GALION — Galion wrestling coach Brent Tyrrell said his team accomplished something on Wednesday that it hasn’t been able to do in his 13 years at the helm of the program.
Beat Northmor.
The Tigers (2-0) defeated the host Golden Knights 63-6 in the nightcap of the Northmor Super Tri that included Willard. Galion took down Willard, too, 69-6, to open its evening on the mat. Northmor lost to Willard 30-26 in the first bout of the tri.
“We’ve never beaten Northmor,” a visibly excited Tyrrell said following the match. “We’re excited right now. We knew we could do it. We came out and we wrestled well. It’s what we expected. … We’ve taken our lumps over the past 10 years. We’ve gotten closer and closer and now we’ve finally got over that hump against Northmor. It was fun.”
Tyrrell said his team’s performance against Northmor and Willard was especially gratifying considering the fact it was the Tigers first match of the 2020-2021 season.
“We haven’t wrestled anybody yet. We’ve only wrestled each other,” Tyrrell said. “It’s super-exciting. We have a very young team, but a very tough, hard-charging team. It’s a lot of fun. I’m impressed with our team effort. The kids wrestled hard and put their work in. Everybody got paid; that’s what we talk about. We practice really hard to get paid when we win a competition, so we got paid tonight. It was fun.”
Galion won seven matches via pinfall against Northmor. Connor Ganshorn (106 pounds), Kiddren Clark (120 pounds), Brodyn Butcher (126 pounds), Trevor Wall (132 pounds), Devin McCarthy (145 pounds), Sam Wegesin (152 pounds), and Kooper McCabe (170 pounds) each recorded pinfall victories.
One of the premier bouts of the tri occurred during the Northmor-Galion match at 160 pounds. Northmor junior Niko Christo, a two-time state meet qualifier who compiled a record of 43-7 last season, battled Galion freshman Landon Campbell in what turned out to be a stellar matchup. Christo eventually prevailed, 9-5, to avoid the upset. Campbell finished the evening with a 1-1 mark.
Northmor’s Marcus Cortez won the 138-pound matchup, defeating Galion’s Ian Lehman, 11-4. Cortez finished 2-0 for the meet after picking up an 18-3 win against Caden Barnett of Willard earlier in the evening. Lehman went 1-1 at the meet.
At 220 pounds, Caden Roberts of Galion defeated Northmor’s Gavin Whited, 11-4. Roberts went 2-0 at the meet. He recorded a pinfall win against Willard.
Whited finished 1-1 on the evening. He scored a pinfall to win his match against Willard.
Against Willard, the Tigers recorded seven pinfalls and a technical fall and got a major decision in another bout en route to the lopsided win.
Northmor coach Scott Carr said the Golden Knights performance in the home tri was better than it was a week ago during the home meet that opened the season.
“Last week we came out flat and acted like we didn’t know what we were doing,” Carr said. “This week, we had a little more, a little more heart to us, so that’s encouraging. We’re still young and we’re going to go through some growing pains here this season, but, hopefully, by the end, when it really matters, we’ll be ready to go.”
Northmor’s Dylan Amens collected a 3-1 win over Willard’s Aidan Bates at 145 pounds.
Up next
Galion is scheduled to wrestle in a tri-match next Wednesday at Clear Fork.
Northmor is scheduled to wrestle in a tournament Saturday at Big Walnut.