The Ankeny Centennial wrestlers needed a late rally to defeat visiting Ottumwa, 39-36, in a non-conference dual meet on Thursday.
Carter Bennett recorded a fall at 138 pounds to tie the score at 36-36 heading into the final match. Tenth-ranked Drew Dunn then posted a 7-2 decision at 145 over Braylon Griffiths, winning the matchup of state qualifiers from a year ago at 132 to seal the Jaguars’ triumph.
Dunn scored takedowns in each of the first two periods, added a near-fall in the second and then rode Griffiths out in the final period.
“We had steady performances at the end of the meet,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth, whose team improved to 2-0 on the season. “Carter went out and got a pin, and Drew–who has been sick all week–went out and beat his kid. So we had to come from behind to win the dual. I credit those two guys for being seniors and taking charge and getting the job done.”
Centennial also got pins from No. 4 Carter Cahill at 160, Sam Watson at 195, Kaden Kaiser at 220 and No. 8 Cody Vandermark at 106. Zach English won by forfeit at 182.
The Jaguars handed Ottumwa (8-1) its first loss.
“We had some good things out there,” Groth said. “But we have to correct some mistakes and wrestle better for 6 minutes.”
Both teams won seven matches. Ottumwa had five falls, including one at 120 by No. 7 Corbin Grace, who picked up his 100th career victory on Tuesday against Des Moines East.
“It was a close meet,” Groth said. “Ottumwa wrestled really well and when we got beat, we got pinned. We had a few younger guys in there filling in for some injured wrestlers. Big picture, we’ve got to get better on the mat and stay off our backs, and if we get on our backs we’ve got to fight off.”
The Jaguars will host the Centennial Duals on Saturday. They’ve won the tournament in each of the last four years.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Centennial 39, Ottumwa 36
152: Shoemaker (O) pinned Ehlts, 1:55; 160: Cahill (AC) pinned Hubbell, :54; 170: Summers (O) pinned Song, 3:13; 182: English (AC) won by forfeit; 195: Watson (AC) pinned Robert, 3:31; 220: Kaiser (AC) pinned Guida, 1:28; 285: Guerra (O) pinned Ahmetasevic, :30; 106: Vandermark (AC) pinned A. Grace, 4:37; 113: Luedtke (O) beat Bright, 6-4; 120: C. Grace (O) pinned Muller, 2:52; 126: Goodwin (O) beat Hron, 10-3; 132: Doud (O) pinned Anonson, :28; 138: Bennett (AC) pinned Chanthalavanh, 1:32; 145: Dunn (AC) beat Griffiths, 7-2.