The wrestling Blazers had a great night of competition at RNE on Tuesday, January 23rd. While the team did not come away with a team win in either of the 2 matches they wrestled against South Pointe and York. Great effort and improvement was shown not just from this beginning of this season until now, but also since the last time we squared off against these tough teams.
In the match against South Pointe, they lost a hard fight (62-15 decision). Against the Stallions, the Blazers were lead by outstanding efforts by Lorenza Waiters, Jabari Hampton, McKale Yanagacio, and Mike McQueen. Lorenza wrestled a tough match that prevented South Pointe from scoring bonus points and widening their lead, while Jabari and Mike were able to secure big pins to get some momentum going for the team. McKale was able to grind out a very tough decision against his opponent that was workman-like and efficient.
The score was much closer against York (56-21). Key performers against the Cougars were Jonathan Cardona, Donovan Keeffe, Davin Moses, Jabari Hampton and McKale Yanagacio. Jonathan was able to use some key concepts that we have been working on heavily in practice the past week to win an awe-inspiring match in overtime while bumping up to the 138 pound weight class. Donovan Keeffe was able to generate a 12 point swing match that got the team fired up on the bench, surely inspiring Jabari to come off the bench and do his thing for a decisive 2nd period pin. McKale continued his solid work for the evening by going out and wrestling a tight match that he ultimately lost but prevented bonus points being scored. This past weekend they wrestled against Westwood and Lancaster with hopes to participate in the Upper State Championships in February. Stay tuned to hear the results of those matches.
