Escape act
BUTLER TWP — Winning wasn't enough for Mars wrestler Alex Hornfeck. He needed no less than a technical fall for the Planets to pull out a team victory in a Section 3 match at Butler Wednesday night.
The Golden Tornado held a 36-31 lead entering the night's final bout at 126 pounds, between Hornfeck and Jack Codispot.
“A technical fall would have tied the score and we would have won on tiebreaker,” said Mars coach Jason Wilk. “I figured this match would come down to the last couple of bouts.”
Hornfeck took control early with a takedown of Codispot in the first period. The former built his lead to 19-6 with 45 seconds left in the third period, but Codispot avoided both a pin and two more points scored against him which would have equaled a technical fall, allowing the Tornado to escape with a 36-35 win at Butler Intermediate High School.
Both wrestlers were visibly spent following the match.
“I thought I had a real chance to pin him,” said Hornfeck. “It just didn't happen.”
“I told Alex that he has nothing to be ashamed about,” said Wilk. “He wrestled a tough kid tonight.”
Codispot was able to move off his back and onto his knees late in the bout, avoiding near-fall points that would have given the team win to Mars.
“Jack has been sick and has missed a couple of practices,” said Butler coach Scott Stoner. “He's kicking a bug and is dehydrated, but that's not the whole story of tonight. Mars came out and was very aggressive.”
The match started at 132 pounds and the Planets won four of the first five bouts, including pins from Aiden Leshinsky (132) and Jake Richardson (145).
“I can't say I expected us to struggle at those weights tonight, but I'm not surprised,” Stoner said. “Our guys need to take losing personally and they don't.”
Entering the 170-pound bout, Butler trailed 19-6. That's when senior Caleb Baxter ignited the Tornado's comeback with a second-period pin of Justin Petrilina.
Baxter weighed in at 158 pounds.
“He (Petrilina) was at 168, so that's 10 pounds difference,” said Baxter. “But I go up against bigger kids in practice all the time. I just needed to go out and get us six points.”
Butler won the next four matches with Tom Greaves and Saavon Mosby scoring pins at 195 and 220, respectively.
A fall earned by Butler's Isaiah Christy at 113 was book-ended by pins from Mars' Noah Hunkele and Nolan Wicker, setting the stage for Hornfeck and Codispot.
“We have a solid team this year and it's a full team,” said Wilk. “In years past, we'd give up forfeits left and right and that was a problem for us.”
While Mars (0-1) is off until January, Butler (3-0) wrestles at Peters Township Friday night.
“Right now, our guys are doing enough just to get by,” said Stoner. “By no means is that a reflection on our coaching. The guys are backing off when they could get tougher and go after more points. We need to do some soul-searching and discover why it is we call ourselves wrestlers.”
(Match started at 132 pounds)106-Noah Hunkele (M) pinned Cam Weisenstein, 1:36; 113-Isaiah Christy (B) pinned Alex Chen, 4:57; 120-Nolan Wicker (M) pinned Colton Spohn, 3:40 ; 126-Alex Hornfeck (M) major dec. Jack Codispot, 19-6; 132-Aiden Leshinsky (M) pinned Shane Culp, 5:51; 138-Scott Dietrich (B) pinned Max Lamm, 5:12; 145-Jake Richardson (M) pinned Sam Dietrich, 1:27; 152-Mitchell McMarlin (M) dec. Justin Stewart, 4-2; 160-Sean McElhinney (M) major dec. Robert Hays, 14-2; 170-Caleb Baxter (B) pinned Justin Petrilina, 2:51; 182-Jacob White (B) dec. Isaiah Johnson, 7-4; 195-Tom Greaves (B) pinned Nick Schriver, 2:31; 220-Saavon Mosby (B) pinned Max Aubrecht, 3:14; Hwt.-Seth McCrea (B) dec. Jeff DeSantes, 4-1
