DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
Note: Our coverage of Adams Central wrestling this month is supported financially by the Joe Edgell family. If you’d like to support a specific team in Z-Land for just $97/month, contact the station.
MONROE – Halfway through Tuesday’s meet, the Homestead Spartans looked like they had victory wrapped up.
An important coaching decision and an outstanding effort by the Adams Central upper weights, however, stole the victory away from the visitors and gave the Jets quite a momentum builder heading into Team State.
The Jets won the final five bouts of the night to turn a 35-16 deficit into a 42-35 victory.
Already trailing in the dual meet, coach Ryan Landis and his staff were faced with an uneasy decision. With just one eligible wrestler present to fill two spots at 138 and 144, the Jets bumped up Jackson Bingham from his usual spot. Certain to be heavy underdogs against both Spartan opponents, the move turned out to be genius. The Spartans had no business getting anything but twelve team points from the two bouts, but Jackson Bingham did what he needed to do to only get teched, saving the Jets a team point.
The math appeared to be simple with five bouts remaining. The Jets would need to win all five, surely, to make up a 19-point deficit. That turned out to not be the case. Second period falls by Mav Dubach and Dylan Ogg, coupled with a tech fall by Brason Schortgen at 165 drew the Jets within two at 35-33.
Then Xander Schwartz flipped the script.
Taking on Caleb Hollingsworth at 175, Schwartz hit a chin rip in a scoreless match and buried his opponent, scoring the fall in 1:24 and giving the team a four-point lead.
That four-point cushion meant that Max Nussbaum, the hammer for the Jets on the night, would actually be able to take a loss (if it were by decision) and the team could still win the meet at 39-38.
Nussbaum took a big step toward an AC win with a takedown in the first period. Choosing bottom in the second, Nussbaum took one for the team, staying out of any dangerous situation on his way to an escape that could lead to a match-losing fall.
Instead, a locked-hands call gave Nussbaum a 4-1 lead going into the third, with Connar Uhrick unable to turn the AC sophomore in a two-minute ride.
Uhrick, needing a fall and knowing that he didn’t have the time to find a major decision, chose neutral and attacked Nussbaum, finding a takedown to knot the score at 4-4. He cut Nussbaum and looked for a takedown late, but Max staved off a last-second effort with seconds remaining to claim a personal victory and clinch the team win.
The victory would not have been possible without the positive result the team got at 106.
Ezra Liechty, trailing for the entire match, spent more time bent over a trash can than on the mat, surviving three separate blood stoppages in the second period. Just when doubt began to grow that Liechty would even be able to stay in the match, he burst out of a restart and scored a fall with 12 seconds left in the second period, lighting the AC Hangar on fire and giving the Jets the lead.
Adams Central also got important victories in the match from Ryan Beer at heavyweight and Kale Beer at 132.
The Jets will watch the first round of Team State Saturday before taking on the winner of Alexandria and South Adams in the quarterfinals in Franklin.
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