Exhilarating action.
Heartbreaking losses.
That pretty well summed up the past week for the Boone Central/Newman Grove wrestling team.
The Cardinals wrestled to ties with Grand Island Northwest and Creighton on the mat Tuesday and Thursday nights, but had no luck at the scorer’s table, officially losing both duals by tiebreaker criteria.
“If you were looking for some exciting, down-to-the-wire action, our duals were the place to be. There were a bunch of back-and-forth matches that kept the intensity high and the crowd into the action,” commented BC/NG Coach Dale Bonge. “Prior to this week, in the entire 50-plus year history of Albion/Boone Central wrestling, there had been three duals that were tied at the end of the action. Two happened before the tiebreaker rules were instated, so just counted as ties. The other we had lost on criteria.
“So, a tie at the end of regulation, that had happened only three times in over fifty years, happens twice in the same week. Almost unbelievable.”
The week began Tuesday with Northwest visiting Albion. The Vikings and Cardinals entertained fans with seesaw action chock full of pins, near falls and near misses.
Cardinal Jacob Krings pinned his opponent at 220 pounds to put the hosts back in front, and Northwest’s Mark Zepeda returned the favor with a pin at 285 for a final 40-40 deadlock.
Coaches and the match official then huddled at the scorer’s table, with Northwest finally awarded the tiebreaker point on criteria #9 – most nearfall points.
After the crazy night Tuesday, Boone Central/Newman Grove could not have expected another tiebreak cliffhanger Thursday, but that’s just what it got at Creighton.
“Short a pair of varsity wrestlers – one sick and one at a scholarship interview – we faced the #2 rated team in Class D. Another back-and-forth battle, much like the Northwest dual,” Bonge noted. “Great efforts again got us to a 36-36 score and another tiebreaker.”
Despite the valiant effort on the mat, the tiebreaker outcome again went against the Cardinals. Creighton claimed the tiebreak point and the official dual victory on #4 criteria – most matches won.
Complete results in Print & Online editions of Albion News
