Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Banner matmen fought hard, came away with a couple of wins

The Banner County Wildcat wrestling club hosted their wrestling tournament on Saturday, Dec. 10 with Bridgeport, Garden County, Hemingford, Holyoke, Kimball, Lingle-Ft. Laramie, Morrill and Southeast in attendance.

Gage Alexander is just coming back from an injury, according to coach Bill Gifford, so he was unable to wrestle at the home tournament.

Wrestling at 120 pounds, newcomer Jerardo Castillo finished sixth after losing by fall to Holden Schleve of Morrill in 1:16 then losing by technical fall to Trevor Ryschon of Kimball and being injured in his final match of the day, a loss by fall to Drake Yates of Garden County in 4:49.

Castillo forfeited to Isaiah Bryner of Hemingford and gave Garrett Pedersen of Kimball an injury default.

"We don't know about the extent of the injury yet," coach Bill Gifford said. "We will just have to give it a little time and see how he progresses. I know Jerardo was disappointed, as was his teammates, but sometimes that's just the way things go, and you have to take the good with the bad and deal with it."

Deven Sullivan (3-7), wrestling at 138 pounds, placed fourth for the team's top placing and scored eight points for the Wildcats. Sullivan lost his first round to Todd Walker, of Lingle-Ft. Laramie, by fall in 1:23.

Following the tough start, Sullivan won by disqualification over Logan Higgs of Holyoke and then pinned Angel Rojo, also of Holyoke, by fall in 1:08.

Sullivan was then pinned by Logan Stahla of Kimball in 1:06 and again by Elijah Boyd, Southeast, in 1:09.

Josh Boston, veteran Banner County grappler, wrestled at 152 pounds and placed sixth. Boston battled Deacon Dittmer from Holyoke in round one for a loss by fall in 1:09 and lost by fall to Spencer Jones of Crawford in 1:15.

Improving on his time in round three, Boston wrestled Nathaniel Cooper of Bridgeport for 1:33 prior to getting pinned. He lost by technical fall to Chase Lovercheck of Southeast and was then pinned by Bridgeport's Dylan Schnell in 2:57.

"Overall, I thought our kids battled well in each match. We were lucky enough to come away with a couple wins, and a lot of situations that will allow us to advance our skills as we practice. It is always tough when you're inexperienced, but we have to take our lumps and keep moving forward," coach Bill Gifford said.

 
 
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