Flames even duals record with road victory over South

Williamsville East wrestling improved to 3-3 in duals this season with a 48-27 road win at Williamsville South last Wednesday.

Ben Mikac (96, won 4-0), Jacob Beichner (125, second period pin over first-year wrestler Nicholas Green), Zach Santoro (135, first period pin), Sean Trabert (145, second period pin over Michael Ehrenreich), and Jacobs (189, third period pin) won for East.

South forfeited three weight classes even before the match started.

Down 18-0 after forfeiting 130, South's Mike Lang, another first-year freshman, came out and wrestled one of his best matches of the season, said Billies coach Sean Leaderstorf.

Even though he lost a tough battle, he inspired another first-year wrestler, sophomore John Willet to his first varsity win at 140, which sparked a huge comeback.

Despite losing to Trabert, Ehrenreich had been filling in for an injured Andrew Tevens at 145 pounds and has done tremendously better this year, said Leaderstorf.

South senior captain Logan Struebing stepped out on the mat and pinned his opponent to set the tone for the rest of the heavyweights. Billy Truesdell followed by Michael Walter won back to back matches.

At 189, first-year South freshman James Monroe came out and displayed his gritty wrestling style and had his opponent reevaluate his technique with constant pressure in the first period.

In the second, Monroe fought off his back a couple of times that kept his team hopeful. In the third, he turned the tables and put Jacobs on his back in a flurry of folkstyle wrestling maneuvers. With a pause in the match due to a scoring discrepancy, both wrestlers regained their composure and caught a much needed breath of air.

When the match continued, Jacobs caught Monroe in an unfamiliar hold and pinned the injured freshman. Monroe had dislocated his shoulder somewhere in the midst of the third period but had enough guts and determination to finish the match.

Junior Elliot Frank got the job done at 215, pinning M.P. Joseph. At 103, Justin St. George wrestled a hard fought match that many thought he'd won in the third with, what many saw as an obvious pin that was overlooked by the official as time ran out, giving the decision to East, Leaderstorf said.

Leaderstorf and coach John Szymendera were so proud of their team and willingness to go hard the entire match that they decided to put every member that wrestled on their Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Week banner in the gym.

"They definitely deserved to be recognized for what they accomplished out on the mat that night," said Leaderstorf.

South's Tyler Kremps and Tom Darling each picked up big wins at JV.

East will find out how good they are when they travel to Holley, the top team in Rochester, at 6 p.m. on Thursday. This weekend, East will compete in the Lew-Port Lancers' Pete Rao Memorial Invitational Wrestling Tournament.

South has upcoming exhibition meets with Canisius and Williamsville North and a dual with Starpoint.