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St. Marys' Dyllan Fink, right, tries to reverse a hold on Van Wert's Briggs Wallace during Thursday's match at St. Marys.
ST. MARYS - St. Marys celebrated the win in Western Buckeye League wrestling on Thursday night, but it was a bit dampened by an injury in the final bout of the night.
The Roughriders leveled their league mark to 3-3 with a 57-21 win over Van Wert at Grand Lake Health System Court.
Only two of the contested matches went the full six minutes, with both teams picking up pins.
The first and final contested bout both ended via injury defaults, but the second one proved to be the most concerning.
At 175 pounds, St. Marys' Cole Donovan tried a takedown on Van Wert's Max Heuerman, who landed awkwardly and stayed on the mat. The match was immediately stopped as coaches and the St. Marys trainer went to check on Heuerman. St. Marys Fire Department paramedics came to secure the neck, place Heuerman on a backboard and take him to the hospital.
With the 190 weight class being voided by Van Wert, the match ended.
The first bout of the night ended when Van Wert's Ben Verville was unable to continue due to a leg injury as he limped off the mat, giving Zaden Williams the win at 215 pounds. Van Wert got its first win at 285 as Breese Bollenbacher pinned Robert Williams in 79 sceonds. After the Roughriders got a win at 106 with the Cougars voiding, Jax VanGundy picked up St. Marys' first pin of the night in 1:41 over Heath Calvelage at 113 pounds.
St. Marys' Jax VanGundy tries to turn over Van Wert's Heath Calvelage for a pin attempt during Thursday's 113-pound bout.
Van Wert scored the two wins via pinfall as Ryan Wallace pinned Colton Leudeke with 58 seconds remaining in the match at 120, followed by Tristan Hoehn pinning Declan Bruce in 95 seconds at 126.
After St. Marys picked up six more points when Van Wert voided 132, Tate Hisey made quick work of Roman Martin at 138, as the 2024 state champion pinned Martin in 59 seconds.
The 144 bout was the first to go the distance, with Briggs Wallace scoring four points in the third period to record the 10-4 decision over Dyllan Fink at 144 to cut the Cougar deficit to 30-21. Noah Bruce quickly stopped the momentum, pinning Ben Hamilton in 1:09 at 150 to make it 36-21 Riders. Zach Myers defeated Alex Benner at 157 pounds via 12-7 decision.
St. Marys' Zach Myers, right, pulls Van Wert's Alex Benner back from outside the circle in their 157-pound bout.
At 165, 2024 state runner-up Bo Hertenstein jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first period, then chose the up position to start the second period and needed just five seconds to get the pin on Auston Welker at 165.
"Right now, as young as we are and what we're putting out there, we'll take any win we can get," said St. Marys coach Larry Gruber. "We have three more duals in the league. It's going by so fast."
St. Marys is off until next Thursday when St. Marys hosts Shawnee in a WBL match.
