Panthers battle back for fifth

Feb. 6—CORALVILLE — After a resounding morning loss against Mount Vernon, the Creston boys wrestling team regrouped to win out Saturday at the state duals tournament to take fifth place.

Scoring 12 pins on the day, the Panthers found an easy win against Williamsburg and a close victory over Webster City. Two Panthers remained undefeated in the duals — William Bolinger (160) and Max Chapman (285) each with two pins.

Creston came in to the eight-team state duals ranked fourth with a first-round opponent of the fifth-ranked Mustangs.

Creston v. Mount Vernon

The Mustangs got out to a commanding lead, winning the first five bouts over the Panthers.

Jase Jaspers, ranked fourth in the state at 126, began the dual with a 2:16 pin over Lincoln Keeler. Croix Shebetka continued the momentum, pinning Trey Chesnut in the first period.

Creston's previous state qualifying wrestler Austin Evans battled for three periods, but lost in a 3-0 decision to Mikey Ryan. Panther senior Chris Aragon also fought for six minutes, but fell in a 12-2 major decision.

Creston's Milo Staver took the mat to try to reverse the momentum. He found a quick takedown against Tristin Nosbisch, but when trying to find the pin, Staver's shoulders went flat, pinning him.

The score was 25-0 with all the energy coming from the Mustangs' bench.

"We had no energy against Mount Vernon which is uncharacteristic of us," Creston coach Cody Downing said. "I've never seen that of us."

Bolinger came out ready to change the narrative for the Panthers. He had Jackson Hird on his back multiple times, scoring on three separate near falls. Though he was unable to stick the pin, he won in an 11-2 major decision to end the scoring drought and put four on the board.

The 170-pound bout featured two state-ranked wrestlers. Creston's ninth-ranked Kaden Street took on Mount Vernon's fifth-ranked Henry Ryan. Street was unable to score against Ryan, falling in a 12-0 major decision.

The Panthers' Jagger Luther faced Watson Krob in a back-and-forth battle. Luther said being so far back in points motivated him to go out there and give it his all. "Last time I ended up beating him I think 6-2," Luther said of Krob. "It gave me a little more confidence, but I was still nervous given it's the state duals."

Krob started quick, taking down Luther twice, but Luther was able to find the escape both times. Starting down in the second period, Luther escaped and followed it with a take down to take the 5-4 lead. Krob's escape tied the score 5-5 going into the final period.

The two exchanged points in the third, but a late takedown earned Luther the 9-8 decision.

"Jagger, he stepped up," Downing said. "He looked like the old Jagger today."

Freshman Gunner Martwick and junior Quinten Fuller both took losses.

Heavyweight Chapman, ranked 11th, faced Trystin Lashley, ranked 10th. In a quick victory, Chapman pinned Lashley in the first minute.

"It's kind of a mentality where you've got to think you're the baddest man on the mat," Chapman explained. "I've really been working on going out there, wrestling solid. If the pin is there, then I'll get it, but not so much going out there and immediately looking for a catch. A lot of times it's really easy to catch bigger guys like that, especially out of position. I wasn't necessarily expecting it, but it didn't really come as a surprise."

Freshmen Kylen Parsons and Lane Travis both fell in pins at 106 and 113.

Christian Ahrens rounded out the dual with a fast 45 second pin over Drew Thurn to make the final score 51-19 — sending the Panthers to the consolation bracket to battle for fifth.

Creston vs. Williamsburg

After the loss against the Mustangs, the Panthers were ready for a change of pace. Facing eighth-ranked Williamsburg brought that shift.

As they took the mat, Downing told the team to 'get jacked up.' "We've got to get back in this," he said. "We win as a team, lose as a team."

Chesnut had the task of setting the tone for the second dual, but he was ready for it. "I just wanted to wrestle my match without feeling any pressure and embrace the moment," the senior said. "Before I walked out there, I knew I was going to win this match, and I needed to for the team."

In a second-period pin over Caleb Mohr, Chesnut flipped the script.

"Once Trey went out there and wrestled good, it changed everything," Fuller said. "Everyone was a lot happier. I don't know if we didn't come ready this morning or what, but once we got a win, the other team didn't have a chance."

Evans won with a 3-0 decision in the following match, and Aragon had a first-period pin over Brett Santiago to open the lead 15-0. Aragon said he wanted to bounce back from his earlier loss, and he was excited just to be there.

Also looking for redemption, Staver faced William Van Dee. With multiple take downs throughout the bout and near fall points in the third, Staver took the 10-2 major decision.

Bolinger and Street continued the dominance, with a pin and tech fall, respectively to widen the score 30-0.

The Raiders found their first points of the dual as state-ranked Gable Dayton pinned Luther in 37 seconds.

Fuller and Chapman responded with two first-period pins.

"I've wrestled him before and I pinned him really fast so I knew I could beat him," Fuller said of his opponent Gavin Vesey. "I was looking for this weekend as a chance to really prove myself, get my ranking back." Previously ranked at 220, a wrist injury sidelined Fuller for several weeks, cost him his spot.

Parsons was pinned and Travis fell in a 10-3 decision.

Ahrens faced Gavin Jensen, ranked third at 120. Of the eight teams competing, six had a ranked 120-pounder.

"Coming into it, I knew in my head that the matches don't really matter as long as I'm not giving up bonus points and I'm still working toward winning those matches," Ahrens said. "Most of the time when you go into the state tournament, you haven't wrestled everybody there yet. So getting to wrestle them before is just getting to learn how they wrestle."

Though they wrestled the full six minutes, Ahrens fell in a 6-0 decision.

Keeler wrapped up the dual with a quick first-period pin over Anthony Fenton to finalize the score 51-18.

Creston v. Webster City

The Lynx proved the closest battle for the Panthers in a rollercoaster dual.

The Panthers got out to a strong start with Evans pinning Tristan Mason in 2:37. "I wanted to get a good start knowing it would be a tough dual, and you always want to end on a high note coming off a rough start in the morning," Evans said. "Getting this last one was good for both me and the team."

Aragon followed the victory up with one of his own, winning in an 11-4 decision.

Lynx Jordan Vankham quickly took the lead over Staver, nearly pinning him in the first period. Staver battled back, earning penalty and takedown points, but it wasn't enough to escape the 9-6 loss.

Bolinger earned his third victory of the day with a late second-period pin over Brady Jessen. In an uncharacteristic loss, Street fell to Austin Mason late in the first period.

Luther won with a 6-3 decision against Dylan Burnette-Bingham, making the score 18-9 in Creston's favor with several tough matchups to come.

Martwick escaped an initial takedown, but CJ Hisler put him back to the mat and found the 26 second pin to close the gap 18-15.

As Fuller took the mat against number three ranked Jaxon Cherry, the team was looking for Fuller to not give up a pin. Though Cherry earned points for near falls, Fuller kept his shoulders off the mat, losing in a 12-2 major decision.

"Q had him on his back there," Downing said. "We're still working some rust off him. He didn't have easy competition at all today."

Needing points as the Lynx took the 19-18 lead, Chapman won with a hard-fought 2-1 decision over Landon Griffin.

The pressure began to mount as the last wrestlers prepared for their bouts. "After Chapman went out there, I was doing all the math of what we need to do to win," Travis said. "It was really close, and we knew Christian would have a tough match, and I needed to go out there and do good."

After Parsons was pinned in the first period, Travis took the mat — the Panthers down four points.

"My dad texted me, 'he's bigger than you; don't tie up,'" Travis said. "I was really just thinking how can I get him on his back without taking any huge risk, and what I needed to do to do that."

Travis took Dawson Bertran to the mat and locked in a cradle, but was unable to get the pin. A second attempt found him pinning Bertran as time expired in the first.

"It felt amazing," Travis said. "Walking off with everybody cheering and clapping, Cody happy — it was amazing."

Ahrens faced top-ranked Carson Doolittle, an opponent familiar to him. "Every time I've wrestled him, it's either tech fall or he pinned me the second time we wrestled," Ahrens said. "Going in to it, I'm just trying to close the gap."

In order to keep the score close, Ahrens needed to avoid getting pinned. After three rounds, Ahrens fell in an 11-3 major decision.

"Christian probably had the toughest day of anybody as far as who he drew," Downing said. "I told him, Doolittle tech falled us the first time; now we've cut it down to an eight-point match; now the next step is to win the match."

Down 29-27, Keeler regained the lead for the Panthers with a 1:42 pin over Adison Scott of Webster City.

The last bout featured Chesnut against Brayden Henely. "I started embracing it," Chesnut said of being the last to wrestle. "People wish they were in that moment."

The finale lasted the full three rounds before Chesnut was crowned victor in a 5-2 decision, making the final score 33-29.

Looking back on the day, Downing said the first dual sticks out for the wrong reasons. "Coming back, getting two wins against two good teams, we showed we belong here," he added. "Our whole team got to go, that's always the deal I always make with them. Now we pass it along, how did we get here, what did work, what didn't work, and hopefully we can grow from it."

The Panthers travel to Shenandoah Tuesday in a postponed dual before district competition begins later in the week.