Senior Jadan Whitney continues to look unstoppable, winning two matches at home on Thursday night.
The Trenton High School wrestling team, however, fell twice in a triangular with Richmond and Brookfield.
The Bulldogs opened with a 39-30 loss to Richmond and fell 42-34 in the nightcap with Brookfield. In both duals, open weights took a toll on Trenton.
vs. RICHMOND
Trenton fell way behind early in its battle with the Spartans. Thomas Lovell dropped a close 14-11 decision at 106 to open the dual and the Bulldogs yielded six points at 113 and 120 before Brice Gibler was pinned at 126.
Payden McCullough nearly had his opponent pinned at 132, but couldn’t complete the fall. He would go on to lose by a single point, 10-9. Trenton lost six more points after that as the Bulldogs were open at 138, pushing the Spartan lead to 30-0.
Trenton roared back from that point, however. Kaden Owen scored a win by fall at 145 and, after a double forfeit at 152, the Bulldogs followed it up with wins by forfeit from Noah Lewis at 160 and Mark Trump at 170.
At 182, Caleb Johnson kept the Bulldog comeback alive with a win by fall and Whitney tied the dual at 30-30 with his win by fall at 195.
Whitney controlled his match the whole way, taking down his opponent once before cutting him loose and allowing an escape. Whitney’s second take down followed and there would be no getting up from this one as Whitney completed the pin.
Following the win, however, Trenton was open at 220 to give Richmond the lead again. At 285, Jarvis Collis lost by a 4-0 decision to preserve the win for the Spartans.
“Against Richmond, I felt like we really gave a couple of matches away,” Trenton Head Coach Charlie Bacon said. “It was a very winnable dual and the matches we had to have to win just didn’t go our way. Head-to-head they won four matches and we won three. We did give away four open weights, which really hurt us in both duals.”
vs. BROOKFIELD
After taking a 6-0 lead against Brookfield with a win by forfeit at 106 from Lovell, Trenton watched Brookfield score wins by forfeit at 113, 120 and 126. Gibler picked up a win in the first match on the mat for the dual, defeating his opponent at 132 by a 13-4 major decision. That would be a theme throughout as Trenton dominated the action on the mat.
McCullough followed with a win by fall at 138 and Owen scored a 6-1 decision win at 145. Again, however, open weights hurt Trenton as the Bulldogs yielded six points at 152.
Lewis picked up a win by fall at 160 and Trump won by a 4-2 decision at 170.
Trenton’s first loss on the mat came at 220, where Johnson was pinned, but Whitney scored his second win by fall of the night at 195 to get those points back.
At 220, Trenton lost by forfeit for the fifth time in the dual. Collis was pinned at 285 to push Brookfield’s final margin of victory to eight points.
Despite the loss, Trenton won six-of-eight matches contested on the mat in the dual.
“Against Brookfield we looked a lot better as a team and I was happy with our performance,” Bacon said. “We did everything in our power to win that dual but just couldn’t overcome the open weight classes. I was proud of the way our boys bounced back after a sloppy first dual and looked a lot better.
“Jadan Whitney got two pins tonight, along with freshman Kaden Owen, who got two big wins in front of the home crowd. Noah Lewis also had a great match at 160, picking up a pin for us.”
With the two losses, Trenton slid to 7-8 overall on the season in dual matches.
GIRLS
Only one girls match was contested at the dual. It came at 167, where Trenton’s Libby Fewins defeated a Brookfield opponent by an 11-7 decision. Teresa Yoder scored a win by forfeit over Brookfield. Richmond had no female wrestlers.
UP NEXT
Trenton is scheduled to be in tournament action on Saturday at the Brookfield Tournament. That event is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m.
Trenton will be at home again on Tuesday, hosting Chillicothe in a dual scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.