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‘We got the job done’: Jags top Waukee, but aren’t satisfied with performance

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Ankeny Centennial’s Maximus Dhabolt takes Waukee’s Cory Jones to the mat during their 138-pound match in Thursday’s dual meet at Centennial. Dhabolt recorded a fall in 1 minute 41 seconds to help the Jaguars to a 39-24 victory in their CIML Conference opener. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)

A moral victory is defined as a defeat that can be interpreted as a victory on moral terms, because the defeated team exceeded its expectations.

The Ankeny Centennial wrestling team may have experienced the opposite of a moral victory on Thursday, when the Jaguars posted a 39-24 win over a visiting Waukee squad that they defeated a year ago by 66 points.

“It was a win, and winning is good. That’s what we’re shooting for,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth, whose team is now 1-0 in the CIML Conference and 3-0 overall. “But we didn’t really execute like I want us to. I told our guys on Tuesday after we won those two duals that the duals weren’t going to get easier–they were only going to get tougher. I’m not sure that they believed me because they didn’t wrestle as well as I would have liked, but we got the job done.”

Waukee won six of the 14 matches, including a pair of pins to open the meet. Last season, the Warriors won just one match in a 70-4 loss to Centennial.

Ankeny Centennial’s Ari Ehlts talks to coach Jay Groth during his 165-pound match in Thursday’s dual meet. Ehlts dropped a 6-2 decision to Waukee’s Wesley Anderson. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)

“Waukee wrestled well,” Groth said. “I think they had us scouted, and they had a plan and they stuck to it. It was a lot closer meet than it was last year.”

The Jaguars got falls from Cody Vandermark at 120 pounds, Maximus Dhabolt at 138 and Lucas Bruhl at 150. Ethan Sodergren at 126, Tyler Brennan at 144 and Jack Cahill at 190 each won by a decision.

Centennial’s Jamison Larsen at 106 and Cale Vandermark at 113 each won by forfeit.

The Jaguars competed without a few regulars, including Isaac Bruhl at 157. He is sidelined by a concussion.

Ankeny Centennial’s Jack Cahill tries to turn Waukee’s Beckett Bakker onto his back during their 190-pound match in Thursday’s dual meet. Cahill posted a 9-5 decision in the final match of the night. (Photo by Drue Wolfe)

Centennial will travel to Cedar Falls on Saturday to compete in the Keith Young Invitational. This is a new tournament for the Jaguars, who previously went to the Dallas Center-Grimes Invitational on the same weekend for the last 10 years.

“It’s going to be a tough one,” Groth said. “That’s a good tournament with a lot of good teams. We’ve got one day to work on some things, and hopefully we’ll wrestle better on Saturday.”

The field will include a couple teams that are headed to the same district tournament as the Jaguars later in the season.

“We won’t see those teams any other time this year, so we’ll see how we stack up with them,” Groth said.

Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:

Centennial 39, Waukee 24

215: Steger (W) pinned Bogseth, 4:50; 285: Hine (W) pinned Gonzalez, 1:21; 106: Larsen won by forfeit; 113: Ca. Vandermark won by forfeit; 120: Co. Vandermark pinned Fadel, 4:52; 126: Sodergren beat McCallister, 5-2; 132: Crigger (W) beat Roland, 4-3 (OT); 138: Dhabolt pinned Jones, 1:41; 144: Brennan beat Witzenburg, 7-2; 150: L. Bruhl pinned Crispin, :57; 157: Wei (W) beat Anonson, 8-2; 165: Anderson (W) beat Ehlts, 6-2; 175: Gammell (W) beat Smith, 8-2; 190: Cahill beat Bakker, 9-5.