EDMOND —
Edmond North had already proven it was tournament tough. Monday night, the Huskies showed they’re not too shabby at the duals, either.
North, ranked No. 2 in Class 6A by okwrestle.com., powered its way past both of its in-town rivals at the 3 Dog Night event at Edmond Memorial, dropping the host Bulldogs, 59-9, and topping Edmond Santa Fe, 37-22.
The event comes not long after the Huskies had an impressive second-place showing at the Geary Invitational, finishing only behind top-ranked Broken Arrow.
“We have the ability to put guys into the finals of tournaments, which makes us good there,” EN head coach Andy Schneider said. “But the strength of our room is our ability to be tough up and down the whole team.”
Lance Dixon at 195 pounds, Derek White at 170, Dakota Zickefoose at 160 and Jordan Armstrong at 126 each earned falls in both of their matches at the 3 Dog Night. Andrew Dixon also earned one fall at 220, as well as a 7-1 decision.
Against Edmond Memorial, Husky Jordan Prince came up with a 5-0 decision at 113, Cy Trindle a dominant 15-0 win at 120, Caleb Alexander a 15-2 win at 132, Bryan Creel a 15-7 victory at 152, Ethan Strange a 13-5 decision at 182 and Nolan Malloy a 6-2 decision at heavyweight. The Bulldogs’ highlights of the match were a fall by Jonah Moore at 138 and a 6-1 decision for Alec Warren at 145.
Against Edmond Santa Fe, Prince won 12-0 and Reggie Dunn had a 5-4 decision at 145. The Wolves were led by falls from Jon Wynn at heavyweight and Mason Stowers at 152. They also received wins from Jett Sturges at 120, Coy Grover at 132 and Brett Dunning at 138.
“Anytime you come to this event, it’s a rivalry deal, so Santa Fe and Memorial really go after us. There’s a lot of pride on the line,” Schneider said. “We came in with a target on our backs.”
The individual match of the night was the 195-pound battle between Edmond Santa Fe’s Alvin Bazley and Edmond Memorial’s Jeremy Morgan. Bazley suffered a minor injury in the second period, but fought through pain to force overtime, then came up with a 5-3 decision. His team also held the Bulldogs off, 36-24.
Leland Anderson had a fall for the Wolves at 170, as did Stowers at 152. Dunning also had a technical fall at 138, Sturges a major decision at 120, Blaine Harris an 8-5 win at 160 and Anthony Robinson a 3-1 victory at 220.
The Bulldogs picked up falls from 113-pounder Mark Delay, 132-pounder Jonah Moore and 145-pounder Warren, while also getting wins from Tristan McBee at 182 and Cole Boker at 126.
Huskies top No.1 Broken Arrow, win Sapulpa Tournament
A week removed from a runner-up finish at the Geary Tournament, the Edmond North wrestlers were once again pitted against No. 1-ranked Broken Arrow at the Sapulpa Tournament. At Geary, the Tigers outdistanced North to place first. At Sapulpa, the field included the top seven ranked teams in 6A and a very strong Berryhill team. The Huskies were without four regular starters and were forced to forfeit two weight classes.
“After a hard warm-up Friday morning, I challenged our guys to up their level in order to overcome the deficit of not having a full line-up,” stated coach Andy Schneider.
The Huskies responded to their coach’s challenge by pushing six wrestlers into the finals and nearly wrapping up the tournament Friday night. Cy Trindle was the surprise finalist for North after defeating state runner-up Trey Jiminez of Berryhill in the semi-finals.
“Cy has been wrestling very well lately and is beginning to peak as we get closer to the post-season,” Schneider said. Joining Trindle in the finals was Josh Breece, Derek White, Lance Dixon, Joel Dixon, and Andrew Dixon. Jordan Armstrong narrowly missed the finals, losing a two-point decision to defending state champion Markus Simmons of Broken Arrow.
On Saturday, the Huskies ensured there was no comeback by Broken Arrow as Armstrong fought back to place third and Reggie Dunn and Dakota Zickefoose each placed sixth. “It was great to get six into the finals on Friday, but those guys on the backside also earned several team points and I’m proud of the way they all battled back to earn a medal,” said Schneider.
In the championship finals, North went 3-3. Trindle lost a tough decision to No. 1-ranked Kaid Brock of Stillwater. Breece came up short against Union’s Luke Wolfenberger and Derek White lost to Brock Warren of Broken Arrow. Triplets Lance, Joel and Andrew Dixon all placed first for North. Lance scored a first period fall in the finals. Joel followed that up with a close 6-5 win where he had to score a takedown in the last 15 seconds. Andrew closed out the tournament with a major decision win to remain undefeated on the season.
“We had some tough matches in the finals and that is to be expected. It was obviously great to get the team win with such a tough field of teams, but our guys know that February at the State Fairgrounds is where we really want to be peaking and wrestling our best. Broken Arrow is the 3-time defending state champion and they are still the team to beat. None of that changes based on this weekend,” stated Schneider.
Memorial visits Norman North
The Edmond Memorial wrestlers fell in a dual at Norman North on Jan. 10.
“We wrestled really well most of time,” Memorial coach Darren Huff said. “We just had to forfeit three weights and we almost overcame that but we just didn’t make up for it. We got behind early with a forfeit at 106 and 113.
Memorial’s 106 pounder, Connor Shanks, is a freshman and was attending the Perry Junior High tournament, while junior Mark Delay at 113 pounds was out of the lineup due to sickness, putting Memorial in an 0-12 hole early.
Ashton Stovall got Memorial on the board at 120 with a fall in 1:02 and 126-pounder Cole Boker followed up with a fall himself in 3:46 to tie the score at 12 each. Norman North then followed 132 with a fall to move ahead 18-12. Jonah Moore added an 8-2 decision for the Bulldogs with Alec Warren following with a 16-2 major decision to put the Bulldogs up 19-18.
Norman North added a major decision and three falls in the next four weights to go ahead 40-19. The ’Dogs then received a forfeit from the Timberwolves and Ryley West added the last score to the Bulldogs’ scoreboard with a fall in 1:21. Freshman heavyweight Denton Huff was attending the Perry Junior High tournament as well, so the Bulldogs had to forfeit at heavyweight to make the final score Timberwolves 46, Bulldogs 31.
“They guys gave tremendous effort and are getting better each week,” coach Huff said. “They’re getting more competitive and are starting to focus and listen while they’re out on the mat and in the room. Hopefully they’ll see that it’s making a difference. It’s hard to give up 18 points and come back and win. You have to have a lot of things go right and do a lot of pinning, and that didn’t happen.”
