With a 34-28 lead through the first 11 matches on Thursday, the Ankeny Centennial wrestlers were in position to knock off fifth-ranked Waukee Northwest in their season opener.
However, the visiting Wolves had a trio of ranked wrestlers lined up for the final three matches, meaning that Centennial needed to pull off an upset in order to win the CIML Conference dual meet.
And that’s exactly what Ryan Smith provided.
Smith recorded a fall over 10th-ranked Bryce Williams in 5 minutes 9 seconds in the 175-pound match, giving Centennial a 40-28 advantage. It turned out to be just enough of a margin for the Jaguars to prevail.
“That was huge. He wrestled really smart,” said Centennial coach Jay Groth. “Ryan’s got all the tools. He’s very strong and has a great work ethic. He’s a quick, powerful kid, and he’s got some good years behind him. I’m hoping that this performance will kind of kick start what will be a breakout year for him.”
The fall proved to be necessary because Northwest then won the final two matches via a technical fall and a pin, resulting in a one-point margin at the end. Centennial’s Charlie Sloan avoided a pin against No. 3 Abe Parker at 190 to secure the dual-meet triumph.
“We put Charlie out there against a real good kid, and he’s undersized at 190,” Groth said. “We told him the one thing that he couldn’t do was get pinned, and I give him a lot of credit for fighting his way out of a cradle and not getting pinned.”
Each team won seven of the 14 matches. In addition to Smith’s pin, the Jaguars also got falls from No. 9 Andrew Roland at 132, No. 10 Ethan Sodergren at 138 and Calvin Haag at 144.
“I’d like to say the meet went as planned, but there were a few hiccups,” Groth said. “We maybe lost one (match) that I thought we were going to win, and then we won one that was a toss-up and we also got bonus points there from Smith. That really helped a lot.”
The lone matchup of rated wrestlers came at 150, where Centennial’s No. 6 Isaac Bruhl rolled to a 21-3 technical fall over No. 11 Lincoln Hutt.
“Isaac looked great,” Groth said. “He’s a super savvy wrestler, and he knew that with us having two open weights that we needed all the bonus points we could get. He was a little disappointed that he didn’t get the fall, but the tech fall was big too.”
Centennial also got a technical fall at 157 from No. 2 Max Dhabolt, who posted a 20-3 win over Elijah Dobbs. The Jaguars’ other victory came at 120, where No. 3 Cale Vandermark won by forfeit.
Northwest got a pin from heavyweight Henry Mohr to open the meet. Grayson Manning later got another fall at 126 to extend the Wolves’ lead to 24-6 before the hosts reeled off five straight bonus-point victories.
Northwest’s No. 8 Gabe Rubino posted a major decision at 165 to cut Centennial’s lead to 34-28. That set the stage for Smith’s decisive fall.
“We pulled it out,” Groth said.
The Jaguars will compete in the Keith Young Invitational on Saturday at Cedar Falls.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Ankeny Centennial 40, Waukee Northwest 39
285: Mohr (WN) pinned Bogseth, :51; 106: Christensen (WN) won by forfeit; 113: Cahill (WN) won by forfeit; 120: Vandermark (AC) won by forfeit: 126: Manning (WN) pinned W. Sloan, 4:36; 132: Roland (AC) pinned Culp, 1:14; 138: Sodergren (AC) pinned H. Hutt, 2:00; 144: Haag (AC) pinned Logan, 1:32; 150: Bruhl (AC) won by technical fall over L. Hutt, 21-3; 157: Dhabolt (AC) won by technical fall over Dobbs, 20-3; 165: Rubino (WN) beat Hand, 9-0; 175: Smith (AC) pinned Williams, 5:09; 190: Parker (WN) won by technical fall over C. Sloan, 17-1; 215: Neeway (WN) pinned Keller, 1:15.
