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Cameron Edges Past Linsly on the Mat

Every contest is decided by pinfall

Cameron’s Colton Dobbs, left, and Linsly’s Sungyoon Park battle in a 152-pound clash during their OVAC wrestling match Wednesday night in Wheeling on the Linsly campus.

WHEELING — Cameron won its first dual match of the year Wednesday by edging host Linsly by a 42-36 count at the Stifel Field House, in a match where every contest was decided by pin.

The final outcome was close but Cameron coach Tim Jones was proud of the way his Dragons handled the adversity to walk away with a hard-fought road victory.

“Honestly, I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” Jones said. “The work that they put in leading up to this match has been stellar. Their effort showed because we had some good battles. There were some matches that we had to come back and our guys never gave up. It was a total team effort.

“We weren’t sure of what to expect coming into this. We just knew we were going to give it our all and every single on of them did that. As a coach, that makes you proud.”

Cameron was led by Michael Starcher, who was a big reason for the success of the Dragons’ unbeaten season on the gridiron. He won the 170-pound event in 33 seconds against Linsly’s Bakari Adderly.

“Starcher is our team captain,” Jones said. “He has done a great job so far in that role by getting the team prepped and ready. The kids back him up a lot.”

Linsly was paced by Gage Giovengo and Tommy Curtin. Giovengo was victorious in the heavyweight bout against Brady Clayton with 1:46 left in the first period, and Curtin claimed the 138 battle at the 1:38 mark of the first period.

“I saw some good matches from my more experienced wrestlers,” Linsly coach Brian Valentine said. “Gage Giovengo and Tommy Curtain are pretty good and they are getting better every match.

“We have a lot of beginners this year as well, so I knew it would be close. It just didn’t work out in our favor.”

Cameron’s Trin Scott earned a victory at 126 by pinning Julian Giovengo in the third period. John Sims claimed 132 by pinning Peihe Bin in the first period and Colton Dobbs secured the 152 battle with Sungyoon Park by pin in the third period.

In the 182-pound weight class, Austin Cain defeated Manuel Suita Urena by pin in the third period and in the 220 division, Hayden Hoge pinned Killian Joseph in the second period for Cameron wins.

Cameron’s Logan Mackey also picked up a win by forfeit in the 145-pound class.

“I can’t pick out one single guy,” Jones said. “It was a total team effort with all three of our coaches and it was a good win, for sure.”

Linsly picked up wins by Nicholas Falbo in the 160 match with a second-period pin of Cameron’s Wyatt Wingrove, while Jonathan Kenny knocked off Brady Joseph by pin in the first period to add to Giovengo and Curtin’s victories.

Haochen Bai and Mathew Dudich won by forfeits in the 106 and 113 classes, respectively, for Linsly.

“We are just going to keep building our wrestlers stronger,” Valentine said. “Now we are going to get ready to go for the OVAC Tournament in January.”

As for Jones and the Dragons, they will try to build off of this first dual victory and keep the momentum going as the season progresses.

“We plan on making more noise, for sure,” Jones said. “This was a huge win and we are psyched about it. I don’t think it has really set in yet but we go again next Wednesday and that is what we are focused on now.”

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