Andrew Grimm
HEAVYWEIGHT TILT — Big Red senior wrestler Peyton Tuttle looks for an opening in his heavyweight match against New Philadelphia’s Garrett Dillon-Rine during a senior night dual meet inside the Crimson Center. Tuttle won by decision, 3-0, and Big Red won the dual convincingly, 58-12.
STEUBENVILLE — Any time a team can win on its senior night, it means a lot. Winning in convincing fashion makes it that much better.
Big Red’s wrestlers did just that on Wednesday night, taking a 58-12 dual win over visiting New Philadelphia inside the Crimson Center.
All four of Steubenville’s seniors that competed were victorious in their matches, as first-year coach Lucas Huffman’s grapplers took victories in seven of 10 matches that were contested on the mat (the first four were decided by forfeit).
“It’s really nice to send them off on senior night with a win,” Huffman said. “They all wrestled tough (Wednesday) and they have had a great year up to this point. We hope that continues.”
Starting things off at 132 pounds, Kaiden Minella pinned the Quakers David Gonzalez and Cole Antill took a 6-0 decision at 138 pounds over New Philly’s Ethan Price to run up the Big Red lead after Shayann Oxley (106), Ethan Simpert (113), Brody Saccoccia (120) and Cal Beadling (126) took forfeit wins.
Savier Faulks pinned Charllie Gibbs at 150, Hakim Edwards took a 4-0 decision win over Sione Williams, then, after a couple wins by the Quakers, the upper weight classes put the finishing touches on the victory.
The senior of trio of Brandon Kinney (pinned Konnor Tetzloff at 190), Nate King (pinned Bryant Korns at 215) and Peyton Tuttle (a 3-0 decision over Garrett Dillon-Rine at heavyweight) were all victorious in their matches to close the show.
“We knew New Philly had some athletes and they showed up,” Huffman said. “They had a couple weights missing, but the matches we did wrestle were good, solid matches. I’m proud of my boys.
“This time of the year is about getting ready for the sectionals, districts and state tournament.”
Big Red, which improved to 16-5 in duals, has one more tune up prior to the sectional tournament, as it welcomes Buckeye Local up state Route 7 for its final dual of the season next Wednesday.
“We usually end the dual season with Buckeye and they are going come up here ready to fight and battle,” Huffman said.
