HESPERIA – Plenty of talent graced the mats in Hesperia, Wednesday, Dec. 18 as the Panthers hosted their annual Toys for Tots meet – inviting two of Division 3’s top squads.
The Panthers started the night with a conference battle, taking on reigning WMC Rivers champs, Hart. Hesperia kicked things off with a hard fought win in the 106-pound bout between Carter Fuentes and Sawyer Boos. Fuentes found himself behind by a large margin, but found a way to secure a victory via pin after nearly six minutes of action.
Hart took control from that point, rattling off 12 individual wins to push their team score to 62. Winning in that stretch were Aiden Schaner, Kole Thomas, Caden VanGelderen, Julian Vazquez, Halen Boos, Logan Jorissen, Haegan Hansen, Kai Miller, Alex Hicks, Eman Hertzler, Abdel Lopez and Adrian Lara. In total, the Pirates took seven of the matches by pin to help secure a win over Hesperia.
Skyler Stalbaum was the only Panther other than Fuentes to grab a win over Hart. Stalbaum pinned Emmanuel Ortega at the 2:35 mark to bring Hesperia’s final team total to 12.
As many expected, Hart moved on to the biggest match of the night, facing off with Whitehall. Both the Pirates (No. 9) and Vikings (No. 2) entered the night as ranked teams in D3. The stakes were high for both teams and that became apparent from the get-go.
After Jordan Thies got Hart a 6-0 lead via pin in the 113-pound match, Cody Manzo of Whitehall took a 7-5 decision over Kole Thomas. Both of those matches got heated, resulting in each team being docked a point for unsportsmanlike conduct.
That started a back-and-forth night, with each team grabbing strings of victories. Whitehall’s Max Krukowski and Kolten Weiler defeated Hart’s VanGelderen and Vazquez after Manzo snagged his win. Then, Hart rattled off three wins of their own with Boos, Jorissen and Ortega pushing the Pirates’ lead to 25-10.
Whitehall wasn’t done, claiming four of the next five bouts with Blake English, Liam Leeke, and Parker Mott defeating Hansen, Miller and Hertzler of Hart. Gavin Craner took the 190-pound class for Whitehall via Hart forfeit.
Hicks and Lara each record pins to force a tight race. With just the 106-pound wrestlers left, Hart held a narrow 32-31 point lead.
The Pirates could not hold on however, as Sawyer Boos was defeated by Whitehall’s Thomas Leeke in a 6-1 decision that awarded the Vikings three points. That left Hart behind by two points when all was said and done.
Hesperia didn’t have any luck in their second matchup of the night, falling 55-24 to Sparta. While the Panthers were able to score double the amount of points they got against Hart, they were unable to claim a team victory, dropping to 0-2 on the night.
Aiden Smith, Ryan Fuentes, Logan Kammer and Stalbaum all notched wins for the Panthers in that match.
