Cardinal grapplers improve fight in loss to Grinnell

Newton senior Owen Sanger has had the opportunity to wrestle a few ranked wrestlers this season. And before Thursday night, he came up just short of finding the win column.

The third time would be the charm for Sanger though as he rallied from an early hole to pin Class 3A No. 10 Wyatt Hunter.

Sanger’s win highlighted the night for the Newton wrestling team, but Grinnell returned home with a 52-24 dual win.

“We regressed in our fight last weekend. We showed more fight tonight,” Newton coach Adam Hale said. “Even the matches we lost and got pinned in, we fought stuff off early on. I think tonight was a step in the right direction.”

The Tigers, who are now 6-7 overall and 1-0 in Little Hawkeye Conference action, went 6-3 in the contested matches and took four forfeits.

I just tried to keep my cool and keep my composure. I know I can wrestle through it. This win will give me a good bit of confidence.

—  Owen Sanger on being down 4-0 and eventually pinning Class 2A No. 10 Wyatt Hunter of Grinnell

Newton (1-10 overall, 0-5 in the conference) trailed 22-0 at the time of Sanger’s win at 195.

The Cardinal senior trailed 2-0 after one period and fell behind 4-0 in the match. Sanger got a takedown in the second period to get back in it. He had to battle through several blood timeouts from Hunter but was able to turn him late in the second period and earned the pin with 24 seconds left.

“I just tried to keep my cool and keep my composure,” Sanger said about being down 4-0. “I know I can wrestle through it. This win will give me a good bit of confidence.”

Sanger already had some extra bounce in his step after losing 8-7 to 3A No. 7 Tanner Spyksma of Waukee over the weekend. He also lost 4-2 to 3A No. 5 Walker Whalen of Indianola earlier this season.

“He’s hung right with a few ranked kids here recently and it was nice to see him battle back after being down 4-0,” Hale said.

Hale said working through blood timeouts when your down in the match can be tough, but Sanger (7-5) did a nice job of staying focused and using the breaks to his advantage.

“Most of the time it doesn’t help because I lose that pump, but I just tried to keep calm and talk to the coaches about what I should do,” Sanger said.

The final match of the night also resulted in six points for Newton as Brennan Amos won his match at 145 pounds by injury default. He was up 10-2 in the first period when the match ended.

It was the first match since Amos cracked the 3A rankings at No. 10 at 145.

“I liked how I was wrestling up until the match I lost this weekend,” Amos said. “It was a tough match, but I didn’t perform how I would have liked to. I am happy about the ranking. But it’s just a stepping stone to where I want to be. I just have to keep going and keep getting better every day.”

Amos is now 12-3 on the season. He was coming off a 19-1 loss to 2A No. 3 Eric Kinkaid of Camanche.

“Tonight, he looked way better on his feet than he did this weekend. He made a good adjustment today,” Hale said. “When he keeps his feet moving, he’s really good. The ranking is a good start. It’s not where we want to be. It doesn’t mean anything until it’s in sharpie at the end of the year.”

In between the wins by Sanger and Amos came a forfeit win by Conner McPartlin at 126 and a win by fall by Jason Weithers at 132.

It was the first-ever varsity match and varsity win for Weithers and the pin came in the first period. He was able to get into the lineup because Anthony Bestell missed the dual because of an injury.

Weithers weighed in at 126 but wrestled up to get into the lineup. His long-term plan could be to finish the season at 120.

“That was awesome. He started out slow for us this year. He’s been working his way up the ladder and with Anthony out it gave him a chance to slide in tonight,” Hale said. “He wrestled up a weight. I love how he doesn’t back down. I just want to see him fight, win or lose. He was aggressive right off the bat. It was a good first step for him.”

William Muckler faced another ranked wrestler at heavyweight. This time, he battled 2A No. 3 Kamrin Steveson for the entire six minutes.

It was a scoreless match after one period. Muckler scored first to lead 1-0 and it was 2-2 after two. Steveson grabbed a 5-2 lead in the third and won the match 7-3.

Muckler is 11-4 this season and three of his four losses have come against ranked opponents.

“Being right in there against a kid who is that good, and battles in every match he’s in, is a good sign for William,” Hale said. “We were happy with the first couple periods especially. And he scored a few of those takedowns off our action. We just didn’t recover well enough. He can learn from that match.”

Notes: Newton is getting closer to filling all 14 weights but still forfeited 113, 138, 152 and 220 to the Tigers. … Four Cardinal wrestlers will compete in the girls state tournament in Coraville on Friday and Saturday. … The Newton varsity team is at the Colfax-Mingo dual tournament on Saturday. … The Cardinals will host the LHC tournament on Jan. 30.