REED CITY — Reed City had to settle for half-and-half in Central State Activities Association Gold Division wrestling action last Wednesday.
The Coyotes defeated Central Montcalm 46-30 and lost to Grant 52-21.
Reed City is 1-1 in the conference and 14-6 overall.
“Our kids gave good effort tonight,” Reed City coach Roger Steig said. “I don’t think we wrestled our best. It’s been a season of highs and lows. Grant’s a good solid team.”
In the win over Central Montcalm, Reed City roared out to a 21-0 lead, which included two forfeit wins. Thayne Stieg was trailing at 140 pounds by a 7-3 count but rallied in the final 15 seconds with a near fall and 8-7 win. Nate Fasbender later got a pin in 1:28 at 152 pounds for the 21-point lead.
A Central Montcalm pin was followed by a fall for Troy Giese in 1:00 over Noah Knight. At 171, Devin Ward was pinned in the second period by Central’s Nathan Jones.
Dylan Chrispell at 215 just held off Aaron Loew 6-5 for a 30-12 lead. Evan Skiver at heavyweight pinned Nick Bellinger in 58 seconds for six more points.
The Coyotes lost the next two matches on pins. But when Jimmy Bywater notched the pin in 38 seconds at 119, the Coyotes had a 42-24 lead to clinch the win. Matt McGahey notched an 16-13 win at 125.
The match with Grant started off 6-6, which included a forfeit at 145 for Thayne Stieg.
The 152-pound match was a back-and-forth thriller with Raul Santos edging Reed City’s Derrick Rasor 16-15, getting the winning two points with 15 seconds left in the match. Brian Hitts and Rylee Schultze combined for pins for Grant in the next two classes for a 21-6 advantage.
Reed City got 12 points back from Ward at 189 with a first-period pin and from Chrispell at 215 with a second-period fall to cut Grant’s lead to 21-18. R.J. Powell increased Grant’s lead by four points with a 12-1 major decision at heavyweight over Skiver.
Grant added pins at 103 and 119 while Bywater dropped a tight 14-9 result at 112. That clinch the match for Grant with a 40-18 lead.
Bywalter lost a close 14-9 match at 112 to Grant’s Jacob Breen.
McGahey added an 8-2 win at 125 for Reed City. Grant closed out the night with two pins
“I felt a little gassed in the first round but I came back strong in the second,” McGahey, now 19-1, said. “Coach said they were pretty solid teams.”
“All night long, I felt we could have wrestled better,” Steig said. “The kids certainly gave it a good effort. I thought Dylan Chrispell had a good night.”
