Wrestling

Norwich

Cameron Turner

Sun Staff Writer

cturner@evesun.com

CHENANGO FORKS – The Norwich Purple Tornado Wrestling team was on the road for a secondstraight night, as they traveled to Chenango Forks last night, Dec. 23, to take on another Section 4 rival.

“We have wrestled 11 matches in five days, so after last nights loss we really wanted to get a win, and we needed it,” said Norwich Head Coach Bob Hagenbuch.

This Wednesday night matchup featured a Norwich team coming off a close loss at 39 to 37, the night before to Johnson City.

“Last night we came out a little flat, I think maybe we were a little tired, not tonight though,” said Hagenbuch, “ you never want to lose two in a row, but they came out firing on all cylinders every match.”

Prior to that Tuesday matchup against JC, Norwich wrestled this last weekend at the Owego Duels Tournament. Norwich won eight out of nine of the duel meets at that tournament, only falling short to Vestal.

The night began and ended with a pin for Norwich, barring a late forfeit from Norwich at the last weight of 182-pounds, as Norwich dominated Forks for the better part of the duel meet.

Norwich jumped out to quick start, getting a pin from Jake Franklin over Chenango Forks’ Josh Gould at 2:33 into the match at the 195-pound spot.

Norwich surrendered pins to Forks at the 220-pound, and 285-pound spots, to give Forks their only team lead of the night at 12-6.

“Our heavyweights are looking better than they did last night, we work with them every minute we get,” said Hagenbuch.

Norwich would quickly reclaim the team lead, which they would hold for the remainder of the duel meet, racking up a total of six pins on the night at the 195 (Franklin), 106 (Rodriguez), 113 (Glanville), 145 (C. Rifanburg), 152 (Murphy), and 170 (Slater) pound weights, as they would steam roll their way to a 55-27 win over Forks.

“We were ahead pretty much ahead the whole time. I told the guys if we got a win tonight, there would be no practice tomorrow,” said Hagenbuch.

Hagenbuch plans to hold true to his word, and give his wrestlers a day off to rest on Christmas Eve.

The last match of the night at the 170-pound slot proved to be a big one as Brennan Slater notched a late third period pin over Mike Riggins. Riggins had previously defeated Slater twice.

“It was great Brennan Slater avenged a loss to a kid from last year he had lost to, and he got the pin,” said Hagenbuch.

Norwich currently sitting at a record of 11-2, will have a short break for the Christmas, before they prepare for the upcoming Christmas Tournament in Windsor this coming Monday and Tuesday.

“I really don’t know what to say other than we wrestled tough, everyone stepped up tonight and we got pins where we needed to get them, said Hagenbuch, “none of our guys quit, we wrestle six minutes. We push the pace, we keep the pace.”

Match Results: 195: Jake Franklin (N) pinned Josh Gould, 2:33. 220: Zane Burns pinned Dakota Hall, 1:49. 285: Cole Wiggins (N) lost to Dustin Gould by pin, 1:50. 99: Mike Squires (N) won by fft. 106: Eli Rodriguez (N) pinned Jacob Bogue, 1:25. 113: Nick Glanville (N) pinned Gauri Reyes, :42. 120:  Cristobal Caballero lost to Pat Borelli (JC) by pin, :52. 126: Dalen Geislinger d. Chris Borrelli, 11-5. 132: Zach Mills (N) dec. Justin Rouse, 13-4. 138: Ty Rifanburg (N) won by fft. 145: Cole Rifanburg (N) pinned Jacob Topa, :45. 152: Nick Murphy (N) pinned Braxton Stout-Moran, 3:36. 160: Dusten Marvin (N) lost to Jeremiah Allen (CF), 6-4. 170: Brennan Slater (N) pinned Mike Riggins, 5:39. 182: Chris Pohlhamus won by fft.