Newton wrestlers show improvement, lose to Oskaloosa on Senior Night

When Newton’s wrestling team competed in the Cardinal Classic back in early December, there were just eight grapplers in the field.

The Cardinals returned from winter break and took to the mat on Thursday with nearly a full lineup and Newton showed improvement during a Little Hawkeye Conference loss to Oskaloosa.

The Cardinals were 5-8 in contested matches but two seniors scored wins by fall on their Senior Night during a 51-27 loss to the Indians.

Some wrestlers dealt with injuries, a few others were not yet up to the program’s expectations and the rest were young grapplers not quite ready for the varsity level.

But Thirteen Cardinals battled in front of their home crowd against Oskaloosa. And Newton recorded four wins by pin and one of the losses came in overtime.

“We would have been full tonight, but we had one weight where everyone got sick,” Newton wrestling coach Adam Hale said.

Oskaloosa began the dual with four straight wins and a 21-0 lead. Newton’s first victory came at 152 where Brennan Amos made his season debut and claimed a second-period pin. Amos led 10-4 after the first period and was leading 16-6 at the time of the fall.

“It felt great. I am so happy to be back,” Amos said. “There was some nerves. But I like to be aggressive. I am really trying to improve my gas tank this year.”

Amos said he had hoped to be back for the first meet in January all along but was told just two weeks ago he would be cleared to compete. He spent the entire holiday break working on his stamina and perfecting his technique as much as possible.

He worked his way back from a hand injury and previously had hip surgery before that.

Amos began the season ranked in Class 3A but has since dropped out because he simply hadn’t competed yet.

“I’m not upset at all. I’m just ready to wrestle. Rankings don’t mean anything until the end of the year,” Amos said. “I was ranked pretty high last year and then I choked at districts and didn’t even make it to state. I’m not too worried about the rankings at all.”

Colin Sharp made quick work of his opponent at 160, pinning him in the first period.

He was super aggressive in the match in part because he simply didn’t want to lose on his Senior Night.

“I wanted to put him away early so I was trying to get the pin as quickly as I could,” Sharp said. “You only get one Senior Night so I wanted to make sure I got a win.”

After Oskaloosa picked up a win at 170, Wyatt Weter registered a 9-6 decision at 182. It was 3-3 after one period and Weter led 8-5 after two.

The other two wins for Newton came from Zander Ponce at 285 and Seth Adams at 120. Both Cardinal wrestlers won by fall. Ponce’s match lasted just 40 seconds.

Cole Swank, another senior, lost his match at 145, 11-9, in SV-1. He trailed after one but a near fall and reversal in the second period evened the bout at 7-all. It was 9-all after three periods following reversals by both wrestlers.

“They have helped us establish a good, hard-nosed attitude and a couple of them have been with us all four years and helped establish our expectations and holding their teammates accountable,” Hale said about his seniors. “They all work hard in the room.”

Oskaloosa took the only forfeit at 106 and seven of its eight wins came by fall.

For Newton, the final week of practices during the holiday break was the toughest in quite some time.

Hale said the goal was to push his team to their breaking point and help with their mental toughness during the stretch run of the season. Sharp even called it the hardest week of his career.

“It was a tough week. We were there for three or four hours most days,” Hale said. “They came out the other side though. We saw some of that mental toughness come through in some of our tough positions tonight. We still have work to do, but you saw us take a step and battle through a tough dual.”