After losing four of the first five matches, the Ankeny Centennial wrestlers won seven of the next eight bouts and posted a 45-33 victory at Dowling Catholic on Thursday.
The sixth-ranked Jaguars raised their records to 4-1 in the CIML Conference and 9-3 overall, but coach Jay Groth still had some concerns after the meet.
“We need to continue to not get pinned every time we lose,” said Groth. “We need to get better at staying out of bad positions and getting off our back when we get there. If we don’t do that, it’s going to be hard to continue to win duals.”
Brook Keller sealed the win for Centennial with a fall at 215 pounds. He pinned Kade Krause in 2 minutes 18 seconds.
“We were up by 12 points with two matches left, and Keller came up with a huge pin against a good kid,” Groth said. “It came down to the last couple of matches, like it does just about every week. I told Brook to go out there and beat the kid because I knew he could, but I also told him to stay off his back and don’t get pinned. And he did get put in a couple of hairy spots, but he got out of it and then caught the kid in a nice cradle and pinned him. That should do a lot for his confidence.”
The Jaguars also got pins from Cale Vandermark at 120, Ethan Sodergren at 138, Isaac Bruhl at 150, Jacob Hand at 165 and Danny Dhabolt at 190. Bruhl pinned John Bright in 13 seconds.
“That’s impressive, no matter who you are wrestling,” Groth said. “Isaac is just super athletic.”
Only two matches went the full 6 minutes. Each team won one of them.
At 175, Centennial’s Ryan Smith posted a 9-7 decision over Grant Touney. Dowling’s Jayden Zachary edged Andrew Roland, 7-6, at 132.
The Jaguars’ other victory came at 157, where Max Dhabolt won by forfeit. The sophomore has yet to be taken down this season.
“Max is a great wrestler, but he would tell you that he didn’t wrestle today partly because he didn’t follow my instructions,” Groth said. “He didn’t check in with me, he just ran up to the table. And Dowling avoided wrestling him because everybody knows how good he is. If he listened to his coaches, he might have gotten a match tonight. But that was a learning experience for him.
“He still has to figure out the team dynamic a little bit,” Groth added.
Centennial will compete in the Jack Mendenhall Invitational on Saturday at Ames.
Here are the match-by-match results from Thursday’s meet:
Ankeny Centennial 45, Dowling Catholic 33
106: Gannon (D) won by forfeit; 113: Wallukait (D) pinned Beckwith, 1:03; 120: Vandermark (AC) pinned Bergkamp, 1:50; 126: Simons (D) pinned Sloan, 1:58; 132: Zachary (D) beat Roland, 7-6; 138: Sodergren (AC) pinned Guanue, 1:51; 144: Conn (D) pinned Bennett, 2:40; 150: Bruhl (AC) pinned Bright, :13; 157: M. Dhabolt (AC) won by forfeit; 165: Hand (AC) pinned Swift, 2:15; 175: Smith (AC) beat Touney, 9-7; 190: D. Dhabolt (AC) pinned McLaughlin, 1:50; 215: Keller (AC) pinned Krause, 2:18; 285: Hagan (D) pinned Winkel, :35.