PLYMOUTH – It came down to the final match and the final period but Plymouth’s wrestlers walked away with their first NLC win of the year over Elkhart Memorial by a 31-30 final.
Dominick Smith was able to defeat Sema Reid in the final match of the night at the 126 pound weight class by a 10-5 decision to give Plymouth the win.
“This is a big win for us because we’re 0-5 coming in and they’re 2-2,” said Plymouth head coach Bob Read. “I really think our kids out battled them is what it came down to. As young as we are our kids battled to the end and you don’t always see that.”
“In 41 years of coaching I’ve never had this kind of lineup,” said Read. “We have three juniors and everybody else is a freshman with a couple of sophomores. The (Nathaniel) Derifield kid set the stage for this. He battles back and beats his kid. (Smith) is good at 126 so he put it in his hands to win it.”
In the match just before Smith’s Plymouth got within striking distance when Derifield came from behind and took an 11-9 decision over Kayden Shepard at 120. With the score 30-28 it set the stage for the final match of the night and the Plymouth win.
The kids work so hard that they have to get better,” said Read. “I’m really proud of this group. They work their tails off and it’s not an easy sport.”
Plymouth got pins from Graham Calhoun at 170 in 4:30, Diego Garcia at 220 in 1:26 and Andrew Himes at 285 in 2:12. Fernando Rebollo had a major decision over his opponent at 17-5.
Plymouth will wrestle at Concord Thursday night at 6:45 p.m.
•Plymouth (PLYM) 31, Elkhart Memorial (ELKM)30.
132: Jordan Howard (PLYM) over Joey Cole (ELKM) (Dec 7-3)
138: Brice Johnson (ELKM) over Tyler Richey (PLYM) (Dec 4-2)
145: Fernando Rebollo (PLYM) over Graham Elli (ELKM) (MD 17-5)
152: Kamden Goering (ELKM) over Sal Rhoads (PLYM) (Fall 1:29)
160: Clayton Lundy (ELKM) over Zach Truitt (PLYM) (Fall 3:21)
170: Graham Calhoun (PLYM) over Ben Thomas (ELKM) (Fall 4:13)
182: Nathan Sabas (ELKM) over Ethan Pike (PLYM) (Fall 4:52)
195: Alexander Ploner (ELKM) over Isaac Navejar (PLYM) (Fall 5:27)
220: Diego Garcia (PLYM) over James Goldsborough (ELKM) (Fall 1:26)
285: Andrew Himes (PLYM) over Andrew Schulz (ELKM) (Fall 2:12)
106: Kallie Canfield (ELKM) over Michael Meadway (PLYM) (Fall 5:16)
113: Double Forfeit
120: Nathaniel Derifield (PLYM) over Kayden Shepard (ELKM) (SV-1 11-9)
126: Dominic Smith (PLYM) over Sema Reid (ELKM) (Dec 10-5)
