois seized momentum back after Smith’s fall with back-to-back pins at 215 and 285 to tie the meet as the teams flipped to 107 pounds. A quick fall by DuBois’ Antonio Giambanco gave the Beavers a six-point advantage when, at 114 and 121, the sides traded 5-1 decisions.
Bradford’s Gage Wilmoth scored a pair of takedowns in his victory over Aubree Donahue before DuBois’ Jeff Morris did the same in the following match. It was the Beavers’ three consecutive falls thereafter, however, that put Bradford away.
Jordan Thompson worked a win for Bradford via technical fall at 145, the final match of the night. Thompson hit a fireman’s carry for a quick takedown before compiling near-fall points in a 15-0 victory.
Bradford and DuBois will be joined by Punxsutawney and five schools from District 4 at the District 4/9 Class 3A championships, held this year Feb. 18 at Jersey Shore. The Owls will host back-to-back meets next week, entertaining Port Allegany Monday and Oswayo Valley Tuesday.
“The hope is to close the gap on some of their guys,” Chaussard said. “Seeing tendencies and what guys like to do helps, but for some of the guys, it will be trying to close that gap.”
DuBois won the junior high meet, 57-15. Bradford winners included Carson Hallock, Tommy Langdon and Cooper McGee.
285 — Zack Gallagher (D) p. 2:30 Chase Gray (B)
